Frankincense & Myrrh Bulk Resin Incense, 1 lb.

Before there were incense sticks, there was resin. Long before anyone thought to bind fragrant material to a bamboo base or press it into a cone, priests in Egypt and Mesopotamia were placing raw, hardened teardrops of tree sap onto hot coals and letting the smoke rise. What they were burning was exactly this: granular frankincense and myrrh resin, the same substance available here by the pound. The method has not changed in four thousand years because it does not need to.

Frankincense comes from trees of the genus Boswellia, native to the arid highlands of Oman, Yemen, Somalia, and Ethiopia. Myrrh comes from Commiphora shrubs from the same region. Both are harvested as raw resin by making careful cuts in the bark and allowing the sap to harden into what are variously called tears, pearls, or granules. These are the genuine article: not fragrance oil impregnated into a wood base, not synthetic approximations of the scent, but the actual resin that was offered on the altars of the Temple of Jerusalem, packed onto Egyptian funeral barges, and carried by the Magi according to the Gospel of Matthew. When you burn these granules on a lit charcoal disc, the scent that rises is exactly what those practitioners would have recognized.

The pound quantity is for those who already know what they have in these resins and want to work with them consistently and generously, without rationing every pinch. One pound of granular resin lasts a serious altar practice a very long time; a small amount burned on charcoal produces a rich, full room of fragrance, and the resin itself stores well when kept dry and away from light. This is the format for practitioners who do not want to run out.

Key Features

Pure granular resin, nothing added. Granular resin incense is the highest-quality, most direct form of incense available. There is no binder, no base material, no fixative, and no fragrance oil stretching the scent. You are burning the actual resin, and what rises is the full, undiluted aroma of frankincense and myrrh together. For practitioners working in traditions that place high value on ritual purity and the integrity of materials, this matters.

A full pound for sustained, unrationed practice. A small pinch of resin granules on a single charcoal disc fills a room. One pound of resin represents hundreds of ritual uses, enough to carry a daily practice through months without concern, or to supply a teaching space, healing practice, or ceremonial group generously throughout the year. Buying in this quantity also means you always have enough to be lavish when a working calls for it.

The scent that consecrates. Frankincense lifts energy upward, clarifying the mind and creating the atmospheric conditions for prayer, meditation, and spiritual communication. Myrrh grounds and protects, anchoring elevated states and connecting the practitioner to the ancestors and the deep earth. Used together, they create the balanced, full-spectrum sacred atmosphere that traditions from ancient Egypt to modern Wicca have relied upon for purification, consecration, and ritual opening.

Product Details

• Weight: 1 lb (approximately 454 g)
• Format: Granular resin incense, raw and unprocessed
• Contents: Frankincense and myrrh resin blend
• Country of origin: [Confirm with supplier; frankincense and myrrh are typically sourced from the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula]
• Requires: Charcoal discs and a heat-safe incense burner (sold separately)
• Storage: Keep in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight; resin stores well long-term when kept away from heat and humidity

The Spiritual Significance

In Ceremonial Magic and the Hermetic tradition, frankincense is attributed to the Sun and myrrh to the Moon, representing the foundational polarity of masculine and feminine, active and receptive, celestial and chthonic forces. You can use this resin blend to consecrate ritual tools, altar cloths, or sacred objects by passing them slowly through the rising smoke while holding your intention clearly: that the object is cleansed of prior influences and dedicated to sacred purpose. This practice appears in ceremonial traditions from the Solomonic grimoires through the Golden Dawn, and it remains one of the most direct ways to work the combined energy of these two resins into a material object.

In Hoodoo, frankincense and myrrh together function as a powerful spiritual amplifier and general-purpose purification agent. You can use this resin to open your prayer and candle work sessions by burning a generous pinch on a lit charcoal disc before you begin, allowing the smoke to clear the space and signal to the spiritual powers you work with that intentional time is underway. Adding the two resins to a self-lighting charcoal in a fireproof censer and walking the perimeter of your working space clockwise while petitioning for protection and clarity is a practice with deep roots in African American folk magic, and one that the intensity and purity of granular resin serves far better than any stick or cone.

How To Use

To burn granular resin incense, you need a charcoal disc and a heat-safe incense burner, censer, or cauldron lined with sand, salt, or another heat-resistant material. Never place a lit charcoal disc directly on a wooden or plastic surface; the heat is significant and sustained.

