Incense Magick (13 page)

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

Salt 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.

The true gift of ash as a fill material is the way it traps air. As with most fillers, you can insert incense sticks into the ash. Cones and cylinders will often burn completely in an ash bed, without a leftover “nub” of unburned incense. Incense will even burn below the surface of the ash. All of this is possible because the ash traps air.

Ash does require maintenance for the best performance. You will need to periodically stir the ash to “fluff” it into a more workable medium and replenish the air within it. You should also screen your ash occasionally (frequently if you burn a lot of joss sticks) to remove any bits of unburned incense or charcoal. I just use an inexpensive mesh strainer that has been retired from kitchen use. This sifting will reduce unexpected scents from the ash.

When ash has been used extensively, unburned oils and resins can seep down into the ash. Eventually those oils and resins will cause the ash to generate its own scent. That is usually not desirable, but you could view it like leaving resins on the lid of a censer. However, the scent of well-used ash is rarely as pleasant to my nose as the subtle scent from a censer lid. If your ash begins to take on a scent you don't like, sift and spread the ash on an old cookie sheet. Bake in a low oven for an hour and then allow it to cool. Stir the ash and check it for scent. You may have to repeat that step several times if your ash is heavily used.

I can almost hear you asking, “But how do I get enough ash to fill a censer?” That's a great question. The surprising answer is that you can buy it. Usually called white ash, this is used in Asian incense burning and can be found from most retailers who carry high-quality Asian incense. The ash does become gray over time (quite quickly if you use “hidden trails” as discussed in chapter
11
), but when purchased it is white and scentless and ready to be added to your censer.

I have seen and experimented with other fill materials, as I know many incense users have. Soil is a good choice for certain types of ritual work, especially soil from a sacred place or a place related to the magick work at hand. Sea shells, marbles, chocolate candy (I do NOT recommend using chocolate as a fill material), and more have been used in censers. As long as you take care not to use any flammable material (which would disqualify chocolate from the list) you can be very creative with fill materials. For an all-purpose censer or one that is frequently used, ash or sand is probably going to be your best choice.

Heat Source

Non-combustible incense requires an external heat source. Heat for incense comes from a variety of sources, but for the most part needs to be compact, easy to use, and safe. Incense cannot live without the element of fire, and the power of fire should always be respected. In the twenty-first century we still tend to use ancient techniques to heat non-combustible incense even though a modern alternative is available.

Embers

The most traditional of all heat sources, hot coals or embers from a fire can be used in a censer. If pre-cut wood chips are placed on the outside edge of a fire, they can be easily removed once they are glowing. That's a nice way to be certain you will have an ember that will fit in your censer. Keep a close eye on the wood! Wood chips small enough to fit into an average censer burn quickly. You will need to add several of them to get one that glows properly before it is burned away. You also need to watch the chips in the fire because they can vanish very quickly once touched by the flames.

Self-Lighting Charcoal

This is the type of charcoal often found in New Age and magick shops. Charcoal becomes “self-lighting” when it is impregnated with saltpeter (potassium nitrate or sodium nitrate) during the manufacturing process. While it isn't truly self-lighting, it is very easy to light. Holding a charcoal brick with tongs over a candle flame will cause it to quickly spark to life. You will see tiny explosions across the surface of the charcoal as the saltpeter helps the charcoal to ignite.

This type of charcoal is ready for use faster than other charcoals. Other than that, self-lighting charcoal is a method of last resort for me. The addition of the saltpeter has two significant drawbacks. First, it burns far too hot. Incense should be smoldered, not burnt to a crisp. You can take a lovely tear of frankincense and drop it onto self-lighting charcoal and have a disgusting smell within moments. At first you smell the wonderful aroma of frankincense, but it is then followed by the lingering odor of its burnt remains. Very well-made loose incense can burn up in seconds with this type of charcoal. For this reason, the only practical use I've found for self-lighting charcoal is for incense burning in windy conditions. In a well-made censer with a proper lid, self-lighting charcoal can remain functional in weather conditions that would disable any other type of charcoal.