If you are using smoke to honor hte spirits of the land that surround you, doesn’t it make sense to make incense form ingredients founds or grown in your own region? Gathering resins or plant materials from your local wild areas or from your own backyard garden allows you to make a deeper onnection with your region and relieves some pressure form popoular resinous trees and plant materials whose demand is leading to overharvesting.
Resins from conifers such as pine, fir, cedar, spruce, and hemlock are just as wonderul as the more exotic resins that we are more familiar with. And though they carry subtle differences in scent and energy, they are no less powerful. For example, resins front the trees in the pine family are a great substitute for the resins of non-native trees such as Protium copal (copal tree) of Central America and the Boswellia sacra (frankincense tree) whose sustainability is under threat because of its popularity. Common garden herbs such as garden sage, rosemary, and lavender, whcihc an be grown in your backyard or in pots, along with teh bark, berries and leafy material from many of your local deciduous trees and shrubs make a magickally potent addition to your incense blends.
Coniferous Trees that Best Produce Resin
Cedar. Use in incense blends for calm, spirituality, healing, and denoting sacred space.
Fir. Use in magick for ancestral work, healing, blessings and past-life regression.
Hemlock. Coniferous hemlock can be used in magick for transformation and illumination. It blends well with lavender and is used for meditative blends.
Juniper. Teh resin, berries, bark, and wood have a calming and relaxing effect and have been used to sharpen mental clarity, for protection, and to raise spiritual energy.
Larch. Use in mixes for connecting with the otherworld, for confidence, and for protection.
Pine. Can be used as substitute for copal or frankincense in blends and is used for healing, cleansing, strength and grounding.
Redwood. Use to connect with the otherworld, abundance, healing, and protection.
Spruce. Use in magick for constancy, versatility, and determination.
What Is Resin?
Resin is a main component in most incense blends. … Resin is produced in special resin cells in plants to protect them from insects or pathogens and is made in response to an injury to the plant. Resins can be produced through the bark of a tree, the flowers of an herb, or the buds of a shrub and can occur as part of other compounds, such as latex.
Some folks use the terms sap and resin interchangeably, and though both are secreted by plants, sap is a thin, sweet liquid that carries nutrients to the living parts of the tree. Resin, on the other hands, is a sticky secretion that is located in the outer cells of the tree and is produced as a seal that prevents infection when a tree is injured. Gathering your own resin is actually easier than you might realize, and you are benefited with the knowledge that your material was gathered ethically and with love.
Harvesting Resin
You will need:
- Designated dull knife or small metal paint scraper
- Jars, baggies or wax paper to hold the resin
- Gloves (optional)
You know that thick, sticky substance you see dripping down the trunk of a tree typically where damage has been done? That is resin. You can easily harvest it by using a dull knife to gently remove the resin from the bark. But remember to keep way from the injured part of the tree and harvest only the drips or what has collected on the ground. The resin acts as a bandage to help keep infection at bay, and you don’t want to further injure hte tree by opening the wound. If you keep resin in a plastic bag, it will remain sticky. to dry it, place on a cookie sheet in the sun or a warm dry place and wait . . . but be patient: it can take months for resin to dry out completely.
Another option (what I do) is to harvest already dried resin from the tree. The pieces can be removed very easily from the trune and around the base of the tree with little mess.
Remember, resin is very stick and does not clean up easily. Alcohol works for cleaning your tools, and olive oil, shortening andhand cleaners such as Goop work on your skin.
After your collected resin has dried, the easiest way to utilize it to simply burn small chunks of it on a charcoal black in whatever amount you may require. Remember to test a small amount first to see how much smoke you get. You might be surprpised at how little you will need.
Other Plant Material
Once you have collected and dried your resin, you may want to add dried plant material or essential oil to create a unique incense blend that is suited to your magickal needs.
Correspondences for Common Woody and Fragrant Material
Alder. Use in mixes for journeying, for self-love, and to ease fear.
Angelica. Use in mixes for protection and clearing negativity.
Ash. Burn the bark of ash in blends for prosperity, protection, and good health.
Aspen. Use for protection, antitheft, and eloquence.
Basil. Use in belnds for improving memeory, to cleanse and purify, and to induce calm.
Bay. Use to promote healing, sharpen your psychic abilities, for protection, and for purification.
Birch. Use in magick for new beginnings, protection, resilience, and inspiration.
Chamomile. Use for peace, healing, divination, and dreamwork.
Dill. Sporting beautiful fragrant fronds, dill is used in blends for love, money and protection.
Elecampane. Use to work with elves, for purification, and for divination.
Elderberry. The perfect addition to working magick with the fae, for protection, or to break curses.
Eucalyptus. You can’ tbeat this tree’s cleansing abilities. Great for protection and to zap negative influences from your surroundings.
Fennel. Use fennel in blends for courage, strength, and transformation.
Fern. Use in faery magick, for luck, for health, and for protection.
Ginseng. Use for love, lust, prosperity, and protection.
Hawthorn. Use in magick for protection, faery magick, and happiness.
Lavender. The smoke of lavender creates a calming, peaceful atmosphere that can be used in mixes for loving vibes, to induce sleep, for meditation, for purification, and for healing.
Lemon Peel. Use dried peel in mixes for summertime rituals, cleansing, happiness, and friendship. Great added to a ritual bath.
Maple. Use in magick for prosperity and love.
Mint. Can be used in mixes to aid in meditation, sleep, and psychic awareness. Use for love, for peaceful vibes, and to stimulate mental clarity.
Mullein. Use for protection, strength, and astral travel.
Mugwort. Use to cleanse a space of negative energies, for dreamwork, and in divination.
Orange Peel. Dried citrus can add an uplifting scent to your incense blends and can be used in blends for mental clarity, luck, for joy, or to raise energy.
Poplar. Use the sticky, sweet resinous buds in magick for success, money, endurance, hope, and rebirth.
Rose. The lovely dried petals of the rose can be used in incense blends for love and healing and to promote a peaceful vibe.
Rosemary. Can be used in mixes for peace of mind, for luck, to stimulate mental clarity, for protection, for healing, and to designate spiritual space.
Sage. Use in mixes for cleansing, promoting spirituality, increased memory, and healing.
St. John’s Wort. Use for happiness, positivity, and protection.
Thyme. Lends well to blends for health, healing, strength, and purification.
Yarrow. Use in mixes for psychic awareness before divination and for clarity.
Adana Luna 