Dragon's Blood

We offer dragon's blood resin from two separate plants, Daemonorops draco (Indonesian Dragon's Blood) and Dracaena cinnabari (Medieval Dragon's Blood). The resins are added to spells, incense, oils and inks as blood substitutes in order to increase their power and potency. They have found particular use in protection, exorcism, and love magic.

Throughout history, dragon's blood has referred to any number of red pigments, including minerals like cinnabar. The common names in parentheses above are our own -- they're in no way standard and we only include them to make it a bit easier to talk about these two resins.

Indonesian Dragon's Blood (left, in the image) is the resin most of us are familiar with, being the only dragon's blood widely available in commerce for at least the past fifteen years, and probably more like the last forty. It is the resin from the fruit of a palm which is warmed and rolled into balls like the one shown at right, sometimes known as 'red rock opium'. The resin is a glassy dark red which is easily fractured, and is used as a colorant and an incense, having a sharp, piney, slightly acrid scent. We recommend this resin for use in incense and oils.

Medieval Dragon's Blood (right in the image) is the resin that was in wide commerce from the classical to medieval period. Essentially every Western manuscript referring to dragon's blood as a plant material means this resin, not the Daemonorops resin. This resin is the dried sap of a tropical tree and is similar in appearance to black myrrh, except it is a dull dark red instead of black-brown. When burned, its scent is woody and more subtle than the Indonesian Dragon's Blood. We recommend this resin for use in all cases when the recipes are of European origin.

Also, as anyone who has tried to make dragon's blood ink knows, the recipes, even from quite recent books, simply do not work: the Indonesian Dragon's Blood isn't alcohol soluble. The recipes, of course, being from the Medieval period, had Dracaena resin in mind, which we are happy to say is alcohol soluble and useable for making true dragon's blood ink. If you are uncertain what kind of dragon's blood powder you have, this also makes for a simple diagnostic test.