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60s & Further
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The
Tao of Incense
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Namaste!
BLURB!
For thousands of years, incense has been cherished
in cultures throughout the
world. Universally it has been appreciated for its purifying influence
and
used as an integral part of spiritual and religious rites.
The earliest practitioners of natural medicine recognized that the
aromatic
influence of plants, trees, and flowers had profound and specific
influences
on the human mind and body. Incense served as an essential medium
for delivering
these gifts of nature.
In ancient times, making incense was a precise art, when and how ingredients
were harvested, how they were prepared, and in what manner and for
how long
they were blended and then hand-rolled, were all essential to creating
incense
that effectively delivered nature's healing and purifying influence.
Good
Karma Forever!
Peace
LionHeart
November 2006
Incense
is a kind of "mental stimulant" which can transform the
ordinary into the very special,
and do easily and at no great expense.
Fine incense burning in a plain room with candlelight and music
can produce the setting that subtly calls
the psyche
to relax, lighten and flow with the moment.
Whether the space is a temple or a bedroom, the effect is the same.
A mood is set and the moment takes on a heightened
special meaning.
Of
course, how well that special meaning is evoked depends greatly
upon the quality of the incense used,
as well as the personal tastes of the user.
One Japanese manufacturer has likened incense
burning to
"rambling through a fantastic garden in full bloom."
Each
type of incense can be regarded as yet another wonderful plant in
the garden.
In
"A Natural History of the Senses",
poet Diane Ackerman notes that it is almost impossible to explain
how something smells to someone who hasn't smelled it. There are
names for all the pastels in a hue, she writes—but none for
the tones and tints of a smell. Nor can odors be measured on the
kind of linear scale that scientists use to measure the wavelength
of light or the frequency of sounds.
"It
would be nice if one smell corresponded to a short wavelength and
another to a long wavelength, such as rose versus skunk, and you could
place every smell on this linear scale," says Randall
Reed, an HHMI investigator at the Johns Hopkins University School
of Medicine who has long been interested in olfaction. "But
there is no smell scale," since odorant molecules vary widely
in chemical composition and three-dimensional shape.
WARNING!
READ THIS!
PLEASE!
While
we import much of our incense directly from India, most of the incense
available in America is processed here, too. Blank unscented sticks,
made by coating thin slices of bamboo with unprocessed wood, are cheaply
imported from the far east. The blanks are then dipped into liquid
perfumes, ornately packaged and sold for a high profit — you
often pay more for the package than the actual contents. (These "blanks"
are otherwise known as firecracker punks. They were never intended
to be used as incense because unprocessed wood produces harsh chemicals
when burned. For this reason, it is perfectly understandable why incense
gives some people a headache.)
Please
BEWARE of these very cheap and toxic brands on the Internet and in
stores (grocery markets)!!
You will notice that they are usually offered by packs of 100 for
very little money and given frivolous and seductive names like "Sex
On The Beach"-"Black Love"--etc.--nice ideas but TOXIC.
A
better quality incense results when charcoal blanks are used instead
of unprocessed wood, because charcoal burns cleanly and without an
odor of its own, thereby releasing the fragrance, free from any impurities.
Being difficult to obtain, and more costly, charcoal blanks are usually
avoided by most American companies and private parties.
In
the words
of Sir Francis Bacon:
"And because the
breathe of flowers is far sweet in the air (whence it comes and goes
like
the warbling of music) than in the hand. Therefore nothing is more
fit for
delight than to know what be the flowers and plants that do best perfume
the air."
Ancient civilizations understood
this well for the smoke of incense was an important part of life,
religion and a luxury for the rich. Perfume
has been used in the form of
incense for at least 5000 years. The
word Perfume in latin means 'through
smoke' Fumigation not only served to sweeten the air but were
believed to give protection from evil and disease. Most
importantly they
were offering;s to Gods and Goddesses.
Since the deities were of Spirit they
could not receive the material body
of a sacrifice, therefore the essence was sent to them on the wings
of sacred
smoke. It was also believed that prayers were carried
to the Spirit realm
through the burning of incense.
Incense
also was thought to support the Soul in its ascent to heaven.
Ancient altars sent forth billows of aromatic smoke filling the temples
with intoxicating fragrance lifting the Hearts of the worshippers
and carrying
their prayers to the sky.
It has been known since the
dawn of humankind that when natural substances such as
flowers,
bark, wood, roots, seeds and herbs are burned, they emit a
rich variety of
different and often beautiful fragrances. Over the course of time
a systematic
search of nature was carried out and beautiful aromatic treasures
were found
concealed within the delicate petals of a jasmine
blossom, a tiny lavender
bud, a resinous droplet of sap, from the spicewood tree, and
countless others
of nature's unsuspected hiding places.
