Beginners Guide To Basic Meditation
Tue, 04/13/10 – 21:59 | 2 Comments

First of all let me begin by stating that this is not a complete, or even semi-complete guide to meditation. There are literally thousands of websites and books devoted to every possible aspect and type of meditation and they are all available with a quick trip to Google. What you are reading currently is an easy to read and understand beginners guide to meditation.

Share
Read the full story »
Featured »
More posts from this section »
More posts from this section »
Incense

Information about incense. Including histories, brands, types, usage and more.

Incense Ingredients

Leaves, roots, barks, flowers, resins and other ingredients used in the manufacture of incense sticks, cones and loose incense forms.

Meditations

Thoughts from The Zen Hippie on Peace, Love, Happiness and more. Sometimes strange, sometimes insightful, but always entertaining.

News

News from The Zen Hippie! Featuring special offers, promotions, updates and more. Get your news fix here!

Reviews

Reviews of different incense brands, manufacturers and various accessories. To help keep you up to date and informed about cool products and groovy scents.

Video »

Goin’ Up The Country
Thu, 04/21/11 – 6:09 | No Comment

Goin’ Up The Country

Canned Heat performs “Goin’ Up The Country” to a montage of scenes from Woodstock 1969

Thu, 04/21/11 – 1:12 | No Comment
A Long Time Gone

Here is a classic bit of video from the film of Woodstock 1969. Watch the stage being built to the sounds of Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Share
Thu, 02/24/11 – 13:42 | One Comment
San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)

I was writing product descriptions (among other things) when this song came on my venerable old Winamp.  So I thought I would pause for just a moment and share its dewy eyed idealism with everyone.  …

Share
Wed, 05/5/10 – 13:22 | No Comment
Calamus Root and Kyphi Recipe

Calamus Root, (Acorus calamus) is also known as Calmus, Sedge, and Sweet Myrtle. It is a wonderfully spicy, aromatic, and very cinnamon-like fragrance that has been enjoyed since at least The Epic of Gilgamesh where it is mentioned as an incense ingredient. It is also referenced in the Bible as one of the ingredients of the anointing oil in Exodus 30:23. The Egyptians used it for the Kyphi recipes as well.

Share
Wed, 05/5/10 – 12:31 | No Comment
Burgundy Pitch

“Burgundy Pitch” is the resin from the Spruce pine (Pinus glabra) that is collected and clarified through a melting process to yield a higher quality and more wonderfully fragrant end product. Spruce pine, also called cedar-pine or bottom-white pine, is a member of the southern yellow pine group. It is the most shade-tolerant species of southern pine and is scattered throughout the southeast in mixed hardwood stands, rarely occurring in pure stands.

Share
Wed, 05/5/10 – 12:08 | 2 Comments
Borneo Camphor

Borneo Camphor, sometimes called Borneol Camphor is a pale, straw colored resin from the Dryobalanops aromatica tree. It is an evergreen that can reach heights of more than 120 feet. The Japanese refer to this tree as the hon-sho and the sacred camphor tree at the Hachiman shrine in the Kagoshima district of Japan is more than 1,200 years old.

Share
Tue, 05/4/10 – 21:03 | No Comment
Hem Rain Forest Incense Review

Regular readers will no doubt be aware that I am not the biggest fan of Hem incense. The fact that it is charcoal based and is (probably) dipped in fragrance oil rather than being made from finely ground ingredients gives it a characteristic odor that I find very distracting on occasion. Sometimes though, Hem creates something that defies my expectations and can truly be classed as something special.

Share
Tue, 05/4/10 – 20:16 | No Comment
Hem Dragons Blood Incense Review

There are few incense ingredients as confusing as Dragons Blood. The name Dragons Blood can refer to no less than sixteen different resins from the same number of trees. It can also refer to the extremely poisonous mineral cinnibar (mercury sulfide) although not in recent times to my knowledge. It is also another name for red rock opium, but it contains no opiates and its intoxicating properties are dubious at best.

Share
Tue, 05/4/10 – 19:31 | No Comment
Hem Sage Incense Review

The distinction is important because white sage plays a tremendous role in Native American rituals as well as various Wiccan and Pagan spells and rituals for cleansing everything from space to Athames, crystals and more. The cleansing properties of white sage are well documented in hundreds of works and I am not about to argue with the wisdom of the ages. So with that in mind, and a trip to the Native American festival in Fort Walton Florida where plenty of white sage was burned still fresh in my memory, lets see what Hem has to offer with this stick.

Share