Sandalwood, SE Asia Dark Powder (Santalum album)

Unit size: 1 ounce

Origin: Southeast Asia

Form: Powder

Other names: Sandal wood, Sanders wood, White sandal, Yellow sandal, Yellow Sandalwood, Indian Sandalwood

Esoteric Uses: Mental calm, tranquility, meditation, insight, awareness, psychic development

Esoteric Associations: Mercury, Air

Incense Aroma: Dark, husky, dhoop-like sandalwood

This is one of the less-expensive sandalwood powders on the open market.

Sandalwood has been used for over 4 millennia in India and the Near East. It has a calming and stabilizing effect on the mind, body, and spirit, which is why it has been used in meditation by traditional Hindus and Buddhists for centuries. The wood itself has been used to carve images of the gods in the Near and Far East, as well as timber for temples. Sandalwood oil has been widely used as a traditional treatment for common colds, bronchitis, skin disorders, heart ailments, general weakness, fever, infection of the urinary tract, inflammation of the mouth and pharynx, liver and gallbladder complaints and other maladies.

White Sandalwood is the same substance as Yellow Sandalwood, with different places using different names. Red Sandalwood, however, is a different species altogether.