*These will not be posted before November 18th.
Handmade INCENSE of four sacred plants. Four sticks and a handmade holder.
These sticks smell of beauty. The balance of deep and earthy at its base with a light sweetness above, to calm and lift the soul.
In AYURVEDA the plants we burn carry the elements. Resins, woods and branches hold WATER, and the leaf of the bay laurel holds AIR. WATER calms and AIR lifts, and together they make a smoke that settles the nerves and lightens the spirit.
A single thread of smoke rises, unfolding into a fragrance that smells of beauty. It is deep and earthy at its base with a light sweetness above, calming first, then lifting the soul. Stand the stick in its holder and let the room fill.
Four plants creating space. Bay laurel, woven into the crowns of the victors at Delphi and used by the oracle to open the way to prophecy, brings green clarity. Sandarac is the pale golden tears of the Atlas Mountains. It lifts with a clean, light. The dark a balsamic resin of the Turkish sweetgum. Sap is mixed with chopped bark and macerated for months to allow the emergence of thick black resin with warm balsamic. It has been burned as incense in the temples for thousands of years. It gives the sticks their deep, sweet base. Elder used here is from the woods where I live. In the old stories of northern Europe the Elder Mother lives in the elder and guards it, and to take from the tree you first ask her leave. It is Ruis, the thirteenth tree of the Celtic Ogham, the tree of transformation and renewal, and an elder growing by the door was said to protect the house. It grows on my own ground, and it brings protection and a fresh beginning.
In the morning, a single stick sets the pace of the day. To clear a space, hold a small dish beneath the stick and walk slowly from the door inward, letting the smoke reach each corner, then open a window so the old energies can leave. For meditation, take your seat and stay for as long as the stick burns, with a thread of smoke to follow. And in the evening, close the day with one, and let the sweetness carry you into the night.
I burn them with the moon, one stick for each of its four phases, so that a month becomes a ritual. At the NEW MOON, in the dark of the month, kindle the first stick and write a single sentence for what you wish to grow, reading it once as the smoke rises. At the FIRST QUARTER, when the moon is half lit and the intention has taken root, take the flame to the second and choose one action for the week. At the FULL MOON, when the whole face is bright, set the third alight, read your sentence, observe what has grown, and speak aloud what has finished, letting the smoke carry it away. At the LAST QUARTER as the light withdraws, bring a flame to the fourth and sit for as long as it burns, reckoning what the month has given you. Then the cycle closes and begins again.
Four sticks, a day or a month to spend them in, and attar that stays in the room after the smoke has gone. Each parcel comes with a holder handmade by me with clay and a circle of bright resourced leather from artist Kay Morgan.(Leather colour not chosen).
If you are SEEKING doses for deeper ceremony, discover CEREMONY, our Ayurvedic incense powder.
Bay laurel (Laurus nobilis), sandarac resin (Tetraclinis articulata), black storax resin (Liquidambar orientalis) and elder (Sambucus nigra). Eco-friendly and sustainably sourced, handmade.
Stick length 16cm
Safety: burn in a heatproof holder, in a ventilated room. Never leave it burning unattended. Keep away from children.
