Frankincense is a resin from the Boswellia cedar tree. The most beneficial is Arabian incense. It has a number of healing properties, which will be discussed further in the article.
The pleasant aroma of incense is the first thing you smell when you come to the temple. Why is this particular scent popular in church? Everyone knows that the Temple of God is the place where positive energy is concentrated. Despite the fact that different people come there, and their thoughts also differ, a spiritual, calm atmosphere remains in the church. It’s not just the setting; the healing properties of incense are used to cleanse the temple. In addition to energetic cleansing, incense is successfully used to destroy all sorts of harmful bacteria; it also has healing powers from a medical point of view.
How to use church incense at home
Frankincense is a fragrant resin that the wise men brought as a gift to the newborn Jesus Christ. The oldest recipe was received from God by the Prophet Moses (book of Exodus, chapter 30, verses 30-38). It is used in churches during worship services.
Priests light incense on burning coals in a censer. When burned, incense is formed - fragrant smoke.
However, you can light incense at home. In addition, incense not only has sacred properties that help us turn to God, but also treats many diseases and generally improves human health.
The most common way to burn incense is with censers. But to use them you need coal, which makes this process a little difficult at home. It is easier to use a lamp with a spider, a special metal device.
At home, incense should be lit during prayer or to strengthen the general state of mind and maintain health. If you have a difficult state of mind, then by walking around the house with a censer, you will cleanse your home and fill it with a light and favorable smell.
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Incense in the online store of Orthodox icons Saints.
Frankincense oil - healing properties
Frankincense oil has an attractive rich aroma and has a beneficial effect on the human respiratory system. As mentioned above, aroma oil has healing powers and helps get rid of infections and chronic pathologies in the bronchi and lungs. If you breathe in the aroma of incense, you can prevent any cough, even the most intrusive one.
Frankincense aroma oil
Thanks to the aroma oil, you will get rid of chronic bronchitis; the natural healer is effective in the fight against asthma and runny nose. Thanks to aromatherapy, the functioning of the lymph nodes will improve and the metabolism will be activated. In addition, incense is effective for the treatment of diseases of the genitourinary system and various female diseases.
There are some proportions for the treatment of diseases, in particular:
- The healing properties of incense will be effective if you use the product correctly. For aroma lamps, it is enough to drop five drops of aroma oil and then inhale the incense as a cure for bronchitis or some kind of viral infection . Six drops of scented oil are dripped into the bath.
- Asthma, bronchitis, and pathologies of the respiratory system are best treated with hot inhalations . To do this, add one drop of aroma oil to the water and breathe for five minutes.
- If you cannot tolerate hot treatments, then do cold inhalations over a bottle of oil. Breathe like this for no more than five minutes.
- to gargle with the product , based on the proportion: three drops of aroma oil per cup of warm water or tea .
The aroma oil is also used in making sweet desserts, to flavor homemade soap, and incense is also added to drinks in small quantities.
How to light incense at home
Heated coal is placed in the censer; the easiest way is to heat it on a gas burner. Pieces of resin are placed on the side or on top of the hot coals, which heats up and begins to release aromatic smoke.
Be very careful with the coals so they don't spill, and don't use paper or plastic coverings.
To use a lamp, you need oil and a wick; the wick should be dipped in oil, threaded through a hole specially designed for this purpose and set on fire.
The fire will heat the metal spider, on which the incense will be located. The incense will warm up and begin to release fragrant smoke.
How to use natural incense at home?
We have already talked about the healing properties of incense, but not everyone knows how to use it correctly in practice. Healing resin can be used every day if your soul requires it. Church incense and charcoal tablets are used to fumigate the apartment.
Rules for using incense
To light coal, it is not necessary to have a censer, just take an iron spoon and light a coal tablet there. It’s better to light coal outdoors or next to a hood, so that harmful chemical components can be released from it. When it stops sparkling and smoking heavily, place the incense nearby. And begin to fumigate the space with the prayer: “Our Father.” You should start from the door, go in a circle, clockwise. When you go through all the rooms, the process can be completed. If you do not put incense directly on the coal, the aroma of the resin will be more gentle, more pleasant, softer and subtler.
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Why do you need incense candles at home?
Using incense candles at home is much easier than using a censer or lamp.
All you need to do is take a censer candle (it can be divided into parts if you don't want the smell too strong), light it, and after a few seconds blow out the fire so that the candle smolders.
With the help of smoke, a pleasant aroma of incense will spread throughout the room; the supplied candle can also be carried throughout the apartment.
What is incense used for?
The ancient Egyptians used incense for religious rituals, as well as for embalming the dead. Historians believe that the Jews, who were enslaved by the Egyptians for a long time, adopted the tradition of using incense from them.
During the service, burning coals and pieces of incense are placed in a metal censer on chains, which is kept by the priest. When incense burns, it produces fragrant smoke - incense. The priest walks around the temple with a censer so that the smoke penetrates into all its corners. The incense, which rushes upward to heaven, symbolizes the prayers that believers offer to God.
Church incense is used:
- as a sacrifice to the Lord (which is directly indicated in religious sources);
- to enhance prayer at home;
- to express greater solemnity and respect;
- to cleanse the soul and body, as well as the room.
The healing properties of church incense
First of all, incense has specific properties based on religious belief. But it also has medicinal properties that are widely used in medicine, for example, it strengthens memory and calms well.
