Frankincense: Resin of Breath and Rising Light
Share
Frankincense has always carried the feeling of a threshold for me. From the first breath of its aroma, the atmosphere shifts, quieter, slower, more spacious. This resin, drawn from Boswellia trees that cling to the dry cliffs of Arabia and Africa, has crossed incense roads and temple steps for thousands of years. Today, it still bridges the ordinary with the sacred.
A History Written in Smoke
For over three millennia, frankincense has been offered as smoke to sanctify spaces and prayers. The Egyptians burned it in temples and used it in embalming rites. The Greeks and Romans valued it so highly that caravans of resin sustained entire economies. The Hebrew Bible names it among the sacred offerings, and Christian liturgy carried it forward. Archaeologists have even found it buried with nobles in Roman Britain, proof that its reach and reverence were wide.
The Science Beneath the Sacred
Modern research now puts names to what herbalists and priests simply knew. Within frankincense resin are boswellic acids, compounds that calm inflammation by directly quieting the enzymes that fuel it. These acids do not distil into the essential oil, which instead carries volatile terpenes like α-pinene and limonene, responsible for its clarifying scent and effect on the nervous system.
Clinical trials with Boswellia serrata extracts show measurable benefits for joint pain, stiffness, and inflammation. Aromatherapy research, though smaller, suggests inhaling frankincense oil can ease anxiety and support relaxation through its direct pathways to the limbic system. Science, in its own way, is beginning to echo the old truth: frankincense steadies the body, opens the breath, and calms the heart.
The Vibration of Frankincense
Practitioners of energy medicine often speak of plants and oils in terms of vibrational frequency. While numbers vary depending on the source and measurement method, frankincense essential oil is frequently cited in the around 147 MHz range, one of the highest among essential oils. In energetic language, a higher vibration resonates with clarity, meditation, and spiritual attunement.
Whether or not you hold to the numbers, the experience is clear. When used in ritual, frankincense lifts the inner state. It aligns the breath and settles the mind, creating conditions for higher awareness. In meditation, it is as if the body hums more smoothly, the static falls away, and the signal of intuition becomes easier to hear.
My Ritual with Frankincense
In my own practice, frankincense is woven into a cream I make. After my evening shower, I smooth it over my skin, sometimes full body, sometimes only hands, face, and feet. This small act transforms ordinary skincare into ritual.
The scent rises as I sit down to my evening practice. I breathe it in, feeling my chest open, my mind quieten, my focus deepen. It is not just moisture for the skin, but a way of signalling to myself: I am entering sacred time now. On gentler days, when I need to turn inward and focus on my own healing, simply anointing my palms with a little cream and inhaling the fragrance is enough to create that shift.
For me, this is where plant medicine meets energy work. The boswellic acids may act through chemistry, the volatile oils through scent and neurology. But together they also carry vibration, a resonance that clears space for spirit.
A Simple Frankincense Ritual for You
If you wish to try it yourself, here is a gentle practice:
-
After bathing, apply a natural cream or oil infused with frankincense to your hands or chest.
-
Sit quietly and breathe in its aroma.
-
With each inhale, imagine a soft golden light rising through your body.
-
With each exhale, release the noise of the day.
Repeat for three minutes, then ask yourself: What am I ready to receive tonight? Notice the first quiet answer.
Closing Reflection
Frankincense has walked with humanity through temple, tomb, and home. Its gifts are both chemical and energetic, scientific and sacred. To me, it is not simply a resin, it is a companion that raises vibration, steadies the breath, and reminds us that even the simplest act can become a path into connection with the deeper self and the light that holds us.