Frankincense: The Temple Resin

## Three Thousand Years of Smoke Frankincense, the dried resin of the *Boswellia sacra* tree, native to the highlands of Oman, Yemen, and the horn of Africa, has perfumed the temples and chapels of the world for at least three thousand years.

The Egyptians burned it for the god Ra.

The temple at Jerusalem burned it daily.

The Magi brought it as one of three gifts to a child sleeping in a stable.

The cathedrals of the Christian East and West have never stopped burning it.

Few substances have served the spiritual life of so many traditions for so long. ## Why the Mystics Reach for It The contemplative reaches for frankincense because the smoke seems to do, in a small physical way, what prayer is meant to do at the soul level: it rises.

It clears.

It lifts the heart upward.

The early church fathers read the rising of the censer as a visible image of the prayer of the faithful ascending into Heaven.

That reading is older than they were, and it has not stopped being true. ## A Practical Practice If you are new to frankincense, you do not need an elaborate setup.

A small charcoal disc (the kind used for incense, easily found online or in a religious goods shop), a heat-safe dish with a layer of sand or salt, and a small jar of frankincense tears are enough.

Light the charcoal, let it warm for a moment, lay a few small tears on it, and let the smoke rise.

Use the time the smoke takes to disperse as your prayer.

Frankincense burns slowly; let your prayers burn slowly with it. ## A Gentle Note If you live somewhere that smoke triggers asthma or allergy, an essential oil diffused in a few drops of carrier oil over a candle warmer carries much of the same gift without the smoke.

The plant is generous; it meets you where you are.