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Gods were often said to have been born from various scented parts of plants — the resin that exuded from a cut in a tree, the fragrant bark that was so often used for making incense, or a flower that was, or still is, used for making perfume. The ancient Egyptian god Amon Ra emerged from a lotus, as did the Indian god Brahma, while Adonis was born from a myrrh tree. The Egyptians called the incense resin that exuded from certain trees, “the tears” or “sweat” of the gods.
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The Fragrant Mind, scientists have established that the chemical composition of the DNA in a moose, the animal, and a spruce, the tree, is essentially identical. Both DNAs are encased in cells, which are structurally the same, and like ours. Moreover, the only chemical difference between chlorophyll in plants and red hemoglobin in human blood is that a magnesium atom in one replaces an iron atom in the other. As Richard Thompson so eloquently puts it in The Brain, A Neuroscience Primer, “The similarity of the genetic material in all forms of life that exist in the world today, including bacteria, plants, animals, and people, indicates that all living organisms descended from the same single cell-line.” In other words, human beings and plants come from the same familial line and have a relationship. It is that fundamental relationship that can be activated by thought. How poignant it is that all Lakota North American ceremonies end with the words Mitakuye Oyasin, meaning, “we are all related,” which is a prayer recognizing every living thing. Every person, animal, and plant is part of the same single family.
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Incense, koh, is widely used in Japan, in worship at home and at Buddhist shrines, although Japan itself does not produce most materials used, which have to be imported. The main ingredients of koh are jinkoh (aloeswood), of which there are several varieties including the very expensive kyara, sandalwood, ginger, cassia, cinnamon, benzoin, camphor, clove, frankincense, star anise, patchouli, myrrh, kansho (an East Indian rhizome), rei-ryokoh (an Asian mint), and the root of a Chinese plant, haiso. One indigenous ingredient is the bark of Cercidiphyllum japonicum.
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