by Nathaniel
Incenses - the Practical Use of Air Element and Sacred Smoke
As promised earlier, in one of the previous chapters, I would like to provide you with more information about incenses. Information, which might be very useful in your magical practice. Probably every magical tradition in the world has some uses for smoke, or the element of air. Most of these traditions utilize incenses as an important tool for magical work. Incenses are used for cleansing practices to cleanse the place or a person of negative or unwanted energies. Incenses are used to support magical practices by putting the mind to a proper state, too. Often, some sacred plants61 emits smoke that help entering the altered states of consciousness.62 Finally, incenses are used as offerings to spirits and deities in different traditions. As you begin your practice of magick, one way or another, at some point of your life, you're going to work with incenses. For example, during Catholic Mass there is a procession with an incense. When you enter New Age stores or cafes, quite often there are incenses burning. When you visit a Buddhist temple, there are incenses burning. Well known incense, a White Sage, is often used for cleansing of unwanted energies. As you can see, it's important to learn a bit more about incenses in the modern world.
Natural VS Artificial Incenses
There are many different types of incenses to chose from, but the basic way to categorize them would be to say that there are two primary types of incenses: natural and artificial. I call the second type "plastic incenses" since there are so many chemical compounds in them. This second type is useful when you want to refresh the air, or make a nice smell. But when it comes to magical work, then you should use natural incenses, and natural incenses only. What's the difference between one and another and how to recognize them? The best way to describe the difference is to give you a following task: imagine that you're about to see your beloved one after many months of separation. What are you going to give her? Perhaps a flower - now, what kind of flower? A beautiful, natural and healthy rose, or a piece of plastic that looks like a flower? Natural incenses are prepared in such a way that they are cared for, and thus, they carry a lot of energy which can be used for magical work. Also, getting natural incenses is a bit more difficult than grabbing a simple air fresheners. Finally, there's a lot of tradition behind natural incenses; thus - on the spiritual plane - magick is directly connected with these incenses. If you have taken great care and effort in getting a tool for magical practice, then this tool will work a lot better than something you can buy in the first store you visit. When it comes to magick, keep this in mind.
How to recognize if the incense is natural or not? First, the price - natural incenses are more expensive. Second, artificial incenses can be purchased almost everywhere, but natural incenses can be purchased in special stores: New Age stores, Buddhist or oriental stores and so on. Third, most of the artificial incenses are stick incenses - and they are very thin. Natural stick incenses are thicker, nearly 0.5 cm in diameter. Then, there are almost no artificial powder incenses any powder incense is natural almost for sure. Finally, most of the resin incenses is natural, as well. Remember - when in doubt, read or ask an expert.
Incenses are made mostly out of dried herbs which are later on grounded to make a powder. Then, the incense is ready. Or, it can be mixed with resin and wood powder to create incense sticks. You can purchase natural incenses, or you can make your own.
Making Your Own Incenses
If you feel like gathering stuff, you might want to make your own incenses, rather than buying them. The very first thing is to know that you can collect herbs and natural resin from trees. These two things will make good incenses for magical practice. Basically, this is all that I can tell you - because there are different trees and different herbs in different areas of the world. This is when, once again, you should consult other books or local experts. Most often, you might want to learn what types of herbs or resin were in use in old religious practices in your region. For example, in Poland for hundreds of years people were using the spruce tree and pine tree resin for spiritual cleansing purposes. For the same reason, thistle herb was collected. In North America, White Sage was in use as a sacred plant. Other regions of the World have other herbs and trees - pay a visit to your local library, or consult local religious or spiritual practitioners, or even mages, because they might know what types of herbs you should collect.63
Then, when herbs are collected, they need to be dried – preferable in the attic. When dry, herbs needs to be grounded by hand in a mortar. Only then, they can be burned and act as incenses. Resin can be cleaned, but if it doesn't contain dead insects or dirt, it can be used right after it's collected. I do not instruct how to create your own incense sticks because it's far more complex process.
How To Burn Incenses
When you have herbs or purchased incenses, you need to burn them. Using incense sticks is quite easy, you stick it somewhere, for example, in a special rack, you light it and it works quite well. In case of powder incenses and resin, you need to prepare more tools. For powder incense, you need a piece of special coal. You can purchase a coal for powder incenses in New Age stores, or you can look around for a charcoal for water pipes (shishas). You need a censer, as well – so you can place the coal inside, then sprinkle the powder. When you have a censer, which can be purchased in many places, you need to add some sand at the bottom so the censer won't be damage by the temperature. Then, you place the burning coal on the sand inside the censer, and finally, you use your fingers or a teaspoon to sprinkle the powder or natural resin pieces upon the coal. This is how you burn incenses.
