by Carl F. Neal
Deep Reverence for Incense
At the heart of kodo and related adaptations is the deepest respect for every part of the ritual and true reverence for the rare woods used in kodo. When the koro is passed in the kodo ceremony, some participants will turn their heads and place their ear to the mouth of the koro. This is a demonstration of reverence and is a physical action that reflects the spirit of the idea that they are listening to the incense. It is further proof that magick can flow in both directions with regards to the physical world: our physical actions can impact what we do on an energetic level, and magickal energies can shape actions in the physical dimensions.
All participants in kodo-style incense ceremonies are attentive and very respectful of one another and the process from beginning to end. The organizer is treated with impeccable manners and is likewise an extremely attentive host. Even in the far-less-formal “incense games,” the level of decorum is far higher than is commonly found in kodo-inspired activities here in the West.
A Group Activity
Kodo, and most of the other activities kodo has inspired, are intended to be group activities. There are several reasons for this. An obvious one is the social nature of incense events. Not only does it allow one to host a very special (and expensive) party for the pleasure of friends, it serves as a way to display wealth in the materials used. It is also a way to show status based on those who attend your party and your access to special materials. At one time kodo was considered a necessary skill for any Japanese gentleman. Kodo gatherings, or even game nights, demonstrate your own skills to others.
On a more important level, the materials used in kodo and games are often expensive because high-quality aloeswood is quite rare. Not only is it a waste of money to hold these materials for only one person, it is also selfish. Eight people can enjoy a sampling of aloeswood just as easily as one person. It costs no more to share your incense with your friends, so why not allow them to enjoy this rare bit of beauty from nature? I think that all of those points are just as valid today as they ever were. I’m not suggesting that you never burn incense when you’re alone, but any time you have a rare scent from the natural world, please share it with others. It is one way that Mother Earth speaks to her children. I hope you won’t keep that message to yourself.
Study, Rituals, and Games
Kodo was once an essential part of Japanese life in the upper stratus of society. Incense use went far beyond kodo, but in some ways kodo is the ultimate elevation of incense celebration. Much like the Japanese Tea Ceremony, kodo is a precise ritual. It is studied as an art and a science, and its study survives into the twenty-first century.
Formal Incense Study
While the kodo schools are not nearly as large as they were in antiquity, many of them still exist. An avid student can spend years perfecting the techniques required to perform the kodo ceremony correctly. When I talk about kodo schools, I mean it in much the same way we would discuss martial arts schools. Some schools have their own variations on the ceremony or possibly the materials used. The essentials are the same, but the details may vary. If this is something that speaks to you, I suggest you read more about kodo and even look for one of the schools. They periodically hold in-person seminars and offer coaching in person or via electronic methods. Participating with these groups is also a great way to attend a formal kodo ritual.
Detailed Ritual
I have already offered one disclaimer, but I feel compelled to offer an additional one: I am no expert in kodo, and what I offer here is a reinterpretation of the kodo ceremony through the eyes of a Neopagan author. If you enjoy the kodo approach, as I do, you should seek proper training in the art if you want to perform an accurate ceremony. Fortunately for the rest of us, we can adapt techniques and philosophies to fit within our normal incense framework. I believe a great starting place would be Kiyoko Morita’s excellent book The Book of Incense (Kodansha International, 1992).
Specialized Tools
To be a true practitioner of kodo, you need a proper set of tools. Those of us who aren’t such precise practitioners substitute items for the traditional tools, but you should locate a set of the real thing in order to conduct a formal kodo ceremony. They aren’t horribly expensive and are available from several different retailers in the United States. The traditional tools include a pair of wooden and a pair of metal chopsticks. The wooden ones are used for handling small pieces of aromatic wood, while the metals ones are used for handling charcoal and ash. Silver tweezers are used to handle mica plates, and an ash press is needed to shape the volcano. A tiny broom is required to keep the edge of your censer clean, and an incense spoon can be used to handle aromatics as well.
Kodo tool sets are sometimes given as gifts to kodo aficionados but they make a great gift for yourself as well. If you want to try some kodo techniques but would rather hold off on the expense of purchasing a tool set immediately, you can use some less-expensive substitutes. If you look around your home, you will likely find viable options to replace the traditional tools. Clearly you don’t have to use silver tweezers since the ones in your medicine cabinet will serve the purpose. While pliers are one substitute for tongs, an inexpensive nutcracker (two rods of metal that are hinged together at the top) works pretty well too. Wooden chopsticks (even bone or plastic) are easily located, and very inexpensive ones can be found in many grocery stores. While not ideal for handling charcoal, a large pair of tweezers can also work. Any small, clean paint brush will serve to replace the feather brush, and many letter openers and butter knives (as suggested by Kiyoko Morita) will work as an ash press.
