
To purify and enhance the space where you perform spells, here is the best incense to burn before and after every circle gathering with your friends.
Mix together one part of each:
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When I moved to San Francisco, I didn’t know a soul, but I used this tried-and-true trick to fill my life with friends.
On the first Friday after a new moon (Freya’s Day, which is ruled by Venus, is ideal for fun, love, flirtation, gossip, and good times), light amber incense. Anoint yourself with amber oil and dance around, arms flung out and upward. Say aloud:
I call upon you, friend Freya,Cinnamon, which you probably have a plentitude of in your kitchen cabinet, is a major source of prosperity and can even bring it about in a hurry. Thursdays are named for Jupiter, or Jove, originally Thor of Norse mythology, who represents joviality, expansion, and all things abundant. Here is a Jupiterian Thursday spell that will bring excellent opportunities your way.
Gather both cinnamon sticks and the powdered kind and place on your altar. On a Thursday, light incense, preferably cinnamon, and walk through your house, wafting the delightfully sweet smoke in every room. Light two altar candles, one brown and one green. Gather flowers, preferably yellow ones, such as daisies and adorn your altar with them. Stand in front of your natural altar and consider the wonderful, full life you are going to enjoy. Pour the cinnamon spice and sticks into a bowl and pray aloud:
In order to do any healing work, you must clear the clutter that can create blocks. Banish the old, bad energy from your house by following this spell. Make a tea from herb lavender or vervain. Once it cools, dip your finger in the tea and sprinkle it throughout your home while reciting:
Clean and clear, nothing negative near
...On any Thursday or new moon, light your altar candle at midnight and burn frankincense and myrrh incense. Make an offering of a golden fruit, such as apples or peaches, to Jupiter, and anoint your third eye with a corresponding essential oil, such as myrrh, frankincense, apple, or peach.
Pray aloud:
...Not only is The Trail of Time one of my very favorite incense books, it’s also one of the few academic books on the topics that’s available in English. Dr. Bedini uses the pages of this book to shine a light on a nearly forgotten aspect of human history. Before the advent of reliable mechanical clocks, humans used a wide variety of ways to keep time, especially during the hours of darkness when the sun could not be used as a reference. Candles, water, sand, rope, and other materials were often utilized in an attempt to keep time when the sun was uncooperative. The many ways that incense was employed to keep time is fascinating and has inspired me to attempt a variety of projects of my own.
When we focus on incense sticks during meditation, we move into a mystical space that is both physical and spiritual. Like us, the incense stick is earthbound with an ember that burns for only a finite time, but the diaphanous spirit it releases is unbound by time or space. Rather than shutting down our senses to focus on an inner realm, incense involves our senses as we follow whirling smoke upward and outward while we take its scent into us, filling us as we breathe.
The journey starts with a flame, and then a glowing ember releases smoke to rise above us in an ethereal dance. Ashes fall below, purified by the fire. We can use this to imagine negative thoughts being changed from darkness into the beauty of warm gray snowflakes and a scented spun-silver plume, lighter than air. We can watch as our atmosphere is altered to become reminiscent of the heavens and lifts our thoughts: Embers become shooting stars, and the silver ribbon of smoke becomes unraveled clouds. Altered senses may guide our inspired thoughts to travel along new, perhaps undiscovered, pathways.
We can also imagine our physical selves being represented by the incense stick, our inner fire releasing magic into the world. That part of us emanates outward, expanding to mingle with the breath of those around us as we ride the wind to become part of everything. We can also see in the swirling smoke our life's path, not a straight line but a twirling, meandering ballet that moves us ever onward and upward. We may leave a bit of ourselves behind as we bounce off of our surroundings, working through them, but no matter what we do, we cannot avoid our final destination: oneness with all that is. As spiritual beings enjoying the physical experience of life, incense meditations can help us remember the beauty and wonder of our existence, where heaven and earth, body and spirit, are all available to us in every moment