From Esprit de la Nature

Incense aroma notes: Transparent, resinous conifer with sparkling lime-green notes — a fragrance so light and ethereal

Ingredients: The North American Larch, unlike her European counterpart, rarely offers resin unless wounded. Last autumn, I came upon a Larch struck by another tree fallen during a windstorm. Small tears of excess resin dotted the bark beneath her gash. It is those tears that form the heart of Fairy Crossing, along with Larch needles and bark, a wee bit of Boswellia occulta, and carefully processed Onycha shells to help the aroma linger and not just float away in the ether.

Larch Sparklers: Larch foliage is protected by tiny resinous nubs nestled along her branches, each containing small amounts of fragrant protective resin. When a dried twig is lit, it burns like a sparkler whenever the flame touches those pockets of resin, sending flickering points of light into the darkness. Use these Larch sparklers to connect with the fae and other nature spirits, to ask for their guidance and blessing, or simply to celebrate their mysterious presence in the living world.

Larch’s energy is truly sparkling. When I look at a Larch tree, I swear I can see tiny lights surrounding the tree and darting to and fro around her branches. I am not the first to perceive this phenomenon. Across the world, wherever Larches grow, they are regarded as a living axis between worlds, a tree deeply associated with the fairy folk and nature spirits.

 

Hoping to attract nature spirits, Siberian animists tie glittering objects to Larch branches, offerings carrying intentions and dreams that flutter in the wind like prayer flags. Among the Anishinaabe, ceremonial Larch poles are sometimes raised at the center of villages as vertical bridges connecting Earth to the spirit realm. In Scandinavia and Finland, Larch trees are said to be dancing and resting places for forest and mountain fairies. In many Slavic countries, freshly cut Larch trees are beribboned and raised as Maypoles. Some North American First Nations carve Larch branches into walking sticks, reminders of humanity’s connection to all living things.

Anything made from Larch, incense, essential oil, hydrosol, even furniture, seems to radiate an immense energy field. A dowsing pendulum will swing almost horizontally at the outer limits of its circle. Her enchanted wood does not rot. Archaeologists have found entire northern settlements built from Larch, and the dreamlike city of Venice rests upon Larch pillars sunk deep beneath the water.

Larch’s very way of being in the world feels magical, is part of the reason she is so often associated with the fae. She thrives in liminal marshlands. Very early in spring, her soft, vibrating needles emerge from tiny resinous nubs along her branches. Living antennas, those rubbery needles tremble at the slightest breeze, sensing every movement in the environment. Only once every three to six years does she produce her small burgundy cones, shaped like miniature roses, they scatter across her boughs.

Then, in late autumn, after the leaves of the deciduous trees have fallen and the forest has faded into grey and silence, Larch reveals her magic one final time. She gives the land one last burst of warmth and sunlit colour, turning the forest gold. Her needles glow in the cold autumn light before drifting down to form a luminous carpet upon the forest floor, just as the first snow begins to fall.  The forest sleeps beneath snow and silence, while the embers of the old magic continue to glow beneath the earth and also hidden in resin, cradled within the woody nubs of the Larch trees, waiting quietly for spring’s return.