Magic with Incense - Sacred Smoke

Air has always fascinated and mystified humankind. Why do we need to breathe? What is the invisible substance that surrounds us that we take into ourselves? How does scent work? What causes the wind to blow, and where does it come from? Omnipresent, invisible, and life-sustaining, Air became a metaphor for the presence of the Divine. The breath of the Divine was the same Air that we breathe in constantly- what sustains us physically, is what also sustains us spiritually.  

The winds from the different compass points were given names, developed personalities based on the weather that they brought with them. Many of our ancestors were farmers and sailors and builders who were much more at the mercy of the weather. For them, the right wind at the right time could make or break an important venture or a harvest, spell the difference between surviving a winter or running drastically short. 

before modern understanding of how disease was spread, pestilence and sickness was thought to be spread on the air- not by breathing germs, but by the existence of bad smells. The train of thought runs something like this- sick people, food that has spoiled, rotting material, swamps and garbage middens, septic pits, latrines and the like smell terrible- people get sick who spend time in and around them- 

therefore, the bad smell is what transmits the illness. 

The solution to this, was to cleanse the air itself to remove the impurities; to prevent sickness and disease from spreading. Fragrant herbs, resins, woods and oils were burned medically to prevent illness for hundreds of years. Even now, we think of certain smells as ‘clean’ such as camphor, menthol, eucalyptus, pine and lemon- associating them with recovering from a bout of disease, or a freshly clean house. We judge the cleanliness of something by how it smells, such as laundry- or test food to see if it’s fresh or spoiled, by smelling it. 

USING INCENSE IN THE MODERN AGE

Our sense of smell is resonant with the oldest and deepest parts of our brains. Memories long hidden and personal associates are easily connected to a certain smell that can trigger a strong response within us. But we can also train our brains in the reverse order- by consciously working to use a certain scent every time we do a specific thing, we can trigger our minds to be ready to do that simply by scent exposure at a later date. For instance, if you always make yourself a cup of ginger tea when studying for a test or exam, the smell of ginger will make you mentally prepared and active and ready to learn. 

The power of incense and scent within our lives can be used as a powerful tool for personal change, growth and healing. 

The burning of incense is, at it’s heart, a magical process of transmutation and transformation. The physical matter- the incense itself, made of woods and resins, herbs and oils is transformed through heat and fire into a more diffuse, airy state of being. Through heat, which is the magical Element of Fire that embodies passion, creativity, change and spiritual light, is the ‘lower’ energy of the material elevated to a higher state. To sustain the metaphor further, many plants that are used for incense don’t have a distinct smell, or a particularly strong aroma, until they are burned. It is only through this complete transformation that their full potential is reached. Seen this way, burning incense can be used as a tool for personal transformation as well. 

The ancient peoples considered that as the smoke rose into the sky from the offerings of incense, it carried the prayers, and intentions of those down below with it. Smoke seems to disappear into nothingness; moving from the seen to the unseen.

Because of this, it was the medium through which unseen beings received offerings, gifts, petitions and messages from the physical world. In addition to offerings to the Divine, offerings were (and are) also made to ancestors and the beloved departed, to familial spirits of home and hearth, to the beings and spirits of a certain place, and to drive away baneful energies. 

For all of these reasons and more, burning incense is a time-honoured tradition that can easily be done today, for the same effect. But how and when is it appropriate to do? If you are following your own schedule, rather than the larger religious calendar of any other religious institution, you can burn incense for any or all of it’s magical purposes at any time you feel would be appropriate. Here’s some great times to make use of incense burning practices in your life- incense helps to lend a spiritual aspect to celebrate and emphasize any important event in your life. 

• To mark a homecoming, or to bless and infuse your new home with positive energy
• During a baby or bride blessing
• To honour the anniversary or birthday of a departed loved one 
• To bring peace after an argument 
• To facilitate a sensual, romantic atmosphere 
• To bring good luck to a new business or venture 
• To make a gratitude offering for blessings received 
• To cleanse your aura, your home or work space from negative energy 
• To prepare your space for any meditation or spiritual activity 

as you can see, using incense can be as integrated into your life as it was for our ancestors. 

PREPARING YOUR INCENSE

You will want a few things before beginning to use incense regularly.

