Used throughout the ages to enhance spirituality, mental perception,
meditation, prayer and consciousness, frankincense soothes the spirit as it
slows and deepens breathing.
Myrrh Gum Resin - Commiphora
myrrha
This small scrubby tree from the Middle East and northeast Africa produces a
precious gum which has been traded for thousands of years. In the Bible, it is
a gift to baby Jesus from of one of the Wise Men.
Myrrh has been used to improve digestion and boost the immune system. Various
traditions have used it to treat coughs, gum disease, wounds, candida and the
treatment of skin diseases.
Myrrh has been used since antiquity to inspire prayer and meditation, and to
fortify and revitalize the spirit.
Copal White - Bursera
jorullense - A wonderfully fresh, soft white copal resin with delightful
bright and lively notes. Cleansing, refreshing, meditation.
To the
ancient Mayan's, the Divine God of the Earth extracted copal resin from the
tree of life and gave it to humans as a gift.
Copal is said to be cleansing and aid in mental and spiritual endeavors. It
opens the soul and stimulates creativity and imagination.
Dark Copal (a.k.a. black copal
or copal negro) - agathis dammara Night Copal, as it is often called,
carries the secret energies of the night. It is grounding and connects us to
deeper levels of our inner spirit.
Black Copal has a strong, mysterious, heavy, balsamic, even mystical fragrance
Dragon's blood resin creates a very strong herbal and spicy fragrance. It's
considered to be cleansing and as such, has been added in small amounts to
Frankincense mixtures used in churches.
Dragon's blood is a deep red, shiny resin used in incense burning. The fruit of
the tree is covered with scales. The resin seeps out between the scales, is
collected, cleansed and then melted.
Dragon's blood resin has been used for thousands of years in India as part of
their rituals.
Sandalwood Chips - santalum album
Wonderfully fragrant yellow sandalwood chips
Sandalwood produces a warm, sweet, buttery, woody fragrance and has been one of
the most prized incense ingredients for thousands of years.
Early on in India, people observed that termites never attack sandalwood. For
that reason, they considered it a symbol of vitality.
Sandalwood has long been used in Ayurvedic medicine as a remedy for bladder and
kidney infections, inflammations, skin problems, respiratory problems and many
other illnesses.
The fragrance of sandalwood creates an relaxing and harmonizing atmosphere of
calm and supports the search for inner peace, reflection and balance.
Benzoin- Styrax benzoides
- Siam (Thailand).
Benzoin
resin has a sweet, balsamlike fragrance resembling vanilla. It does not have a
very pleasing aroma by itself but when mixed with other ingredients, it
develops into a wonderful aromatic pleasure.
Long used since antiquity as an incense ingredient by many civilizations. Known
in Europe during the middle ages as "Friar's Balsam."
The natural gum is collected from deep incisions made into the tree trunk; it
hardens on exposure to the air and is collected.
Benzoin is warm, relaxing and calming and as such is good to use in the evening
mixed with sandalwood. It has been known to stimulate imagination and good for
use in creative work.
Pinon Pine Resin (soft)
Pinon Pine
brings a clearing, balsamic bouquet to any incense mixture. It's also wonderful
to burn by itself.
Pinon resin is cleansing, strengthening, warming. Used by Native American
cultures for it's spiritual and healing properties.
Aloeswoodis
known as "Jinko" in Japan, which translates as "sinking
incense" or "incense that sinks in water," due to the weight of
the resin in the wood.
Aloeswood comes from the heartwood and roots of the evergreen tree aquilaria
agallocha. Some trees become infected by a fungus and, as an immunal
response, the tree produces a resin to ward off the fungus. It's this precious
resin that has been revered for thousands of years by many cultures as the most
treasured incense ingredient on Earth!
Camphor(natural) - Dryobalanops
aromatica From the magnificent camphor trees, which are considered holy by
the Chinese, we are given the gift of the natural translucent crystals of
borneol camphor.
Camphor powder has a smooth, very pleasant cleansing and uplifting fragrance.
Very little is needed to give any incense mixture a fresh, wonderful cleansing
aroma. It's said to strengthen awareness and be helpful in maintaining
concentration. As such, it's often added to morning meditation incense
mixtures.
Fragrant camphor excretes from the camphor trees naturally through cracks in
the trunk and bark. It's also harvested from the fissures that run just under
the bark of the tree.
Warning: For incense use only. Keep out of the reach of children. Do not
take internally. Ingestion can cause severe health problems even death!
Gum Dammar resin (brown) - Shorea
wiesneri Dammar resin, also known as cat-eye resin, lifts the spirit and
brings light to the darkness of the soul.
Dammar resin is said to be particularly useful to combat sadness, depression
and melancholy.
Gum Arabic – Burnt traditionally
to enhance spirituality and for purification purposes. Will purify area of
negativity.
