Change Your Life With Aromatherapy Chapter VIII

Aromatherapy Incense

Incense has been used for thousands of years, mostly in religious ceremonies. Ancient Egyptians used incense to heal as did the ancient Chinese. Today, incense is still a vital part of certain religious ceremonies, particularly in the Catholic and Orthodox religion. People also use incense for a variety of different reasons, in most cases, to mask certain odors.  Incense can also be incorporated into you aromatherapy lifestyle if you use pure essential oil powders to make your own incense.

Today’s incense are usually cones or sticks and are made, like everything else, with synthetics.  Sure, they have a pleasant fragrance, but you are not getting the same benefits as you can get with incense made from pure and natural products. 

If you decide to make your own incense, realize that it takes a bit of time to get it right.  The incense cones that you create will be hand crafted, as will the sticks.  They may not look as uniform as those you buy in the store, but they will have more healing powers than anything made with synthetics. 

To make incense at home, you will need powders as well as essential oils.  The essential oils should be the same as the powder so that it compliments the product,  You also need to purchase Makko powder, which can be purchased at the same places where you buy the essential oils and powders.  ‘

Sandalwood is one of the oldest and most pleasant aromas. To make sandalwood incense at home, use about half sandalwood powder to half Makko powder.  Put both in a bowl and add about four drops of sandalwood essential oil.  You then need to mix it together to make a dough.

Once you have the thoroughly blended, you can roll it into long sticks. This is probably the easiest way to make the incense.  There are actually spaghetti makers that you can use to perform this process that will make the sticks come out more even; however, you should not use the same machine to make spaghetti.  If you have an old spaghetti maker around, you might give it a try.

Just like spaghetti, you will want to make sure the sticks dry out on waxed paper before they are ready to use.  It takes a couple of days for them to dry completely. You want to make sure to cut them so that they are compatible with your incense burner.  Incense burners that burn sticks are usually long, wooden instruments or boxes. 

If you really want to get creative, you can also make cones out of the dough.  The cones will probably not look like those in the store, but they will be just as effective when lit.  You do need to make sure that any home made incense is completely dried out before using. 

Sandalwood is a woodsy fragrance that is very rich.  It has been used in the past to treat everything from stress to bronchitis.  Because of the pleasant fragrance, we also illustrated how sandalwood oils can be used to scent your hair simply by sprinkling a few drops on your brush and brushing your hair as usual. 

Although aromatherapy incense may not look as good as the incense you purchase in the store, it can be a lot of fun to make and is really very simple.  Once you have made an enjoyed your own incense made out of all natural essential oils, you will not want to go back to using store bought oils again.    Make sure that you have a proper incense burner to light the incense and never leave it burning unattended.