incense or essential oils

[seapearls]

Which do you like to use more? And if you choose incense do you like stick or another form best?

[Faeawyn]

I use incense much more often. I usually only use oils to annoint candles or myself during rituals, and I do so few full rituals any more. But I'll burn incense when I meditate, or when I pray, or when I just want to put some energy out there for something :D....and I prefer cone because it's just so easy and no mess :)

[Infinite Muse]

i prefer scent straight from the source as i cna never find the essential oils i want
like clover
take a armload of sweet clover and hang it up .. smells great all winter

[colusaskye]

I like incense, I buy whatever kind happens to be cheaper at the moment/have my scent/etc.

[CaitrionaMorgaine]

I make all of my incense in the loose form from dried herbs. That is the type I prefer. If I use oils, it's for a specific reason, such as in the bath or something along those lines.

Avalon's Blessings, ~Rhia

[HorseCrow]

I prefer essential oils, especially after all the research on incense causing lung cancer at the same rate of smoking.

[rain_fallen_tears]

I can't choose, I love them both!:D

[Felidae]

I voted other because all three have different properties and uses.

I use oil for dressing candles and annointing bags, talismans, stones, poppets, etc.; Stick incense for personal ritual and day to day use; Powdered incense (which is usually laced with Vesta powder: saltpeter) for magickal workings because of the oomph and effects one can get out of it, and the herbs one can mix with it.

[IvyWitch]

I use the powder incense most of the time, though sometimes I use the stick kind without the bamboo stick.

I do use oils, but not in workings. I normally don't annoint my candles, I use oils in potions and recipes like massage oils, and bath stuff like that. Though occasionally when I want a specific scent I use a wax/oil burner.

[savannahrose44]

I use stick incense the most because it's convienent and less messy. But I do use oils on occasion.

[Mnemosyne]

I use essential oils. I prefer them over incense since I use them for massage, beauty recipes, in the bath, and just for a pick me up.

[Faery-Wings]

I voted other, since it usually depends on what I am using it for. However, as an aromatherapist, I do tend to use oils the most.
But for some things, like smudging, there is not other way to go but an easier to use sage incense stick.

[banondraig]

i used to use stick incense almost exclusively. lately i have started smelling all the adhesives, etc. in it. if i just want a good smell, i will use scented candles, wax burners, or oil burners, usully the cheap stuff intended for room scenting. occasionally i use resin incense but i am very picky about this ever since i bought some *real* frankincense in qatar. the stuff i bought here just isn't as good. i mostly save essential oils for energy/ practical uses, i.e. lavender for light purification or else to help drain my sinuses!

[moonbride]

I don't really have a preference... I use one just as much as I use the other for the scent.

[Kylie]

I use insense most often, but I like to use both. It depends on what I'm doing. (=

[Astara Seague]

Essential oils most definatly

[Nitefalle]

I prefer essential oils, but try and actually use them sparingly due to the cost. Stick incense is just so much cheaper. I even prefer powdered incense to it, but the whole charcoal thing is just so messy and then I feel as if I've wasted the entire charcoal disk if I don't need the whole thing.

[banondraig]

I prefer essential oils, but try and actually use them sparingly due to the cost. Stick incense is just so much cheaper. I even prefer powdered incense to it, but the whole charcoal thing is just so messy and then I feel as if I've wasted the entire charcoal disk if I don't need the whole thing.

i know, right? then you have to store the other charcoal disks in the pack somewhere . . .

[SweetIsTheTruth]

Cone incense that I make myself, although I do mix a small amount of oil into some blends.

[Crysiira]

I use them both. Incense I use mainly for the smell, for magical and non-magical purposes. Essential oil I use mainly for magical purposes, mainly for making bath oils or blessing objects or perfumes.

But Infinite Muse is right ~ real herbs provide the best fragrance of all!

[Xirian]

I chose other option. I really like essential oils, but sometimes they are difficult for me to come by in this town. I really like using incense as well. I use both of the above for everyday living and ritual. There are some essential oils that are very good in relation to health.

It doesn't matter if it's a stick or cone or powder and I have to use charcoal. I go by what I feel I need at the time and buy it in whatever form it's in. I could only find myrrh in rock crystal-like form so I use charcoal with it. More common incense I can find in stick or cone. I use my tiny cast iron cauldron to burn my cone incense. I also just buy bulk herbs and crush them in my morter and pestle and then burn them on charcoal or in my cauldron.

