Incense has been used for thousands of years, if not tens of thousands of years. Today you can buy instant sticks anywhere from the Dollar tree to Macy's. You can also make your own but I'm not really sure how to do that, why? Why was or is something so simple basic and almost non-important able to survive tens of thousands of years and still be in use? We use it for so many things and so many reasons spiritual meditation relaxation just because we like to smell but what is this significance of incense? The sense of smell is the strongest connection to memory, you won't pass the bakery smell fresh baked cookies and remember spending time at your grandmother's in the summer baking cookies every Saturday. I suspect incense serves the same purpose, personally all of my best memories are associated with incense. 

The first time I lit my very first ever incense stick was not for religious purposes it was to cover other smells, lol, you know I had an extracurricular activity at one time. But I remember walking up picking one pulling it out sniffing the stick to see if it's the one I wanted. Putting it in my simple bamboo Ash catcher, lighting it letting that flame engulf the tip of the instant stick for a few seconds and then blowing it out and watching as that gray white smoke spiraled toward the ceiling. Just watching that smoke had a soothing effect, and somewhere inside my mind a door opened. It was a door to ancient spirituality, my ancestors be they rich or poor native American or English colonizer or indigenous yes I have all of those in my history, someone somewhere did this exact same thing. Maybe not for the same reasons but someone somewhere did light incense.

Let's check history, they have found ceramic incense holders and cauldrons and things like that predating Egyptian civilization not by much. I think the dates were 3,500 BCE to 3000 I think that's the oldest that they've been able to discover so far. I'm pretty sure that they used incense for pretty much the same thing we do today. Probably more toward religious temples, because a temple like a church has to present a feel. So if you were per say going to go to the temple of Hecate, and commune with her in ancient times you'd walk through those cooler corridors smelling things like oranges and jasmine and sandalwood, and those sense would make you feel closer to her. This shows me that the bridge between us and the universe has always been utilized by flame, smoke and scent.

Over time there have been different types of incense, you have the major four resin... Which is tree sap or plant sap. It's usually harvested after it dries and then crushed into a powder or smaller pellets to be burned easily on a charcoal disc. There's also the form of stick which I believe is bamboo, with sawdust scent and a binding agent. There are cones which are usually put on discs as of late and a very popular incense burner/holder is the backflow incense holder. There's a hole in the bottom of the cone which pulls the smoke through instead of letting it go up. That is also made out of sawdust scent in a binding agent and you create it with your hands. There's also powder I just learned about powder so I haven't I don't know a lot but the neat thing is you can use a stencil and create a design on sand in a fireproof object, light one end of that with a match and meditate on your symbol as the incense burns. I am not going to lie I am definitely excited to try this particular way of enjoying incense. 

Each of the above mentioned types of incense have a purpose, for instance the sticks are great for meditation and relaxation because they last longer. The scent is not as heavy but you don't want an aggressive scent when you're meditating you want something soft and subtle something that is going to help your visualization without pulling you out. The cones are great for a burst of scent intensity they're very very strong, and they burn a little faster so they would be great for spell work or anything where you only have a limited amount of time to give to whatever you're doing. The powder is easier to customize like I said you can use a stencil and created design and it will create a thicker denser smoke, so it will give that ceremony or ritual a more authentic feel. Resin is the traditional incense especially in ceremonies and rituals, think of the Catholic Church they incense their church with a resin in the incense burner. Resin has a deeper layered scent it's almost like waves of scent. 

There's so much triggered by smell, creativity I use a lot of it when I'm writing. Not all of the memories that are triggered are good and not all are subtle sometimes you can have a very physical reaction to a memory. When I smell roses I'm reminded of my late mother, she grew them only person I knew that could grow them in sand. Honeysuckle reminds me of my youth in Florida in the '80s. I'm always in awe of the magic of incense when meditating I can feel the warm sand beneath my feet as the humid heavily scented air blows over me. The magic of sandalwood and cowboys while writing I've been practicing the craft for 20 plus years I'm always humbled by the effects smoke flame and Ash have on all of my senses. Do you have a favorite scent? Does it help pull a favorite memory forward for you? Do you burn incense while you cook clean read? 

I have so many favorites! Jasmine, soft subtle exotic... I wish I were all those things I am not but Jasmine just for a little bit lets me feel like a princess. Dragon's blood woodsy spicy strong, lets me know I'm protected by the masculine in nature. Sandalwood, manly, subtle clean strong, it connects me to a deeper nature need. All of these can be used for meditation for smoke cleansing as offerings to certain deities. Also, the art of reading smoke from incense is a form of divination in and of itself, if the smoke spirals to the left has a meaning spirals to the right a different meeting. If the smoke flows to you or away if it's widely dispersed does it rises to the ceiling or tight line, I myself am not very good at this particular form of divination but that doesn't mean I won't stop learning. 

I recommend that you pick a favorite smell, light it make yourself comfortable. Close your eyes dim the lights even slow breaths. Be it to go inside with meditation into the universe to find your purpose or to go to the past to an afternoon with your grandmother let's smoke and fire carry you there. Remember... Your journey is just the flick of your back away a deep breath and a sigh.