Light the edge of the charcoal disc with a match or lighter and hold it at an angle until it begins to spark and self-ignite across the surface. Set it in your heat-safe burner and allow it one to two minutes to fully heat before adding resin; adding resin to a charcoal that has not fully lit produces incomplete combustion and a harsher, less pleasant smoke. Once the disc glows and the grey ash begins to form at its edges, it is ready.

Place a small pinch of the frankincense and myrrh blend onto the glowing surface of the charcoal. A little goes a long way; start with a quarter teaspoon or less and adjust to your preference and the size of your space. The resin will begin melting and smoking almost immediately. For a more sustained burn, add small amounts at intervals rather than a large amount all at once, which can smother the charcoal.

You might choose to set your intention before placing the resin, holding the granules briefly in your cupped hands and breathing your purpose into them before they meet the heat. You might instead simply light the charcoal and begin your work, allowing the scent to gather in the space around you as you work. Both approaches honor the material. Resin incense does not require a particular ceremony to be effective; it requires presence.

Always burn resin incense in a well-ventilated space. The smoke produced is genuine resin smoke and can be intense in a small, closed room. Keep children, pets, and anyone with respiratory sensitivities away from heavy incense smoke. Never leave burning charcoal unattended.

Your instincts about how much to burn, how often, and for which workings will sharpen with use. These resins have guided practitioners for millennia. They are patient teachers.

History & Occult Background

Frankincense and myrrh were among the most economically and spiritually significant commodities of the ancient world. Both resins are native to the highland and coastal regions of the Horn of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula, and both were traded across the ancient Near East via overland caravan routes dating back at least to 2000 BCE. The trade was so lucrative and so central to regional economies that the routes themselves became sacred; shrines to protective deities lined the paths, and the merchants who traveled them occupied a recognized spiritual as well as commercial role in their societies.

In ancient Egypt, the use of both resins in temple ceremony is documented in hieroglyphic texts and confirmed by chemical analysis of residues in ancient censers and mummification materials. Priests burned them twice daily in temple rites as offerings to the gods, and myrrh in particular was incorporated into the embalming compounds used to prepare royal and priestly bodies for the afterlife. Its antimicrobial properties were practically useful; its symbolism, tied to the cycle of death and preservation, was theologically rich. Queen Hatshepsut sent a famous expedition to the land of Punt, believed to be in present-day Somalia or Eritrea, specifically to obtain frankincense trees for cultivation near her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari.

In the Hebrew Temple tradition, frankincense was one of four ingredients in the Ketoret, the sacred incense burned by the High Priest twice daily in the Temple of Jerusalem. Its use was highly regulated; the recipe was considered a divine prescription given to Moses, and burning unauthorized incense in the Temple was treated as a grave transgression. Myrrh was one of the components of the anointing oil described in the book of Exodus, used to consecrate the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, and the priests themselves. Both resins appear repeatedly throughout the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud in contexts of holiness, offering, and devotion. The Christian tradition inherited this framework directly: the account in Matthew of the Magi bringing gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the infant Jesus encodes a theology in which frankincense represents priestly and divine authority, and myrrh, connected to anointing the dead, foreshadows sacrifice and mortality.

In the Western occult lineage, frankincense and myrrh are attributed respectively to the Sun and the Moon in the system of planetary correspondences that runs through the grimoire tradition, the Renaissance magical compendia, and on through the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and its successor organizations. Scott Cunningham's influential Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs records frankincense as a solar resin associated with protection, exorcism, and spiritual elevation, and myrrh as a lunar resin associated with protection, healing, and consecration of sacred space. Both appear throughout modern Wiccan, Neopagan, Ceremonial, and Thelemic practice as foundational altar incenses. In Hoodoo and African American folk magic, the combination is recognized as a spiritual amplifier and purifying agent, often burned at the start of any significant working to clear the space and announce the practitioner's intent to the spiritual forces they work with.

Pairs Well With

Myrrh Granular Incense, 1 oz — When your working calls for the specific energy of pure myrrh alone, without frankincense, this single-resin option lets you separate the two and work with each individually; many practitioners keep both the blend and the individual resins on hand to mix to their own proportions.

