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KakapoBotanica, Kerikeri (2026)

15/12/2025

Kia ora 🌿

Welcome to Kākāpō Botanica — a small-batch incense project inspired by nature, ritual, and the art of working with real botanicals.

I’ll be sharing the process, the ingredients, and the stories behind the blends here 🤍

13/12/2025

I made some things 🤗😊

Handmade ceramic incense bowls/holders.
Website coming soon...

10/12/2025

🦅 Kārearea — The New Zealand Falcon

The Kārearea (New Zealand falcon) is one of Aotearoa’s most extraordinary native birds — fast, fierce, intelligent, and deeply woven into our natural story.
It is not a hawk; it is a true falcon, and one of the most powerful aerial hunters in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sadly, despite its strength, the Kārearea is threatened, with numbers continuing to decline.

Here’s why this taonga bird is so special:

🌬️ Speed, Agility & Precision

The Kārearea can reach speeds of over 200 km/h, making it one of the world’s fastest birds in level flight.
It can twist, dive, and change direction mid-air with incredible agility — a master of aerial manoeuvres.

It hunts on the wing, striking prey with its feet and often knocking birds straight out of the sky.

This speed and clarity of movement is why it embodies the Air element — vision, focus, insight, and swift action.

🌱 Where They Live

Kārearea live across much of Aotearoa, but they prefer:

open country

forest edges

tussock lands

alpine regions

You’re more likely to see them perching high on fence posts, cliffs, or dead trees, scanning the land with astonishing awareness.

🥚 Why Are Kārearea Threatened?

Despite their power, their biggest threats are human-related:

Habitat loss

Predation (stoats, cats, possums) — chicks are especially vulnerable

Vehicle strikes (common as they hunt along roadsides)

Electrocution on power poles

Persecution due to being mistaken for harriers (hawks)

Only a few thousand remain, and numbers continue to decrease.

✨ A Bird of Vision & Clarity

In Māori tradition and symbolism, the Kārearea represents:

keen perception

intelligence

strategic thinking

protection

courage

the ability to see the bigger picture

Its sharp mind and fearless presence make it a guardian of the skies — a reminder to rise above confusion, trust your instincts, and move with precision.

🦅 A fierce, focused sky-hunter — and one of Aotearoa’s most important taonga. Protecting the Kārearea protects the balance of our wild places.

#

05/12/2025

🌬️ Kārearea – The New Zealand Falcon | Air Element Blend
Sharp-minded, fast-moving, and fearless in the sky — the Kārearea carries the clarity, intelligence, and swiftness of the Air element.

This blend was crafted to support focus, mental clarity, intuitive thought, and energetic movement — the feeling of breath expanding, ideas sparking, and fog lifting.

Each botanical in the blend embodies the qualities of clear, bright Air energy:

✨ Botanicals & Their Purpose
🌿 Lemon Myrtle - reduces stress, brings positivity and clarity, uplifts the spirit
🟣 Juniper — clears stagnant energy, sharpens intuition
🌿 Rosemary — focus, memory, clarity of thought
🌸 Lavender — calmness, mental softness, emotional balance
✨ Golden Copal or Frankincense — purification, insight, connection to higher thought
🪵 Cinnamon Stars/Shavings — stimulates focus, brings warmth and alertness

Together, these botanicals create a bright, invigorating blend — a crisp, resinous scent that cuts through heaviness like fresh alpine wind.

🦅 Why the Kārearea?
The Kārearea is Aotearoa’s swift, fierce falcon — capable of flying over 200km/h, able to change direction mid-air, and known for its intelligence and precision.

Symbolically, the Kārearea represents:
✨ clarity
✨ awareness
✨ insight
✨ quick thinking
✨ vision

It inspires us to rise above confusion, see the bigger picture, and move with intention instead of hesitation.

✨ A blend for clarity, focus, and mental sharpness — perfect for work, study, creativity, or clearing mental fog.

