This reaches its pinnacle in the idea that one has to receive “the Name” from the “god who comes in” via the initiation; this is that god’s own True Name, which is sacred and powerful and is used in many of the works that follow the initiation in PGM XIII.1—343; this can be seen to also bring in some of the influence of the Divine Name of God, only permitted to be spoken aloud once a year by the high priest in the holy of holies of the Temple. ️ Historical Medicinal Uses of Kyphi ️ Ancient Egyptian Royalty loved Kyphi for more than just it's luxurious aromatherapy, they also were skilled in medicine, & used various forms of Kyphi and other oils & incenses for specific medicinal uses..such as Using the smoke to cleanse bacteria from air during surgeries & mummification Kyphi Incense Spell “I ask that Isis lend her power, As the herbs blend together, And when they are touched by Fire, They will open the starlit veil of night, So I may see with inner sight, Embraced by the protection of the Lord and Lady, By magic’s art, revealed to me, That which I … Each product is made from organic or ethically wild crafted botanicals taking care to … “Kyphi has always fascinated me. The problem is, though, the use of incense generally outside of a ritual for its own sake. Interested in an informal series of lectures on geomancy that'll get you up and running to start reading geomantic charts? Certain ingredients within it must ferment and blend with time. Incense is composed of aromatic plant materials, often combined with essential oils. According to the directions in PGM XIII.1—343, these seven flowers are to be taken 21 days “before the initiation” for processing. The only odd one to consider is malabathron, which is not listed in either the Exodus or Talmudic recipes; however, knowing that it’s considered close to cinnamon, which we lack in our PGM incense list (except as a phylactery or charm to wear around the neck—perhaps too precious or expensive to be burned? From shop Alkemia. Interested in a self-directed at-your-own-pace crash course on Renaissance Hermetic magic, taking you from beginner to expert level? Then use it to anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the covenant law, the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand. material available to us in the Greek magical papyri. As said above, the end of PGM XIII.1—343 says that the powder of the flowers is to be mixed with the incense and, presumably, sun vetch (fava beans) into nuggets of incense. Anyway. Your email address will not be published. Like, obviously this is not a particularly canon rite that would have been done in the Temple at Jerusalem, but the whole Eighth Book of Moses is definitely appropriating Jewish elements heavily, far beyond just attributing the book to the prophet Moses. The order of the incenses might be temping to use as a correspondence, but there are two orders given both for the incenses and the flowers between PGM XIII.1—343 and PGM XIII.343—646, so I’m not comfortable linking them up that way. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. “Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so they may serve me as priests. The ancient Egyptians were quite fond of Frankincense resin and used it as temple incense (an ingredient in the famous Kyphi incense), as medicine, in the use of cosmetics and perfumery, and even for burial ceremonies and embalming. One of which is the use of incenses, described in the earlier parts of PGM XIII, which is used both as an offering substance for the divinity or divinities invoked in the ritual as well as an ingredient for consecrating particular inks and drinks in the ritual. Trying to come up with my PGM-style framing rite was pretty fun, I have to admit. Kyphi’s elegant fragrance was prized throughout the ancient world. Looking through the PGM, whenever incense is burned, it’s for a specific purpose, generally to bless a particular object or as an offering. So much for the Jewish influences. Anyway, we have seven materials to be used as planetary incenses. Another option might be bitter vetch, Vicia ervilia, which was domesticated before fava beans by about 1500 years, but I’m inclined to think that fava beans are meant here. It was also an ingredient of Kyphi incense, which was burnt in copious amounts for both secular and sacred occasions. Given the Egpytian priestly influence in PGM XIII, and the fact that we see the use of this incense both as a form of fumigation as well as a type of sacred medicine (when the ink used to write on the natron tablet is either licked off or washed off into wine and drunk), it’s clear that PGM XIII is really giving us a special type of Hermetic kyphi recipe. Preisendanz gives “Dichtlaubpflanze (? There are other Jewish influences in PGM XIII as well, such as how the ritual is to be done such that the 41 days of purification ends with the New Moon in Aries. 21 days before this, then, would mean to gather the flowers on the day of or just before a Full Moon. Incense can generally be separated into two … Geomancy in the Reign of the Lady of Crowns, Blessing of Water, Chalk, Candles, and Fire, Consecration of the Twelve Faces of Hēlios, Consecration of the Twenty-Eight Faces of Mēnē, Novena of Saint Cyprian and Saint Justina, PGM Kyphi: On The Incense of the Eighth Book of Moses, Pole Lords and Northern Stars: The Seven Pairs of Divinities from the Mithras Liturgy « The Digital Ambler. It is possible to replace the use of raw resins and barks (and even the flowers, too!) PGM XIII.343—646 suggests that, as a general initiatory incense, all seven of the planetary incenses were to be mixed with the the seven flowers, along with unmixed wine; additionally, the seven flowers are to be mixed with ink in the same way as before; though no reference is made here to using the incense as well for this purpose, PGM XIII.646—734 does say to use both the incense and the flowers for the ink. Quantities, unfortunately, are missing from PGM XIII (as they often are from much of the rest of the PGM), so it’s unclear exactly how much of each incense or flower we should use, the ratio of incense and flowers to beans, and so forth, so some experimentation would be needed to come up with something that would resemble the incense of PGM XIII. Even the word makes my heart skip a beat. The scent of this kyphi is sweet, with a honey undertone throughout. Recipes for the incense used to usher in the night in ancient