This listing is for one jar of Aeon Sophia Red Rose Honey Incense Powder, from The heART of Ritual.
 
This ritual incense blend was created to soothe the emotional heart, support a state of graceful acceptance, enhance greater understanding, and support to see it through. This heartache is not merely something that one experiences at the breakdown of an intimate 'love relationship'/partnership, but a grief rite of passage that we find ourselves in whilst transitioning between mourning the death of what was, navigating the pain of the here and now, and the birth of what is to come. 
 
I've worked with the Aeon Sophia Red Rose in our garden for this particular blend so as to invoke softness through the delicate velvet petals, invoke discernment and healthy boundaries through her big red thorns, vibrancy through her long flowering red blossoms, good health through her incredible resilience and growth, and a safe home within - as she attracts blackbird nests each year.
 
“Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.” -  Terry Tempest Williams
 
This incense blend was created together with Mama Marls on the Summer Solstice in June 2022, just four months before she suddenly passed on over Samhain. I found myself in deep shock at her passing, and the level of distraught and grief was like nothing I had experienced before. Throughout the Spring, I observed the return of the blackbirds early each morning through their songs of love and devotion, and slowly, my curiousity began to peak. I wondered if the blackbirds here speak the same language and/or dialect as the blackbirds in other parts of the world, what they were singing about, and simply sat silently to listen to them once they began singing about an hour before dawn. Throughout the Spring I observed their courtship, their mating dances, building nests together, laying eggs, the chicks hatching, being fed, and fledging. Over Summer Solstice 2023 there was a blackbird nest in the Aeon Sophia Rose bush again. Observing the blackbirds this year reminded me of the above quote by Terry Tempest Williams, so I wanted to share these insights with you. The Aeon Sophia rose is one I have worked with for 19 years, always in connection with womb work and feminine consciousness, and although we have worked together in many different ways, this is the first incense blend that was created. I find it deeply soothing and uplifting to work with when I observe my heart feeling a bit heavy...I also love to offer it as a love prayer to the east at the dawn of a new day. To me, and to all who met her, Mama Marls healed the world through Joy, and so this work continues.
 
ABOUT HONEY INCENSE
Honey has been used in rituals for thousands of years. It was often used as an offering to the Greek gods, particularly the goddess of beauty and love, Aphrodite. In addition, it is thought to be one of the five elixirs of immortality in ancient Hindu texts.
 
The heady, sweet aroma of honey is instantly recognizable, and immediately soothing, bringing images of summer days and warm evenings. It was often used in spellbinding due to its connection to the sticky consistency of honey, lending itself well to romance spells, strengthening the bond between two people. Found all over the world, its accessibility and beautiful scent mean it is unsurprising that it sees such popularity.
 
This raw honey is from a wonderful native bee husband (and beekeeping teacher) that I met in West Cork, who loves and cares for 25 hives in and around the mountains of Bantry Bay. I was lucky enough to receive an invitation to visit his home where he showed me his 'honey room', the space in which he gathers the combs and extracts the honey by hand. I was tickled by the fact that he leaves a window open in the room at all times for the bees to fly in and out as they please, something that I found deeply touching. I love this very natural method of working harmoniously with the bees and how he extracts the honey from the comb, he even removes a small part of the comb from each frame and returns the rest to the hive for the bees to build upon again. His lifes work with bees is so intimate and respectful and the bees reciprocate! It was a blessing to meet him and to receive this heavenly blackberry blossom raw honey.
 
This incense blend comes to you in a beautiful locally made square recycled glass apothecary bottle with hand dipped beeswax sealed cork, a mini posey of seasonal blossoms and medicinal herbs, and complete with our wild botanical Celtic Wheel of the Year mandala art.
 
To use:
Place a pea sized amount on ignited charcoal in a fireproof dish. Do not leave burning incense unattended.
 
Our wildcrafted ritual fumigation blends are deliciously fragrant and created with the very best of biodynamic, sustainably hand gathered, wild native herbs, resins, fungus, berries, blossoms and fine crystal powders from the high Alps around our nest.