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05/12/2025

How Natural Incense Is Made (Simple Guide)
Natural incense is made from real plant materials — no perfumes, no synthetic fragrances.
Here’s the basic process:

1. Woods & Resins
Sandalwood, cedar, frankincense, myrrh, copal — ground or broken down to form the base.

2. Herbs & Florals
Lavender, rosemary, mugwort, rose, kawakawa — added for scent, energy, and purpose.

3. Binder
Makko powder or natural gums help the incense burn evenly and hold its shape.

4. Water
Just enough water is added to bring everything together into a workable mixture.

5. Blending
Everything is mixed by hand until the textures and scent are balanced.

6. Forming
The incense is shaped depending on the type:

loose incense stays loose

cones are hand-formed

sticks are rolled or pressed

7. Drying
The incense is left to dry slowly, usually for several days, until each piece burns cleanly.

That’s it — simple ingredients, simple process, all rooted in traditional methods and natural materials.

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02/12/2025

🌿 Why My Loose Incense Blends Are Matched to Birds & Elements

When I began creating my loose incense blends, I didn’t just want them to smell beautiful — I wanted them to mean something.
Something rooted in Aotearoa.
Something alive with story, energy, and purpose.

That’s why each blend is built around a native bird and one of the four elements:

🌊 Tara iti — Water
🔥 Kea — Fire
🌿 Kākāpō — Earth
🌬️ Kārearea — Air

Each bird carries the energy of its element in the way it moves, lives, and connects to the world — and I chose botanicals that reflect that:

Water = calm, intuition, emotion

Fire = energy, courage, transformation

Earth = grounding, protection, stability

Air = clarity, focus, movement

The result is incense that feels intentional — blends that support different moods, states, and rituals depending on what you need.

This week we move into the Air element, with the Kārearea blend and an info post about this remarkable bird on Sunday.

Tomorrow I’ll share a simple educational post about how incense is made, and why ingredients matter.

✨ Which element do you feel most drawn to right now?

30/11/2025

Kākāpō — Aotearoa’s Night Parrot
The Kākāpō is one of Aotearoa’s most unique and beloved native birds — a flightless, nocturnal forest dweller with a personality as unforgettable as its story.
Critically endangered, only around 200 Kākāpō exist today, cared for on predator-free islands through one of the world’s most intensive conservation programmes.

But one of the most fascinating things about the Kākāpō is its scent.

🌿 The Famous Kākāpō Scent
The Kākāpō has a distinctive, beautiful smell — often described as:

✨ sweet and herbal
✨ mossy and forest-like
✨ slightly spicy or floral
✨ warm, earthy, and clean

Some call it “honey-musk,” others compare it to native bush after rain, with soft notes of resin, herbs, and warm wood.

The scent is produced by their uropygial (preen) gland, which helps waterproof their feathers and keeps them healthy in damp, forest environments.
Unlike many birds, the Kākāpō’s scent is strong and long-lasting — possibly because, being flightless, they never needed to stay scentless to avoid predators.

Their aroma is one of the reasons early Māori referred to them as having a pleasant, almost perfume-like odour, treasured and unmistakable.

🌿 Why They Smell This Way
The Kākāpō’s scent likely evolved because:

They don’t fly → scent doesn’t affect survival

They spend time in damp, mossy forest → scent helps maintain feather health

They rely on stillness and camouflage, not scent, for safety

Their natural oils develop a unique, earthy fragrance

Their smell is so distinctive that researchers can sometimes locate them by scent alone.

🌿 Conservation Status
The Kākāpō is critically endangered.
Their decline came from:

habitat loss

introduced predators (stoats, cats, rats)

low breeding rates

genetic bottleneck

Today, they are managed through the Kākāpō Recovery Programme — one of the most successful and advanced conservation projects in the world.

🌿 Symbolism of the Kākāpō
The Kākāpō embodies Earth energy — grounding, protection, wisdom, and ancient connection.
It teaches us to:
✨ slow down
✨ move with intention
✨ trust the quiet
✨ reconnect with the land beneath us

Continues in comments section...