Firstly, you will need a solid, fire proof, heat resistant bowl or small pot to burn your incense in. Most ‘loose’ incense is burned on special charcoal pucks (NOT barbecue charcoal, which is toxic to burn indoors) which get quite hot. A thick metal bowl with a cork trivet, a solid earthenware bowl or a brass incense burner with chains are all recommended. Place an inch or more of salt or sand in the bottom of the burner to absorb heat from the charcoal, and to raise your charcoal upwards for proper air circulation- otherwise, it won’t burn properly.  Consider whether you will be burning your incense in one place, or carrying your burner around more regularly to smudge and cleanse larger spaces. The traditional paua or abalone shells used in smudging rituals are not for burning charcoal in, they are just to hold the burning smudge bundles themselves which don’t emit as much sustained heat. 

Secondly, I recommend a small candle that you use to light your charcoal pucks with. The flame from a lighter is made from butane, which often doesn’t burn hot enough to light a charcoal properly. You will also find this problem lighting sage bundles with a lighter. Matches, while hot enough, may burn down too quickly and singe your fingers- also, the sulphur smell is not always a welcome addition to your spiritual practise. 

Thirdly, get a small mason jar with a nice tight lid to store your charcoal pucks in. They are self lighting, and even ambient humidity can really effect their ability to catch fire and burn properly. Stored in an air tight jar, they will last for years. 

Fourthly, make sure all you incense its stored in air tight jars or zip lock bags. Store it in a cool dry place, away from direct sunlight. If it has essential oils mixed in with it, or is made from more volatile plant matter it can go stale and loose it’s scent. Resinous incense will stay viable for thousands of years with proper storage! If you are burning incense sticks, the same applies- get a tall jar, such as one made for pasta storage with a good tight screw top lid. Don’t forget to label everything- you may remember now, but once you have a few to choose from you may forget the names of each individual type. 

Fifthly, ensure that the surface your incense burner will be sitting on is fire proof; even if you’re sure, still place a cork mat or trivet underneath the feet of your burner, just to be safe. 

Sixthly, you may wish to get a small pair of charcoal tongs and a small spoon to handle your incense and charcoal pucks to keep your hands clean; some incenses are dusty or sticky, leaving a tacky film on your finger tips that is distracting during your spiritual process. 

Now that your incense tools are prepared, let’s begin with using incense for the Self, and work outwards from there. 

CLEANSING THE AURA 

The aura, the subtle energy bodies that radiate out around our physical bodies, are spiritual emanations that reflect the different aspects of Self. There are several different layers of your aura, which correspond to your mental, emotional and spiritual Selves. Day to day stress and the natural build up of mental and emotional clutter can reflect itself within your aura, as well as your physical body that holds the core of all of our auric fields. In additon, trauma and intense negative or positive experiences can also resonate throughout your different aspects of Self. 

Signs that you could benefit from cleansing your aura include: 

• feeling physically tired, even after a good nights sleep 
• feeling physically run down generally 
• feeling mentally exhausted, foggy or clouded 
• feeling uninspired by things that used to bring us happiness 
• feeling emotionally drained 
• feeling emotionally distant or closed off
• feeling short tempered and easily frustrated 
• feeling like you have absorbed other’s negative emotions 
• grieving or processing emotional trauma 
• feeling heavy or like everything is a struggle 
• feeling like your way forwards to a goal is blocked or obscured
• having spent too much time around stressful people. 

It can only take a few minutes out of your day to cleanse your auras with sacred smoke, but it can make a noticeable difference in your life. 

unwanted energy can linger in your aura, weighing down your energy fields and making you feel heavy, unmotivated, out of sorts and even manifest symptoms of depression. Unfortunately, the more ‘open’ you are to other people’s energy, the more often this will happen to you and the more you will need to take care of yourself. Introverts, empaths, highly intuitive psychic folk and those in any sort of care-related field (such as nursing, counselling, crisis centres, addiction support etc.) who spend a lot of time around those who are in need, in pain and are very troubled will naturally accrue even more psychic detritus around them that must be cleansed regularly, lest it contribute to burn out. 

Think of aura cleansing as a smoke bath for your auras (you can, of course, take an actual bath too- but that’s a whole different class!) but instead of washing away physical dirt, you’re sweeping away dirty energy. 

Here are the steps to go through for a basic aura cleansing with incense. 

1. as you gather your incense materials, contemplate the reasons for doing this. Bring those reasons and the feelings associated with them to the forefront of your mind. As you do this mentally, you are also energetically stirring them up in your astral body, making it easier for them to be swept away with the sacred smoke. At this time, light the candle you’ll be lighting your incense from. 
2. turn your phone to silent, turn off the TV and close your computer. This time is all about you. Ask to not be disturbed by others in the house for a few minutes. This goes double if they are the source of the stress you are trying to exorcise from yourself. It’s important to keep yourself in the present moment while engaging in this work; consciously set aside the cares of the day and allow yourself to be fully committed to the process. 

