A pleasing scent...

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A pleasing scent...

Postby Aldus Marius on Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:10 pm

Salvete omnes!

I have a tiny lararium where I burn incense. I had heard or was told (long ago, when I was still on The 386 that Ruled the Earth) that certain incenses were associated with particular Gods and/or festivals. Does anyone know any more about this than I do?

Gratias ago!

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Postby Horatius Piscinus on Thu Dec 15, 2005 1:25 pm

Salve Mari

This is gleaned from various sources:

Adonis: for matters of love: fennel, barley, roses.

Apollo: for prophecy and health: bay laurel, hyacinth.

Asclepius: for treating the sick, medical careers and institutions, and choosing doctors: butterfly weed, milkweed, mustard, opopanax, thin-leaf parsnip.

Carna: for general health and the family: arbutus, mulberry tree.

Castor and Pollux: for sea voyages and mercantile enterprises: frankincense.

Ceres: for agricultural produce, especially grains, family welfare, marriage, and funerary rites: barley, dittany of Crete, honey, hyacinth, milk, pennyroyal, poppies, spelt, storax, violets.

Chiron: for alternative treatment of the sick and medical knowledge: chiron vine, greater centaury, St. John’s wort, wormwood, yarrow.

Diana: for female rites of passage, chastity, childbirth, and hunting: hazel, jasmine, lavender, mandrake, rosemary, wormwood (artemesia absinthe).

Dis Pater: for benefiting the dead, vengeance or the ruin of rivals: cinnamon, frankincense, honey, ivy, mint, and pennyroyal.

Faunus: for male virility, welfare of the family, especially men and male children, and prophecy: peony, myrtle.

Faustus: for general happiness and celebrations: ivy, pine.

Hecate: for revenge: garlic, hemlock, mandrake, rue.

Hercules: for overcoming any difficulties, virility in men and male fertility, and to benefit the dead: henbane, herb Robert, opopanax, oregano, monkshood (aconite), and poplar.

Janus: for the beginning of any enterprise or activity, and the beginning of the New Year or the start of any new phase in life (school, career, marriage, birth of a child): bay laurel.

Juno: for faithfulness in marriage, for good marriage, for the benefit of women in general or the welfare of a community: iris, lily, orris root, saffron.

Juppiter: for all matters concerning a family or community: benzoin, cassia, cinnamon, holm oak, laurel, marjoram, saffron, sage, vervain.

Lares: for family matters (sale or purchase of property, career moves, marriage) myrtle, juniper.

Liber and Libera: for festivities, bounty, happiness in love relations: cinnamon, fennel, frankincense, honey, ivy, mint, pennyroyal.

Manes: for the benefit of a community or the dead in general: bay laurel, grain, honey, milk, myrtle, polar, olive oil, salt, violets, and wine.

Mars: for defense against all ills and disease of animals or people: cinnamon, laurel, peony, red clover.

Mercury: for all commercial enterprises, legal disputes, education, illegal activities, warning of crimes, birth and the passages of life for children, and the passage from life into death: dill, hellebore niger, marjoram, mercurialis, myrtle.

Minerva: for all domestic crafts and the arts, education, or any pursuit requiring skill and cleverness: ampelos or chiron vine, olive, rosemary.

Muses: for the arts or instilling poise and grace: couch grass, and white helebore.

Pales: for animals in general, shepherds and herders: basil.

Priapus: for protection of the family garden or property, virility in men and pleasure for women, and good fortune in general: lotus tree.

Proserpina: for the benefit of wild fields, care of the dead, easing the burdens of life or death, and vengeance on rivals: hyacinth, mandrake, mint, myrtle, parsley, rosemary, rue, violet.

Quirinus: for soldiers and veterans, especially in their military life or veteran benefits, farmers and workers in general, defense of a community and public institutions, especially in attaining harmonious resolutions: juniper, myrtle.

Robigo: for protection of plant life from disease: vervain (?).

Saturnus: for prosperity, general welfare of land and people: costus, fig tree, storax, violets.

Silvanus: for protection against dangers from the wild or to benefit produce from wild regions (hunting, foraging, lumbering): Italian cyprus root.

Venus: for love and happiness, children, pleasure of having children, flowers and flower gardens, and happy passage of the dead: ambergris, fennel, lily, marjoram, myrtle, rose.

Vesta: for benefiting the home and family, warm family relations, housework, especially related to the kitchen: bay laurel, corn cicely (or shepherd’s needle = scandix pecten Veneris), juniper, myrtle, "Venus' comb," and violets
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But...

Postby Aldus Marius on Fri Dec 16, 2005 5:34 am

Salve, mi Piscine...

...and Gratias ago for putting this together.

However, these are herbs. Of them all, I think I've only ever seen pine, rose, sage, balsam, juniper, jasmine, lavender, mulberry, frankincense, cinnamon, and maybe bay laurel as incenses.

Most of the rest are available as essential oils (and nothing beats pennyroyal for driving a flea infestation out of a house!). Should I be using those instead?

Incenses I do have (besides the ones I've already mentioned) are:
-- "Temple" (I always start with this one)
-- Copal (my South American heritage kicking in)
-- "Spirit"
-- Cedar
-- Mesquite (that Texas thing...)
-- Piñon (ditto)
-- Myrrh
-- Sandalwood
-- Frangipani
-- Bayberry
-- Patchouli
-- Vanilla
-- "Bamboo"
-- "Jade"
-- African Violet

(Quotes denote names of scents, not of whatever the incense is made of.)

Many of these are from the New World or the tropics; would they have any special significance?

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