How To Use Incense Sticks

Light the tip of the incense stick, gently blow the flame out and place the stick in a holder. Keep it away from curtains and other soft furnishings. Use as a room scenter or as an aid to meditation. Incense is wonderful natural air freshener, so much nicer than many of the synthetic chemical-smelling commercial air fresheners so widely used these days.

How To Use Hand Blended Incense

(also known as Loose Incense or Grain Incense)

Stand your incense burner (or dish) on a heat proof surface. Half fill your burner (or dish) with dry sand, salt or earth. This will help to provide insulation against the heat of the charcoal disc.

(If you do not have an incense burner, then you should use a small earthenware or metal dish instead. You will be burning a mixture of resins, gums, woods etc. The dish will get covered in soot and sticky resins so choose something old that you don't need anymore - whatever you choose, don't go using your best china! Use something you would be happy to throw away - or you can get something for a few pennies from a charity shop.)

To light the charcoal disc, hold it with tongs in a naked flame, a lit taper is ideal. If you have no tongs, place the disc in the burner and light it from there - not quite so easy and it will take a little longer to light.

(As an alternative to using tongs, you could support the charcoal on an old fork that you don't need anymore. WARNING! The fork will become discoloured and covered in soot and you'll never get it clean again! So only use an OLD fork that you would be happy to throw away - or get one from a charity shop.)

The charcoal disc will sparkle and smoke slightly and will become very hot very quickly. After a few seconds, the sparks will stop and part of the disc will have begun to glow red hot. Your disc is now lit. Place the disc in the burner on top of the loose earth or sand and sprinkle up to a quarter of a teaspoonful of loose incense on top of it. The incense will start to smoulder and release fragrant smoke almost immediately. When the smoke begins to thin out, add a bit more incense - not too much or you will extinguish the charcoal block. Incenses containing high proportions of resins and gums will burn for much longer than those containing mostly leaves, woods and flower petals. When you have finished your incense burning, wait until the disc has cooled completely before disposing of it. Incenses may be used as part of a magic ritual or simply smouldered on its own to attract the appropriate magical influences into your life.

Visualisation

This is absolutely essential for the success of any spell.

Visualise your goal. Think about your visualisation before you begin. Always visualise yourself as having already achieved your goal. For example - If you're looking for love, see yourself as being in a loving relationship. If you need money, see yourself as already having that much needed money to buy those things you need. See £50 notes raining down all around you. If you need healing or wish to be healthier, visualise yourself as fully healed (not as sick and wanting to be better). See yourself as you want to be not as you don't want to be. Make your visualisation as strong as possible. Don't just wish or hope otherwise wishing or hoping is all you will achieve. It doesn't matter if you can't actually "see" when visualising. So long as you can imagine what it feels like to have achieved your goal. If you wish to burn a candle at the same time, use the colour correspondences table as a guide.

Harm no one

Never do magick to annoy, hurt, kill, manipulate or control another person or for revenge. Don't use magick to try to win the love of a specific person. Forcing someone to love you against their will is to control and manipulate them. You may well find that you are quite incompatible with this person. If you want a loving relationship, use magick to attract your ideal mate and trust the magick to choose the right person for you. Don’t use magick to impress other people or to simply boost your ego. Find another way to achieve what you need without causing harm to anyone If you use magick for evil purposes, evil will return to you three times over in this lifetime. (Some people say ten times). It's not worth it! This happens regardless of whether your spell works or not.