Description
This incense blend is dedicated to the rituals surrounding Samhain and the dark days leading up to the winter solstice. Samhain is one of four lunar (so-called cross-quarter or midpoint) festivals on the wheel of the year and, being the last of the three harvest festivals, marks the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter. The moon wins over the sun and the earth mother (vegetation goddess) returns to the underworld, where she resides besides Herne, the black hunter, who has captured the sun.
Samhain probably comes from proto-Celtic samoni – meaning “reunion” or “assembly”. This could refer to an assembly of people, an assembly or renunion of the living and the dead. It could also simply mean the assembly of harvest or the coming together of the months of the year, since Samhain marked the beginning of the Celtic New Year.
On Samhain, or modern Halloween, the gates to the underworld open and the dead may be contacted. It is celebrated either on October 31 / the eve before November 1 or on the November or October full moon, respective the full moon closest to the midpoint between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, or when the sun moves into Scorpio. The October full moon is also known as Hunter Moon, Harvest Moon and Falling Leaves Moon. The November full moon as Beaver Moon and Freezing or Frost Moon.
The ingredients for this blend are the herbs traditionally associated with protection and healing, as well as the opening of the gates to the spirit world. Its fragrance and ingredients are linked in particular to the sylvan realm, for the forest can heal and strengthen a weakened or sick person.
The pine and spruce resin have been gathered by myself and have an intense resinous aroma. The thyme, sage, juniper and rosemary come from our own garden. The mugwort too, has been gathered by myself. When burnt, the blend develops a strong white smoke and is best used outdoors or in a well ventilated area. If used indoors, air out the room afterwards and then enjoy the scent, which will last for days.
Contains: amber, juniper needles and bark, ivy flowers, mugwort, oak bark, pine and fir resin, rosemary, sage, thyme, vervain
Use: Use this incense blend for cleansing, healing, protection and communication with the spirits. Its fragrant ingredients evoke in particular the spirits of the wild/ sylvan realm and may aid in re-connecting with the spiritual world of the forests and wilderness. It can also be used on the “Totensonntag“, for contacting one’s ancestors and for protection from “Wiedergänger” (revenants).
Scent: woody, herbaceaous, balsamic
brburl (verified owner) –
As a child I attended Catholic school in the 50’s, which meant attending mass every school day. Occasionally, there would be a full Requiem High Mass. This was before Vatican II which meant that Gregorian music was sung in Latin. More importantly, however, it meant the use of incense. At a particular point in the ritual, the incense was placed in the censer and the priest then took it and began swinging the censer in order to spread the white clouds of enchanting fragrance, and as it reached me I was engulfed in bliss and I was totally gone for a timeless period only to be brought to the mundane world be the jostling of my classmates. I so look forward to those funeral masses.
Much to my delight, surprise, and pleasure the Samhain Incense, so many years later, did something almost no other incense has done since my childhood, it invoked much the same response, which I now recognize as being “between the worlds.” It is, of course, a very different incense from what was used in the church. It is a rich, lovely and beautifully balanced mélange of scents, appropriate to its name and season. It is an excellent tool for the Craft.
(Also, thank you for the Vervain.)
Musikistgeeil (verified owner) –
Erdig herber erfrischender und kräuteriger Duft
Die Räucherung vermittelt ursprüngliche Natur
Ein Genuss für diesseitige und jenseitige Geister. Ein wahres Kraftpaket das vom Körpergefühl Waldige Heimeligkeit auslöst und einem den Zugang zu tiefer Meditation erleichtert oder vieleicht sogar erst eröffnet.