The smoke will act according to your basic intention. For example, if you're using the incense as an offering, prepare all the tools (censer, coal etc.) and burn the incense with the intention of offering. If you burn the incense for the purpose of cleansing the room, prepare the tools and burn the incense with this intention of cleansing the room - and so on, so on. This is how you use incenses - at least from basic understanding. Of course, other schools of magical thought might use incenses in other ways, or there might be more complex rituals related to burning incenses.
Candles, Your Very Best Friend
Another important element of the magical practice is a flame of a candle. The elemental energy of fire is known to burn negative energies, or any energies which we cast into the flame. Big bonfires are used in cleansing rituals or the rites of passage while smaller sources of an open flame are used for a different sort of rituals and magical work. In modern magick practice, candles are very popular element. A couple of them should always burn:
At every magical ritual from any possible tradition.
During psychic or spiritual healing session.
As a support during meditation session.
On the main altar of the house, to help cleanse the building of unpleasant energies.
Generally, you should keep a candle burning whenever you do magick. First, it cleanse unwanted energies. Second, it can be used to burn any energies that you cast into the flame. This is useful during psychic healing, or during emotional healing when you visualize unwanted emotions being burn by the candle flame. Third, candles, due to their cleansing capabilities, act as a first line of magical defense.
When the candle is no longer needed you can put down the candle flame. To do so, remember not to blow up the candle – this will make its energies dissipate all around, and some people believe it will also harm the candle spirit (which, as you should know already, belongs to the family of elemental spirits). You should allow the candle to burn itself out naturally. But if you cannot afford it, for example, due to fire hazard, you should use your wet fingers or special extinguisher cap.
The shape, color or size of the candle doesn't matter in general – but specific magical traditions may require special candles for specific rituals. One of the modern magical techniques called Candle Magick says that specific shapes, sizes and colors of the candle while burn, can help you achieve specific results. You may wish to analyze
if your magical tradition pays attention to special candles. If it does not, then any candle will do.
Candle is your friend – pay attention to its flame. If the candle flame is straight and it burns peacefully, it means that everything is all right, and the energy around it is free of negative, low-vibrational energies. But if the flame begins to "dance", moving in all directions, emitting intense smoke, it means that it begun to burn negative energies. Such negative energies might appear when you perform some form of healing, and the energy comes from the person that is being healed, or if there's some bad entity around the flame.
Talismans and Amulets: Practical Creation, Use, Cleansing and Destruction
One of the most popular magical objects which you should learn to make are talismans and amulets. While some people believe these are the same thing, the truth is that talismans and amulets are two different types of magical items. A talisman is an item which is meant to support you in achieving a goal and to attract things you want – for example, love, money and such. An amulet, on the other hand, is a magical item which is meant to protect you against something: illness, accidents, but mainly against magical attacks by other people and entities.
Every magical tradition in the world has a collection of talismans and amulets and has created specific techniques for the creation of such magical items. Generally, a creation of talismans and amulets is based more on an intention than on a specific symbol, but yes, many symbols carry a specific magical power within their curves.
Every magical path has its own explanations as to the way such magical objects work. Some schools of thought say that talismans and amulets work simple because people believe in them. Other schools say that these objects work because the symbol carry an energetic charge. Other theories say that the object works because it has been charged with special energies. Personally, I believe that the talisman or amulet work because we believe that it works, and we believe it this way because we have charged the object with proper magical intention and energy during the ritual of creation.
Creation of Talismans and Amulets
There are many ways to create a talisman or amulet. Every magical or spiritual path has its own set of rules regarding this process. In most cases, you take your time and slowly you create an object – it may be a necklace, or a bracelet, or a Mala, or a piece of wood on a leather strap. Sometimes, you may purchase a nice object, and then perform a ritual that will charge the item with an intention and energy.
One theory says that the more time you spend making the magical item, the more effective the item will be. An amulet that is bought might not work at all, and the amulet that cost you a lot of effort to make will be very strong. A talisman that is bought might not work, but a talisman you've spent weeks trying to find the right materials will be very strong. On the other hand, I know amulets that are powerful, and all the magus did was buying the item, and charging it with protective intention.
Still, I suggest not to purchase ready-for-use talismans (nor any other magical object), but either create them on your own, or ask someone to create the object for you. It's a matter of safety. I've seen many times situations, in which a person purchased a good amulet, only to realize soon that it was cursed with a demonic attachment, which then attacked the purchaser. This is a common occurrence, and when you walk the path of magick, you must be really careful.
Also, I advise not to purchase talismans and amulets available in New Age stores and consider them to be effective magical items. As long as they're not programmed to perform magical work, they will not be effective at all.
Of course, you can use objects that are purchased, but haven't been made with the purpose of serving as magical objects. For example, you might have purchased a piece of jewelry in the past, but at some point of your life you decided to charge it with special intentions; thus turning it into a talisman or amulet.
