Working with Bifrons: astrology, geometry, and the virtues of herbs and woods

A seal is not a picture of a seal

A seal for Bifrons should be a seal, not a picture of one. That distinction sounds simple, and it is, but it changes how you work with the thing in your hands. A picture can be looked at. A seal ring can be worn while you study, held while you work through a chart, anointed before a working, fumigated with incense, and placed under a candle while you sit with a question. It has weight, it has a surface you can touch, and it stays with you after the working is over, in a way a printed image does not.

That is why the form matters in traditional Goetia work. The seal in this article is for traditional Goetia work with Bifrons, as a hand cast seal ring. It is made to be worn and worked with, not left in a drawer as decoration, and not filed away as a reference image. If you are new to this kind of work, ask yourself, before you order anything, whether you actually want a working tool, or whether you want a picture to look at. Both have their place, but they are not the same thing.

Bifrons, astrology, and the study that comes first

In the Grimoire Companion material, Bifrons is an Earl whose work is tied to knowledge, divination, nature, and necromancy: he teaches astrology, geometry, and the virtues of herbs and woods, and moves the resting dead. This article stays with the study side of that field, because that is where a seal ring is most honestly used by a practitioner who is still learning: astrology, geometry, and the plant and wood knowledge that belongs to both.

Astrology, in this context, is not a quick reading or a daily forecast. It is a study: signs, houses, aspects, and the slow work of learning how a chart is put together and how it is read without forcing it to say what you already want it to say. Geometry, likewise, is not decoration. It is proportion, measure, and the shapes that underlie seals, diagrams, and temple work, learned by drawing and by doing, not by looking at finished pictures. The virtues of herbs and woods are learned in the same way: by handling the material, by learning where it grows, when it is gathered, and how it is prepared, and by keeping notes that can be checked against experience.

Before you work with Bifrons, be specific about which study you mean, in one sentence. Are you working on a chart, on a diagram, or on a particular herb or wood? What is the question that study is meant to answer? If you cannot state the study in one sentence, you are not yet preparing for Bifrons work. You are preparing for a general interest in old books, and that interest, while real, is not a working. A seal ring prepares you for study. It does not do the study for you.

How a lost-wax cast seal ring is made

The seals offered here are lost wax cast seals of the Daemon Demons of the various grimoires. They are pure metal which is actually cast, starting with a wax version.

In lost-wax casting, the seal is first worked in wax, then cast in metal from that wax form. The wax is lost in the process, which is where the name comes from, and the metal that remains is a solid, cast object, not a printed shell. You can feel that difference when you hold it: a cast seal has weight, it has a surface that shows the hand work, and it does not have the layered texture of a printed object.

That process also explains why a cast seal is made to order, and why it takes time. A seal that is already listed takes about two to three weeks while seals that are not listed, but are under the other option, take eight weeks, because she still has not carved their waxes yet. The metals mentioned in the source for this ring include copper, bronze, steel, gold, silver, and brass, so the choice of metal is part of the order, not something to guess at afterwards.

Preparing to work with a seal ring

Preparation is most of the work, and with a ring that preparation starts before the ring arrives. Be clear about why you are working with Bifrons, what study you are undertaking, and what you are prepared to do yourself, in ordinary study, alongside any working. If your practice calls for cleansing or consecration of a new tool, follow the instructions you already follow in your system. A general article like this one is not a substitute for proper teaching in the system.

When the ring arrives, do not start by wearing it everywhere at once. Take time to look at it, to hold it, and to set it aside in a clean place that is used for your working tools. Prepare the room and yourself in the same way you would for any Goetia working: clear the space, set it aside for this purpose, bathe or wash, change into clothes you do not wear for ordinary errands, and know what you are going to say, in your own words, before you begin. Then set out the study materials themselves: the chart, the diagram, the herb or wood sample, and the notebook, so the working and the study are in the same room, on the same table, rather than in separate worlds.

