Astaroth: true answers, secrets, the liberal sciences, and incense that is part of the working

Astaroth, a great and strong Duke

Astaroth is a great and strong Duke, coming forth in the shape of a foul angel sitting upon an infernal dragon and carrying on his right hand a viper. A foul angel is an angel fallen, not a monster invented for effect. An infernal dragon is a mount that belongs to the lower world, not to the ordinary road. A viper in the right hand is a sign of danger held deliberately, not danger running loose. The picture, taken together, says: this is a powerful spirit, from a high place now low, who carries danger in his hand and knows it. A practitioner who works with Astaroth should come to that picture with respect, not with curiosity alone, and not with a wish to be impressed.

The same quotation gives the offices, and they are demanding ones. He answers truly to matters present, past, and to come, and also of all secrets. He talks willingly of the creator of spirits and of their fall, and how they sinned and fell, and he says he fell not of his own accord. He makes a man wonderfully learned in liberal sciences. He rules forty legions. Those are not small offices. True answers about past, present, and future, and about secrets, are the kind of answers that change how a practitioner acts. Learning in the liberal sciences is the kind of learning that takes years. Talk about the fall of spirits is theology, not gossip, and it should be approached as theology: carefully, with reading done beforehand, and with a teacher or a system to work in, not as a late-night conversation topic.

True answers, and what a true answer costs

True answers are the heart of this article, because they are the office most practitioners will actually use, and the office most easily misunderstood. A true answer is not the same as a pleasing answer. It is not the same as the answer you wanted, or the answer that confirms what you already believed. A true answer, in the old sense, is an answer that holds up afterwards, when you check it against what actually happened, against documents, against witnesses, and against your own notes. Before you light incense for Astaroth, write the question down, in one sentence, in plain language, and write down what would count as an answer. What matter, present, past, or to come, are you asking about? What secret, if that is your matter, and why do you need to know it, rather than merely wanting to know it?

Secrets, in particular, need a clear reason. A secret is not yours simply because you are curious about it. If the secret belongs to another person, or to a matter that is not your business, then asking about it is a different act from asking about a matter that concerns your own life, your own work, or your own safety. This article does not set a rule for you. It asks you to set one for yourself, before the working, in writing, and to hold to it during the working. A practitioner who asks for true answers without a rule about which answers to seek will get answers they cannot use, or answers they wish they had not sought. A practitioner who asks with a clear question, a clear reason, and a clear limit is in a position to recognise a true answer when it comes, and to act on it honestly.

The liberal sciences, and learning that takes time

He makes a man wonderfully learned in liberal sciences. The liberal sciences, in the old sense, are the disciplined studies: grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy, the arts of speaking well, reasoning well, and understanding order. Wonderfully learned does not mean instantly learned. It means learned to a degree that others notice, because the learning is real, ordered, and usable. If your Astaroth work is about learning, then the incense is not a substitute for study. It is part of a working that accompanies study, and the study itself still has to be done, day after day, with books, notes, and practice.

That is why this article keeps coming back to a single, written question. If the question is about a science, write the science, the point in it that has you stuck, and the text you are working from. If the question is about a secret, write the matter, the reason you need to know, and the limit you have set. If the question is about past, present, or future, write which one, and what you will do differently depending on the answer. A question written down before the incense is lit is a question that can be checked afterwards. A question that only exists as a feeling, in the middle of smoke, is a feeling, not a question, and feelings, however strong, are not answers.

The warning in the old book, and the ring

Let every exorcist take heed that he admit him not too near him because of his stinking breath, the quotation says, and therefore let the conjuror hold near to his face a magical ring, and that shall defend him. That warning is easy to laugh at, and it should not be laughed at, because it is a practical warning in old language. Do not admit a powerful spirit too near you without protection, and use the protection your system gives you, in this case a magical ring held near the face. In modern practice, that translates to a simpler rule: work within a system you have been taught, use the protections that system prescribes, and do not improvise closeness with a spirit you have not studied. If you do not have a system, a teacher, or a ring of protection in the sense the old books mean it, then this is not the working to improvise.