30/11/2025

Kākāpō – The Forest Guardian | Earth Element Blend
Deep, ancient, and steady — the Kākāpō embodies the grounding strength of the Earth element.
This blend was crafted to support protection, stability, and reconnection — the feeling of being held, rooted, and safe in your own body.

Each botanical in this blend carries its own earthy wisdom:

✨ Botanicals & Their Purpose
🌿 Mānuka Leaf — cleansing and protective, brings clarity and strength
🪵 Frankincense Resin — sacred grounding, spiritual protection, deep calm
✨ Copal Resin — purification and connection to ancient earth energies
🍃 Kawakawa — heart-healing, supportive, nurturing
⭐ Star Anise — focus, clarity, and protection
🌲 Cedar or Camphor Laurel — grounding, stabilising, earthy warmth

Together, these botanicals create a warm, resinous, forest-like smoke — rich with grounding energy and ancient depth.
A scent that feels like stepping into untouched bush: cool air, dappled light, moss, and quiet.

Why the Kākāpō?
The Kākāpō is one of Aotearoa’s most iconic birds — nocturnal, gentle, and deeply connected to the forest floor.
They move with intention, silence, and wisdom, guided by instinct and the slow rhythm of the night.

Symbolically, the Kākāpō represents:
✨ grounding
✨ protection
✨ patience
✨ stability
✨ ancestral connection

It teaches us to slow down, listen inward, and take comfort in the wisdom of the earth beneath our feet.

✨ A blend for grounding, protection, and deep reconnection — created for moments when you need to come home to yourself.

30/11/2025

Synthetic vs Natural Incense — What’s the Difference?

Not all incense is created the same.
Some is made from real plants, resins, and woods…
and some is made from synthetic perfumes and chemicals designed to imitate scent.

Here’s a simple guide to what separates natural incense from synthetic incense, and why it matters.

🌿 Natural Incense

Made the traditional way — from the earth.

What it’s made from:

dried herbs & flowers

resins like frankincense, myrrh, copal, benzoin

woods like sandalwood, cedar, palo santo

spices like cinnamon, clove, star anise

natural binders (makko, gums, water)

How it burns:

cleaner, gentler smoke

scent is subtle, layered, and plant-like

no chemical after-smell

energetically grounding

Why people choose it:

closer to ancient tradition

supports ritual, meditation, and wellbeing

feels alive and intentional

connects you to the plants themselves

🔥 Synthetic Incense

Made for scent strength, not ritual.

What it’s made from:

fragrance oils (lab-made perfumes)

chemical accelerants

synthetic binders and glues

charcoal dust (in some commercial sticks)

dyes and fixatives

How it burns:

heavier smoke

very strong, perfume-like scent

can smell artificial or overwhelming

lingers longer in a space

Why it’s common:

cheaper to produce

easy to mass manufacture

strong scent throw

often used as “air freshener” incense

✨ Why It Matters

If you burn incense for:

ritual

grounding

cleansing

meditation

spiritual connection

…then the ingredients do make a difference.
Natural incense carries the true scent, spirit, and story of the plants.
Synthetic incense carries the scent of perfume.

There’s no right or wrong — but there is a difference in how each feels, burns, and supports your intention.

Continues in comments section....

24/11/2025

🌿 Why Natural Incense Matters
Incense has been used for thousands of years — long before synthetic fragrance oils existed.
Traditional incense was made from plants, resins, woods, and flowers, each chosen for its scent, energy, and purpose.
Natural incense connects us back to this lineage.

Today, many commercial incense sticks are made with synthetic fragrances, chemical accelerants, charcoal dust, and glues.
These burn quickly, smell artificial, and often produce smoke that feels heavy or overwhelming.

Natural incense is different.

🌱 It’s made from real plants
Botanicals like lavender, mugwort, juniper, rose, kawakawa, sandalwood.
Resins like frankincense, myrrh, copal, benzoin.
Woods that carry grounding, earthy energy.