In addition, the aroma of this resin rejuvenates the body, heals old scars, improves brain activity and gastrointestinal tract activity, and has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects. Therefore, in Rus', even in ancient times, incense was a folk remedy for all diseases.
Incense incense has a healing effect on patients possessed by demons. Like prayer, incense is a medicine more for the soul than for the body.
Properties of incense - what types of incense are there?
There are several types of fumigating resin. One of the most famous is the product that is produced on Mount Athos, in a functioning monastery. The highest quality Vatopedi . It would also have all the necessary properties - a long shelf life, a persistent aroma after fumigation of the room, a pleasant, deep smell.
Incense for smudging
The product is made from high quality aromatic oils. The recipe for producing incense is kept strictly secret. That is why almost no one knows how Vatopedi incense is made. There are also other well-known types of healing resin, such as:
- Incense from Lebanon is also of excellent quality, differing only in the shades of aromas. The healing properties of incense are at their best.
- Incense from Athens - made in private shops, it has a more concentrated smell.
- Frankincense from Jerusalem looks a little different, unlike the above varieties of resin. Outwardly, it resembles thin plates, their thickness is about three millimeters.
In Russia, resin production has also been established; it has its own secrets of its production, which are known only to masters. The recipes are based on samples from Athos. Therefore, the aroma and its quality are valued by specialists.
What to do with used incense
Under no circumstances should the pieces of incense and coal remaining after combustion be simply thrown away, since not a single consecrated thing should be trampled underfoot.
Remains of candles, shells from blessed eggs, paper from Easter cakes, etc. - clergy of Orthodox churches recommend burying these remains in a clean place where people do not walk, or pouring them out and throwing them into the river. You can also burn it.
Do the same with pieces of used incense. The most correct thing to do would be to lower the remaining tar and coals into a channel or river and let them float away. You can also put them in a special, inviolable, revered place, like a special casket.
Varieties of Frankincense
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Incense is usually divided into two categories - ordinary and selected. Selected incense is only pure pieces of resin that have a slightly yellowish or pinkish tint, which can easily be ground into white powder. Regular incense is much darker than premium incense, and its pieces have impurities. Selected incense is valued more highly and has excellent aromatic properties, so it is actively used not only in the church, but also in cosmetology, for various aromatherapy procedures, for the manufacture of skin care products and perfumes.
Harm and contraindications
Excessive inhalation of odorous incense can be harmful to the body in some cases. Incensol acetate contained in it has a psychotropic effect on the human brain, a feeling of bliss and deep euphoria
. Some people may have hallucinogenic visions. Abuse of oliban can lead to addiction, similar to drug addiction.
Currently, church shops have a large selection of incense, resins, and incense for every taste. And if an Orthodox buyer is offered a product, then it would not be superfluous to talk about how to use it at home yourself and, most importantly, why.
Frankincense is a natural product and is an aromatic resin.
, which is obtained from Bosswellia trees or also called Frankincense tree. At the beginning of spring, cuts are made on the trunk and resin flows out of this cut. When it completely covers the tree trunk, dries, it is collected.
Heat the coal on the fire of the kitchen burner. You can carefully place it directly into the fire with tweezers and turn it over every few minutes. The coal should be covered with white ash.
The coal is hot enough. Be careful - the ash crumbles, and the coal itself may fall out of the tweezers. Keep a glass of water ready
When the coal has warmed up, put it in the censer and pour a little incense around the coal.
Incense is placed next to hot coals. It immediately begins to emit smoke. A censer with a handle can go around the entire apartment
Using a lamp.
This method is interesting because it does not require lighting coal, but you do need the utensils that we indicated at the beginning of the article.
So, we take the lamp and light it. Read how to do it correctly in the website. Then we take out the “spider” - a special metal attachment for the lamp.
With this method, incense is used exclusively in pieces, and not, for example, in powder.
We place the “spider” on the lamp and place a piece of incense on it. After this, you need to wait a little while the lamp heats up.
Instructions for using church incense at home
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With this method, burning incense takes longer.
You can purchase handmade Orthodox monastic incense by placing an order on our website or by contacting us
Knowing about its extraordinary properties, many people wonder how to use incense at home.
The oldest incense is incense, traditionally used during services in churches. Previously, this incense was valued even higher than gold.
Let's talk in more detail about the properties of incense and how to use it at home.
Can you carry incense with you?
Today you can find amulet on sale that looks like a small box, compact handbag or pouch. Inside there is tree resin, which is designed to protect its owner from both spiritual and physical threats. Incenses are worn around the neck along with a cross on the body or attached to clothing with a pin, but always above the waist. Those interested in how often the incense in the amulet should be changed should be answered that it cannot be changed, you just need to remove the bag before bathing, and when it gets dirty, transfer the contents to a new one and continue wearing it.
If for some reason the incense has become unusable, then it must be burned, the ashes buried in the ground and a new one purchased. Some believe that resin worn on the body for 3 months and buried on the territory of an active monastery can increase a person’s protection, but this is already an element of the occult and is not approved by the church.
Incense - what is it?
Frankincense (olibanus) is an aromatic resin obtained from trees of the genus Boswellia. This is a component of Incense, which includes 11 incense used for incense in the Temple. The trees used to obtain it grow on the Arabian Peninsula, Syria, Cyprus and Palestine, but the main exporter of resin is Somalia. They collect it in the same way as pine resin, making cuts in the tree bark and waiting until the entire trunk is covered with dried sap. Then it is broken off into pieces and divided into varieties.
