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We Pagans love our incense! That has been the case for a very, very long time. As you might expect, the Minoans also enjoyed incense, and plenty of it.
The fresco above is from the West House in Akrotiri. It shows a young girl adding what looks like saffron threads to an incense burner. We know she's a girl because of her unnaturally white skin. And we know she's not an adult because of her hair - it's shaved, with a few long locks, an indication of a person who has not yet come of age.
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Put your shrine together on a low table covered with a white scarf. Set rainbow candles in an arc and then add black and white candles. Prepare a heatproof bowl containing amber incense (good for creativity and healing), and place it in the center of the rainbow, surrounded by quartz.
Prosperity stones should be placed to the far left on the altar, in the money corner. Romance crystals should sit to the far right on the altar.
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“Mm, your hair smells good,” says my coven-sib as we share a post-ritual hug.
“Really?” I ask, “like what?”
(Back in the day when we used to hold rituals down on the banks of the Mississippi, my boyfriend said to me one morning: “Is it a pagan holiday today?” “Yeah, Lunasa,” I replied. “How did you know?” “Oh, your hair always smells like smoke,” he said.)
She takes another snuff.
“Incense,” she says.
I'm a little surprised to hear it, given that we burned no incense tonight, and that it's been more than 12 hours since I made the morning offering.
“Your house always smells like that, too: so good,” adds another coven-sib.
Dion Fortune talks in Moon Magic about how in time the entire fabric of the temple becomes imbued with the redolence of frankincense. For us of the Old Ways, there's no prayer without offering. Twice daily I offer incense, with prayer, at Temple of the Moon, where I live: morning and evening, day in, day out, year upon year upon year.
I sometimes wonder about the long-term health effects of such operational piety. Will I be seeing, in age, the priestly equivalent of black lung? A hieratic occupational hazard? Oh well: I burn the best quality stuff I can afford, and try to get plenty of lung exercise in the meantime. Let the sandalwood chips fall where they may.
I suppose it's not surprising, given that my house smells like incense, that I don't even notice it any more: the way, I suppose, fish don't notice the water they swim in, either. Funny, how in the end we become our environment.
Well, there are worse things to smell like than prayer. Living in the odor of sanctity sure sounds like my idea of the good life. Perhaps, over time, the body, like the temple, becomes imbued with the redolence of ritual.
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:
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
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ty!