Widely known for its fragrance, and the essential oil that it is used to produce, Red Sandalwood has been valued for centuries for the qualities it possessing for carving, medical, and spiritual purposes. Indeed, a wide variety of cultures use Red Sandalwood for their religious purposes. Hindu Priests make a past used to decorate icons and religious tools and then distribute it to devotees, who use it to mark their foreheads, neck and chest. Buddhists sometimes consider it akin to the lotus, and use it to transform desire and maintain alertness during meditation. They also use it as a popular offering to the Buddha. Within the Zoroastrian faith, sandalwood is offered to the three grades of fire, and use in this way as a most sacred offering. Priests within Zoroastrian temples often sell red sandalwood as one of their chief forms of income for this purpose. In modern spiritual practices, this has perhaps evolved to leave red sandalwood used often in rituals and spells of healing and purification. It is still often used in meditation, and is generally considered to enhance magical work in general. In the 1920`s and 1930`s, red sandalwood was quite popular in medicine. The oil was used for the treatment of fevers and indigestion, as well as an aid in healing bruises, and was used both externally and internally for these purposes. Modern study has also shown that red sandalwood has some antimicrobial properties, perhaps making it useful in preventing the growth of microbes. Red Sandalwood cannot be exported to Canada. This is a 1 Lb packet of Red Sandalwood Chips.
|