These ingredients release the plant’s true scent — subtle, layered, alive.

🔥 It burns cleaner
Natural incense doesn’t rely on chemical binders or artificial perfumes.
The smoke feels lighter, gentler, and more connected to the earth, not manufactured in a lab.

🌬️ It supports ritual, mindfulness, and wellbeing
When incense is made from real plant material, it carries the energy of the plants themselves.
Burning natural incense becomes a way to:

ground yourself

cleanse your space

focus your mind

support meditation

honour tradition

connect to the unseen

It becomes a ritual, not just a scent.

👐 It honours the craft
Every natural blend is made by hand — mixing herbs, grinding resins, balancing everything with intention.
There is something sacred in the slowness of it.
Something ancient in the smoke.

This is why I chose to make incense naturally at Kākāpō Botanica — without synthetic perfumes, without shortcuts.
Just plants, purpose, and the ritual of smoke.

🌿 Grounded in Earth. Touched by Smoke. Guided by Spirit.
— Rebecca | Kākāpō Botanica

23/11/2025

🦜 Kea — Aotearoa’s Alpine Parrot

Meet the Kea, one of Aotearoa’s most iconic and intelligent native birds — and the world’s only alpine parrot.

Found high in the Southern Alps, the Kea lives where few other birds can: among snow, rock, and fierce mountain winds. Their curiosity, intelligence, and bold nature make them natural explorers, problem-solvers, and survivors.

But this remarkable bird is also in trouble.

🌨️ Conservation Status

The Kea is currently classified as Nationally Endangered, with fewer than 7,000 remaining in the wild.

Their decline is linked to:

🦊 Predation from stoats, possums, ferrets and cats

💀 Lead poisoning from old huts and building materials

🏔️ Habitat loss and reduced food sources

🚗 Human conflict due to their playful, destructive curiosity

Thanks to ongoing conservation work and community awareness, efforts are being made to protect, monitor, and support these extraordinary mountain birds.

🌬️ Symbolism of the Kea

The Kea embodies the Fire Element — bright, daring, transformative energy.
It represents:
✨ Curiosity
✨ Courage
✨ Problem-solving
✨ Playfulness
✨ Resilience

It reminds us to stay bold, seek new heights, and embrace challenges with humour and creativity.

🌿 Why the Kea Inspires Our Fire Blend

Just as the Kea thrives in extreme environments, this blend is crafted to spark energy, movement, and inner fire — a reminder that warmth and courage can rise even in harsh places.

✨ A bird of brilliance, mischief, and fierce spirit — a true taonga of Aotearoa.

21/11/2025

🔥 Kea – The Mountain Parrot | Fire Element Blend

Bright, curious, and full of fearless energy, the Kea embodies the spark and vitality of the Fire element.
This blend was crafted to awaken the senses, inspire courage, and bring warmth where things feel stagnant or heavy.

✨ Each botanical carries its own fiery strength:
🌲 Sandalwood or Cedarwood — grounds the heat of the blend, bringing clarity and purification.
🌶️ Cinnamon — stirs creativity, motivation, and inner fire.
🧄 Clove — adds depth and strength, encouraging focus and determination.
💫 Frankincense — opens the mind and spirit, creating space for insight and elevation.
🍊 Orange Peel — brightens the blend with uplifting citrus energy.
🪵 Myrrh (optional in your blend) — stabilises the fire, adding protection and ancient warmth.

When burned, these botanicals create a warm, invigorating smoke — a scent that rises boldly, clearing stagnation and igniting a sense of movement, purpose, and creative drive.

🦜 The Kea, Aotearoa’s alpine parrot, is known for its intelligence, mischief, and unmatched resilience.
Living among snow, rock, and fierce winds, it adapts, explores, and thrives where few other birds can.
It reminds us to stay curious, trust our instincts, and meet life’s challenges with courage and humour.

✨ A blend for rising up, finding your spark, and embracing the fire within.

KakapoBotanica

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