Winter Nights Yule Incense

Mixing Winter's Magic

Incense Dragon over at WitchVox says that there a lot of incense ingredients which have strong associations with the aromas of the winter holiday season.

"Most evergreens (including pine, cedar, fir and juniper) are excellent incense ingredients. The wood, foliage and resins are all useful to the incense maker. Two resins associated with winter and Yule are frankincense and myrrh. Long before the biblical association with the baby Jesus, these two resins were revered as powerful materials. Cinnamon and clove are also strongly associated with winter, as holiday cooking so clearly demonstrates. You can bring these various components together to create your own wonderful incense."

If you have friends who might enjoy making incense with you, invite everyone over for an incense blending party! Ask each guest to bring an herb or spice of their choice, and stock up on spoons, bowls, and small jars. You can use Mason jars if you like, but washed baby food jars are perfect for this, so if you've got access to a baby, stock up ahead of time. Once everyone has combined their ingredients, divide them up evenly and spread the love!

As you mix and blend your incense, focus on the intent of your work. This particular recipe is one which evokes the spices and magic of a cold December night. Use it during a ritual, if you like, or as a smudging incense to purify a sacred space. You can also toss some into your fire just to make the house smell like winter.

Winter Nights Incense Ingredients

You’ll need:

• 2 parts Juniper berries
• 2 parts mugwort
• 1 part cedar
• 1 part pine resin (if you don't have resin, you can use dried needles)
• 1 part dried mistletoe
• 1 part laurel leaves
• 1/2 part cinnamon
• 1/2 part rosemary

Directions

Add your ingredients to your mixing bowl one at a time. Measure carefully, and if the leaves or blossoms need to be crushed, use your mortar and pestle to do so. As you blend the herbs together, state your intent. You may find it helpful to charge your incense with an incantation, such as:

As the sun returns, back to the earth,
we celebrate life and death and rebirth.
Cold winter nights and chilly days,
smoke in the sky, carry ills away.
A time of magic, at the longest night,
for without the dark, there cannot be light.
Herbs of power, blended by me,
As I will, so it shall be.

Store your incense in a tightly sealed jar. Make sure you label it with its name and date. Use your incense within three months, so that it remains charged and fresh.

Making Cone Incense

Cone incense is a little trickier to make than loose incense, for obvious reasons, but once you get the hang of it, the end result is pretty great. Andrea at Frugally Sustainable has a great post on how to make winter solstice incense cones. She says,

"All forms of incense — except that of loose incense—consist of four foundational ingredients: a burnable base, an aromatic substance, a bonding element, and a liquid to bring it all together. The beautiful thing about making incense at home…you set the intention for the incense…you choose the ingredients."

Incense Gift Giving

This is the season of giving, so why not blend up some incense to share with friends and family? Once you've blended your loose incense, scoop it into pretty jars or bags, add a festive ribbon around the top, and a note explaining what Yule means to you. Package it up in a decorative basket, and give it as a hostess gift, at the office holiday party, or leave it as a treat for a neighbor!