Not using incense

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Granite
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Not using incense

Post by Granite »

In your opinion how important is incense in rituals spells or just day to day life for a wiccan? Personally it makes me feel nauseous and gives me bad headaches after inhaling for a while and is damaging on the lungs. Do you think a wiccan could "make magic happen" without it given enough passion in place? Or maybe a substitution? I know this may be a weird question or come off as selfish to cut out such a major thing for personal comfort but I really hate incense lol
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Re: Not using incense

Post by Firebird »

What kind of incense are you using? Some are really terrible. Resins are the most breathable in my opinion.
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Granite
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Re: Not using incense

Post by Granite »

Right now all thats available to me is stuff from my local floral shop but I dont know how i feel about breathing smoke no matter the quality of the incense I do a lot personally to avoid it in all forms
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Re: Not using incense

Post by TwilightDancer »

How are you around scented candles? That could be a viable alternative.

I am all for finding substitutions.
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Wolf
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Re: Not using incense

Post by Wolf »

Incense is just another crutch of every witch. Not saying that in a bad way, we all use material crutches in our work. In you want something similar as said you can try scented candles, or oil defusers. Or a simple mix of essential oils and alcohol or water in a spritzer bottle (shake well before using).
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Re: Not using incense

Post by SpiritTalker »

All the stuff and ritual are to help the mind focus. If it doesn't serve the purpose replace it with something that does. Scent sets a mood & can serve as an offering. Reed diffusers, scented potpourri & aerosols can be useful substitutes. The Air element is vapor.

Aerosols are simple to make by simmering an herb of choice in enough water to cover the herbs. Cool. Strain. Fill a spray bottle 3/4 full with the brew and top off with rubbing alcohol. Cap & shake well.

Or fill a bottle 1/2 and 1/2 with water & alcohol and add 10 or more drops of essential oil, or lemon or mint flavoring oil. Cap & shake well.
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Re: Not using incense

Post by Pallando »

SpiritTalker wrote:All the stuff and ritual are just symbols to help the mind focus. If it doesn't serve the purpose, skip it or replace it with something that does.
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Re: Not using incense

Post by Bychan Wulf »

That's one of the great things about this religion: there are no rules. There are only advice on how to practice it, but the way you actually do it and the way you choose to connect with your God or do a ritual only depends in you. Gods can be offered many different things,so finding substitutions wouldn't be a problem. For magic, you can use everything else that you lay your hand on, or nothing at all. What matters most in witchcraft is your willpower and your energy...like it was already written here once, tools "are just symbols to help you focus" and charge. Build your own rituals, with your own tools amd you only have to worry about your own comfort which helps you concentrate on the real purpose. :-)
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Re: Not using incense

Post by Shawn Blackwolf »

Well, there is always another opinion, here goes:

Coming from one who worked with natural scents, oils, and incense for years, and did much research into it, (I was known as the "Amber Man" for a number of years, as the main distributor of Amber Essence resin product), I can say incense is important in ritual.

Now this does not mean one "has to use it," yet let me explain my position, and offer an alternative. Scent is the quickest way to affect the human brain, and different scents have different effects on the brain and psyche, which is the goal of ritual, to shift consciousness into certain parameters desired to achieve a result.

Ritual tools may be considered as similar to the components of a circuit you wish a current to move through. If you do not include all components the circuit calls for, the current cannot flow through the system. If, in an electrician's manual, it calls for certain equipment to make something work, the electrician does not ignore that ingredient, as they realize the circuit must be completed. (talking of charge in ritual)

(one must use the talisman, sigil, or veve, called for in magic, as these are circuit diagrams, in a 2D, or at most 3D form)

Now, depending on one's tradition, one may find substitutions could be applied, yet this is not always the case. (especially with scent and the neural synapses firing in a certain way)

Just an aside for a moment, to illustrate:

In my Faery Tradition, we work with very specific tools, and an altar arrangement, that if it were altered, would not open the specific portals desired, or achieve the results. If I substituted salt for a bowl of earth, which some say can be done in ritual practice, I would short out the circuit, as it not only represents Spirit, thus is used in the center, yet in an X-ray pattern, exhibits a shape of "four rays" extending outward, thus elemental correspondence. (I believe the book that shows this, is called "Crystal and Dragon" on structures and waves, but I shall have to check my library tomorrow) The other tools are specific for other reasons, such as resonant waveforms.

This is not just applicable to my Faery Tradition, yet ceremonial magic, and other practices, have well tested and verified systems, which have produced similar results over time, and recorded in journals, or Books of Shadow, just as scientific experiments would be and are.

