Sandalwood as Ritual Incense

Sandalwood is a fragrant wood used as incense: the heartwood of Santalum trees, ground and burned across the Hindu and Buddhist worlds for temple offering, meditation and purification. In Western correspondence it is often given to the Moon.

Material and correspondence

In the Western system of ritual correspondences it is set under the Moon and the element of Water. Such planetary and elemental attributions belong to the Western esoteric tradition of correspondences, drawn from writers such as Agrippa and codified in the modern period by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn; the material's use as incense is far older and cuts across many cultures. It is described here within that documented tradition of ritual perfume.

A wood under pressure

The most prized source, Santalum album, is native to India and was once so heavily harvested for its oil and heartwood that the Indian government placed it under strict export and cultivation controls in the twentieth century; Australian sandalwood, Santalum spicatum, and other regional Santalum species have since supplied much of the commercial market as a result. In Hindu practice the ground wood is made into chandan paste, applied to the forehead and to temple images, and in Buddhist practice it is a favored material for prayer beads (mala) as well as incense, so that the material's ritual role there extends well beyond burning it as smoke.