The Magic of Trees: A Guide to Their Sacred Wisdom & Metaphysical Properties - Tess Whitehurst 2017

Boswellia
The Trees

This medicinal tree is best known in magical circles for its famously fragrant sap with which you are almost certainly acquainted. It was a gift of the magi, it’s a staple at Catholic churches, and it commonly goes by the name of frankincense.

Aligned with the very brightest, strongest, and most positive energies, frankincense (Boswellia serrata) has been magically employed for millennia to align with the Divine and bring powerful healing and purification on all levels.

Magical Uses

Healing

Boswellia is an ancient healing remedy that’s been used for skin, joints, respiratory ailments, mouth and throat challenges, and general inflammation. On the emotional and spiritual level, frankincense (when used as an incense or anointing oil) can support all forms of healing (including physical) by establishing a clear and positive atmosphere and calling in the fortifying presence of the Divine.

Purification, Consecration, and Sacred Space

In ancient Egypt frankincense was burned as an offering to Ra, the sun god. Indeed, the resin, particularly when burned as incense, possesses a purity, brightness, and strength reminiscent of sunlight itself. Smudge with frankincense to purify a person, an object, or a location.

Similarly, as the Catholic Church is well aware, anointing with the oil or smudging with incense can serve as a powerful consecration ritual: it can be employed to dedicate a person, an object, or a place to divine purposes and elevate the object of the ritual to the realm of the sacred.

Protection

With such a clear, powerful, and vibrant energy, frankincense protects against negativity by dissuading what is not of its vibration. Additionally, it possesses an actual aspect of conscious, alive divinity. This establishes a strong shield of positivity through which no malevolent energies would dare to pierce.

To protect yourself or another, anoint the forehead, heart, belly, and hands with essential oil of frankincense. To protect a space, anoint every door and window on the outside with the oil and smudge the inside with the incense.

Magical Correspondences

Element: Air

Gender: Masculine

Planet: Sun