Perfumes and incense were highly developed in classical times. The Romans, through Nero’s infamous behaviour, allowed extravagant uses of perfumes in demonstrations of almost unimaginable decadence.

As incense ingredients became better known in Europe, incense was widely adopted by the Christian church. It quickly replaced the earlier devotional offering of pagans to their many gods to now satisfy what was understood as the specific directions in the Bible. In religious worship in all churches, censing was relied upon as an integral part of the ritual as it proved helpful in inducing a devotional mood amongst congregations.

In Asia and India, the use of incense is an ancient tradition in the life of the people. It has become an important art in blending natural floral perfumes with sandalwood and sometimes a substance from ambergris and the highly prized musk from the musk deer. Because of the associated cruel methods, animal sources are now outlawed.     

It has several benefits and practical purposes beyond religious purposes. It not only can be used to disguise unpleasant odours, but to help create a pleasant general atmosphere and more specifically, in helping an individual soothe stressful mental and emotional states.

For these reasons incense continues to increase in popular domestic use, particularly amongst those who practise meditation. It has found its way to become commonplace for perfumes and aromatics to feature in the life and homes of us all.

However, with greater awareness of the earth’s decline in natural resources, there is every likelihood that we will have to use restraint in our casual use of incense in the future and reserve our precious aromatics solely for spiritual purposes.

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Of our five senses, the olfactory sense is the most subtle and difficult to define but it plays a large role in our well being, both in our physical health as well as the subtler psychological and spiritual well being.

Most people may value perfume only as an addition to their personal toiletry. We also can appreciate it on others or enjoy a pleasing scent in the garden or the general atmosphere. But perfume possesses other specific qualities not so quickly recognized. Aromas affect our quality of life both by the additional of beautiful perfumes or by the destructive nature of chemical or traffic fumes. These bad odours cause reactions on our nervous systems and respiratory systems in a negative way, intensifying nervous tension both physical and psychological.

Inhalation of pleasant perfumes and flower essences of natural origin have a positive enjoyable result, stimulating the sense of well being, so fundamental to our psyche in protecting us from disease, physical and mental. In addition, it is found that perfumes of natural essences and essential oils can counteract negative states of the body and mind and are therefore proving to be effective ‘medicine’ for many ills.

The subtle nature of perfume is beginning to be appreciated through the science of Osmics. Aromatherapy is now a common therapeutic option and is included as one of the modalities used in natural therapies and entering tentative application in orthodox medical science and psychology.

Burning incense sticks is now commonplace in western as well as customary in eastern societies. Care should be used with modern synthetics as harmful effects can sometimes occur from some chemical ingredients used in their production. We can only expect anticipated benefits if we use the natural essential oils and aromatics.

Not only personal use of perfume, but appropriate

quality fragrances released into the atmosphere

through burning as incense offer a wonderful influence in any environment.

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