I am quite versitile when it comes to this type of thing.

[SweetIsTheTruth]

I doesn't matter if it's a stick or cone or powder and I have to use charcoal.

There's alot to be said for that. For me, the holy grail is getting myrrh into the form of cone incense. It's not easy, because if you get too much myrrh to base, it simply won't burn. So, you end up with a more faint scent, than if it is burned directly on charcoal.

[Lilith Morgaine]

I have 2 questions.....

1.) What if you only want to use a charcoal disk for a short time? Is there a way to "stop it" and save it? or does it just go to waste?

2.) When you go into most New Age shops there's the same smell... what smell is it most likely?

[SweetIsTheTruth]

1.) What if you only want to use a charcoal disk for a short time? Is there a way to "stop it" and save it? or does it just go to waste?

It depends on what form you work your incense. I used to routinely break the charcoal disks in half and burn half when necessary. This was with the smallest sized disks. This might be somewhat difficult with loose incense, but I wouldn't think it impossible. At the time I did this, I was using incense binders, laha and dar in my case, although you could use makko or the traditional binders (tragacanth or gum arabic) as well. With an incense binder, you can shape the incense to any form. For half of the charcoal disks, I shaped my incense into small beads, and would place 2 or 3 of those on the half disk of charcoal once it was lit. I don't use self-lighting disks now, due to the smell of the saltpeter. I switched to bamboo charcoal, which is too thick to split in half.


2.) When you go into most New Age shops there's the same smell... what smell is it most likely?

That I can't answer because I don't know.

[banondraig]

I have 2 questions.....

1.) What if you only want to use a charcoal disk for a short time? Is there a way to "stop it" and save it? or does it just go to waste?

2.) When you go into most New Age shops there's the same smell... what smell is it most likely?

1) i think, and otehrs please correct me if i'm wrong, that you can put it out with water and let it dry out for a while before reusing.

2) :whatgives sorry

[Lilith Morgaine]

Also... (sorry if I'm being a pain) but what herbs burn well on their own dried w/o any kind of treatment..... I know I tried ground cinnamon on the charcoal once and it was lovely.....
any ideas?

[banondraig]

i would think pretty much anything would burn ok if it were powdered (dry enough) first, but it will smell distinctly different than its associated oils, burning being a chemical reaction and all . . . .

[Nitefalle]

I would think dried ginger would also be lovely, which you can pick up in the spice aisle.....but stay away from cloves, nutmeg and allspice. Even the dried powders still contain volatile compounds and can spark and jump and crackle.

[banondraig]

drat! cloves smell so good . . . . :(

[Nitefalle]

I loooove cloves, but if you need the smell around, I would stud an orange with whole cloves for a delicious scent (and wonderful for solar symbolism), or use the oil in a diffuser.

[Xirian]

Also... (sorry if I'm being a pain) but what herbs burn well on their own dried w/o any kind of treatment..... I know I tried ground cinnamon on the charcoal once and it was lovely.....
any ideas?

I've crushed corriander seeds, but that was for a purification spell. I crush dried rosemary and that's a fairly strong smell, but I like it. It smells cleansing to me. I've used cinnamon, basil, bay leaves. I've tried burning almost all my herbs on charcoal. Some I will never burn again and some I really enjoy. Cinnamon is my favorite herb to burn.

[Amythyst]

I use stick incense-- can't beat nag champa-- and it's less expensive than essential oils.

[Nitefalle]

I don't know what's in Nag Champa, but something about it makes my head hurt. It's far too cloying for me.

[Crysiira]

Yeah, I'm not really into Nag Champa either. I really like Super Hit. There's only one store around here that sells it, and I'm not even sure what the scent is supposed to be or anything, but it's good, and it comes with a "bonus" pack of five extra sticks of a different scent; again, no idea what it is but it's good. lol.

I love burning cinnamon too; I love watching it spark. Dried thyme smells great when crushed. Of course I only discovered that when cooking with it, I don't usually just smush herbs for the fun of it, I'm too poor for that!

[Sethserpenthus]

I used to use incense more, but I gravitate toward oils nowadays because most places I go I am not allowed to use fire.

[Isabella SilverRain]

I have to use stick incense because I am still a teen and I live in my parents house, so that's what I use. I will try using the other versions of incense once I move out, but I still like stick incense. I also haven't experimented with essential oils because I don't know much about them yet and my parents wont let me.