Incense Magick

by Carl F. Neal

  Tibetan Burner

  Although this type of incense burner has become popular in modern times with censers exported from Tibet, they are actually a common style throughout Asia. Unlike an incense boat, the Tibetan burner allows the incense stick or cylinder to lay flat while burning. They use a series of wires or rods, widely spaced, to support the incense. One advantage to this style of censer is cleanliness. As the incense burns, the ash falls through the gaps into the compartment below the wires. If the ash doesn’t all fall through, a gentle tap usually pushes the remainder inside. This style of censer is also a good base unit to use if you wish to construct your own “incense alarm clock.” Usually made from wood, they are sometimes constructed from stone or metal as well.

  Cone Burners

  The dedicated cone censer is generally too small to serve as an all-purpose censer, although there are exceptions to this. Cone burners are most commonly found in the small brass design we see in many shops and even some grocery stores. This is far from the extent of their design and size. In shops that carry a wider range of incense paraphernalia, you can choose from much larger brass, copper, pewter, or stone cone censers. These types of censers are generally a small dish censer on a raised base, usually with a lid. Large cone censers will work as well as any dish censer, but it is unusual to find one of sufficient size. By nature, these censers are generally too small for use with charcoal, coils, or powder. Many cone censers can accommodate stick incense as well.

  There are certainly stylistic and aesthetic reasons to use dedicated cone censers. Like most styles of censer, they come in a huge variety of colors, materials, and designs. From the simplest brass censer to elaborate censers made of stone, the cone censer can have great visual appeal. Personally, I find the common small cone censers to be of minimal functionality. They are great for looks and the purpose to which they are dedicated, but only the larger versions have any versatility.

  There is a special adaptation of the cone censer that takes on a special role in more than one religion. Often called a thurible, some censers are suspended by a chain and can be easily carried or swung to disperse incense smoke over a wide area. The categories that I used to describe different censer designs are not all-encompassing in their definitions. Whether to consider the hanging incense censer to be a large cone censer or a raised bowl censer is an example of that. No matter how you view it, the hanging censer is a specialized censer that is familiar to many people. In the West we most closely associate the hanging censer with Christian practice, but it serves other religions as well. Certainly in magickal practice and especially in outdoor magick, the hanging censer offers options that are difficult to duplicate in any other way. A large hanging censer can contain large pieces of charcoal or even fire embers for burning loose incense. Powders, herbs, resins, and woods can all be placed inside the censer. While swinging a lit censer seems like it would result in ash or embers flying all around, the force of the swinging is usually enough to keep everything inside the censer.

  Obviously there are some safety concerns with all censers, but this is especially true with a swinging censer. If you choose to swing a hanging censer, keep some common sense guidelines in mind. Test the chain or cord that holds the censer. A damaged chain could break while the censer is swinging and the result could be fire, injury, or at the very least a really big mess. Hanging censers usually have a lid. I’ll talk more about lids shortly, but for a censer that will be swung, I think a lid is a really good idea. A swinging censer also needs to be well-balanced. Test it before buying, if possible. You can swing an empty censer and see if it would be safe for use in your space.

  Space is another safety concern. When swinging a censer, check out the space where you will use it in advance. The worst way to find out there isn’t room to swing your censer is when it’s full of burning materials. Obstacles of any type, including the human variety, need to be avoided. Banging someone in the head with a burning censer is clearly something to be avoided. The space you have to work within should also help determine the level of energy you should use when swinging your censer. Smaller spaces require less swinging. If you use the censer outdoors, you can usually swing with as much enthusiasm as you like, but remember that you are wielding a fire hazard; try to keep yourself in check no matter how much fun you are having!

  Bottles

  This is a newer trend in censer design, but it certainly has its place in the pantheon of censers. Bottle censers are dedicated stick burners, although most can accommodate joss or masala-style sticks. They are ventilated bottles, often with colorful designs painted on them, that completely contain the ash of the sticks. If you are concerned about messy ash escaping your censer, bottle censers might be the best choice for you. There are other variations on this concept as well. I have a covered wooden censer from Brazil that is a large wooden cylinder snuggly fitted into a wooden base. Air flow is provided through a series of vent holes along the cylinder. This censer provides a nice visual effect and it holds all the ash. It’s wonderful for outdoor burning if there is too strong a wind for other types of censers.

  Novelty Burners

  Okay, I admit it. I couldn’t think of a nifty name for this category of censers, but I still felt they are worth mentioning. Incense burners are made from a huge variety of materials in a staggering array of designs. Many of these incense burners are well-crafted and quite functional but with an unusual twist of form. For example, I have a wonderful and quite large incense burner in the shape of a multi-headed dragon. It uses cone incense that is placed in a holder in the bottom of the burner. When incense burns inside, air is drawn up through holes near the bottom and smoke pours from the mouth of each dragon head.