3. turn off your smoke detector. If you can’t turn it off, take a plastic grocery bag and temporarily tape it firmly around the detector to prevent it from going off.

4. If you are burning a herb bundle, make sure it is well lit before blowing it out to smoulder; if you are burning on a charcoal, light it by holding it into the candle flame until it starts to sparkle and the far edge glows red. Place it into your incense burner (also called a censer or thurible) with the indented side facing upwards before you burn your fingers! Blow gently onto your charcoal- when it flares red throughout, it is ready to have incense placed onto it.

5. Place your feet firmly on the ground about shoulder width apart. Stand up as straight as you are able to comfortably. Take a deep breath, hold it, and breath out deeply. Repeat another 3 times. 4 is the number of stability and the earthly plane.  Breathe the incense in, and feel the power of the sacred Air moving through your body with every breath. 

6. Starting at your head, and moving slowly downwards, sweep the incense smoke past your body as if you were using it to brush invisible crumbs from the air, or as if you were smoothing a hanging drape. You can use a feather, a fan or just your hand for this purpose. Move the incense about a foot away from your body; hold the bowl with your off hand and sweep with your dominant hand. While you are sweeping away unwanted energy, keep in mind to move your hand away from your centre while seeing the smoke. If you are blessing, or bringing energy in, move your hand towards you through the smoke. 

7. Make sure you get the top of your head, and down your centre meridian. Don’t forget to do your legs and even the bottom of your feet. Sometimes people place the incense burner on the floor and even stand over it to be fully immersed. 

8. As you move down your centre meridian, spend a few extra moments over each of your chakra points; the bodies major energy enters can really absorb a lot of unwanted energy and need extra attention to be cleansed. Many people these days have problems specifically with their throat, heart and sacral (around the bellybutton) chakras. Spend some extra time there to really cleanse those spots.

9. place the bowl back down to enable you to brush the smoke along both of your arms.
10. As you are cleansing, be aware of any feelings that may arise within you- are you sad? relieved? Do you suddenly remember something that you haven’t thought about in years? Keep a note of how you feel in response to this process. It’s not unusual to want to have a nap or a break after this experience. Even a cup of tea and time to sit and journal for a bit is ideal. Be kind to yourself, and don’t try to rush immediately back into what you were doing that might be triggering further stressors in your life. 

This is the standard process for a simple aura cleansing with incense. However, if you are creating a purposeful space around yourself, it is important to really take the time before this process to focus on your intention. 

If it makes it easier for you, even sit down and write out your purpose to be completely clear in your head. If you write it on a small piece of rice paper or other natural unbleached paper with a pen dipped in something like soy sauce or lemon juice, you can even shred the paper and add it to your incense pot as you burn to literally as well as metaphorically surround yourself with your intention!  Releasing your words to the Divine through burning is a very ancient magical act. If you want to do this, you will find that distilling your desires and purpose down to a single word symbol or short phrase, and burning that is the most effective. 

Burning incense  creates quite a bit of smoke; be prepared for a fully infused atmosphere by the time you are done. 

Stick and cone incense is delightful, but it’s purpose is not the same. It produces a small volume of smoke over a longer period of time- by doing so, it gently infuses your space with energy gradually over about an hour. Cleansing and fumigation on charcoal or with a herb bundle are best done for a specific magical rite, as they will infuse your space with a lot of energy, quickly. A charcoal puck will stay burning for about 30 minutes, but will be hot for a while after that and is best disposed of by flushing it, rather than in the garbage or compost bin. An incense stick will burn for about 45 minutes to an hour, and a cone of incense will burn for about 30-45 minutes. 

If you are looking to slowly and gently introduce a specific energy into your space, sticks and cones are perfect. Additionally, stick and cone incense is burned at household shrines and meditation areas the world over; a good stick incense is subtle and pure and completely appropriate for offerings, remembrances or prayers.  

CLEANISNG  & PURIFYING YOUR SPACE 

This is a simple ritual that can be conducted as needed to purify, not only you but your home of negative energy. Rather than sweeping out just your own aura, you are also sweeping out the energy of your home. There are a few signs that can be indicative of your space needing to be cleansed. 