Frankincense Essential Essences Incense Sticks, 16 pack — For days when you want fragrance without the setup of charcoal and burner, these frankincense sticks give you the scent quickly and conveniently; having both formats means you are never choosing between ease and depth.

Frankincense Perfume Oil by Escential Essences, 1/2 oz — Anointing yourself or your ritual tools with frankincense oil before burning the resin layers the solar consecration in two different registers, scent on the skin and smoke in the air, deepening the overall atmosphere of sacred space.

Florida Water Cologne, 7.5 oz — Wiping down surfaces or misting the space with Florida Water before lighting the charcoal creates a sequenced purification; the liquid cleanse goes first, then the smoke follows, addressing the space at two levels and in two different sensory registers.

Prosperity Magic Dust, 1/4 oz — Sprinkling a pinch of Prosperity Magic Dust alongside the resin on the charcoal, or adding it to the burner's sand bed, layers a specific prosperity intention into the sacred smoke, making the combination useful for abundance-focused rituals that call for a ceremonially elevated atmosphere.

Frequently Asked Questions

What equipment do I need to burn granular resin incense? You need three things: charcoal discs designed for incense burning (not barbecue charcoal), a heat-safe censer or burner, and a way to protect the surface beneath the burner from heat. Most practitioners use a censer or cauldron lined with an inch of sand, salt, or small stones to absorb and distribute the heat from the charcoal disc. A set of tongs or a small spoon for handling the hot disc is also useful. None of this equipment is expensive or hard to find, and once you have it the resin itself costs far less per use than stick or cone incense.

How much resin should I use per session? Less than you might expect. A small pinch, roughly an eighth to a quarter teaspoon, placed on a fully heated charcoal disc is enough to fill an average room with fragrance. Adding too much at once can produce a thick, acrid smoke rather than a smooth, clean one, and it can also smother the charcoal. It is better to add small amounts at intervals throughout your working than to pile the resin on at the start.

How is this different from the Myrrh Granular Incense that Plentiful Earth sells separately? The separate Myrrh Granular Incense is pure myrrh resin with no frankincense. This product is a blend of both resins together. Working with the blend gives you the combined energy of frankincense (solar, elevating, purifying) and myrrh (lunar, grounding, protective) simultaneously. Working with pure myrrh alone is useful when your work calls specifically for myrrh's associations with protection, ancestral connection, healing, and grounding, without the solar elevation of frankincense. Many practitioners keep both.

Can beginners work with granular resin, or is it more advanced? Anyone can work with granular resin incense; the only learning curve is practical rather than spiritual. Getting a charcoal disc fully lit, timing when to add resin, and managing the heat of the burner are all straightforward skills that become intuitive after a session or two. The spiritual work itself is no more complex than lighting a stick; the scent and the smoke do what they do regardless of your experience level. If you are new to resin incense and want to start simply, light the charcoal, add a small pinch of resin, set your intention, and breathe.

How should I store 1 lb of resin incense long-term? Keep the resin in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight and away from heat sources. A sealed container, glass jar, or resealable bag in a drawer or cupboard is ideal. Resin is naturally shelf-stable and will keep for years when stored properly. Humidity is the main enemy; moisture can cause granules to stick together or, in extreme cases, develop surface mold. If your resin becomes slightly clumped, it is still usable; simply break the clumps apart before placing them on the charcoal.

Is the frankincense and myrrh in this blend ethically sourced? Frankincense and myrrh sourcing is an active ethical concern. Both Boswellia and Commiphora trees are slow-growing and are under pressure from overtapping in some regions, particularly in Somalia and Ethiopia. Plentiful Earth's team can confirm the sourcing origin and practices of this specific product. If sustainable sourcing is important to your practice, which is a completely reasonable concern for anyone working with plant allies, please reach out to the team for more information before purchasing.

Is this resin safe to use around pets? Incense smoke, including resin smoke, is not recommended around birds, who have extremely sensitive respiratory systems and can be harmed by smoke of any kind. With cats and dogs, the same general caution applies as with humans: burn in a well-ventilated space and do not expose animals to heavy smoke. If your pet shows any signs of respiratory distress, move them to fresh air immediately and discontinue use in shared spaces. Never leave burning charcoal unattended around animals.