Gum Elemi (soft) - Canarium
commune Elemi produces a bright lemony, woody fragrance with a hint of
fennel, frankincense and grass.
Elemi is known to be clarifying and cleansing with energizing properties. It
stimulates mental ability and works well for morning meditation, tai chi or
yoga exercises. It creates a spirit of hopefulness and is said to relieve
depression.
Traditionally, people use elemi with substances that are refreshing and
cleansing such as mastic, lemongrass, and sweet grass.
Galbanum resin (soft) - Ferula
galbaniflua Galbanum has long been valued for it's wonderfully complex
green, spicy, woody, balsamlike fragrance.
The Egyptians imported Galbanum resin in vast amounts, it was among their most
treasured incense ingredients.
Galbanum, also called "Mother resin", is discharged from the roots
and lower trunk of this small wild plant. It originally grew in the Mesopatamia
area and was exported to India, China, Israel and Egypt. Today Iran is the
primary, if not solitary, source of all Galbanum.
Galbanum was often used to relieve tensions due to anxiety and severe
restlessness and to relieve muscle spasms. It was often used during childbirth.
Sandarac gum resin - Tetraclinis
articulata - from Morocco. Sandarac, also known as avar tree, has a
wonderful warm, light, fruity, balsamic, frankincense-like fragrance.
Sandarac is still used today to make liquor. In Morocco it is steeped in folk
medicine and is used as a remedy if childbirth becomes difficult. It has a
calming effect and reduces cramps. In Arabian countries sandarac is still
burned to treat colds. People also take the resin internally to treat
roundworms and tapeworms.
During the days of Jesus, sandarac was known as "gold" and is
considered by some to be the gold gift to the baby Jesus.
Sandarac's warm balsamic fragrance works well in the evenings. It relaxes,
calms and eases tension. It is helpful in cases of insomnia caused by tension
or stress.
Sandarac is cleansing, strengthening and clarifying.
Amber - light - Pinus succinifera
Ancient Greeks and Egyptians considered amber to be an important healing remedy
against mental illness, fever, stomach problems, throat infections, rheumatism
and much more.
The Greeks called amber the "sun stone" and believed it connected them
to the sun god, creating an atmosphere of renewal and alertness.
In ancient Greece, amber was called "electron", the root of the word
"electricity." When rubbed this resin becomes electrostatic.
Gum Mastic resin - Pistacia
lentiscus var. Chia - imported directly from Chios, Greece - No. 1 grade
pearls.
Gum Mastic is a transparent, lemon-white coloured, tear-shaped natural resin
from the mastic tree, which grows on the southern part of the island of Chios,
Greece and nowhere else in the world.
Egypt imported this popular incense from Chios. It was a key ingredient in
their ancient "Kyphi" recipes.
Mastic creates a light, balsam like, fresh, lemony, gentle fragrance. It is
cleansing, clarifying and mentally refreshing. In ancient Egypt, mastic was
also called "the fragrance that pleases the gods." People in North
Africa use mastic for incense burning as a tonic for exhaustion.
Mastic works well for meditation and reflection, its bright radiant energy is
helpful when you need clarity.
It's also used as a natural and hygienic chewing gum; excellent for teeth
cleaning and as a medicine for stomachache, stomach ulcer, diabetes,
cholesterol, etc.
The mastic tree is an evergreen bush that grows up to 20 ft (6m) high. The tree
lives about a hundred years and is fully grown after about 40-50 years. It
starts giving its resin (mastic) when it is 5-6 years old. After about 15
years, it produces from 60 to 400 grams of mastic per year.
Since ancient times, mastic has been used as a natural medicine. A leaf fossil from
a mastic tree has been found dating back six million years. Mastic oil and
other sub products are produced from mastic and are used widely in medicine,
the pharmaceutical industry, dentistry, and industry in general. A recent
research of the University of Athens / Department of Pharmacy proved that
Mastic and Mastic oil have remarkable antibacterial and fungicidal properties.
In the USA and Japan they produce medicine from mastic to treat stomach ulcers
and help relieve stomach aches. Traditionally mastic is taken as a medicine to
drop the sugar levels of the blood (diabetes) and to improve cholesterol.
Storax - storax
calamitos - Storax produces a warm, balsamlike, sweet, flowery, intense,
feminine and slightly grassy fragrance. It adds a sweet sensual note to any
incense mixture.
Storax is made by boiling the bark of the tree, pressing it to remove the
water, then using alcohol extraction to produce the pure resin. The resin is
then soaked back into the charcoaled bark.
Makko (ground) - From
Asia, the bark of this tree is ground up and added to incense mixtures as a
natural binder for making incense cones and sticks.
Makko is also used instead of charcoal to burn incense ingredients. It does not
affect the pure natural scents of the other ingredients.
Makko Base powder - cultivated mainly in Southeast Asia; from Kyushu to China,
Taiwan, and Thailand the trees grow.
See "How to make
incense" page for more information on Makko Powder
