Palo Santo incense sticks

How to Use It

Witchcraft & Folk Magick

• Clearing: burn after illness, arguments or visitors to freshen the feel of the home.
• Before ritual: light a stick before a working to make the space feel clean and calm.
• New beginnings: burn in a new home or workspace on the first day.

A Simple Working

• Open a window in the room you want to clear.
• Light a palo santo stick and blow it out to an ember.
• Start at the far corner of the room and move toward the open window.
• Waft the smoke into corners, under furniture and around doorframes.
• Say aloud that only peace may stay in the room.
• Set the stick in a holder by the window to finish burning.

Pairs Well With

• Copal: a related resin for cleansing smoke.
• Sea salt: for a bowl of salt to absorb what is cleared.
• A white chime candle: for peace and blessing.
• An incense holder: to catch the ash.

What You Receive

Palo Santo incense sticks, available in a hand-rolled 6 pack (about 60 minutes per stick), a hand-rolled 8 pack with visible resin and botanical grains, a 25 g pack (about one hour per stick) or a 16 pack.

Origin & Lore

Palo santo is the wood of Bursera graveolens, a tree of the dry forests of coastal Ecuador and Peru. Locally the wood is burned to clear bad energy and to keep away mosquitoes, and Andean curanderos use its smoke in cleansing ceremonies. These sticks carry its scent in incense form.

Palo santo means ‘holy wood’, and the best of it comes from trees that have fallen and lain on the forest floor for years before anyone gathers them.

The name palo santo is used for two different woods: Bursera graveolens of Ecuador and Peru, and Bulnesia sarmientoi of the Gran Chaco region. In Peru and Ecuador, the burning of Bursera palo santo is part of everyday folk practice, used in homes and markets as well as by healers.