Amy: an oil for astrology, the liberal sciences, familiars, and hidden treasure
Amy, and why these four domains belong together
Amy is presented in the Grimoire Companion material as a President, with 36 legions, a spirit who teaches astrology and the liberal sciences, grants familiars, and discovers hidden treasures. Those four things belong together, because they are all arts of learning what is not on the surface. Astrology is the art of reading a pattern larger than the day in front of you. The liberal sciences, in the old sense, are the arts of thinking, speaking, counting, and measuring well. A familiar, in this context, is a spirit helper who stays with the practitioner, and who helps with the work over time, rather than only on the night of a single working. Hidden treasure is a resource that is already there, but that has not been seen.
Learning, in Amy work, is therefore not only book learning. It is learning that changes how you see a situation: a chart read properly, a science learned thoroughly, a helper who knows the work, a treasure found because you finally looked in the right place. Before you begin, ask which of those you are actually working on. A person who needs astrology teaching is not in the same position as a person who needs a familiar, and a person who needs a familiar is not in the same position as a person who is looking for a hidden treasure. The answer changes the petition, and it changes what you should be watching for afterwards.
The liberal sciences deserve a plain word, because the phrase is old, and it is easy to read it as vague. In the old sense, the liberal sciences are the arts of a free person: grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy, learned well enough to think and speak for yourself, rather than repeating what others have said. If you are studying one of those arts, and you find yourself repeating phrases without understanding them, that is the kind of gap Amy work is traditionally connected with. A working for Amy, in that case, is not a substitute for study. It is a working done alongside study, by a person who is already studying, and who wants to study well.
An oil for study and for a working that stays with you
An oil is a fitting form for Amy work, because anointing is a marking act, and study needs marking. You mark the book you are studying, the seal you are working with, the candle that holds a petition steady through a long working, or your own hands, if the work is about writing or speaking. Each marking says, in a physical way, this thing, for this purpose, for this time. That is a small act, but it is a definite one, and definite acts are what keep a long study from drifting into vague reading.
A familiar, as named for Amy, also needs a plain word. A familiar is not a pet, and it is not a decoration. It is a helper spirit, granted for work, who stays with the practitioner over time. If you are asking for a familiar, ask also what work the familiar is for, and what you will do to keep that work going, after the night of the working. A familiar granted for no work, and then given nothing to do, is a working without a purpose, and workings without a purpose are hard to read afterwards, because there is nothing to read against. Be specific about the work, and the familiar, if granted, will have work to do.
Hidden treasure, in Amy work, follows from learning, in the same way it does in other treasure work: a treasure is found because you have learned to look in the right place, with the right measure, and with the right helper. Before you begin, name what treasure you are actually looking for, and where you have already looked. A working that cannot name what it is looking for is hard to read afterwards, because you will not know, when something turns up, whether it is the treasure, or only something that happened to turn up.
How this oil is made here
I hand make all of my own perfumes, colognes and oils from only pure essential oils, roots and herbs. Sometimes there is the odd gemstone thrown in as well. I do not use any extraneous ingredients or fillers, and I do not use any synthetics. It is a blend made for a specific working, from materials chosen for that working, and the difference between a pure blend and a synthetic one is a difference you can smell, and a difference in how the oil behaves on skin, on a seal, and on a candle.
All colognes, perfumes and oils here are in a 1/2 oz bottle, about twice as large as those little health food store essential oil bottles, unless otherwise stated. That size matters in practice. A 1/2 oz bottle is enough for many workings, if you use it deliberately, a drop or two at a time, rather than pouring it freely. It is not a bulk supply, and it is not meant to be used as a daily perfume in large amounts. Use it for the work it was made for, and it will last. Use it carelessly, and it will run out before the work is done, which is a practical lesson as much as a ritual one.
Each batch of oil is hand made when you order, in the same way as the other oils on this site. That made-to-order point means the oil has not been sitting, opened and closed, through other people's orders. It is made for your order, and then blessed by Athena herself before it is sent out. No promise about what it will do for you is made here, only that it is made by hand, for this work, and not mass produced. That wording is about the magical result, not about delivery dates.
