Quick Specs
- Type: Stick incense burner
- Size: About 10 inches long
- Material: Resin
- Finish: Black, with gold-toned skeletons and silver-white moons
- Design: Kissing skeletons, three roses, seven moon phases
Kissing Skeletons Above a Board of Seven Moons
A black heart tops the burner, and two skeletons fill it. Their gold-toned skulls lean together in a kiss, their arms wrap around each other, and a bony hand rests beside the head on the right. Three dark red roses with green leaves line the bottom of the heart like a bouquet laid at their feet, and small silver stars and a crescent moon are painted on the black around them. Below the heart, the board runs long and narrow, with a shallow outlined panel along its length. Seven moons are set into the panel, each one raised and painted silver-white against a black disc, so the dark side of every phase shows as a round shadow and the silver catches light at each edge. The row opens with a thin crescent, widens through a fuller crescent and a gibbous moon to a full moon at the center, then narrows through a gibbous moon and a crescent to a thin crescent at the bottom. At about 10 inches long, the burner fits along a shelf edge, a mantel, or the back of an altar.
From Earth, the Moon’s lit face changes shape through the month. Sometimes the whole face glows brightly, and other times only a thin crescent of light shows, and the board gives that slow change a place to stand. Read from top to bottom, the burner tells its story in order: a kiss, a bouquet of roses, and then the moons marking the time that passes. The red rose is associated with romantic affection, so the three roses under the skeletons keep the mood tender even as the skulls turn it gothic. Black resin with gold and silver accents suits that mood well. The skulls take the warm tone of old bone, the moons take the cool tone of moonlight, and the black field behind them leaves each shape standing clear. It is a piece for people who like their romance with a shadow in it, and for shelves where a candle, a deck of cards, or a vase of dried flowers already keeps company. The gold of the skulls picks up candlelight.
Practical Ritual Applications
Lay the burner along a shelf edge, a mantel, a dresser top, or the back of an altar, on a heat-proof surface with room around it. Burn a stick when you want to mark an evening, an anniversary, or the night of a full moon, and let the row of moons do the rest of the decorating. As a gift it suits a partner who loves gothic romance, a collector of skull and skeleton pieces, or anyone who keeps a lunar calendar. My moon products collection has more pieces for a lunar shelf. Between sticks the burner stays on display as a long, narrow sculpture, and its slim profile leaves room for candles, a deck of cards, and a small dish of dried flowers beside it. Choose any stick you like, and let the full moon at the center of the row catch the eye first.
How to Burn a Stick of Incense in Your Skull Moon Burner
A long burner needs a flat heat-proof surface, a steady stick, and a full cool-down before you move it.
- Set it on a heat-proof surface
Put the burner on a ceramic tile or a metal plate with room on all sides. Keep curtains, books, and paper well away, and choose a shelf where nobody will brush past it. Fire services advise keeping burning incense out of reach of children and pets.
- Place the stick and light the tip
Seat an unlit stick in the burner's stick position so that it holds steady and the ash falls onto the board. Hold a flame to the tip until it glows, then blow the flame out. Stay with the burner while the stick settles into a steady smolder.
- Let it finish and cool
Let the stick burn out, then wait for the board to cool all the way before you lift or tilt it. Tip the cooled ash into a dish. Put the stick out before you leave the room or go to sleep, and check that nothing still smolders.
The Tarot Fellow Standard
I stock this burner as a gothic love story in resin. The skeletons are modeled in a tight embrace, the roses are shaped one by one, and the seven moons are painted so that every dark side shows. It carries a stick, so give it a tile and keep an eye on the flame. Browse my stick incense burners collection if you like pieces that tell a story on a shelf, and you will find more holders to set beside it.
Frequently Asked Questions
A memento mori is an artistic symbol or trope that reminds viewers of the inevitability of death. The phrase is Latin for roughly “remember that you have to die.” The skull is the most common motif, often with bones, and the idea has roots in classical philosophy and Christianity. Memento mori imagery appears in funerary art and architecture from the medieval period onward, and wilting flowers and hourglasses carry the same message of impermanence.
NASA lists the eight lunar phases in order as new Moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full Moon, waning gibbous, third quarter, and waning crescent. The cycle repeats about once a month, every 29.5 days. The Sun always lights half of the Moon, and how much of that lit half is visible from Earth changes as the Moon travels through its orbit.
No. Fire services advise burning incense in a well-ventilated area and never where people are sleeping. Extinguish it when you leave the room or go to sleep, and check that it is out and not still smoldering. Keep burning incense away from curtains, clothes, and paper, and out of reach of children and pets, and place the holder on a flat, heat-resistant surface such as a ceramic tile or a metal plate.
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