Since the beginning of civilization, the knowledge of scents has become part of the traditions of mankind, and this knowledge can be called magical aromatherapy. Some aromatic plants were worn as part of clothing or their scent was inhaled to heal the body. Flowers were used to invoke love and provide food and protection. The rarest, most precious and most aromatic plants were offered as offerings to the goddesses and gods. Although the goal was to please the deities, the smoke from the incense also affected the participants in the service. For example, the smoke rising from burning incense directly increased the participants' spiritual involvement in the ritual. In addition, certain scents were used in magical rituals to induce the appropriate state of consciousness necessary to perform magic. Some scents also increased the physical (bioelectric) energy of the human body, which could be further directed to fulfill the goals of the ritual. People discovered that specific scents were closely associated with given magical intentions such as invoking love, healing, psychic awareness, purification, and sex, and so these scents were inhaled as part of basic rituals using physical energies. Such techniques have endured to this day and are responsible for the creation of scented oils and sticks used in folk and ceremonial magic.

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