Censer Preparation
In addition to the “nuts and bolts” of censer preparation I discussed earlier in this chapter, there is also an aesthetic aspect to the preparation of a censer for kodo. Different formal traditions or schools mark the top of the prepared censer with a signature pattern drawn or pressed into the surface of the incense volcano. Specific books on kodo will give you the details of those patterns but, in informal use, you can create patterns in your volcano either as a personal signature or using an emblem that is important to you. Some covens have adapted this style into their own rituals and some of those use a unique pattern to denote their coven.
With the volcano being round, you can take advantage of this and use decorations on it just as you would a circle of symbols on paper or other mediums. Conversely, you could treat it as a reflection of a magick circle and mark the four quarters with appropriate symbols. Adapt this method to your own practices in whatever way you see fit. If you can imagine something, you can impress those thoughts into the surface of your volcano.
Many aspects of censer preparation, seating arrangements, and more are part of the ritual of kodo. A table is prepared so that all the participants can sit comfortably around it, near enough to pass the censer. Traditionally, the master of ceremonies will sit at the central position with an assistant beside her. The master will place a clean mica plate on the top of the volcano and add a single splinter of aloeswood to it. The censer (koro) is passed to the master’s left. Each participant will hold the koro with the left hand under it and the right hand cupped over the top. The participant lifts his right hand slightly so that his nose can be placed at the top of the koro. The fragrance is inhaled and enjoyed. The most respectful participants will often turn their heads and momentarily place an ear above the koro to symbolize listening to incense. Once the koro has been passed to each participant, it is handed back to the master, who replaces the mica plate with a clean one. A new type of aloeswood is added and the koro is passed again.
Incense Games
Incense games in the kodo style (called numikoh) are often created with the idea that there is no competition involved and there are no “wrong” answers. Other games can be highly competitive affairs where each guest attempts to accurately identify different kinds of aloeswood (a difficult task for any nose t
hat is not well practiced) or even write poems or stories based on what they smell. You can certainly play the traditional games, especially as the incense knowledge of you and your guests grows. For this section, I’ve adapted traditional incense games into forms that might be a bit more familiar to the magickal community.
Once you grasp the basic concepts of incense games, you will see how they can be easily adapted to use in your own practices. Incense games are a great way to bring people together into a common experience that has familiarity to it. It is also a great educational opportunity. Games can be adapted for use from total novices to the most experienced herbalists.
The two sample games that follow will give you the concept of these games. You can then modify them or use them to inspire completely different games. You will know best what level and style of game will work for any given audience you might have. The games test the scent memory and palettes of each guest, but most games also contain another aspect beyond the incense.
The typical arrangement for an incense game would be to have one master of ceremonies seated at a center seat at a table (sometimes an assistant will sit to the right), and the guests will sit around the table. Incense will be prepared in a censer and passed to the entire group (clockwise, or deosil). Each participant should have a pencil and sheet of paper to record his or her answers to the game’s questions. The master of ceremonies does not play in the game but still needs pencil and paper to record information as the censer is passed. Although the master of ceremonies and any assistants do not play the game, they can still enjoy the scent of each passing of the censer. The purpose of this type of game is to grow closer to others and to have fun.
Journey Across America
This game uses incense to represent a journey from one coast to the other. Four aromatics are selected for the journey and the participants will get to sample three of the scents before the game begins. You will need Western cedar wood (you could substitute any other cedar but the Western is the most appropriate), piñon, sage, and rosemary. All of the aromatics should be powdered. Ceramic tiles or mica plates are not absolutely mandatory but they are very helpful. You will also need at least one censer with prepared charcoal (using multiple censers makes the game flow more quickly and smoothly). You need to select censers that can be passed when scentless charcoal is burned inside. Obviously a Japanese koro is an ideal choice as it has a perfect shape for holding to one’s nose and “listening to the incense” while remaining cool enough to easily handle. Ideally you would use two koros with prepared charcoal, the seven packets of aromatics, and seven mica plates or small ceramic tiles plus pencils and paper for everyone.
The game represents a trip across the United States from the West Coast to the East. There is one stop in the Pacific Northwest (cedar), one stop in the desert (piñon), one where the Great Plains meet the desert (sage), and one near the fragrant gardens of the East Coast (rosemary). The master of ceremonies should have packets of the powders prepared before the game begins. There should be two packets each of cedar, sage, and piñon and one packet of rosemary powder. The packets should be subtly marked so that the master of ceremonies can identify them, but not in any way that a player could identify the scent by its markings.
The master of ceremonies should explain the four stops and the scents associated with each. Next a mica plate or tile will be placed over the charcoal in one of the censers. One packet of cedar should be added on top and the name of the aromatic should be announced to everyone at the table. Once it begins to release its scent (usually this only takes a moment or two with a properly prepared center), the master of ceremonies will hand the censer to the person to his or her left. After the cedar has been passed to every participant, it is returned to the master of ceremonies. The second censer should be sent around the circle with sage atop it. As the sage censer is passed, the master of ceremonies or the assistant can clear the first censer and add a clean mica plate or tile. Finally, the first censer is passed again with rosemary on it. The process of cleaning one censer while the other is passed will continue throughout the game until all seven scent packets have been emptied.
