Learning and Exploring Incense

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 I will admit that I never thought about incense that much. If I was to be asked 'What is incense?' five years ago, I would have answered "I don't know. Those stick things that you burn when people meditate." Upon reading the Deborah Green's The Aroma of Righteousness, I realized that I was only partially right in my guess.

I never took the time to learn just how the burning of certain spices, herbs, etc can bring about a sense of religious sacrifice. It has been many years since I had gone to Church or CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) but upon reflection, I do remember the incense alter and the priest using the incense burner. He would make the Sign of the Cross with the censer by making two vertical swings and a third horizontal swing. The three swings together symbolizing the Holy Trinity (information provided by my mother). I may have wandered away from the topics in Green's article, but I truly do find her findings interesting. Particularly, how the incense ritual adds a different perspective to the priestly circle but not to the community at large. Their role as representatives to God gives them authority over the Israelites.

Lastly, I wanted to draw attention to Green's chapter about the erotic side of aroma in religion. It's perfectly plausible that rabbinic voices hold erotic thoughts, "in tension so as to expound more fully upon the verses and to imbue their theological points with an underlying sexuality" (Green 83-84). Most religious figures have to suppress their basic urges and do so in a very professional manner. The bit about underlying sexual also is correct as many religious sermons have an underlying sense of deep love which can be seen as erotic from a certain point of view.

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