The Noble Pagan Forums - Kyphi Incense

Kyphi Incense

Kyphi incense is made from re-hydrated raisins, honey and powdered herbs, and comes from an ancient egyptian recipe. The raisins are steeped in wine and then mushed by hand until they make a soft pureé; then you add the honey - which has been steeped too with several roots and fruits to add more scent for three weeks - and after the honey, you add the herbs and make this small "eggs", which are burnt over a charcoal piece, spreading a soft and delightful scent.

It is a very time-consuming process that must be started weeks before the actual pills of incense are made. Also, mushing the raisins by hand is exhausting! I only make a few batches A YEAR, and most of the times batches cannot be reproduced exactly because of rare and hard to find herbs and other materials. I form the paste in the shape of small eggs as traditionally it is a very magickal form that symbolizes life, beginnings and new projects, so this Kyphi eggs are not only a wonderful incense, but also a great tool for Witchcraft. The longer they cure, the better they smell.

I personally use kyphi incense as a special offering to my Deities and Guardian spirits. I burn "regular" incense mostly everyday, and keep the kyphi for special sacred days or spells that need an extra help from "the other side" - but of course, you can use it as regular incense. When you put the pill on the coal, it starts spreading a soft scent and lasts about 20-30 minutes until consumed, time enough to make almost any ritual you need. It burns completely, so no incense is wasted - I love that too since I'm a savy Witch.



Why making (and buying) kyphi incense? Well, first of all because it contains no chemical ingredients at all. Almost 100% of commercial incense contains saltpeter, which is Potassium Nitrate, one of the elements used in making gunpowder. When you are purchasing incense, the terms “handmade” and hand-dipped” do not mean natural or organic! Actually, I only use commercial incense as a perfumer, but never in rituals as you can never know the origin of plants, the energy of the maker and, most of all, because the work conditions in some countries for incense factories would be considered slavery in our world.

The second reason of making Kyphi, and other handmade incenses, is that I LOVE the process! I can fill every piece with good and healing energy and I have complete control over the origin of the items, which are either from our own harvest or from our friends at the local farmer’s market, where I’ve been purchasing goods for 15 years without one complaint. And of course, mixing and brewing in the mortar is a Witch’s joy!

Here's also a little introduction to Kyphi's history - from :

“The earliest reference to kyphi is found in the Pyramid Texts: it is listed among the goods that the king will enjoy in the afterlife. Papyrus Harris I records the donation and delivery of herbs and resins for its manufacture in the temples under Ramses III. Instructions for the preparation of kyphi and lists of ingredients are found among the wall inscriptions at the temples of Edfu and Dendera in upper Egypt. The Egyptian priest Manetho is known to have written a treatise called Preparation of Kyphi-Recipes, but no copy of this work survives.

Greek physicians studying the Egyptian pharmacopia took interest in kyphi’s reputation as a medicine. Dioscorides set forth the preparation of kyphi in his Materia Medica and this is thought to be the first Greek description of the material. Galen preserves a medical poem about kyphi from Damocrates, who in turn credits Rufus of Ephesus for the formula.
In Isis and Osiris the historian Plutarch comments that Egyptian priests burned incense three times a day: frankincense at dawn, myrrh at mid-day, and kyphi at dusk. He reports that kyphi had sixteen ingredients and adds “These are compounded, not at random, but while the sacred writings are being read to the perfumers as they mix the ingredients.” Plutarch further notes that the mixture was used as “a potion and a salve”. The seventh century physician Paul of Aegina records a “lunar” kyphi of twenty-eight ingredients and a “solar” kyphi of thirty-six.”

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Carolina Gonzalez - The Hoodoo Shop
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Originally Posted by CarolinaGonzalez Sorry Miamipagan, but I haven't! This process is actually very easy, it's only time consuming.