5 Best Incense for Cleansing & Protection In 2023 (Buying Guide & Review)

If you’re in a hurry and just want to know which incense would be the best for cleansing & protection, then I would recommend,Jerusalem Frankincense & Myrrh resin incense, as your best choice. 

Negative energy can be both mentally and physically draining. It can also cause inner stress and throw you off balance. 

Tending to your home’s energy state is equally important as keeping it physically cleaned, organized, and protected.

In this article I’ll show you how burning natural herbs and resins can metaphorically lift heavy weights from your shoulders and shield you from harm.

5 Best Incense Picks for Cleansing and Protection

If you are emotionally burdened, feel lethargic, or are recovering from an unhealthy relationship, then you might be due for a cleansing and/or protection ritual.

This is a list of five various forms of incense that can lift your spirits, purify your space, and protect you from negative energy.

1. Best for Inner Self Cleansing: Maroma Eda Patchouli Incense Sticks

Patchouli is known to cleanse the mind of negative thoughts and emotions. This patchouli blend includes vetiver and clove, both of which are cleansing in their own right. Vetiver helps relieve strong emotions and stress. It can also soothe the nerves. One benefit of clove is that it fights bacteria.

Each stick is handcrafted and all of the natural ingredients are bound together and adhered to the bamboo stick using a botanical gum. Natural ingredients include wood and bark powders, essential oils, and resins.

You won’t find any charcoal or phthalates on the ingredients list, but there is mention of proprietary fragrance oils that are blended with the essential oils.

Ten sticks are included and each stick burns for about 45 minutes. They burn cleanly and slowly and are also available as incense cones.

Pros

• Helps purify emotions
• Alleviates stress
• Handmade in India
• Natural essential oils
• Accurate patchouli scent

Cons

• Includes only 10 sticks
• High quality but expensive

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2. Best for Cleansing Negative Energy: White Sage Incense Bricks with Burner

If you’ve never used incense bricks before, no worries, because this set by Aromafume includes a burner. 

In addition to the burner, you’ll receive six different incense scents for cleansing and protection:

1. Californian white sage – purifier that quiets the mind
2. White sage and lavender – protects and stills the mind
3. White sage and rose – encourages positivity and sensuality
4. White sage and frankincense – calms the mind; inspires positivity
5. White sage and sandalwood – promotes wellness; reduces anxiety symptoms
6. White sage and palo santo – cleanses the emotions; abolishes negativity

Each scent includes a tray of nine incense bricks. They’re really easy to use, but they’re not like the charcoal bricks you might have used before. 

To use the incense bricks, you would start by placing one of the bricks in the copper holder. There’s space for a tea light candle at the base of the holder. After lighting it and placing it in its cubby, the heat from the tea light would then warm up the incense brick above, releasing its fragrance. 

Each brick can burn up to 3.5 hours.

Aromafume incense bricks are completely plant-based and made using locally-sourced, wild-harvested woods, resins, herbs, and spices. The bricks are made in small batches and fragranced with essential oils.

I find that burning white sage alone emits a fragrance that’s too pungent for me. So I think Aromafume did a great job of blending it with other scents. But it’s a matter of personal preference.

Pros

• Low smoke
• Variety of scents/cleansing properties
• Sustainably made
• All natural ingredients
• Includes burner

Cons

• Tea lights not included
• Not everyone can tolerate the scent of white sage

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3. Best for Overall Cleansing: Jerusalem Frankincense & Myrrh Resin Incense

Frankincense and myrrh have been used for centuries by people of all types of faiths for cleansing and healing.

They are known to:

• Rid your space of negativity and stress
• Protect your home from evil and purify the space
• Heal illnesses
• Help you feel more peaceful

This resin blend is produced in the Holy Land, Jerusalem. You’ll receive 3.5 oz (100 g). There are additional flowers and plants included in the blend, but it still effectively removes negative energy, supports healing, and can protect your spirit life.

Since this is indirect-burning incense, it must be warmed on a charcoal puck or in an oil warmer with a carrier oil. 

Pros

• Pure resin
• Adjust intensity by the amount you use
• Pure form 
• Rich fragrance

Cons

• You’ll need additional accessories
• You’ll either love or strongly dislike the scent

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4. Best Protection from Sorrow: HEM Benzoin Incense Sticks & Holder

If you are grieving or recovering from a negative event and want to cleanse the anguish from your home, then benzoin can help with that. 

Also referred to as styrax, this earthy, sweet, and spicy fragrance relieves stress, helping to balance the emotions. It also soothes grief, deep sadness, and anger.

This set includes a total of 120 incense sticks, divided into six packs of 20 sticks each. There’s also a wooden incense burner.

Pros

• Nice, complex fragrance
• Value for the price
• Handmade in India
• Includes incense holder

Cons

• Some may find the scent to be too strong

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5. Best Energy Cleansing: Palo Santo Wild Harvested Smudging Sticks

This incense cleanses home energy and inner emotions. Palo santo balances out the energies within your space – eliminating negativity and replacing it with positivity. When the wood is burned, its natural oils are activated. Released into the air, they purify the space and all its inhabitants.

These palo santo sticks are sustainably sourced and harvested from their native coastal environment in Ecuador, South America. Naturally fallen trees are allowed to decompose for three to four years before they’re cut. During this time, the trees secrete natural oils that make it aromatic and effective for medicinal use.