  I have another unusual burner designed for masala-style incense sticks. Similar to a bottle incense burner, it has a long cylinder that is perforated in strategic locations and a base that holds the incense. The top cylinder slides down over the base and smoke pours from the mouth of an Incan tree spirit carved on the cylinder. This gift was purchased for me in Peru by a friend of mine, which demonstrates that the use of masala-style sticks goes far beyond India and the United States.

  These novelty burners come in every imaginable shape and size. From tree frogs to miniature fireplaces to smiling suns, you can find a novelty burner in nearly any form. Have a favorite band or animal? The odds are very good that you can find a novelty burner that will suit your aesthetic style.

  In the broadest terms, novelty incense burners can be tricky to use effectively. Air flow is a critical part of the success of a censer or burner, and many novelty burners sacrifice air flow for an entertaining design. Carefully consider the design of any burner before purchasing, but give novelty burners an extra look. If you find very restricted air flow (as demonstrated by a lack of openings to feed oxygen to the incense or many holes at the top of the burner but none at the bottom), consider if you would be willing to buy the censer strictly for decoration. If yes, then at least you didn’t waste your money should it have poor performance. Some novelty burners work very well. Some have an open form, like an incense dish, and will always have good air flow.

  A few novelty burners that don’t perform well can be modified to work much better. You may be able to cut vent holes to improve air flow, raise the burner’s cover to add additional air flow, or learn the limits of the type and size of incense that can be used with that burner. The Incan incense burner I mentioned earlier had very poor performance until I realized that the incense, once placed in the base, stood taller than the highest vent hole in the cover. I tried breaking the wooden part of my masala incense off about 1 inch from when the incense coating began. That shortened the sticks so they no longer extended above the top vent hole, and the burner now works perfectly.

  Hanging

  Often called thuribles, hanging burners come in a huge variety of sizes but often follow very similar design styles. I discussed these a bit earli
er in this chapter but want to bring a few points to your attention. The majority of hanging burners are essentially cup-style cone burners with cords or chains attached from which they hang. Hanging burners (especially those that can also sit safely on a flat surface) have enhanced versatility, since they can be used in places where there are no flat or level surfaces. They can be hung from tree branches or plant hooks. The length of the chain can be altered to allow an incense burner to hang at a precisely determined level. This concept can be incorporated into rituals or used in large spaces to focus the scent so that it impacts people in a particular location. A burner hung a few inches above head height can scent parts of a room that no burner set upon a table or the floor can reach.

  Hanging burners are also a very safe choice for a burner that will be moved with burning incense or charcoal inside. There are a few burners out there with handles that will allow them to be safely moved, but the thurible has been a traditional choice for this purpose for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Not only can the burner be moved while in use, it can be swung to distribute scent more widely. This is still a common practice in many Christian denominations. The burning of frankincense in a thurible is a magickal experience when a cloud of smoke wafts over your entire body or scent unexpectedly falls from above.

  Some thuribles have decorations that hang from the bottom of the burner. Others might have a rounded bottom. These types of designs are a bit more difficult to use and aren’t as functional as those that will sit or stand without their chains. The burner needs to be level as you prepare and light it, so if your thurible can’t sit level, you will have to accommodate this. Loading a thurible that can’t stand on its own either requires the building of a stand, the assistance of another person, or some true talent and tolerance to burns. You can load one while suspended from its chains, but that is a trickier proposition than a nice stable burner.

  Lids

  This is a topic that I have seen widely and hotly debated (pun intended) among incense enthusiasts. When and how to use a lid on a censer or a burner? For the most part, I am a very big supporter of lids on burners. How you use them is the most critical part. Most of the lidded incense burners I have seen, used, or owned will not burn well with the lid in place. There are certainly numerous exceptions, but lids are generally best employed when the censer is not in use. Lids add a decorative element to most censers and unless you clean your censer completely after each use, a lid serves to keep the ash in your censer. Even a slight breeze can stir the ash from incense, so a lid will help you to maintain a cleaner environment.

  For censers that do work successfully with the lid in place, the lid can add a whole new dimension to the visual aspect of your incense. Different lids will yield very different smoke patterns—the way the smoke curls and spreads. Some lids are deeply perforated with many tiny holes, which produces a much wider stream of smoke. Some are perforated in only a few specific locations to guide the smoke in a certain direction. Some censers are not perforated at all and serve to force the smoke to leave the censer via a different path (such as through holes in the sides).

  If you choose to use a lid over burning incense, remember a few key things. First, your incense can never come into direct contact with the lid. If it does, the incense will not burn properly. It is best to keep burning incense at least 1 inch below the level of any lid. Next, you will have to perform more maintenance to keep your burner working at peak efficiency. Resins and other materials will collect on the inside of the lid. On lids with small perforations, this residue could plug up the openings and disrupt the air flow. Incense residue can be easily removed with a high-proof alcohol or any one of several adhesive removers available commercially. One nice trick for cleaning lids was given to me by David Oller, who suggests cleaning your lid with the moist leaves from a recently brewed cup of tea. Not only are you finding a new use for something normally discarded, but it is also an effective and natural way to easily remove resins.

