Incense

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From head shops to tea stores, incense has taken on a new role in society as a way to cleanse and express spirituality. Incense began as a sacrificial offering to God that was used as or with prayer but now when I consider incense, there is a more spiritual vibe rather than religious. I associate incense with spirituality but more along the lines of meditation or even witchcraft. A friend of mine is educated in the field of witchcraft and spirituality and has told me a little about her use of incense. Incense can be burned to please spirits or being from the otherside using incense but can also be used to cleanse an area of evil spirits. The burning of these aromatic plant materials and essential oils can have a multitude of uses but its ability to attract and also send away different spirits interests me.

Incense is also seen now as more a statement than anything spiritual or religious at all. Many of the people I know who regularly use incense use it as a personal cleanse or just because they enjoy the smell. It has become much more subjective than its original God-pleasing intent. 

Comments

  1. Jonathan Brumberg-KrausFebruary 26, 2018 at 8:33 AM

    You make interesting distinctions between religion and spirituality, personal pleasure or "cleanse" and "offerings to God" in connection with incense. Are you sure incense cleanses aren't in any way religious? Must all religious activities or experiences be explicitly associated with "God" or "gods"? It strikes me that even those who say or said they're making soothing aromas to God are probably also experiencing the same effect of the aroma themselves. Modern psychologist might say they're projecting their own experiences of aromatic soothing or space-cleansing onto God. So does saying we're doing it for God, or doing it for ourselves, or to please the spirits we want, and drive away those we don't affect, enhance, or detract our actual emotional sensory experience of incense and other pleasing aromas?

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  2. UnknownMay 9, 2018 at 12:23 PM

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  3. UnknownMay 9, 2018 at 12:28 PM

    Deanna I think that you made a really good point about the transition of incense from a religious point of view to a more spiritual one. Looking at my peers in college I can see the use of incense as a way to cleanse. Life seems to be going very fast in moments and I have noticed that people use smell as a way to meditate or escape their reality. I would agree with you that while incense is still used to today for religious purposes, incense has become more spiritual and people seem to use it for their own reasons. I also and very intrested in the idea of burning a smell for God. Jbk brought up a really interesting point that if we the ones who are burning the incense and can smell it, does that mean the smells are solely for God? If we can smell the incense does that mean that we have a part of god within us?

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