Keep the study honest. A chart that is read only to confirm a decision already made is not divination. A diagram copied without understanding its proportions is not geometry. An herb used without knowing its properties is not plant knowledge. Bifrons work, as presented here, is about cunning in astrology in the old sense: skill, learned slowly, and declared plainly. That skill shows up in the notebook, in the drawing, and in the handling of material, long before it shows up in any working.

Holding, anointing, fumigating, and wearing while you study

A seal ring is made to be worn, and wearing it while you study is part of the work, not an afterthought. Wear it when you are working, and put it away properly when you are not, rather than leaving it in a pocket with keys and loose change, or on a bathroom shelf. A tool that is treated carelessly tends to be worked with carelessly, and that shows in the record you keep afterwards.

Working with a seal, in the general approach used on this site, includes holding it, putting it under a candle, putting oil on it, carrying it with you, and wearing it as a ring, as well as showing it to the desired person, where that fits your practice and the situation. For study work, the most useful of these are often the quiet ones: holding the ring while you think through a chart, putting it under a candle while you work on a diagram, and carrying it with you when you go to gather or examine plant material. Each is a way of keeping the working in the same frame as the study, rather than letting the study become ordinary homework and the working become a separate ritual that has nothing to do with it.

Anointing a seal is a way of marking it for a purpose, often done with a matching oil, applied deliberately, naming the purpose in your own words. Fumigating a seal is the companion practice: passing it through incense smoke, to start a working, and for fumigating the tools and talismans that will be used in it. Bifrons also has a matching incense, at $44 CAD, for spirit work and spellwork with Bifrons, made in small batches when you order, and a matching bath at the same price. This article is about the ring, so it does not turn into a second article about incense, but it is worth knowing that those companions exist, because a ring that is never anointed or fumigated, and is only worn as jewellery, is not being worked with in the same way as a ring that is prepared for a working and then worn while you study.

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. First, prepare the room and yourself, as above, and set out the study materials. Second, set out the ring, and any oil, incense, or candle you will use. Third, anoint or fumigate the ring, if your practice calls for it, deliberately, naming the purpose in your own words. Fourth, speak your petition or state your study question, clearly and once, rather than repeating it until it loses its shape. Fifth, work: read the chart, draw the diagram, handle the material, and write notes as you go, rather than filling the time with more words. Sixth, sit quietly for a time and review what you have written, rather than rushing to a conclusion. Seventh, close the working properly, in whatever way your practice requires, and put the ring and the study materials away in their proper places.

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. That record is what lets you tell, weeks later, whether your reading, your drawing, or your plant knowledge actually improved, and whether that improvement had anything to do with the work. Note the ring itself in that record: when you wore it, when you put it away, whether you anointed or fumigated it, and what you noticed on days when you wore it while studying compared with days when you did not.

Care for a cast ring, and knowing when to stop

Care for a cast metal ring is practical, not mystical. Pure cast metal will show wear over time, especially if it is worn every day, against skin, against clothing, and against other objects. That wear is normal for a working tool, and it is not a sign that the ring has stopped working. It is a sign that it has been worn.

Keep the ring in a clean, dry place when you are not wearing it, away from other metal objects that could scratch it. Clean it gently, with a soft cloth, and do not use harsh chemicals or abrasive cleaners on it, unless you know, for the specific metal involved, that such a cleaner is safe. If the ring shows damage, stop wearing it until it can be repaired properly.

Keep a short record for each working, and 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. Repetition without reflection is not persistence. It is noise. Study, like ritual, needs that pause, or it becomes copying without understanding.

Bifrons cast seal ring

A seal for Bifrons should be a seal, not a picture of one.

I make these as lost wax cast seals, cast from a wax version in pure metal, one at a time, and I bless each one myself before it is sent out. This one is Bifrons, as a ring, made for traditional Goetia work with Bifrons, to be worn and worked with while you study, not left in a drawer as decoration. I make no promise about what it will do for you, only that it is cast by hand, for this work.

If you want a Bifrons seal made in this way, this is the one I offer: Bifrons Goetia cast seal ring, $216 CAD. View the product

Companion for the same work, made in small batches when you order: Bifrons Goetia incense, $44 CAD. View the product

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