½ part dried grains of wheat
1 part dried rose petals
2 parts frankincense
2 parts myrrh
1 part apple wood (or hazel wood)
½ part red poppy petals, dried
Few drops rose oil (optional)
Few drops cypress oil
First of all assemble your ingredients, your pestle and mortar, your mixing spoons and your jars and labels ready for the finished product.
All the measurements are by volume, not weight, and I use a spoon to measure out small quantities when I am making a single jar of incense, or a cup for large quantities and big batches.
Combine the resins and essential oils, stirring lightly with the pestle and left to go a little sticky before you add any woods. Next add any herbs and powders and lastly any flowers.
As you blend the incense concentrate on the purpose for which the incense will be used, and ‘project’ this into the blend. If you like you can make a whole ritual of the event, picking and drying your own herbs, then laying out the tools and ingredients on the altar, lighting a candle and asking the God and Goddess for help:
“God and Goddess, deign to bless this incense which I would consecrate in your names. Let it obtain the necessary virtues for acts of love and beauty in your honour. Let Blessing Be”.
To use your incenses, take a self-igniting charcoal block (available from occult and church suppliers) and apply a match to it. It will begin to spark across its surface, and eventually to glow red. Place it on a flame-proof dish with a mat underneath (it will get very hot). When the charcoal block is glowing, sprinkle a pinch of the incense on top: a little goes a long way.
© Anna Franklin
Hearth Witchery 