Incausa: Supporting Indigenous Artisanship

Ceremonial ritual practices are at the heart of InCausa, a social business experiment that uses the profits from its products to enable the purposeful commerce of indigenous artisanship and heritage. Beginning as a simple sidewalk-table venture, the organization has evolved into a multi-national grassroots organization committed to social innovation.

Ensuring fair trade practices from sourcing to fulfillment, InCausa coordinates the creation of hand harvested Breu resin and blends it with other traditional incense ingredients such as Palo Santo Wood and White Sage, and maybe not so familiar ingredients of Chacrona leaf and Jagube vine, to create fragrant resin stick incense from Brazil and Peru.

RARE RESIN FROM BRAZIL

Breu resin, which may be new to many US buyers, is extracted from a tree of the Amazon rainforest.  Known as sacred Breu or White Breu, it is used in healing rituals to ward off dark spirits and invite good energy. Also known for possessing properties that could bring regression experiences and conscious dreams after ritualistic use. Breu’s aromatic resin is rich in certain chemical compounds called triterpenes which possess anti-inflammatory, analgesic and gastro-protective properties. One Physiology and Pharmacology Department of a Brazilian university indicated breu for respiratory trouble, stomach ache, liver malfunction, and mental acuity.

BREU AND SAGE

In a variation of incense stick, the Breu resin is blended with White Sage, also called bee sage or sacred sage. This is an evergreen perennial shrub native to the southwestern US and northwestern Mexico, found mainly in the coastal sage scrub habitat on the western edges of the Mojave and Sonoran deserts. Widely used by Native American groups on the US Pacific coast, tea from its roots was used by Cahuilla women for healing and strength after childbirth. The leaves are also burnt by many Native American tribes and the smoke used in different purification rituals. A 1991 study performed at the University of Arizona demonstrated that Salvia apiana has potential antibacterial properties.

BREU AND AMAZON HERBS

Another stick incense combines Breu resin with Chacrona leaf and Jagube vine, which together are basic ingredients used in preparing the sacramental drink ayahuasca. The byproducts of producing this drink are customarily offered back to the earth, but now find repurposing in this special blend of Breu resin incense. Sacred Breu is used in healing rituals. Its aromatic resin is rich in compounds which possess anti-inflammatory, analgesic & gastro-protective properties.

BREU AND PALO SANTO

An additional South American artisanal offering blends Breu resin with the high resin wood of the Palo Santo Tree. The wood comes from trees that have already completed their life cycle of 40 to 90 years. Once the tree falls, an alchemical process of natural transformation of over 4 to 10 years takes place and the wood receives its aromatic and healing properties, ans is then consecrated as “Holy Wood.”  It is said spirits of the Palo Santo trees materialize in the essential oil and are responsible for its special qualities. Palo Santo has always been linked to shamanic rituals of different cultures and dates back to the time of the Inca Empire. The Maskoy (indigenous people of Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina) have the belief that a fire made with Palo Santo wood prevents evil spirits from coming into houses. It is used in ceremonies with teacher plants and medicines such as ayahuasca, both in Europe and in America. It is inspiring to think of the first people who discovered its long lasting burning property and beautiful scent and it is easy to understand how it evolved into a valued and sacred gift.  All of these aforementioned incense sticks come with nine incense sticks per box. Each stick burns up to 1 hour.

BATH & MEDITATE BUNDLES

InCausa’s  also offers small batch, handmade aged essential oil vegan soap which blending a variety of fragrant oils:  Coconut, Almond, Olive, Neem, Hemp, Palm, Lavender, Coriander, Patchouli, Cardamon, Marjoram, Clove, Cinnamon, Vetiver & Geranium oils. This combination makes for a very moisturizing, relaxing and aromatic cleansing experience. Perfect for use in preparing for meditation practice, awareness shower and also to enhance the ambient fragrance.  We also have the soap available in a Bathe & Meditate Bundle where it is combined with a sampling of Palo Santo and Breu incense artfully hand wrapped.

GIVING BACK

In Causa partners with indigenous cause initiatives developing non-profit trade posts and market placement. Using social entrepreneurship to reignite indigenous heritage, In Causa uplifts cultural values and builds sustainable opportunities.

One of its partners, Raiz das Imagens, is a project that aims to bring awareness to indigenous individuals through self-reflection, disseminate their ways of living, teach the audiovisual arts and document the current reality and origins of the culture as well as the mixtures in Brazilian cultural roots, using cinema and audiovisual tools as instruments of dialog. InCausa seeks support together with non-governmental institutions, publications, collectives and individuals in order to continue documenting, recovering traditions and working for the unification and strengthening of the various Brazilian ethnic groups.

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