Resins

Resins and woods are the raw ingredients of incenses. A resin is the dried sap that was "bled" from a tree. It contains sugars and other compounds found in the plant or tree's sap, which is why most have a sweet scent when burned. Other products in this category are chipped or ground up woods, like Sandalwood. These are often used as a base for powdered incenses, and like resins, most smell very good burned on their own. I also include Sage leaf and smudge sticks in this section because they are used in similar ways.

How to burn resins

The charcoals used to burn resins get very hot. Use a burner made for resin incense, with a metal screen or with sand or rocks to insulate from the heat.
We often break the charcoals in half because they burn for nearly an hour. Light the charcoal with a lighter or match, and when it starts to spark, put it in the burner.
lt is best to let the whole charcoal begin to glow before adding any resin. Then sprinkle on the resin as desired, a little bit at a time. lf you add too much or cover the charcoal completely, you might put out the charcoal. Also, most natural resin incenses smell better when burned in small amounts at a time.
Keep away from kids and pets. Let the charcoal burn down completely, and make sure it's all ash before throwing out because it could set trash on fire. Ask us how we know!
We don't clean the burner after every use. When there is a collection of ash in the burner, pour contents into strainer over the sink and rinse with water. Let dry, and put rocks back in burner. (If you use sand you'll just have to dump the whole mess and use fresh sand).
Store unused charcoal in a zip-lock bag or in a jar, because they won't burn well if they collect humidity from the air.
Enjoy!

Piñon

The resin from a number of pines from the desert Southwest and Mexico yield Trementina or Piñon resin. Also spelled Pinyon or Pinion, these trees also produce Pine nuts, or Piñon nuts. The resin is usually sticky and the scent is deep, sweet, and full. Like many tree resins it is used to purify and bless a space. Piñon is also used to increase concentration and for meditation. It refreshes and strengthens a weary spirit. Piñon is a very sacred and traditional Native American incense.

Not many incense resins are give to the planet Jupiter, but I promote this correspondense. The richness and fullness befit the Royal Planet, and also since the tree bears edible nuts, this corresponds with other Jupiter nut-bearing trees like Walnut and Pecan. Because it is a western tree, the correspondences according to European tradition and alchemy are less resolved. Especially with regard to the Elemental correspondence I could make arguments that Piñon is Air, Fire, Water, and Earth, which means it is a rare Spirit herb. This resin is usually fairly sticky.

The below correspondences are vis Cunningham, Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs in plain text, C.L. Zalewski, Herbs in Magic and Alchemy in brackets, or my own interpretations in parenthesis. In this case, Cunningham's and Zalewski's correspondences are given for generic Pine trees, not necessarily the resin-yielding Piñon species.

Gender: Masculine (Masculine)

Element: Air (Air, Earth, Spirit) [Fire of Earth]

Planet: Mars (Jupiter) [Pluto Mars, Venus]

Zodiac: (Capricorn) [Capricorn]

1 oz.

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