The warning also belongs with the incense itself, in a practical sense. Incense smoke, in a closed room, is not harmless, and a working that leaves you coughing, dizzy, or unable to breathe is not a working done well. Ventilate the room enough to breathe comfortably, while keeping enough scent present through the working. Use a safe burner, on a heat-proof surface, away from curtains and papers, and stay with it for the whole working. Do not leave a burner unattended. Those are ordinary safety points, but they are also ritual points: a working that ends in a fire risk, or in a room full of smoke you cannot breathe in, has not been prepared properly, whatever spirit it was for.

Incense is not background scent

Incense is not background scent for this work. It is part of the working itself. That is the point this article keeps returning to, because it corrects a habit many practitioners bring into the room without noticing it. We are used to scent in ordinary life being pleasant, or atmospheric, or something that makes a room feel nicer. In ritual work, incense does a different job. It marks the time as set apart, it fills the space you are working in, and it stays with you through the working, in a way a spoken word does not. When you light incense for spirit work and spellwork with Astaroth, you are not adding decoration to a working that would be the same without it. You are changing the room you are working in, and you are changing your own attention along with it.

So treat the lighting as a step in the work, not as preparation for the work. Do it deliberately, name the purpose in your own words if that is part of your practice, and then give the room a moment to settle before you go on to anything else. The smoke, the scent, and the act of lighting itself all tell you, in a physical way, that you have begun. A working that has no clear beginning often has no clear end either, and it drifts. A working with Astaroth, whose offices are true answers and secrets, should not drift. It should begin clearly, ask clearly, listen clearly, and close clearly, and the incense, lit deliberately, is what marks that beginning.

Why this incense, and how it is made

The Astaroth incense offered here is hand made in the same way as the other incenses on this site. Each batch is hand made when you order it, unless a batch has just recently been made. The incenses made here are of a quality that Athena uses herself for magical work. They work well enough that she uses them successfully for spirit work, work for clients, as well as her own spellwork. There are not any fillers such as sawdust or talcum powder, or even sandalwood when it is not called for in these incenses. Athena does not cheap out and just add a bunch of essential oils to a base to make it smell pretty. She will only order high quality resins, spices, and herbs, and will also sometimes wildcraft what is needed. She does not use substitutions, because each ingredient is in an incense recipe for a reason, so she does not leave any out, or make substitutions.

That made-to-order point, and that no-substitution point, matter here in a particular way. An incense for true answers should itself be true to its recipe. An incense made with fillers, with a pretty scent added to a base, or with an ingredient left out because it was inconvenient, is not the same preparation, whatever it smells like. An incense made from resins, spices, and herbs, in the recipe, without substitutions, is a preparation that can be trusted in the same way a clear question can be trusted: because nothing has been fudged in it. This article makes no promise about what the incense will do for you, only that it is made by hand, for this work, in that way, and not mass produced.

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, set it aside, wash, change into clothes set apart for the work, and write the question down in one sentence, with the reason and the limit. Second, set out the incense, the burner, and any seal, ring, or tool your practice calls for, before you light anything. Third, light the incense deliberately, and let the space settle. Fourth, speak your question, clearly and once, rather than repeating it until it loses its shape. Fifth, sit quietly for a time and listen, rather than filling every moment with more words. Sixth, 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 the answer, if one came, in the words in which it came, not in the words you wish it had come in. Note whether it held up afterwards, against facts, documents, or events. That record is what lets you tell, weeks later, whether anything changed, and whether that change had anything to do with the work. If nothing changes, that is also information. It may mean the question was unclear, the timing was wrong, the work was not appropriate, or simply that the situation needs a different approach. 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.

Astaroth Goetia incense

If you are doing spirit work and spellwork with Astaroth, for true answers, for secrets, or for learning in the liberal sciences, incense that is part of the working itself is the form this article has been about.

I hand make Astaroth incense myself, in small batches, when you order, from high quality resins, spices, and herbs, with no fillers and no substitutions, 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.

If you want the incense for that work, this is the one I offer: Astaroth Goetia incense, $44 CAD. View the product

#LiberalSciences #TrueAnswers #AstarothGoetiaIncense #Incense #WonderfullyLearned #ResinsSpices #Protection #Spirits #Goetia #Ritual #Angel #Seal