*Incense Recipes

Submit your personal and/or favorite recipes for incense and get a free sample from the Tzu Jan line! Send Submissions to tzujanincense@gmail.com.

Exodus 30:34-38

And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: 35 And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy: 36 And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy. 37 And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the LORD. 38 Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.

The Composition of Some Fumes Appropriated to the Planets.

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa

From: Occult Philosophy (1651). Book 1 part 2; Chapt. xliv.

Warning: Some ingredients within these recipes may be distasteful to some practitioners. They are certainly not being suggested for use by Tzu Jan. Recipes from this collection are included in their entirety to preserve historical accuracy.

We make a suffumigation for the Sun in this manner, viz. of Saffron, Amber-gryse [ambergris], Musk, Lignum-aloes, Lignum-balsaim [lignum balsam], the fruit of the Laurell, Cloves, Myrrh, and Frankincense, all which being bruised, and mixt in such a proportion as may make a sweet odour, must be incorporated with the brain of an Eagle, or the blood of a white Cock, after the manner of Pils [pills], or Trochiscks [troches].

For the Moon we make a suffumigation of the head of a Frog dryed [dried], the eyes of a Bull, the seed of white Poppy, Frankincense, and Camphir [camphor], which must be incorporated with Menstruous blood, or the blood of a Goose.

For Saturne take the seed of black Poppy, of Henbane, root of Mandrake, the Load-stone [loadstone], and Myrrh, and make them up with the brain of a Cat, or the blood of a Bat.

For Jupiter take the seed of Ash, Lignum-aloes, Storax, the gum Benjamin [benzoin], the Lazule [lazuli] stone, the tops of the feathers of a Peacock, and incorporate them with the blood of a Stork, or a Swallow, or the brain of a Hart.

For Mars take Euphorbium, Bdellium, gum Armoniack, the roots of both Hellebors [hellebores], the Load stone [loadstone], and a little Sulphur, and incorporate them all with the brain of a Hart, the blood of a Man, and the blood of a black Cat.

For Venus take Musk, Amber-gryse [ambergris], Lignum-aloes, red Roses, and red Corall, and make them up with the brain of Sparrows, and the blood of Pigeons.

For Mercury take Mastick, Frankincense, Cloves, and the Hearb [herb] Cinquefoile, and the stone Achates, and incorporate them all with the brain of a Fox, or Weesel [weasel], and the blood of a Pie [magpie].

Besides, to Saturne are appropriated for fumes all odoriferous roots, as Pepper-wort root, &c. and the Frankincense tree: to Jupiter odoriferous fruits, as Nutmegs, Cloves: to Mars all odoriferous wood, as Sanders [sandalwood], Cypress, Lignum-balsaim [lignum balsam], and Lignum-aloes: to the Sun, all Gums, Frankincense, Mastick, Benjamin, Storax, Laudanum [labdanum, i.e. Cistus], Amber-gryse [ambergris], and Musk; to Venus Flowers, as Roses, Violets, Saffron, and such like: to Mercury all Pils [peels] of Wood and fruit, as Cinnamon, Lignum Cassia, Mace, Citron pill [lemon peel], and Bayberries, and whatsoever seeds are odoriferous; to the Moon the leaves of all Vegetables, as the leaf Indum, the leaves of the Myrtle, and Bay-tree.

Know also, that according to the opinion of the Magicians, in every good matter, as love, good will, and the like, there must be a good fume, odoriferous, and pretious [precious]; and in every evill matter, as hatred, anger, misery, and the like, there must be a stinking fume, that is of no worth. The twelve Signes also of the Zodiack have their proper fumes, as Aries hath Myrrh, Taurus, Pepper-wort [pepperwort], Gemini, Mastick; Cancer, Camphir [camphor], Leo, Frankincense, Virgo Sanders [sandalwood], Libra, Galbanum, Scorpio, Opoponax, Sagittarius, Lignum-aloes, Capricornus, Benjamin [benzoin], Aquarius, Euphorbium, Pisces, red Storax. But Hermes describes the most powerfull fume to be, viz. that which is compounded of the seven Aromaticks, according to the powers of the seven Planets, for it receives from Saturne, Pepper-wort [pepperwort], from Jupiter, Nutmeg, from Mars, Lignum-aloes, from the Sun, Mastick, from Venus Saffron, from Mercury, Cinnamon, and from the Moon, the Myrtle.