censer


Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Acronyms, Wikipedia.
Related to censer: alms box

censer

a container for burning incense, esp one swung at religious ceremonies
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Censer ; Thurible

(religion, spiritualism, and occult)

As its name implies, the censer holds incense and dispenses smoke during rituals. The ecclesiastical name for it is thurible. It is equated with the element of Air. Frequently the censer is hung on the end of a chains, or chains, so that it might be swung to promote the burning of the charcoal on which the incense rests. It is usually a metal vessel, perforated with holes, into which glowing charcoal is placed and incense is sprinkled onto the charcoal.

Ancient Egyptian censers were small bowls with a handle. Those used by the Greeks and the Romans were more like braziers. They were not swung, being much heavier than today's censers and were often made of bronze or iron. Early Jewish censers were like the Egyptian ones, and were shaped like ladles.

In Wicca the censing of the Circle is part of its consecration at the start of every coven ritual. Each person in the circle is similarly censed, as a cleansing. Any object—amulet, talisman, working tool—is censed when consecrated.

The Witch Book: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, Wicca, and Neo-paganism © 2002 Visible Ink Press®. All rights reserved.
Mentioned in ?
References in periodicals archive ?
If it's the owner himself telling the history of an object, the story is incontrovertible and as a result, the censer sold for PS37,000.
Treasures with a troubled past
Censer modelled in feline form; Museo de Tiahuanaco, La Paz (photograph: author).
El adorno de barbilla de los senores altiplanicos como simbolo de continuidad historica y emblema etnico en los Andes del sur (500-1600 d.C.)
Then he circled the casket again with the smoking censer. Then he shook his head and resumed praying.
Sleight of Hand
In 1979, the museum opened a small exhibition featuring a selection of jades the Danes had donated, including the censer. On Nov.
Chinese sculpture back at Harvard after 35 years
The inverted palm-shaped censer bases have been made "artistically," Akhlaqi said.
Quake unearths 3 censer bases
The visionary rites are present in the New Testament book of Luke I: 11 "And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense." Likewise, the hallucinatory book of Revelations VIII: 3 finds an angel holding a censer in the midst of the four homed altar "and there was given to him much incense."
Strange fires, weird smokes and psychoactive combustibles: entheogens and incense in ancient traditions
In this work for students and scholars of media studies, Censer (College of Humanities and Social Sciences, George Mason University) uses the DC sniper attacks to examine how media coverage affects unfolding events covered.
On the trail of the D.C. sniper; fear and the media
At the cathedral, the daily noon Mass for pilgrims includes the spectacle of eight men hoisting the Botafumeiro, the world's largest censer, via a pulley.
The ways of Galicia: the northwest corner of the Iberian Penisula is home to one of Europe's oldest shrines and a distinctive local culture tied to the sea
An icon sure to grab the attention of the late period Russian market is An Angel Participating in the Divine Liturgy, Holding A Candle and a Censer, (right) which portrays the Grand Duchess Maria Romanova, the daughter of Tsar Nicholas I, worth between e1/48,000 and e1/412,000.
Treasured icons up for auction
Inside the square there are two-meter high thick walls along with square chamber,Aasmall rooms that were used as toilets and a well with walls built of backed clay.As for the archeological artifacts, excavations unearthed two metal coins, clay lanterns, a censer, aAa turquoise glass plate and an amulet in the form of turtle made of white lime.
Archeological Public Facilities Unearthed at al-Banat Palace in Raqqa Province
The family of the deceased, dressed in funerary attire and carrying a censer, and the relatives and friends all fell behind.
A Pocket Watch
It's a threatening censer to both sides of conflicts in Sudan.
Security's deteriorating in Jongeli state

Encyclopedia browser ?
Full browser ?