• People who live there not sleeping properly 
• Higher than usual amount of disturbing or restless dreams 
• Vivid or repetitive dreams, night terrors 
• A larger than usual (or any) fights between residents 
• Residents have short fuses, bicker or are impatient with each other
• Items going missing or breaking more often than usual
• Lack of motivation, unable to keep up with household chores 
• Pets are restless, or display unusual behaviour 
• Sense of hopelessness or heaviness of spirit when at home
• Recent trauma occurred in the space 
• Individuals moved out or into the space. 
• Feeling like you’re not alone in the space 
• Feeling of unease or chills in parts of the space

When you are preparing to cleanse your home with incense, or “smoke out’ your home, there are a few spots within the home that usually hold more of a psychic charge. Any space that someone spends the majority of their time in will retain an energetic memory of that person- as well as their emotional, psychic ‘footprint’. Pay careful attention to those spaces and take a bit more time with your smoke to make sure those places are well cleared. These places usually include: the bed, desk, worktable, couch and occasionally the bathtub or the kitchen by the stove. 

In addition to this, the basement of any house becomes rather the psychic garbage disposal for the home. Day to day unwanted energy, minor negativities naturally ‘ground’ themselves by moving into the earth- but then are bound to the perimeters of the space, and simply linger there. Basements often have quite a build up of spiritual static that needs to be removed. 

It is good to do a house cleansing twice- once to purify the space, and again with a different incense to infuse the freshly-cleansed space with an energy of your own intention. Many people just cleanse their home and never experience the full results. Nature abhors a vacuum, as they say, and if you leave an energetic void by cleasning out what is there, without filling it back up, all the energy that you moved out of the space will simply drift back in given the chance. 

After you have smoked off yourself, begin at your front door and move counterclockwise through the home, and counterclockwise through each room . Walk slowly, fanning the smoke upwards and away from you, sweeping away all the energy that is unwanted. Hold your focus of intention through out this exercise- visualize with your minds eye the heavy, dark clouds of energy being swept away on the smoke. Don’t be afraid to get things quite smokey- you can always open a window as you go. Do your main floor, upstairs, and then your basement last if you have one. 

After you have arrived back at the front door, conclude by opening your front door and sweeping the last of the incense smoke out and away from your home. Air out your house and allow the purifying smoke to dissipate, carrying the unwanted energy away with it. Once it has cleared, prepare to bless the space. Pick an incense that is created to bring blessings, or prosperity, or protection, or love- or mix them for yourself for a total treatment! I love my Blessing Blitz incense blend: 

https://madame-phoenix-online.myshopify.com/products/blessing-blitz-magical-spell-incense

Begin again at the front door- this time moving clockwise throughout the house. Spend some extra time in the bedrooms- we are at our most psychically open while we are sleeping, and are most receptive to the positive energy you are infusing into the space at that time. 

when you have arrived back at your front door, this time simply let the incense finish burning by the front door- it will beckon and welcome into your home the energy you are cultivating. 

If your house feels fine generally but there is a single space that needs work, consider burning the stick incenses or cones specifically in that space- using the incense passively, rather than actively. You may need to light a stick of your specific incense once a day for several days for the energy to brighten and turn around, but it will target the specific room or space that needs your attention. 

Many people will smoke out their offices and places of work as well. Tempers can run high on the job, and if you have many people coming in and out over the course of the day they can leave unwanted energy behind them when they leave. 

When choosing items for your incense, there are several factors to keep in mind. Some items may not smell at all, until they are burning. Other items, such as the delicate dried flowers and some of the dried leaves, smell amazing when blended but lose their scent quickly when burning, and only smell charred. A good incense will smell good both dry and burning- probably quite different, but still pleasant. 

There are exceptions to this, of course. Some of the more intense exorcism incense blends are quite pungent and can be overpowering in a small space- the purpose of these being to drive away the unwanted spirits from a space by infusing their energetic space with the powerful smoke. Scent and smoke, being by it’s nature etherial and invisible, is considered to be a tangible, real presence in the higher spiritual planes. What is a bad smell for us is a real force pushing against those negative energies and forcing them to leave your space. 

Of course, the opposite is also true- pleasant smells are considered attractive to beneficent beings; it’s why flower are offered at weddings, funerals and in churches- to draw good energy and positive spirits to the place to bring blessings and peace. 

INCENSE OPTIONS 

If you don’t want to have a lot of smoke in your space; whether due to allergies, practicalities or a worry about disturbing others, you can also purchase the essential oil blends and diffuse them in an oil burner for a gentle, clean scent. However, much like cone and stick incense, this is more for suffusing your space with an energy gently and slowly, rather than swiftly and decisively. 

