How do I get Incense powders to burn well?

The best way to burn Sphere + Sundry's powdered INCENSE is on a bed of high quality white ASH, which allows for heat diffusion and air circulation. We often have it in stock on the website, but if not, there are plenty of vendors online 🤗

You can also use ash from a home fireplace/ fire pit, though it might change the smell a little! Create a uniform consistency with a mortar and pestle for best results...

To Burn

In an incense burner or fire-safe dish, add ash and pat it down so it's relatively flat/ smooth, and then create a small mound or a line of incense. I find it easiest to pour the incense powder into my palm and then use fingers to build the shape, bit by bit.

The important thing is to create a peaked ridge, like a mountain range, that is continuous along the full length of the incense. It should be shaped like triangle with a high center peak, rather than a flat line. 

Picking the Shape/ Adjusting Burn Duration

Mounds work great for small workings, like weekly devotions on a planet's day + hour for the length of an Orphic Hymn, other short prayer, or a quick SMOKE BATH. 

For longer ritual work, such as the full length of a talismanic election or multi-mala mantra practice, plates and platters where you can form long lines or continuous shapes work best.

If you finish your ritual process before the incense has run its full course, you can preserve the rest by cutting the line with a knife and shifting it apart from the lit section to stop further progress, and then light it again later.

Sadhana tip: this will create a burn path in the ash that you can build over for your next practice, which should then be around the necessary duration. 

You can shape the incense into planetary glyphs, cursive words, or the sigil of your choice to add an additional layer of magic + meaning to the burning process.