Incenses and resins are an important factor in ritual magic, there are countless types, but there has always been a question of which type to choose for a particular demon to perfectly match it.
In addition, there is very little talk about this topic among occultists, and if you don’t mind, I would like to open this debate here so that other practitioners of the left path can join in and talk about our experiences, what is most suitable, and what you recommend to other beginners who don’t know exactly what to choose.I will be the first to speak, my most common incenses and resins are Myrrh, Frankincense, Sandalwood (Lilith), and occasionally Dragons Blood when working with other demons.
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First of all, do you mean incense as a manifestation base, or incense as an offering? Or both?
For me, a good default when in doubt is white copal.
It smells relatively mild and pleasant, is white an an excellent manifestation base, less expensive than other types, and easy to find. I recommend charcoal disks with the resin not infused sticks, which don’t last so long - you can always add another nugget to the coal which lasts about an hour for the little ones.
I don’t know what this means “match it”?. It’s worth asking the entity in question what they like, or if they like what you’re using, but unless it’s an offering this isn’t necessary. What they like can change depending on he interaction of your energy with theirs, and the purpose of the meeting, so it’s not a one-size-fits-all.
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So I think of incense as both for manifestation and offering at the same time. I never lit one separately but always chose just one incense for the entire ritual and altar prayer.
Regarding the correspondence of incense with a specific demon, I thought of it like a grimoire who recommends which incenses certain demons prefer. That’s why I opened this debate because everyone lists a different type of incense for the same demon and it gets confusing, especially if you’re not a long-time practitioner with experience.
In the end, you get the feeling that it doesn’t even matter which incense you light.
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When I was first starting out, I would use Dragon’s Blood with everything, mostly because it sounded cool as a teenager. It worked well enough, I don’t think you have to go “all out” to accomplish what you set out to, but I do think there’s courtesy involved with doing deeper research as to what you aim to do.
S Connolly’s list has incense and other things associated with each demon by rank:
King: Frankincense
Prince: Cedar
Duke: Sandalwood
Marquis: Jasmine
President: Storax
Earl: Dragon’s Blood
Knight: Myrrh
I’ve also seen people use Agrippa’s Philosophy of Natural Magic to derive incenses and other perfumes for demons and spirits, such as here:
The Keys of Solomon state that there are perfumes associated with the alphabet to customize a perfume for that spirit, such as here (Under Paths):
The Lesser Key of Solomon also has the Asperges Me (a song) as part of a conjuration, which says to sprinkle with holy water (usually a priest does this to the clergy and attending people).
For Solominic, Goetic, Enochian, and related biblical and biblical-adjacent workings I have a mixture of Storax, Galbanum, Onycha, and Frankincense I burn on coal as well as an oil mixture of St John’s Wort, Blessed Thistle, Hyssop, Eucalyptus, Wormwood, Bay Leaf, and Grapeseed Oil among other oils for different occasions to anoint candles with. Sometimes I drop a little onto a hot coal to burn. I use these in the beginning of the rituals before adding the spirit’s associated resins, incense, etc. Sometimes they overlap which is fine, give or take the individual isn’t overwhelmed or sensitive to these.
After getting to know an entity, I usually create a custom perfume spray made of essential oils.
The more your practice, the better you’ll get at customizing your work.
Perfume, Incense, Resin, etc is more or less a courtesy, in my opinion. When I have guests in my house, I burn a little incense and open the windows so it smells better than Dog and Cigars. The use of incense and its associations are somewhat arbitrary give or take you have a reason for them. Working under the day and hour of the Sun with a solar entity? Look up solary incense.
I also think it adds up. If you evoke a solar entity at night on a wednesday with a venusian incense, that’s not “wrong” but it might not be as strong of a connection. That’s also fine, it doesn’t mean you won’t get a connection or develop a relationship at all, it’s sort of like walking uphill in sand. You’ll get there eventually. I talk a bit about that here:
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I use copal in the form of resin and a charcoal, for everything. It provides a nice and dense fog, smells good and is not bad for your lungs.
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I don’t pay too much attention to what other people do, because they are not me and don’t have my energy signature. There’s a very high probability what works for them works differently or not at all for me. So this is great for inspiration, if you’re looking for ideas, but not as a reference for what’s going to work for you.
I think that’s largely true for the entity. Unless you asked and they made a special request.
The usefulness then becomes what gets you in the right head space to best do the working.
Like for me, if I’m doing a ceremonial something I don’t use Kyphri or dragons Blood because I don’t like how they smell and that would distract me and bring a negative energy into the working. I could control that, but why bother, these are never ime a deal breaker.
For an example on the spirit side, I once bought a “Samael” incense on etsy, I thought it was going to be so cool… and I liked it ok, but Samael hated it, so that’s out the window.
But the person who made it, thought it would be good and hopefully used themselves well enough, it’s not their fault it didn’t work for me.
So, it’s not that it doesn’t matter, but what other people do doesn’t matter to you. Best to find what works and don’t worry about the rest.
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I generally use white copal incense for all my evocations. I work with EA Koetting’s system mainly and that’s what he recommends in his books. it’s served me well. I sometimes will use other scents like cinnamon or frankincense for planetary work or as an offering when I do Jason Miller’s feast ritual.
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I also like E.A. Koeting’s system, so I work a lot with his books. I know the white copal from Mexico, but it is a bit expensive if you are from Europe ( I’m talking about incense resin, not sticks ), otherwise I love aroma.
I’m in Canada and couldn’t find large enough tears of copal locally so I had to order from the US. Managed to get a large bag that has lasted me several years.
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It’s still my go to choice when I am in doubt. Partially because I still think it sounds cool ^^.
My path is shifting more to the primal than the pure dark, but still would not in the slightest put my path and work in the light/ white magick section.
With that I’ve also changed to much rather gather and dry or speed-dry some local wild herbs that are abundant and at least somewhat asociate with the work I wish to undertake than order something that is the exact type I would need. I’ve been surprised by the positive difference this made in my work.
There are some exceptions, such as the use of sandalwood for any magickal operation specifically guided by or in honor of my patron goddess and I usually use Dragon’s Blood sticks for other rituals I perform outside. Since a smallnstick is less of a fire hazard than burning coal and herbs or resin and Dragon’s Blood has also been a pretty good substitute so far for about every time I couldn’t get my hands on the actual needed incense.
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It’s something similar for me, namely sandalwood and dragon’s blood are personally the best incenses I’ve tried, but not because of the name, but because they simply smell great to me. I also found that the sticks are not as good as the resin, but I agree that sticks are very common for me too.