So given this, as a premise and my posit to work from, I would ask myself what could work? (an alchemical point of view)

In this case, if the spell called for a specific incense, I would look into formulas prepared as aromatherapy oils, and use a diffuser. If the specific oil was not available, I would consult with an established company, or well respected alchemist and inquire into the creation of such a product.

These are extremely well informed people of the kind I would trust :
http://al-kemi.com/alchemy/2012/02/what-are-spagyrics/

They are trained alchemists, and begin their detailed process, with essential oils, when needed.

(for instance, it is not always easy to obtain Dragon's Blood oil, from your local health store, or "Occult or New Age" bookstore)

To finish, sometimes there is no substitute and dependent on one's tradition, and how well researched and developed the spellwork is over time, with certain phrases, calls, talismans, sigils, tools, or in this case, the need for certain scents to shift consciousness, one must create one's own solution, or forgo that spell for another, if possible, or applicable.

Of course this is given from my learning and experience, over the many years of practice, as well reading of, and speaking to others with years of experience they are drawing from. In other words, IMO.
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Re: Not using incense

Post by SpiritTalker »

I wonder if Lockheed Skunkworks coined its name as a word-play on the concepts of the neural path prompt processes which aid creative thinking? Scent is one means to assist the neural pathways to achieve ritual consciousness. And ritual consciousness focuses the mind to the "between" state where we make magic happen. It serves as a crutch for neural path support, as Wolf mentioned. People with no sense of smell might achieve magical consciousness with other neural path prompts such as rhythmic sound, vigorous dance, breath work, and other means not suitable for discussion like pain, sex & drugs, which takes the discussion a long ways from a cloud of scented smoke. Things like elemental correspondences, matching a candle color to the goal, moon phase and weekday timing, and our wands, staffs and athames - all the "stuff" that comprise the craft of magic that arouse the physical senses - all serve as neural prompts, a.k.a. gateways between the mundane and other realms. We adjust to what works for us, and use our will-power like Bychan Wulf suggested. It seems we're all saying the same thing, each in our own way.
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Re: Not using incense

Post by Shawn Blackwolf »

Basically, yes.

I just detest the word, and concept of "crutch," which implies a weakness, or an infirm state of being, which is not the case, at least as far as what I am stating. In my Tradition, as well, the smoke itself is important (we do use mirrors with it). ;) Depends on the spell.

Skunkworks is a great name, for a scent company.

And neural prompt, serves better than crutch, as a phrase for me. I am extremely sensitive to energies including and especially words. Therefore I could never (to me) insult my magical tools by calling them "stuff". (I know you meant it well)... it just makes my skin crawl, more than spiders and snakes would. (lol) They are alive, and have their own personality that works with my will, if I treat them with respect.
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Re: Not using incense

Post by SnowCat »

Incense is a tool, and some people prefer using tools in their work. I rarely use tools, and that works well for me. For someone who has violent unfavorable reactions to incense, an alternative would be much safer. Ending up in the hospital is bad enough, without explaining one's pagan leanings to a very Christian oriented facility. I found it quite offensive to be visited by the chaplain of the Advent is hospital where I had surgery. Follow your instincts. They were given to you for a reason.

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Re: Not using incense

Post by Granite »

Thank you everyone for sharig your thoughts
I know ultimately its up to me what to use and what not to use just wanted some more viewpoints :)
I will look into an oil diffuser that sounds really cool
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Re: Not using incense

Post by Xiao Rong »

I found these really cool oil diffusers at Walmart, actually, that I've started to use a lot. There's space for a little tealight on the bottom, and above it is a little reservoir for oil (something like this). You mix in a dab of coconut oil and a few drops of the essential oil. As they heat up over the candle flame, you get to smell all the wonderful aromas; plus, it just looks beautiful in a way that a cold water oil diffuser that you plug in just can't. My friend who is really well-versed in essential oils says that the tealight oil diffuser is great for enjoying the scents, although not as good for aromatherapy/medicinal benefits. We have a coven member who is really sensitive to scents and incense doesn't work as well for him, but most of that is because incense has some cheap artificial resins that can trigger allergies; essential oils don't bother him much at all.
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Re: Not using incense

Post by TwilightDancer »

Xiao Rong wrote:I found these really cool oil diffusers at Walmart
I love my essential oil diffuser. I always keep lavender in mine because I'm obsessed with it. :lol:

I also found a mini one that can plug into a computer. I saw it at one of my local stores, I'm not sure how well that would work but I'm thinking about getting it.
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