Working with Balam: Incense, True Answers, and Sharp Wit

Balam, and a domain of answers

Balam is a King in the Goetia material, with forty legions, and his domain, as given in the Grimoire Companion, is answering truly of past, present, and future, granting invisibility, and granting sharp wit. That list is dominated, in practice, by the first item. A spirit who answers truly, about all three times, is a spirit for questions that matter, and for practitioners who are willing to hear an answer they did not expect.

Answering truly is a stricter promise than answering usefully, or answering comfortingly. A true answer about the past may correct a story you have told yourself for years. A true answer about the present may show you a situation as it actually is, rather than as you have framed it. A true answer about the future may show a direction you do not want to take, or a cost you had not counted. Working with Balam, then, begins with a willingness to be corrected, and that willingness is itself part of the discipline.

Sharp wit belongs beside true answers, because wit, in the older sense, is not joking. It is quickness of mind: the ability to see a situation clearly, to find the apt word, and to respond in the moment rather than hours later, when the moment has passed. A practitioner who can ask a good question, hear a true answer, and respond with wit is a practitioner who can act, not only contemplate.

Starting with the work, not with the tool

Spirit work is not shopping, and incense does not do the work for you. Before you light anything for Balam work, be clear about what you are asking, and what you will do with the answer once you have it. A vague purpose produces a vague working, and a vague working is hard to read afterwards. If you cannot state the question in one clear sentence, write it down, leave it overnight, and come back to see if it still reads true. That pause is part of the work, not a delay in it.

Ask yourself, concretely: is your question about the past, the present, or the future? What, exactly, do you want to know, and what will change if the answer is one thing rather than another? If the answer would change nothing, because you have already decided, then the question is not a question. It is a request for confirmation, and it should be named as such, honestly, before any working begins.

If you are working in the Goetia system, work from the instructions and teaching you already follow in that system. A general article like this one is not a substitute for proper teaching, and it should not be used to invent a purpose for a spirit you have not studied.

Preparing the room, and preparing the question

Preparation is most of the work. Clear the space you will use, physically, and set it aside for this purpose. Put away the things that pull your attention elsewhere. If you have a regular working space, use it. If you do not, choose one place and use it consistently for this working, so the place itself starts to carry the association.

Then prepare yourself. Bathe, or at least wash your hands and face, and change into clothes you do not wear for ordinary errands. This is not about looking a certain way for anyone else. It is about marking, for yourself, that this time is set apart. Eat simply beforehand if you can, and avoid starting a working when you are exhausted, drunk, or already agitated. A clear head is a working tool, just as much as incense is, and for divination work it is the chief tool of all.

Then prepare the question itself. Write it out, in full, in your own words, and read it back aloud. Does it ask one thing, or three things tangled together? Does it contain its own answer, in the way it is phrased? Does it ask about a matter you actually need to know, or about a matter you are merely curious about? Untangle it until it asks one clear thing. That untangling is often the most useful part of the whole working, and it can be done before any incense is lit.

Why incense, and why this incense

Incense is not background scent for this work. It is part of the working itself. 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. For divination, that staying quality matters, because the work itself takes time: time to ask, time to listen, time to sit quietly and notice what you have actually heard, rather than what you expected to hear.

When you light incense for spirit work and spellwork with Balam, you are changing the room you are working in, and you are changing your own attention along with it. 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 Balam 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 I use myself for magical work. They work well enough that I use them successfully for spirit work, work for clients, as well as my own spellwork.

Oil to go with the incense

Oil and incense are often used together in Goetia work, and Balam work is no exception. 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 a single divination, use both. Anoint first, with a clear question in mind, then light the incense and let the room settle before you ask the question aloud. Do not rush from lighting to asking. Give the room a moment to change, and give yourself a moment to notice that change. If you are only anointing a seal or a tool for later use, you can still use the incense to fumigate that item at the time you prepare it, as a way of starting the working and preparing the tools that will be used in it.

Anointing, in this context, is done on the hands, the forehead, or on a tool, seal, or candle, deliberately, naming the purpose in your own words. The act is simple, and that simplicity is the point. You are touching the thing, naming the question, and doing it deliberately, rather than hiding the work behind complicated gestures.

Past, present, and future: three different kinds of answer

A question about the past is a question about what happened, and why a present situation is as it is. Such questions are useful when a pattern keeps repeating and you do not know why. They are less useful when they are really a search for blame, or for a story that lets you avoid responsibility for the present. Ask about the past to understand, not to relitigate, and be prepared for an answer that implicates you as well as others.

A question about the present is a question about what is actually happening now, underneath the surface of events. Such questions are useful when you sense that a situation is not what it seems, or when you are being told two different stories and need to discern which, if either, is true. They require honesty about your own biases, because a practitioner who already believes one story will hear confirmation of it in almost any answer, unless he is disciplined about listening.

A question about the future is a question about direction, cost, and consequence. Such questions are most useful when they are asked before a decision, not after it, and when the practitioner is genuinely willing to change course in light of the answer. A future question asked after a decision has already been made, in the hope of being told the decision was right, is not divination. It is reassurance-seeking, and it should be named as such.

Invisibility, and wit, in ordinary terms

Invisibility, as listed for Balam, is often taken literally, and literally it is not something this article promises or explains as a technique. In ordinary working terms, invisibility has a humbler and more useful meaning: the ability to pass unnoticed when notice would be unhelpful, to keep a matter private until it is ready to be spoken of, and to avoid drawing attention to a working that is not yet complete.

There is a discipline in that: in not speaking of a working before its time, in not displaying tools or plans to people who have no part in them, and in doing necessary work quietly, without announcement. A practitioner who can be quiet about his work is often more effective than one who must be seen doing it. That quietness is a form of invisibility worth cultivating, whatever else the traditional term may mean in the grimoire material itself.

Sharp wit, likewise, is cultivated in ordinary life: by reading, by conversation with people who will push back, by practising clear speech, and by learning to pause before answering, so that the answer, when it comes, is apt rather than merely fast. Wit without truth is only cleverness. Wit with truth is the ability to say the right thing, at the right time, in words that can actually be heard.

Keeping a record, and knowing when to stop

Keep a short record for each working: date, question in one sentence, oil and incense used, what you did, and what answer you received, in plain language, and what happened afterwards, over days and weeks, not just on the night itself. That record is what lets you tell, months later, whether your questions are improving, whether your hearing is improving, and whether the answers you received held true.

Do not repeat the same question endlessly in the hope that repetition alone will force a different answer. Ask properly, once, observe, and then decide, calmly, whether a second asking, a different approach, or no further asking is the right next step. Repetition without reflection is not persistence. It is noise, and in divination work it is also a way of avoiding the answer you already received.

And as with all work of this kind, the incense is made for the work, blessed before sending, and sent to you to use in your own practice. What follows from that practice, in terms of magical result, is yours to observe, not mine to guarantee. That is about the work itself, not about delivery dates for physical items.

Balam incense, and Balam oil to go with it

If you are doing spirit work and spellwork with Balam, the incense is for the room, and for the asking that happens in it.

I hand make Balam incense myself, each batch when you order it, unless a batch has just recently been made, and I use incenses of this quality myself for magical work, for spirit work, for work for clients, and for my own spellwork. 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, and not mass produced.

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

I also make the oil to go with it, for the same work: Balam Goetia grimoire demon evocation oil, $44 CAD. View the product

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