The Essence of Incense : Bringing Fragrance into the Home [Paperback]

Diana Rosen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2001

If you think that incense is just a throw-back to the sixties, look again. Today's incense goes further and reaches deeper. Incense - the ancient scents made from spices, fruits, herbs, and resins - brings together peoples and cultures from around the world. It also provides an inviting way to connect with the spiritual and bring fragrance into the home. The scents of the past can still be found in classic incense, such as patchouli, rose, myrrh, sandalwood, frankincense, and jasmine. Modern fragrances can be whimsical, including cherry, watermelon, and strawberry. The choices are endless; the applications wildly diverse.

At its core, incense is a tool to evoke peace and tranquility. THE ESSENCE OF INCENSE asks: How can we apply the ritual of incense burning to deepen our own spirituality? How can we infuse our homes and our lives so that we are able to pause, to observe the importance of quiet time shared with our own spiritual force? How can we use incense to give us more personal peace and calm? How can the aromatherapeutic effects of incense add to our lives?

THE ESSENCE OF INCENSE includes inspiring suggestions for using incense in every room of the home - creativity scents in the study for journal writing, relaxation scents for lounging in the bath, sensual scents to set the mood in the bedroom. Sidebars throughout offer practical advice and unique applications for incense.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Find Balance in Your Life, Your Home, and Yourself with Incense Aromatherapy

At its core, incense is a tool to help you detach from busyness and external demands. Bring this sense of spiritual peace and tranquility into your own home. Incense can evoke different atmospheres in rooms and spaces as diverse as the bedroom, the bathroom, the study, the porch, or the garden. Place unopened packages of lavender or jasmine incense sticks in your closet or bureau drawers to gently scent to contents. Light a stick of lemon incense while bathing to awaken body and spirit. Or place a combination of crushed dried sage leaves and sage incense underneath your doormat so that the cleansing, purifying scent of sage will waft in whenever anyone enters your home.

Full of practical information, inspirational photographs, and enjoyable and relaxing exercises, The Essence of Incense will help you use an age-old practice to create a tranquil space in today's hectic world.

About the Author

Diana Rosen has a special interest in the traditions of world cultures and practices that enhance spirituality in everyday life. Her previous books include The Book of Green Tea, Chai, Steeped in Tea, and Taking Time for Tea.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC; 1St Edition edition (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580173675
• ISBN-13: 978-1580173674
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,781,917 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

DIANA ROSEN

As a passionate enthusiast of fine specialty tea, I've explored its history, customs, and charms in several books, amplified by two trips to India. Next on the agenda, Japan and China!

In the meantime, I write! Of my 13 books (so far) six involve tea, and other topics include coffee (yes, I'm bi-beverage), ice cream, Social Security, Incense and with the delightful Deborah Felder, 50 Jewish Women Who Changed the World (but enough about me.) I'm a facilitor for freewrite classes, coach and editor for other writers, and contribute prolifically to various web sites on food, beverage, and lifestyle topics.

I play mah jongg at the slightest invitation, and host locals and tourists at the incredible historic landmark, the Los Angeles Central Library, as a docent. Whenever you visit LA, come see us! www.lapl.org

In between time, as a lover of my adopted hometown, Los Angeles, I enjoy all its cultural icons: movies, theatre, museums, Art Deco and Beaux Arts architecture, and an occasional premiere or two.

If you've enjoyed any of my books or want to ask me questions, just write
[e-mail] or follow me on twitter@dianarosen or on facebook!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I need a manual for this?, January 12, 2003

By 

seide (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essence of Incense : Bringing Fragrance into the Home (Paperback)

The cover price of this book would give one more than adequate funds to build a lovely incense stash and purchase a couple of cool, simple burners. Here's my book, for free: buy a bunch of incense at a shop, or at the sidewalk mon's incense table or online- be adventurous and unafraid of your own instincts. Now, burn it. Write down their names, and mark which ones you like or don't like. Don't buy the stinky ones again. How hard is that? I could see if this book told one how to make incense, and believe me, I'm a book person, but heavens, have we gotten so helpless that we need this to tell us all about how to enjoy something so simple? Proof you can truly publish anything these days.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Disappointing, October 10, 2003

By 

David P Oller (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essence of Incense : Bringing Fragrance into the Home (Paperback)

:
With so many fluff pieces on incense with nice pictures, who needs another??

The best English book on incense written so far is Silvio A. Bedini's, "The Trail of Time" which is really about incense time keeping in China & Japan, so that gives us an idea how much need there is for a substantial work on the subject.

A few good introductory books have been written: David Pybus; Kodo - The Way of Incense, Kiyoko Morita; The Book of Incense; and Rizzi - The Complete Book of Incense.

What concerns me is a continuing market for books like this one by Rosen hurt the publication of a well researched and presented book on the subject.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not A True Favorite of mine about incense...., July 6, 2003

By 

Larry M. Smith (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Essence of Incense : Bringing Fragrance into the Home (Paperback)

If you get this book, it DOES NOT teach you how to make your own incense. However, it only tells you how you can have incense in your life if its a stressful one. This book doesn't really tell you all the things that can also release stress as well, besides incense. Its not a book that i would recommend to someone cause its very cut and dry and very blah with its content, however, the pictures are very well done.