We’ve been really enjoying our continuing explorations of sacred resins as Spagyrics, Ritual Oils, and incense, and we have a few new offerings to share.
Black Frankincense is a form not often seen on the market, since it has been traditionally harvested for local medicinal and spiritual uses. We were lucky enough to obtain some excellent Black Frankincense neglecta resin of two types- a sticky version from Kenya, and a more solid type from Somalia, called ‘Thurimel’.
Both of these resins are sustainably harvested by local co-ops of women, who gather the resins from natural damage and weathering without tapping or damaging the trees. They are an excellent alternative to the less-balanced harvesting of other Frankincense, as you can read about here.
They are more honey type resins, formed in large crystallized chunks rather than the more familiar gemmy tears. This gives them a Spirit-level, Mercurial and flowing intelligence, with a scent and energy closer to that of the living trees from which they came.
The regular black Frankincense neglecta is available as an Initiatic, and in our meditations with it, the vital sap of the tree was very present, and the vision was of the slow pulsing rise and fall of its resin with the seasons. The speed of that pulse was very interesting to work with, as it could be changed to match whatever was being connected with, from the tree’s pulse beating to the seasons, to the human pulse of the heart.
After working with the pulse for some time, a feeling of being cocooned in something protective and yet conductive came in, with the physical self wrapped so tightly that the astral self could easily separate and travel. It was as if, in stilling the physical aspect of the body, the subtle was freed to move and act.
We’re offering the ‘Thurimel’ version in a few forms: an Initiatic, a Ritual Oil, and in a kit with these and some raw resin to burn.
As an Initiatic, it gives the sense of being a strong, stable island in a sea of energy currents, each one coming in to be worked with and moved through the body. After a time in this receptive state, it facilitates the extension of the energy field into the outer world for magickal action or spiritual practice.
As a Ritual Oil, that open receptivity is filtered a bit, and an electrical aura is formed around the self that acts as a field of protection, useful for standalone protection rituals, or to keep unwanted influences away during other practices.
As an incense, it combines these inner and outer effects in a buzzy feeling in the Wei Qi, creating sensitive resonance to vibration and sound. Using all three versions together would be interesting for scrying and divination work with reading the currents of energy, influence, or time.
We also have a new Initiatic from Kua Myrrh, a special species found only on the Yemeni island of Socotra, where it has been collected by sustainable traditional methods for hundreds of years.
This Myrrh has some of the bitter and resinous notes of that family, but it is more well-rounded in scent, taste, and effect. It smells sweet, like burnt sugar, and also deep and musky in a very sexy way. Medicinally, it is used as an astringent, detoxifier, and digestive tonic, as with other Myrrhs, and it is drying and stabilizing in its effects, as we might expect.
Energetically, it is very Saturnine, creating an intense awareness of the outline of one’s body in space, not as a protective buffer as with some other resins, but as a centering, collecting awareness. For some, it also manifested Lunar energies in how it interacted with the physical eyes and the third eye, flowing down from there into the heart and then the sexual and base chakras.
We think it would be a good support for the Middle Pillar meditation, as well as some kinds of Yoga, particularly with complex poses in which precise body awareness is needed.
We hope to also offer a Ritual Oil of Kua Myrrh soon, but for now, we hope you’ll explore the Initiatic and let us know what you think!
