Incense

In ancient times, part of the reason for using incense was that it was believed that this scented smoke was the food of the Gods, and so it's burning constituted part of an offering to the Gods.  Then, as now, it is also believed that the smoke travelling up to the Gods takes with it our prayers so they are heard more readily.

Whatever your beliefs, incense is most certainly commonly used within ritual as a representation of the element of air.  Loose incense, of course, is then combined with burning coals as a representation of the element of fire.  And thus the masculine elements are incorporated, and the male God/s honoured.

The two main forms incense comes in are loose and rolled.  Rolled incense is often referred to as joss sticks, and is basically a thin length of wood upon which the incense is stuck for ease of burning.  Loose is, as the name implies, the loose herbs and resins which are burnt by placing them upon burning coals.  There are, of course, other variations of it's form, such as cones, whereby the incense is compressed into a cone form and burnt on small dishes without the need for coals.

So at what points should you use what incense?  Well, in truth, this really is entirely up to you.  For my own part, I tend to have a variety of rolled incense sticks in the house at any given time with the general purpose of creating the ambience I require at the time (and making the place smell nice!), as well as being handy in case of emergency rituals where I don't have time to gather the required ingredients for the correct loose incense.  On top of that, I then acquire/prepare the appropriate loose incense in advance of any ritual I am planning, as I do find the quality of loose incense preferable for ritual work, not to mention it's use in invoking two elements in one go!

And so on to the fun part... choosing your incense.  Obviously, it's preferable to go for the highest quality you can afford, but when forced to choose, I would always suggest reserving the more pricey ones for your ritual, and choosing the multitude of perfectly nice cheaper ones for daily use.  Companies such as Spiritual Sky make perfectly adequate incense for daily use at around 99p for a packet of 20 sticks.  Some of the "ethnic" shops you'll find in most towns now also do a pick and mix option, again around £1 for 20 sticks, and these are often fairly nice quality.  With loose incense, particularly when intended for ritual use, I tend to question the shop I buy it from to some degree on the origins of the herbs, the times they are cut, the methods used for harvest and creation, and so on.  Fortunately I now have a local store I trust implicitly for this, not to mention a multitude of friends and friends of friends who are aware of the importance of time and method of harvest.  With any incense, do bear in mind when buying it that it will smell stronger in the jar/packet than it will when you burn it.  Time and experience will help you to know instinctively which incenses are going to work best when burnt.

When choosing incense for a specific purpose, take time and care to select the most appropriate herb/scent for the job in hand.  For the sabbats, I have given a few suggestions in each turn of appropriate incense to use and, again, time and experience will help you to establish an intuitive feel for which herbs will best serve your purpose.  A fine book for beginners would be Scott Cunningham's book of Incense, Oils and Brews, as this details not only a large range of incenses, but also appropriate substitutions in case of emergency.  Like any piece of work, however, don't take it as your bible!  It is there merely to help you get started and, as time draws on, you'll find half the fun is in creating your own blends based on your knowledge and feel for the herbs and resins.