  Another option is to leave the resins in place. As long as they are not impeding the incense burn, you can allow the resins to build up, giving your censer a unique scent of its own. Every time you burn incense with that lid in place, it will accumulate more resins and release its unique, and generally subtle, scent. Even as it releases its characteristic scent, the scent or your censer is being altered by the new incense being burned. The scent of the lid of your favorite censer will be ever-changing yet always familiar.

  Fill Material

  Not all censers require a fill material—sand, gravel, salt, or ash used to provide a “bed” for burning incense—but many styles of censer will benefit from being filled. For some types of censers, fill is mandatory. The primary determining factor in the decision to use a fill material is the type of incense you plan to use in that censer. Obviously an incense boat used only for burning stick incense will not need a fill material. On the other hand, a cup-style censer used to burn sticks usually will need a filler.

  Fill materials serve several purposes. First, they protect your censer. Some styles of incense, and definitely charcoal, get very hot. A fill material can insulate your censer from that heat. Although a glass bowl censer seems like a very heat-resistant censer, one large incense cone or charcoal brick can generate enough heat on the bare glass to cause it to shatter. That same censer with an appropriate fill will safely handle several cones burning at once without fear of damage. Don’t assume that using a fill material will keep your censer cool enough to handle while in use. Some censers, such as a Japanese koro, can be easily handled even with a charcoal brick burning inside when properly filled. Many censers will still pick up enough heat to give you a nasty burn from a single cone. Protecting the censer from heat is not the same as protecting your fingers from it!

  Another purpose of a fill material is to give a level, secure area to insert incense. Virtually any filled censer will allow you to insert masala or joss sticks safely. A fill material can level out a bumpy or convex-bottomed censer to allow you to lay sticks flat or burn charcoal, cones, or cylinders more evenly. Fill materials also serve a decorative purpose. Using colored sand in a censer adds to its beauty. From a magickal perspective, fill materials allow you to employ color magick or even sand art into your censer. Finally, fill material is critical if you plan to experiment with kodo-style techniques (see chapter 9).

  Sand

  One of the most common fill materials, sand is readily available and can be purchased in a wide variety of colors. From fine sand to coarse, this is a good fill for inserting sticks or to protect many censers from excessive heat. Different-colored sands can be combined for interesting effects or for sand “painting” symbols or words. That not only enhances the beauty of the censer but also provides another tool for incorporating your censer into your ritual work.

  Personally, I am not a fan of sand as a fill material. The magickal applications I suggested above are valid reasons to use sand, and it is appropriate for some types of censers, but sand does not enhance the burning of your incense. Many people believe that a bed of sand in the bottom of a censer will help cones burn completely to where the base of the cone meets the sand. In actuality, the reverse is true. Sand blocks the flow of air under the incense and may cause the bottom layer of incense to remain unburned. This is true with some types of charcoal as well. Sand does have the advantage of being heavy, so it is less likely to be blown out of your censer than ash or fine salt, but it is not my first choice for an all-purpose censer.

  Gravel

  Gravel is sand’s big sister. Gravel can also be found in different colors (visit an aquarium or art supply store for colored gravel) and different levels of coarseness. It has basically the same properties as sand but, because the grains are much larger, it will not form as smooth a surface as sand. However, the gaps between grains do provide for better airflow under the base of the incense than does sand.

  Salt

  Sal
t is a popular choice among the magickal community. Not only is salt a symbol of earth and used in many rituals, it is also found in most homes. Salt can also be found from very fine to coarse, just as sand or gravel. While salt certainly does add its own flair to your censer (you will be hard-pressed to find sand as white as salt) and it can be used in combination with sand, I consider it an even poorer choice for any incense or charcoal burned directly on its surface. Salt itself can scorch or even burn under the heat of incense or charcoal. Scorched salt will add its own scent to your incense, so keep that in mind as well. If your only need is to insert masala sticks into the salt, then it is an excellent fill material; if any burning incense or charcoal will come into contact with the surface of your fill material, I would not recommend salt. Salt can be dyed to be almost any color you’d like. With such a pure white base, salt crystals absorb food coloring easily.

  Ash

  Ash is, in my opinion, the most beneficial and versatile of all the fill materials. Ash offers many of the advantages of the other fill materials while overcoming many of their drawbacks. Best of all, the level of ash in your censer will grow over time. The more incense you burn, the more ash you have! Although you can do limited drawing in sand or salt, ash offers a unique medium for writing or drawing in your censer. Ash can be drawn upon with anything from a writing quill to a toothpick. Symbols, words, and geometric designs can be prepared on the surface of the ash. If you wish, you can then fill those impressions with powder incense and burn it as an incense trail (see chapter 11). You can create detailed and controlled incense trails in ash unlike any other fill. Ash will yield to your touch but hold the sharp edges of your design.