If you have a blend that smells amazing, but is comprised of mostly items that wouldn’t transmit well to burning such as dried flowers and spices, you can always mix them into a bowl and leave them to gently perfume your space as pot pourri. Freshen it quarterly with a few drops of essential oil to keep it lasting for years!

many of the herbs, roots and scents used for cleansing and purification are also used for protection- the idea is that once you have removed an energy from a person, place or object- you want it to stay away. These do double duty to remove and to create an energetic boundary to prevent anything unwanted to creep back. Again, many of them are quite strong; such as the galangal and the sulphur- it’s quite easy to accidentally ‘gas’ yourself. Burn these with the windows open, or set them to burn and leave the space until they are finished and you can air the room out. Effective, certainly, but to be used with caution. 

Over the years, many practitioners have discovered tried and true incense ingredients to draw luck, money and success into their lives. Burning this incense in your place of business will help to draw customers and money, and burning it at home will create an aura of prosperity and wealth all about you. Like attracts like, and with these scents you are actively working to draw the energy of largess. 

One of the oldest reasons human beings have turned to magic- to create a loving, harmonious or sensually romantic environment, to heal the heart and to draw love into our lives. It is important to note that it is impossible to compel a true sense of love from another. Love must be given freely, to be real and lasting.

Most love magic stimulates attraction and desire- once you have the object of your affections paying attention to you, the rest is up to you to keep them interested through who you are naturally!

I must recommend strongly against performing love magic with a specific individual in mind. It comes to close to attempting to manipulate their Free Will through magical purposes= and that is quite unethical. Instead, focus on the qualities you are looking for in a partner, and work on attracting those qualities- leave it up to the Universe as to what package those qualities arrive in, and you’ll be all set. 

often it’s easier to work on self-love first; healing our own heart of emotional damage, releasing baggage and becoming whole and happy within ourselves. Many times, once this internal work has been achieved, a healthy happy relationship will manifest in our lives naturally. 

Conversely, you can also burn a love incense in your home or bedroom to set the specific intention of having a romantic evening, to enhance and deepen the connection between you and your existing partner. 

We are created from out surroundings- we are what we eat, but also what we breathe and absorb through our skin. Healing incense is burned to create an aura of healthy energy within and around us to facilitate the healing process and to bolster heath. 

When you are blending your incense, consider a good balance between resins, oils and herbs. Resins burn most fragrantly and can be infused with the essential oils of flowers or herbs that won’t translate so effectively to the censing process. 

You can leave your incense in pieces and chunks- it is more visually appealing that way and is more evocative of the work you are doing. However, you can also grind it to a fine powder to ensure that it is completely homogenous- that every scoop you put on your charcoal produces the same scent. Purchase a good quality heavy mortar and pestle to do this with, or a dedicated electric herb grinder. DON’T use your regular coffee grinder for this- your coffee will taste like herbs and your incense smell like breakfast forever after.  

Even if you’re not creating a uniform powdered incense, it’s often a good idea to mince the dried leaves into small pieces so that they will mix more effectively with the resins and oil.  Make sure that the leaves and flowers you are using are completely dry- if they’re not, they can ruin your incense by going mouldy. 

Pick your ingredients first- you can choose the number of ingredients to correspond magically to your purpose, too- 

1= unity of purpose (Sun) 

2=balance (Neptune) 

3- manifestation  (Saturn) 

4- stability and material gain (Jupiter) 

5- defense and protection (Mars) 

6- creativity, health and the arts (Sun) 

7- love and romance (Venus) 

8- communication, luck, travel, money (Mercury) 

9- dreams, psychic work, meditation (Moon) 

Nextly, mix the resins together. The pieces should be smaller than a pea- if they’re not, and often resins will come in larger chunks, use a mortar and pestle to break them down. Mix your incense in a ceramic or glass bowl; some oils react to metal. 

If you are adding any essential oils to the mix, add them to the resins and mix thoroughly. You should add the oils one drop at at time- a little oil goes a long way, and too much can be overpowering and make your incense clump together into one sticky mass that is difficult to work with. 

Lastly, add your herbal matter and mix completely so it is an even blend. Bottle and store in a cool dry place out of direct sunlight- it should last for months or even years! All natural incense matures and develops over time. It’s a good idea to mix your blend even 24 hours before you need it, to allow the flavours to meld properly.  

I have a wide range of pre blended incense for any purpose under the sun- but you can also buy herbs, resins and oils and enjoy mixing your own!