Egyptian temples to Ra have often been preserved thanks to medicine. If one wanted to get really particular, I’d recommend the Damask rose. Personally, I love the use of incense, and I don’t do many rituals without it; I typically find it to be an important, if not outright essential, part of ritual magic, and there are too many rituals in the PGM to count that use some sort of suffumigation or another. Kyphi brings to mind forgotten days of the past, creating a comforting space. Kyphi is a compound incense that was used in ancient Egypt for religious and medical purposes. The word Kyphi is understood as the Greek interpretation of the Egyptian term kp.t. The process of soaking and mashing the ingredients, plus curing the nuggets once made (say, in a terracotta or clay container), would indeed take about three weeks, giving the magician enough time to have them ready by the time they were to be used. Rather, the use of incense appears to almost always be used as an offering to some god or spirit, or as a suffumigation to bless a particular object under a particular god or spirit. The text says that the flowers, once picked, are to be ground finely either in a white mortar or into a white incense (the Betz translation gives two options for this), then left to dry in the shade. Consider Exodus 30:22—38, which discusses the recipes and uses for the holy anointing oil and the offering incense: Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take the following fine spices: 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much (that is, 250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of fragrant calamus, 500 shekels of cassia—all according to the sanctuary shekel—and a hin of olive oil. It will be the sacred anointing oil. Frankincense essential oil (Boswellia frereana, Boswellia carterii, and/or Boswellia sacra) is a tree or shrub that produces a gum or resin that can be steam distilled into an essential oil with HUGE health benefits.Frankincense trees grow in the harshest environments. However, I’m not sure this makes sense; given the colors of the flowers, grinding them “into white incense” doesn’t seem likely or possible, nor does it make sense to grind them up before drying them if they need to be ground fine into anything except a paste or mush. Copal resin comes from trees in the Buresa family, which is considered a medicinal tree to the Mayas in southern Mexico. That said, the ritual as a whole is really more of a priestly Egyptian kind of magic with Jewish elements mixed in. Pingback: Pole Lords and Northern Stars: The Seven Pairs of Divinities from the Mithras Liturgy « The Digital Ambler. We see some significant overlap between this part of Exodus and the incense materials given in PGM XIII. Your email address will not be published. Kyphi Incense. One of the ritual acts that I made optional was a general burning of incense, after the empowerment and just before the ritual proper around which the framing rite takes place. Grind some of it to powder and place it in front of the ark of the covenant law in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. Real Kyphi incense must be properly aged in phases to have the desired scent and effect. The fragrant is never “burnt” and always pleasant with kyphi. Indeed, “white lily” would have been referred to by λείριον and not the word used in the PGM, while this word here refers to non-white lilies. It goes as far back to the Mayan and Aztec cultures. The process for making kyphi is longer than any other incense, as it uses raisins and honey as an agent to glue together the differerent fragrant components i.e. Off the top of my head (and I could be really wrong about it), I’d probably think a 2:1:3 ratio by weight would be appropriate for resins to flowers to beans, all having been soaked ahead of time in dry, strong white wine that is, of course, with no salt or salt water added. This doesn’t apply, however, to the final dismissal, where incense is burned, because the parts of the PGM where I pulled those prayers from do indeed call for incense, and it being a dismissal and thanksgiving offering to the spirits, the use of incense is appropriate. Was cannabis present in Egyptian kyphi?. Wash the head with an infusion of fenugreek seeds to protect against demonic possession. To make matters even more interesting, consider the rabbinic literature of the Talmud: it expands the list of ingredients for the incense offering significantly from the Exodus list: We know that the Talmudic literature and traditions go back to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, and so its beginnings would have been roughly contemporaneous with the PGM authors. Historical and Ancient Incense. Frankincense Essential Oil: Uses, Benefits, and Precautions Posted by Elizabeth Grasse on July 27, 2017 Frankincense essential oil (Boswellia frereana, Boswellia carterii, and/or Boswellia sacra) is a tree or shrub that produces a gum or resin that can be steam distilled into … This is basically ensuring that you’re timing things to line up with Passover, which generally occurs around the Full Moon in Aries. It’s possible to deduce some planetary rulerships, but I’m unclear on what sources to use; most modern resources would give multiple flowers to Venus (lily, rose, narcissus, and thyme), leaving not many for the other planets. Kyphi was offertory incense burned at dusk in the temples of ancient Egypt. Most notably, there is no mention of raisins in this recipe (although it is possible that the inclusion of raisins was assumed) and the Kyphi is prepared by simply boiling the ingredients in honey. Ancient Egyptian Kyphi Incense Used for rituals involving | Etsy Phytognosis means plant knowledge and is dedicated to making 100% natural products derived from plants that aid in spiritual attainment. Tukankhamen was entombed with seeds from this ancient herb. Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window), Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window). Kyphi incense is derived from an ancient incense that Egyptians made for temple incense. Check out my Etsy store for the crafts I make and tools I supply, the Books page for the ebooks I write, or the Services page for more information about the rituals, consultations, divinations, or other things I can do for you! Dioscorides was a Greek born in 40 CE in what is now Turkey, then part of the Roman Empire. 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