I also advice using natural resources and materials – wood, stone, crystals, metal, leather and natural dyes are best. Plastic or other artificial materials that do not exist in nature should not be used. Then, when the item is prepared with care and effort, you can perform a ritual to charge it with the intention. What occurs now is dictated by your school of magical thought. Basically, after the room is cleansed and shielded, you focus your mind on the purpose of creating the amulet or talisman. Then, you take the object into your hands, and begin sending it the energy – for example, through visualization. This is the step of energy manipulation. Along with the energy, you send your thoughts into the object, your intention of a specific task – of attracting something, or deflecting attacks, or redirecting attacks towards itself. This is the step of energy programming. After a while – 5 to 50 minutes, depending on your skills, patience and Will, the object can be charged further on. It can be charged so its batteries will be sufficient for the object to work. You can charge the object in a stream of a mountain river, charging it with elemental energies of water. Or you can charge the object with incense's smoke, charging it with the elemental energy of air. Or you can charge the object above candles, charging it with the elemental energy of fire. You can bury it in the ground for the night, charging it with the elemental energy of the earth. Finally, if you have an altar in your home, you can place the object on the altar with the burning candles, and if the altar is properly used, it will charge the magical item, as well.
Then, the creation process is complete, and the talisman or amulet can be put to use. This is the general way to create talismans and amulets – you prepare the physical object, and then you set an intention for it, and then you charge it with energies (fuel). Then, you're done.
Some amulets are created in a more complex way - they are attached to a spirit, with which the magick practitioner made a deal. If the person is attacked, the attack is redirected to the amulet; thus it let know the spirit about the attack - then, the spirit respond to the attack with force. This way of creating amulets is reserved for experienced and skillful magick practitioners who know what a deal with a spirit means.
Using Amulets and Talismans
Personally, I do not use talismans – so far, they have not proven themselves to me. If I wish to attract things, I use the magick of Huna. But amulets are often used by me. In both cases – talismans and amulets – these objects take a piece of your awareness and perform a specific task. A talisman can be programmed to attract love, and it will continue to do so as long as it has energy, and you don't have to constantly think about attract love yourself. The talisman will deal with that. Amulets work in a similar fashion – they take a piece of our awareness and they can deflect magical attacks, or redirect the attack towards themselves as long as they have energy. Thus, they protect you, and you don't have to consciously watch out for magical attacks.
Amulets are very useful for magical protection. They come in handy especially if you're not doing anything magical. When you perform magical doing, it's quite normal to shield the room, shield yourself, create many layers of magical defenses and such. But when you go shopping or you meet with friends in a restaurant, you do not draw a protective circle with pentagrams, right? And yet, at the same time, magical attacks might occur – this is when the amulet can protect you without you knowing about it. This element of your magical protection is a very useful, and very gentle tool – don't be afraid to use it.
The following is the normal use of objects like talismans or amulets: you simple carry them with you whenever it's needed – or should I say, whenever you leave the safe area of your magically protected home. And when you return home, you place the objects on the altar, and they will be cleansed and charged with fresh energy, so their longevity and life span is expanded.
Observe your amulets closely – they might be your first sign that something bad is going on. Amulets that are depleted of energy, because they spent it on defending you might get broken or damaged, if the attack continues, but the amulet is no longer able to protect you. This is a sign that you're under attack by powerful energy �
�� an entity or curse. In such case, ask your favourite spirits for protection, or seek additional magick practitioners to get help. If a talisman breaks, it means its energy levels were depleted, and it couldn't attract things you wanted any more.
Cleansing and Recharging Amulets and Talismans
When used, talismans and amulets need to be cleansed and recharged. Cleansed, because they collect unpleasant and unwanted energies, and charged, because, through use, they deplete their magical energies. If you have an altar in your home, then you can use it to charge and cleanse magical objects by placing them on the altar. I will discuss the importance of the altar later on. If you do not have an altar, then you can use the same ways as you used during the object's creation to cleanse and recharge them – stream of water, candle flames, incense smoke or earth can both cleanse and recharge.
If you do not have access to a mountain stream or small area of the earth, you can improvise – a water from your home's faucet will be sufficient, and you can bury the talisman or amulet deep in kitchen salt to cleanse and recharge the object.
Destroying Amulets and Talismans
Magical objects should be destroyed in a proper way, too. They cannot be simple throw into a trash can. They should be returned to Mother Earth with proper intention. Most talismans and amulets can be burned – offer the leather or wood to the spirits of the flame, and ask the spirits to safely destroy the magical object. If the item cannot be burned, for example, if it's a stone or piece of metal, then go to the wilderness, and bury the item in the ground – allow your intuition to guide you to the right place, and ask the local spirits of that place to safely take care of the item.