In this package there are 8 sticks, each about 4 inches (10 cm) long. To burn, you can hold it over a fireproof bowl and light it with a match. After up to 30 seconds, carefully shake the stick and blow to put out the fire. Then you can place the burning wood stick in a fireproof bowl or shell. This palo santo holder & burner is also an option. It holds the stick upright.

As they will only burn for a short time, each stick tends to last for a long time. You simply relight the same stick over and over again.

Pros

• Respectfully wild harvested
• Natural oils and resins in each stick
• Long-lasting
• Authentic tree bark

Cons

• Burn for a short time
• Must be relit for continuous fragrance
• Since it’s wood, it will generate a lot of smoke

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The Process of Cleansing & Protecting Your Home with Incense

Many civilizations across millennia have used incense to cleanse themselves and their spaces, so there must be some wisdom in engaging this practice. 

Whether it’s by use of herbs (i.e., white sage), wood (i.e., palo santo), resin (i.e., frankincense) or simply burning an incense stick, these natural barks and various forms of fragrant essence release beneficial ions into the air. Many of them naturally have antidepressant and antimicrobial properties.

When Should You Cleanse Your Space?

You may wonder how to determine when to use incense to cleanse your space, so here are some suggestions, but you are not limited to this list in any way. 

When there’s illness – Sickness brings with it negative energy and your reaction to the illness and struggle to overcome it can all fill the atmosphere with negative energy.

After interpersonal conflicts – Tense energy can be overwhelming. After a heated discussion, argument, or even a bad phone conversation, cleansing the space can help you move forward.

If you’re in a bad mood – If you notice that you have been in a somber mood for days or weeks, and you haven’t been able to shake it, then there might be negative energy lingering around in your space.

If you experience stagnancy – For those who might try to move forward but have not been able to do so in spite of great effort. A good cleansing might help. 

In response to grief – When healing from grief from the loss of a loved one, ending of a relationship, or a strong disappointment, burning incense can help move that stifling energy out of your home. 

For a simple refresh – There doesn’t have to be anything particularly wrong in order for you to cleanse and protect your space. Some people periodically smudge their home or burn incense to reset the energy in their environment.  

When introducing a new life chapter – I remember watching a documentary about a Native American woman who had returned to her reservation after completing a rehabilitation program. She had an elder come into her home to smudge sage in order to cleanse her space of old addictive patterns as she began a new sober chapter in her life.

How To Cleanse Your Home with Incense

Simply lighting your incense and allowing it to burn in your home releases it’s natural cleansing properties.

It is not necessary to say anything or perform any specific actions beyond lighting the incense, in order for cleansing to be effective.

But some people prefer a definitive process that has a start and end point that incorporates more bodily action. If that is you, then here are some steps you might want to follow:

3-Step Cleansing Ritual

1. Before lighting any form of incense, you want to prepare for this process by opening up some windows so that the negative energy will have a place to flow.

If temperatures are too low, try cracking your windows a little bit until you’ve walked the incense throughout your home. Then you can close the windows again to restore warmth. 

2. Next, light the incense and blow out the flame so that it can begin to smolder. If you can safely bend forward, then direct the smoke towards your feet and work your way up and around your entire body. This allows you to cleanse yourself in preparation for cleansing your home.

3. Now you can begin walking through your home, room by room. Start at the left corner of a room and walk towards the right and continue this motion around it’s entire perimeter, moving the incense around in a sweeping motion. Moving left to right is thought to usher the energy out instead of keeping it trapped inside.

If you would like to recite a mantra, intentions, or a prayer as you move around your space, that is fine too. You can speak out loud or internally. Whatever you do, try not to engage any negative thoughts or feelings as you are cleansing. 

Alternatively, some people prefer to start the process with the windows closed at first. They then sweep the room with incense, allowing it to smolder in the room with the door closed. After about an hour, they’ll return to the room, and then open the windows, releasing the negative energy.

Can Incense Protect Your Space?

Opinions vary about whether or not burning incense can actually protect a person or shield their home. When it comes to cleansing, biological elements in the incense can actually cleanse the air in the home and internal systems of those who inhale it. Belief in protection, though, varies from person to person.

Individuals who practice Pagan religions believe that burning some types of incense protects them from evil spirits as they are practicing magick. Some incense examples include:

• Bergamot
• Cedarwood
• Copol
• Dragon’s blood
• Frankincense
• Juniper
• Lotus
• Sage
• Sandalwood
• Violet

They may burn this incense to ward off evil spirits, make their protective spells more powerful, or place them on an altar.

There are people of different faiths who are adamant that burning incense does not offer any protection at all. Some believe that if an evil spirit wants to devour you, incense will not prevent that from happening. Christians reference scriptures, like Revelation 8:4 that describes incense smoke as carrying prayers up to heaven but not warding off evil.

So, this is definitely a matter of personal resolve. If you are looking for the best incense for protection, the Californian white sage bundle mentioned above is a good start.

Final Words

I think that choosing the best incense for cleansing and protection depends on whether you want to cleanse your space, protect it, or both.

The clear winner for cleansing is, Jerusalem Frankincense & Myrrh resin incense because resin is one of the purest forms of incense and scientists have confirmed that frankincense and myrrh are antibacterial and antiviral.

Alternatively, I would choose, HEM benzoin incense sticks as a mood lifter and to purify the air.

But the set of white sage incense bricks with a burner is a great value and can be used for protection. It includes almost all of the fragrances that cleanse and protect along with floral blends.

This is not an exhaustive list, but I hope it gets you started.

Read more:

• B​est Incense for Focus & Studying
• Best Sandalwood Incense
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