How to Make Incense paper

How to Make Incense paper
shared by Valerie
Inspired By Scott Cunningham

The 'other kind' of incense.

You will need the following:
white blotter paper
cut into six inch strips about an inch wide 1 1/2
teaspoon potassium nitrate (you can buy potassium nitrate over the counter at most drug stores)
added to one half cup warm water.


Stir until completely dissolved. soak the paper strips in the solution until thoroughly Wet, then hang them up to dry. You now have paper versions of charcoal blocks used the burn incense! NOW when making incense papers - your goal is to overcome the smell of the burning paper - so Heavy fragrances should be used.

To Scent Your Incense Paper. Choose a scent for your magical need and add a few drops at a time to the paper and smear over one side of the paper - then hang to dry . When completely dry - store in an airtight container until ready to use :) (if it is not completely dry - you will have a moldy mushy Mess when you open your container) Use only tinctures to scent the papers - essential and base oils just don't do it very well Making tinctures to scent your incense papers with...a tincture is the process of soaking dried plant materials in alcohol which captures the scent.

Do Not Use Rubbing Alchol. Use only ethyl alcohol or "Everclear" needs to be a minimum of 140 proof (70%) For further information on this subject see Scott Cummingham's book The Complete Book of Incense, Oils Incense Paper

Lighting the Incense Paper:
Simply light one end of your dried paper and let it catch fire incense papers should burn slowly. When it has a good flame going - quickly blow it out and put it in your censer and let it smolder.

Great Idea : Just sprinkle a little incense on your smoldering paper and let it burn as well.

Incense Paper History

In the past, Chinese families owned ancestral tablets with the ancestors' names inscribed on them. Such tablets are placed on ancestral altars and urns meant for placing joss sticks, and food offerings are usually placed in front of it. Ancestral tablets found in Chinese homes only state the names of patrilineal ancestors and their wives. With the advent of modernism, and perchance owing to the decline of traditional Chinese values reinforced through Taoism, filial piety and thus such practices have almost vanished. At most only Taoist or Buddhist altars are found in Chinese homes.

Families may choose to have their ancestors cremated or buried in columbariums and cemeteries respectively. Families would visit their ancestor's resting place, especially during the Qing ming Festival. They would bring joss sticks, incense paper and food offerings to the ancestors.

According to Chinese custom and tradition, people worshiping ancestors at Chinese cemeteries or columbariums must first lay out their offerings and prayer items before burning the joss stick. The worshippers may then recite prayers before proceeding to place their joss sticks on designated areas.

The worshipers then burn the incense paper and collect the food after worship.

Incense paper used for ancestor worship comes in several forms; each represents a present for the ancestor's spirit. Paper colored yellow with a gold foil printed on it represents a gold tael; that with a silver foil represents a silver tael.

Another variant is single-colored paper which is manufactured with a rougher surface on one side and a smoother surface on the other side. Such paper come in varying colors. Incense paper of this type is to be rolled up and snugged tightly at both ends. The smoother face should form the exterior surface. Incense paper of this variant is used to represent clothes for the ancestor. Paper with a soft and rough surface printed in brown recycled paper serves as cloth.

Hell bank notes of various sizes as well as Kai chin are used to represent money. All of this incense paper is arranged and collected into a bundle known as Yi bou in accordance to significance. The brown incense paper serves as the base. Usually, the base must have an even number of "cloth" papers, and one sheet will serve as the nucleus of the base. They are followed on by the bank notes, Kai chin, clothes and taels, and the Yim bou is gathered up, and burnt with a candle Yi bou before throwing it into the urn. Joss papers manufactured into the shape of shirts and trousers are sometimes burnt together with the Yi bou.

Incense Papers
Incense papers are a delightful variation of combustible incense. Here, rather than using charcoal and gum tragacanth, tinctures and paper are the basic ingredients. To make incense papers, take a piece of white blotter paper and cut it into six-inch strips about an inch wide. Next, add 1 1/2 teaspoons potassium nitrate to 1/2 cup very warm water. Stir until potassium nitrate is completely dissolved. Soak the paper strips in the nitrate solution until thoroughly saturated. Hang them to dry.
You now have the paper versions of the charcoal blocks used to burn incense. The obstacle in scenting them is to overcome the normal smell of burning of burning paper. For this reason, heavy fragrances should be used, such as tinctures. Tinctures compounded from gums and resins seem to produce the best results. Empower the tincture(s) with you Magickal need, then pour a few drops of the tincture onto one strip of paper. Smear this over the paper and add more drops until it is completely coated on one side. Hang the strip up to dry and store in labeled, airtight container until needed.
To speed drying, turn o the oven to a low temperature, leave the door open, and place the soaked incense papers on the rack. Remove them when dry. Generally speaking, incense papers should be made with one tincture rather than mixtures. To use incense papers, simply remove one paper and hold it above your censer. Light one tip with a match, and after it is completely involved in flame, quickly blow it out. Place the glowing paper in your censer and let it smolder, visualizing or working your Magickal ritual. Incense papers should burn slowly and emit a pleasant scent.
Plain unscented papers can be used in place of charcoal blocks. For this purpose soak the papers in the potassium nitrate solution and let dry, then set one alight in the censer. Sprinkle a thin layer of the incense over the paper. As it burns the paper will also smolder your incense. You may have difficulty in keeping incense paper lit. The secret here is to allow air to circulate below the papers. You can ensure this by either placing the paper on some heat-proof object in the censer, or by filling the censer with salt or sand and thrusting one end of the paper into this, much as you might with incense sticks. The paper should burn all the way to its end.

Incense Magic

When incense is burned prior to magical workings, fragrant smoke also purifies the altar and the surrounding area of negative, disturbing vibrations. Though such a purification isn't usually necessary, it, once again, helps create the appropriate mental state necessary for the successful practice of Magic. When the incense is smoldered in a ritual setting it undergoes a transformation. The vibrations, no longer trapped in their physical form, are released into the environment. Their energies, mixing with those who use them, speed out to effect the changes necessary to the manifestation of the Magickal goal.
You needn't limit incense use to ritual, but avoid burning healing incense just for the smell, or to freshen up your stale house. Burning magickally constructed and empowered incenses when they're not needed is a waste of energy. If you wish to burn a pleasant-smelling incense, compound a household mixture for this purpose.

The Making of Incense

The Materials
Incenses are composed of a variety of leaves, flowers, roots, barks, woods, resins, gums and oils. Semiprecious stones may also be added to incenses to lend their energies to the mixture. Out of the literally hundreds of potential incense ingredients, perhaps 14 are most frequently used. Keep a stock of these herbs on hand if you plan to make several incense. These might include:

Frankincense, Myrrh, Benzoin, Copal, Rose petals, Bay, Cinnamon Pine needles or resin(pitch) Juniper Sandalwood Cedar Thyme Basil Rosemary

Be aware that many plants (if not all) smell quite different when being smoldered. Sweet scents turn sour fast!