After the three announced scents have been identified and passed, the master of ceremonies should shuffle the four remaining packets. There are now three packets that the participants have sampled and one they have not. The idea is that players will not only have to identify the three introduced scents but also one that is unfamiliar. The players know that piñon represents the stop in the desert but haven’t had the opportunity to sample that scent.
After the packets are shuffled, each scent will be passed. Only pass one censer at a time, and you should not put the next aromatic into the prepared censer until the first censer has been cleared. As the participants smell each aromatic, they should write down which one of the four stops the scent represents.
After the final scent has been passed, the participants should be given a moment to consider their answers, but players should not consult one another. When the final censer has been cleared, the master of ceremonies should announce the correct order of the scents that were passed. There are no winners or losers in this kind of a game. Everyone has some fun, enjoys some wonderful aromatics, and perhaps learns more about that aromatic. Each player can even create their own retelling of the journey based on their identification of the scents.
If you feel that these scent choices are too easy for your friends, substitute anything you’d like for the suggested aromatics. If, however, your group is made completely of novices, you could consider passing all four scents with names before passing them again and having people guess which scent is which.
Name that Sage
As with the previous game, you can modify this game to suit the participants and materials available to you. For this game you will need two packets each of desert sage (sagebrush), garden sage, and white sage. As in the previous game, the master of ceremonies will announce the three aromatics and pass them one by one so that all of the participants will have the chance to sample them. The master of ceremonies will then shuffle the remaining three packets and pass each scent around the table. Each participant should try to correctly identify which type of sage has been passed. Once the final scent has been passed and the participants are satisfied with their answers, the master of ceremonies can then give the correct order.
Participants who correctly identify all three sages should be declared a “sage mage.” Those who correctly identified two scents are “sage coaches.” Those who identify one scent correctly are “sage bunnies.” Those who miss all three scents are “missing the sage.” If you play the game as written, nobody will ever guess just two correctly; for more excitement, the master of ceremonies can use more than one packet of each scent. Two packets of each scent could be available and the master of ceremonies could draw three packets randomly. That would make it possible for one scent to be used twice. This can make the game a lot more challenging and fun.
Adapting to Western Magick
The approaches in technique that I have offered here have a lot of application in Western magick. I am the first to admit that my overviews of Asian approaches in general, and kodo specifically, have been very broad. I am certainly not an expert in this aspect of incense use. However I hope that you share my excitement when you read about these things and see how you can employ them for your own needs.
Censer Preparation
Certainly one important aspect that can be easily adapted to Western practices is the care and thought that goes into the preparation of the censer. A well-prepared censer can not only ensure a pitfall-free incense experience, but it is also a great way to alter your mindset and work toward your purpose within sympathetic magick. Also, a censer prepared in the kodo style will provide superior performance from the censer itself. Heat is easier to control and you can use the minimum amount of materials to accomplish your task. This means truer scents, longer-lasting inc
ense, and maximum control. Even cleanup is easier.
The ability to utilize your censer as yet another tool for focusing your energy and intent is a tremendous benefit that requires no additional materials. Simply devoting your time to the preparation of your censer makes it a tool that is utilized to its fullest potential without the need for any further expenditure. Drawing or making impressions within your censer helps to focus the energy released from your incense. This will help to focus your thoughts as well. Since magick is, in its simplest definition, creating change purely through the force of will, finding ways to bring even greater focus into your circle is always desirable. Incense is one way to help practitioners to focus their will and their energy, but adding yet another layer of focus and direction is not only beneficial but, in this case, acts as a passive magick tool. Once you have prepared your censer, it will contribute to your work without any additional energy or attention.
Use During Ritual
The techniques that have been discussed in this chapter can be used for meditation, the mundane scenting of a room, or for the highest of rituals. I urge you to explore this wonderful world in any way that you please. Perhaps you can utilize incense games to teach others about aromatics and how to listen to them. You might discover that using ash to control the temperature of your incense will open up new understanding of aromatics that you’ve used for years. Above all else, I hope these techniques will bring you closer to Nature and allow you to harness her boundless energies to accomplish all of your goals in life. The best way to do this is by using the techniques right on your altar.
Applying these Asian techniques to your own practices might open your eyes as it did mine. It is so easy to sideline incense as just part of a complex tableau on your altar. When we realize how important your censer and your incense are to your success and enjoyment of magick, it can lead us to re-examine all of our practices. It is natural for humans to gravitate toward repetition without considering the impact of each aspect of our actions. In fact, part of the benefit of performing the same ritual multiple times (be it in one week or over the span of decades) is that the familiar symbols and approaches allow us to easily slip into the appropriate mental state. It is, in fact, something that I advocate. The burning of the same incense every time you perform healing work will turn that incense into a trigger for your mind.