Anointing, and what anointing does in a working
Anointing is a way of marking something for a purpose. In practice, that is often done by applying oil deliberately, naming the purpose in your own words, to the thing you are marking: your own hands, if the work is about speaking or acting; a seal, if the work is about calling; a candle, if the work is about holding a petition steady through the working; a petition paper, if the work is about a written request. Anointing is not decoration. It is a physical act that says, this thing, for this purpose, for this time.
That deliberateness is the point. If you anoint everything in sight, quickly, without naming a purpose, you have not marked anything. You have only made things oily. If you anoint one thing, deliberately, with a clear purpose in mind, you have changed how you attend to that thing, and how you attend to the working as a whole. Before you open the bottle, decide what you are anointing, and why, and say that purpose, in your own words, as you do it. That is the whole of the technique, and it is enough.
Oil and incense are often used together in Goetia work, and they do different jobs in the room. The oil marks and anoints. The incense fills the space and sets the atmosphere for the working itself. If you are doing a full working, rather than simply anointing on its own, use both: anoint first, with a clear purpose in mind, then light the incense and let the room settle before you speak your petition. Do not rush from lighting to speaking. Give the room a moment to change, and give yourself a moment to notice that change.
A simple working order, to adapt to your own practice
The following is a general order, not a fixed script. Adapt it to the system you already work in, and to the instructions you already follow for Goetia work. First, prepare the room and yourself: clear the space, bathe or wash, change into clothes you do not wear for ordinary errands, and know what you are going to say before you begin. Second, set out the oil, the incense, and any seal or candle you will use. Third, anoint, deliberately, naming the purpose in your own words. Fourth, light the incense, if you are using it, and let the space settle. Fifth, speak your petition, clearly and once, rather than repeating it until it loses its shape. Sixth, sit quietly for a time and listen. Seventh, close the working properly, in whatever way your practice requires, and put the tools away in their proper place.
Afterwards, write down what you did, when you did it, and what you noticed. Not what you hoped would happen, but what actually happened, in plain language. Note what you anointed, and why, and what you noticed on days when you used the oil compared with days when you did not. That record is what lets you tell, weeks later, whether anything changed, and whether that change had anything to do with the work. Do not repeat the same working endlessly in the hope that repetition alone will force a result. Do the work properly, once, observe, and then decide, calmly, whether a second working, a different approach, or no further working is the right next step. No guaranteed magical result is promised anywhere in this article. That wording is about the work itself, not about delivery dates for physical items.
Care and safety for an oil
Care for an oil is practical. Keep the bottle closed when you are not using it, upright, in a cool place away from direct sunlight and heat, and away from the edge of a table where it can be knocked over. Essential oils are concentrated, and a little goes a long way. Test on a small area of skin first if you have not used a particular blend before, and do not apply oil to broken skin, or near the eyes, or in a way your own practice or your own body tells you is unwise. If you have sensitivities to particular oils or herbs, check the blend, or choose a different form of working, such as fumigation with incense, rather than anointing with oil.
Keep the oil for the work it was made for, and do not lend it out as a general scent. That is not a rule about secrecy for its own sake. It is about keeping the association clean: an oil that has been used for many purposes, by many people, for many matters, carries no single association, and it will not help you focus on the matter in front of you. One oil, one spirit, one kind of work, kept for that work, is a clearer tool than a bottle that has become a general-purpose scent.
Amy Goetia grimoire demon evocation oil
An oil marks a thing for a purpose, and study needs marking. This oil is for anointing and spirit work with Amy, President, 36 legions, teacher of astrology and the liberal sciences, granter of familiars, and discoverer of hidden treasures, as the Grimoire Companion material presents her.
I hand make this oil myself, from only pure essential oils, roots and herbs, sometimes with the odd gemstone thrown in, with no synthetics and no fillers, in a 1/2 oz bottle, each batch hand made when you order, and I bless it myself before it is sent out. I make no promise about what it will do for you, only that it is made by hand, for this work. That wording is about the magical result, not about delivery dates.
If you want the oil for that work, this is the one I offer: Amy Goetia grimoire demon evocation oil, $44 CAD. View the product
The oil to go with it, in the other form, is Amy Goetia incense, for the same work, $44 CAD.
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