In ancient India the science of fragrances matured into an art-a sacred
art. Many thousands
of years ago, Vedic rishis discovered that each
fragrance, like each color
and sound, possesses a particular quality of its own with a power
to induce
an uplifting state of consciousness. Burning
incense became an essential part
of life in ancient India for creating a peaceful atmosphere, to prevent
illness,
as a support for happy and harmonious living, or as an aid to meditation
and
the quest for spiritual enlightenment. The art of the rishis
involved the
careful combination and delicate blending of many aromatic substances
to produce
beautiful and uplifting fragrances.
The technique used was known
as the'masala method'-meaning mixture.
A variety
of scented flowers, herbs, leaves, essential oils, resins, and wood
powders
were blended with water to form a dough. A tree resin with adhesive
properties
was added as a binding agent. Then the dough was gently rolled onto
a thin
sliver of bamboo and allowed to dry in the shade.
The real secret to this technique
lay in the spices
which were added to bring out the full-bodied richness of each scent.
Orris
root was added to impart sweetness. Saffron,
cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, sage,
sweetbriar and thyme provided an enchanting variety of accents.
Ambrette seeds
gave a musk-like fragrance, and so on.
Wood powders
formed the base and bulk of the dough. For deep rich fragrances like
musk and amber,
precious sandalwood powder was used,
because it burns almost without any scent
of it's own-although it is there and subtly elegant and beautiful.To
these powders
were added the distilled essence of rose, jasmine,
champa, or lotus blossoms.
The resinous extract of various tree gums such
as benzoin, laudanum or olibanum
were added as natural fixatives to preserve the scent.
Like most ancient traditions,
this sacred art gradually faded with the coming of our modern
age of science, secularism and materialism. Incense became another
product
to be manufactured as cheaply as possible and marketed as a commercial
commodity,
devoid of inner feeling or higher value.
The old masala
method of specially blending a different mixture of scented
powders for each
fragrance was replaced by a far easier and less expensive technique
called
'dipping'(ugh!) in which unscented sawdust and charcoal sticks
are dipped into a solution of scented oil diluted with a chemical
solvent
and synthetic fixative.
Even in India the ancient art was transfigured into
an industry. The old "masala"
formulas
were forgotten. Dipping and dilution with solvents became the standard
technology.
More and lower priced synthetics replaced natural ingredients.
Only
the practice of handrolling sticks is maintained by the most reputable
manufacturers.
Sandalwood
Since very early times Sandalwood
and Sandalwood oil were items of export. The
Greek text of the 1st century A.D., Periplus
mentions sandalwood as one
of the items being imported from India. The word Sandal
(wood) is derived
from the Latin terms Santalum Album or Santalacae.
These terms used by the
Romans to describe sandalwood were, according to the Oxford Dictionary,
derived from the Sanskrit term Chandana,
for sandalwood.
The Sandalwood tree is native to India and is found mainly in South-western
India in the state of Karnataka. Sandalwood has been a known item
of export
from India since ancient times. Authors of Sanskrit
texts on botany which
in Sanskrit is called Vanaspati-Shastra
had classified Sandalwood into three
types viz. white sandalwood Shrikanda (which
perhaps is an abbreviation
of the term Shewta-Chandana ), the
second is yellow sandalwood or Pitta-Chandana
and the last is red sandalwood or RaktaChandana.
The reference to Sandalwood in the Periplus
is perhaps the earliest available
western reference to Sandalwood. It has been mentioned in later times
by
Comas Indiwpleustes in the 6th century
A.D. as Tzandana and thereafter it
is frequently referred to by Arab traders. Oil was also extracted
from Sandalwood.
This oil which was a thick but refined liquid was extracted in specially
constructed oil mills called Teyl-Peshani and
Teylena-Lip. The oil extracted
from these mills was a thick, dark yellow liquid. Alongwith Sandalwood,
the Sandalwood oil was also an item of export from India during ancient
times. Sandalwood oil was mainly bought by the Romans between the
1st and
3rd centuries A.D.
Effects:
Warming, Relaxing
Aroma: Base note
Scent: Woody, Sweet, Exotic
Combines well with: Frankincense, Geranium,
Jasmine
Properties:
Anti-inflammatory, Antiseptic, Antispasmodic,
Aphrodisiac, Diuretic, Sedative
Uses:
* Anxiety
* Bronchitis
* Cystitis
* Fatigue
* Frigidity
* Impotence
* Immune System Booster
* Nervous Tension
* Skin Conditions (such as acne, dry skin, eczema)
* Sore Throat
* Stress
* Urinary Infections
* Water Retention
Contra-indications: Sandalwood
has antispasmodic properties and should not
be used during pregnancy or in states of depression (may cause an
even lowered
mood).
For more information about
incense and incense- making please check out these
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