Forest Kyphi~Ancient Egyptian Kyphi Style Incense

Her skin wrapped in silk and linen, after soaking in a warm bath of milk and honey infused with rose, and perfuming her skin with sacred kyphi incense smoke. The kyhpi incense recipe, is a secret, with few who know it. It's long ingredient list and exuberant process, is recorded on the temple walls, seen only by the priests and incense makers, and protected by the lives of those who stand guard outside the stone doors of the incense room. Her high status gains her entry to over see the process, and she has memorized the recipe by heart, vowing to her soul, to carry it with her through every lifetime. 

 Skin, clothing, and home perfumed with sweet smoke, an ancient egyptian cultural ritual of heating the finest cured berries, herbs, saps, resins and woods, bound by honey and wine, and aged for years. Hot coals were piled high with fragrant incense, releasing curls of smoke that touch the soul. At dusk a sacred fragrant ritual....... an incense ambrosia for olfactory pleasure of the almighty, wealthy, royal, and worshippers in temples. This is Kyphi.......

Kyphi is an ancient egyptian incense that was sacred to religion and prayer, and also used to perfume one's body, and home. It was often burned at dusk, due to the calming effect it has on the mind and body. Perfect for prayer, meditation, channeling, and magical work. Kyphi can be enjoyed as a night time ritual. Some people report it provokes a restful nights sleep, for others vivid dreams, and for most people it's a very a relaxing experience.

I created these incense cakes in the traditional method of kyphi. Dry botanicals and resins were hand ground in a mortar and pestle, until powdered, then sifted, ground, powdered, sifted, and repeated until all botanicals and resins are uniformuly powdered. This dry mixture is then aged for a few months. The wet portion of the incense, the honey combined with the fresh resins, liquid resins, the wild grapes dregs, and the honey mead, is concentrated with very low heat. Once it reduced to half it's amount, I slowly added the dry portion, until a soft incense paste formed. The incense dough was then shaped into cakes and aged for several months before packaging. 

Each Kyphi cake is wrapped in gold foil, and nestled in a reusable, black rectangular tin. 6 cakes, 2-3 uses per cake, 12-18 uses per tin.

Ingredients: 
Frankincense 
Myrrh
Labdanum
Cinnamon
Coriander
Cardamom
Cassia
Pine Boughs and Resin
Fir Boughs and Resin
Juniper Berries
Mastic Resin
Spikenard 
Galbanum
Saffron
Styrax
Benzoin
Mint
Bee Propolis
Honey from our honey bee hives
Honey mead (melomel/wine) created with deseeded wild grapes, autumn olives, and whole honeycomb from our hives. Instead of using raisins, I used the deseeded wild grapes dregs from the honey mead. 

These incense cakes are 100% natural and organic. They do not contain chemical fire starters and therefore cannot be "lit" like traditional incense. To experience this beautiful forest incense as intended, it needs to be heated gently. An electric incense heater will give best results, but charcoal with a mica plate, or any method in which the incense cakes is heated (opposed to burned), will also work.