Incense: Rituals, Mystery, Lore

For more than five thousand years, people have burned aromatic 11 ^ substances in order to commune with the divine and to infuse their lives with fragrant serenity and sensual pleasure. Incense is the perfume that flowers, herbs, gums, and resins exhale when burned in celebration or as an offering to a deity. The word incense derives from the Latin incensum, which means "to set on fire." The word also means "to arouse passion or emotion." Mandy Aftel writes in Essence and Alchemy that "to be immersed in a scent world, even temporarily, is to shift your consciousness and to awaken to the moment more fully." You can burn incense to help strengthen your spiritual practice, to ease your troubles in a decadent aromatic bath, to spark creativity, to promote good luck, or to kindle desire. Its sweet smoke can enhance everyday activities, such as doing chores around the house, reading books, or listening to music. Incense can be used like subtle background music, lending a mysterious air to a cocktail party or helping to banish mosquitoes at an outdoor barbecue. The heightened sense of awareness that incense inspires can also help us celebrate the major milestones in our lives -the births of children, marriage ceremonies, and memorials for loved ones