Thursday, October 05, 2006


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INCENSE ====>Safe and Clean


You get 20 11-inch freshly dipped sticks, sealed in airtight packaging to preserve freshness. Our usual Quality and Freshness Guarantee Applies. All of our premium Incense is carefully hand dipped, to exacting quality control standards. Strong on oil, Quality Punk sticks, and a standardized system all add up to some of the Finest Incense anywhere! All sticks guaranteed to burn a minimum of 45 minutes when used properly. Most will burn 1 hour, Our quality control testing shows that our sticks, regardless of what scent is used, burn for 1 hour, plus or minus 8 minutes.

What is Incense by ?

Long before the days of aerosol sprays and potpourri pots, incense was used to stimulate the senses and whisk in a breath of fresh air. Traditionally, incense was an important part of religious ceremony and ritual, used for purification of both body and mind and as an offering to the gods. As time passed, incense became more widely available, no longer reserved for the temple or church, and the art of scenting the home and body was born.

Incense comes in many forms, scents, and potencies. The herbs and oils used in modern incense haven't changed much over the centuries, and fragrances like sandalwood, frankincense, and cedar have survived through the ages and are still available today. Oils are made by processing the raw ingredients, whether they be flowers, roots, wood, or leaves. Today, incense oils are used to anoint the body, just as you would use a fine French perfume. They are also still used in religious ceremonies just as they were in the past.

The most common type of incense is the incense stick. Available in hundreds of aromas, incense sticks are tidy and convenient. The stick itself is normally made from bamboo wrapped with a processed wood pulp that easily absorbs the desired scent. A good stick of incense should burn for about 45 minutes, and no special equipment is needed. Incense sticks can be stuck upright in a bowl of sand or the soil of a potted plant, but many varieties of decorative incense burners are available. Incense is also sold in compact cones that can be burned standing upright on a saucer or other non-flammable flat surface. There are also decorative burners specifically made to hold incense cones.

Incense sticks and cones get their scent by dipping an unscented stick (otherwise known as a 'punk') into a liquid mixture of natural oils and plant products. The sticks or cones are left to soak in this mixture until they are completely saturated with the heady aroma, usually for several days. Some sticks are formed completely of a scented mixture of plants and wood pulp with the scent being dried into the stick itself, but the dipped variety has a stronger, more desirable scent that quickly fills your special space.

Incense is like anything else in today's world of mass-produced and mass-marketed products. With the increase in demand, more and more companies have begun to produce incense at a low price with inferior materials and shoddy workmanship. The most common cost-cutting device is to use charcoal rather than wood pulp in the punk, leading to a stick that burns inconsistently and gives off an ugly black smoke. Another cost-cutting measure is to have the sticks dipped for as short a time as possible, just long enough to soak up the scent. For the best incense experience, look for hand-dipped sticks that are of the same width all the way down with no divots or chunks missing.

Incense sticks and cones come in literally hundreds of fragrance combinations. There are fruity scents, like strawberry and peach, spicy scents, like cinnamon and clove, woody scents, like sandalwood and cedar, and flowery scents, like jasmine and rose. Exotic combinations, made from mixtures of different elements, like a spicy fruity blend or even a spicy, fruity, and woody blend, create complicated layers that permeate the air and leave a room smelling good for hours.

The sense of smell is one of the strongest triggers of emotion and memory, and incense lovers can tell you that there is nothing that soothes the body and the mind like a quality stick of incense. Incense scents are lighter and longer lasting than most spray air fresheners and don't fill the air with a chemical smell, instead leaving you with just a lingering impression that is pleasantly surprising.






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A candle for you

A young university student was home for the summer. She had gone to visit
some friends one evening and time passed quickly as each shared their
various experiences of the past year.

She ended up staying longer than planned, and had to walk home alone. She
wasn't afraid because it was a small town and she lived onlya few blocks
away.

As she walked along under the tall elm trees, Diane asked "God" to keep her
safe from harm and danger.

When she reached the alley, which was a shortcut to her house, she decided
to take it.

However, halfway down the alley she noticed a man standing at the end as
though he were waiting for her.

She became uneasy and began to pray, asking for "God's" protection.
Instantly a comforting feeling of quietness and security wrapped around
her,
she felt as though someone was walking with her.

When she reached the end of the alley, she walked right past the man and
arrived home safely.

The following day, she read in the newspaper that a young girl had been
raped in the same alley just twenty minutes after she had been there.

Feeling overwhelmed by this tragedy and the fact that it could have been
her, she began to weep.

Thanking the Lord for her safety and to help this young woman, she decided
to go to the police station.

She felt she could recognize the man, so she told them her story. The
police
asked her if she would be willing to look at a lineup to see if she could
identify him. She agreed and immediately pointed out the man she had seen
in
the alley the night before.

When the man was told he had been identified, he immediately broke down and
confessed.

The officer thanked Diane for her bravery and asked if there was anything
they could do for her.

She asked if they would ask the man one question? Diane was curious as to
why he had not attacked her.

When the policeman asked him, he answered, Because she wasn't alone. She
had
two tall men walking on either side of her."

Moral of the story:

Don't underestimate the power of Prayer!
Gives ya goose bumps, doesn't it!
This is to all of you who mean something to me,
I pray for your happiness.

The Candle Of Love, Hope & Friendship

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