Copal is the sacred incense of Mesoamerica, and Scott Cunningham writes that it is added to love and purification incenses, especially in Mexico. He notes that over 300 copals exist worldwide, all sharing a certain light sweetness that suits them to love workings. White Copal, copal blanco, is prized as the clearest and brightest of them, traditionally reserved for the most sacred offerings, and is drawn chiefly from Bursera bipinnata growing in the dry hills of Jalisco, Michoacan, and Colima.

White Copal is a semi-fossilized aromatic tree resin, largely from Bursera and Protium species in the torchwood family. It is the palest and most refined grade of copal, softer and younger than amber. Chemically it is a terpenoid mixture: volatile monoterpenes such as alpha-pinene and limonene give the fresh material its pine-citrus scent, while pentacyclic triterpenes including alpha-amyrin and beta-amyrin dominate the non-volatile fraction that remains as it ages and hardens.

Copal was burned as sacred incense in the temples of the Maya and Aztec worlds, its smoke carrying prayers to the gods., Scott Cunningham notes that a piece of copal can stand in for the heart in poppet magic, a testament to its association with love., and In Mexican tradition, copal smoke welcomes ancestral spirits home during Dia de los Muertos.

Like smoke rising from a temple courtyard, my hopes rise easily when I give them air. I clear my space, soften my heart, and let sweetness do its quiet work.