Quick Specs
- Type: Stick incense holder
- Size: 5 inches
- Shape: Round
- Design: Tree of Life with spreading branches and curling roots
- Colors: Cream trunk, blue sky in several shades, green roots
- Center: Small hole in the trunk
A Gnarled Tree of Life Against a Vivid Blue Sky
A single tree fills the disc from edge to edge. Its trunk is a cream and tan column of ridged, knotted bark, thickest at the middle and splitting higher up into branches that reach in every direction and thin into a fine network of twigs against the rim. The sky shows through the branches in patches of blue, a deep cobalt along the outer edge, a brighter mid-blue near the trunk, and near-white highlights in the larger openings, so the background looks lit from within. At the bottom, the roots are green, and they curl and loop along the lower rim in thick, rounded ropes. A small hole is set into the trunk, a little below the center of the disc. Short curved lines mark the bark in rows, and small pits dot the trunk. The whole surface is deeply worked, with hollows and knots in the bark and raised edges on the branches. The disc measures 5 inches across.
The Tree of Life appears in many cultures, and its meaning changes from place to place. Scholars differ on whether Egypt or Mesopotamia first used the motif, and some treat it as an image that arose independently in several regions. Assyrian palace reliefs show a tree of nodes and crisscrossing lines tended by winged genies, and Assyriologists have not reached consensus on what it meant. In Egypt, the sky goddess Nut was at times depicted as a sycamore tree giving food and water to the deceased. Mesoamerican world trees mark a central axis that joins the underworld, the earth, and the sky. A tree makes a natural center for a picture of the world: roots below, a trunk in the middle, and branches above. On this holder the tree takes the whole disc, and the arrangement is easy to read at a glance, from the green roots at the bottom to the sky at the top.
Practical Ritual Applications
Stand a stick of incense in the hole in the trunk and set the holder on a shelf, a desk, or a windowsill where the blue shows against a plain wall. Because the colors are bright, the disc stands out in a room with wood or white furnishings, and it pairs naturally with plants, a bowl of stones, or a reading lamp. Give it a spot at eye level so the branches and roots are easy to follow, and keep the stick upright in its hole, well clear of the raised edges of the branches. Between sticks, the holder stays on display as relief decor. My gemstone tree and stone craft collection has other tree pieces that share a shelf well with it.
How to Burn Stick Incense in the Tree of Life Holder
Check the base, light the stick in the trunk, and let everything cool before you move it.
- Check the Base and the Surroundings
Set the holder on a flat, heat-resistant surface such as a ceramic tile or a metal plate. Keep curtains, clothes, paper, and houseplant leaves well away from the stick, and put it out of reach of children and pets. A stable surface matters, since a holder that tips can spill hot ash.
- Seat the Stick in the Trunk and Light It
Push the thin end of a stick into the hole in the trunk and hold a flame to the tip until it glows, then shake out the flame. Stay in the room while it burns. Fire services advise never leaving burning incense unattended.
- Extinguish and Let the Tree Cool
Make sure the incense is completely out before you leave the room or go to bed. Incense ash and holders may remain hot after use, so wait until the holder is cool before you pick it up, and clear the ash from the trunk and branches once it is cold.
The Tarot Fellow Standard
I stock this holder because the tree is the whole design: a trunk, a network of branches, a sky in several blues, and green roots, cast in deep relief on a 5 inch round. It suits a window shelf, a reading corner, or an altar with a nature theme, and it burns stick incense. If you like the motif, browse my stick incense burner collection for more holders to set beside it, and choose a stick whose scent you enjoy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yggdrasil is one world tree among many tree-of-life motifs. In the Poetic and Prose Eddas it is an immense ash tree around which exists all else, including the Nine Worlds, and the gods go to it daily to assemble at their traditional assemblies. It is supported by three roots that extend to the Æsir, the frost jötnar, and Niflheim, and the Norns pour water over it from a well beneath.
Jewish mysticism depicts the tree of life as ten interconnected nodes, the Sefirot, the powers through which the Ein Sof manifests Creation. Etz Chaim, the Hebrew for tree of life, appears in the Book of Genesis. From the Renaissance onward, Kabbalah was incorporated into Christian Western esotericism.
Incense sticks, in which a paste is rolled around a bamboo stick, are the main form of incense in India, and this type is commonly produced in India and China. Some of the earliest literary references to incense in India appear in the Vedas. In parts of East, South, and Southeast Asia, sticks may be called joss sticks.
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