Working with Dantalion: thoughts, arts, sciences, and love
Dantalion, and why this article is about knowing minds
Dantalion is a Duke in the Goetia, and the Grimoire Companion entry for him is direct: he knows the thoughts of all and can change them at will, he teaches arts and sciences, and he stirs love. That is the point of working with Dantalion, and it is what most people will be working with him on. This article is not about spirit work in general. It is about Dantalion work in particular, and about thoughts, learning, and love as serious, specific matters, not as vague wishes.
Knowing thoughts is the part of that entry that most needs careful handling, because it is the part most easily misunderstood. Knowing what another person thinks is not the same as knowing what you wish they thought, and it is not the same as having a reason to act on what you think you know. A working concerned with thoughts should start with a question, stated plainly: whose thoughts, about what matter, and for what purpose are you asking to know them? If that question cannot be answered plainly, the working built on it will be vague, and a vague working is hard to read afterwards, however strong the seal is.
That is why this article keeps coming back to preparation and to a clear, single-sentence purpose. With Dantalion, be specific about which part of the entry you mean: thoughts known, thoughts changed, an art or a science learned, or love stirred. Those are different petitions, and they should not be blurred together. A petition that asks for all of them at once, in general terms, cannot be judged afterwards, and a clear petition is easier to work with.
Thoughts, and the ordinary work that belongs with them
Thoughts, in ordinary life, are known through speech, through conduct, and through the record of what a person has actually said and done. A working concerned with thoughts should not be used as a substitute for listening, for asking plainly, or for paying attention to what is already in front of you. If you want to know what someone thinks about a matter, the first step, in ordinary life, is often to ask them, directly, and to listen to the answer, without already deciding what it must be.
That ordinary point matters for Dantalion work in a particular way, because the entry says he can change thoughts at will, as well as know them. Changing a thought is a serious matter, and it should be approached with the same clarity as knowing one. Whose thought, about what, changed toward what, and for what purpose? Reflection about being specific about what you want is worth the time here, for a practical reason: a petition that names a real person, a real matter, and a real change you are asking for can be judged afterwards by what actually happened in that situation. A petition that names no one, and asks for thoughts in general, cannot be judged at all.
If the matter concerns a real person, ask yourself, honestly, what you are doing, in ordinary life, toward that person and that situation. Are you speaking to them, listening to them, treating them with the respect the situation calls for? A working that is not matched by ordinary conduct is a working built on sand. Ritual work is not a substitute for conversation, for honesty, or for the changes of behaviour that a real situation requires.
Arts and sciences, as a different kind of Dantalion work
Teaching arts and sciences is the other, quieter part of the Dantalion entry, and it deserves its own attention, because it is a different kind of petition from thoughts or love. An art, or a science, is learned over time, through study, through practice, and through attention to the thing itself. A working for learning should be matched by study, in the ordinary world, or it will have nothing to work with.
Before you work for an art or a science, be able to name it: which art, which science, and what stage of learning you are actually at. Are you beginning, and do you need a clear starting point? Are you already practising, and do you need to understand a particular difficulty? Are you trying to bring a scattered practice into a coherent form? Those are different petitions, and the ordinary work that belongs with each of them is different too: a book to read, a teacher to ask, a practice to do daily, a difficulty to work through slowly, rather than all at once.
A seal pendant worn through study, and through practice, suits this kind of work well. Learning happens, or fails to happen, in ordinary life: in reading, in making, in trying, in failing, and in trying again, day after day. A pendant worn through that ordinary life keeps the working present in the very setting where learning is actually done, rather than confining it to a room you visit once and leave.
Love, stirred, and the specificity it requires
Love, as the third part of the entry, should be treated with the same specificity as thoughts and learning. Love can mean attraction, affection, commitment, reconciliation, or holding a relationship steady, and those are different petitions. Before you work for love with Dantalion, be clear which one you mean, and be clear about who is involved, and what you are actually asking to change.
That specificity is also a protection against self-deception. A vague love wish, with no person named, and no change named, can be read afterwards as having succeeded no matter what happens, or as having failed no matter what happens, because there was never a standard against which to judge it. A clear petition, naming a person, a situation, and a change, can be judged, honestly, by what actually happened in that situation, in plain terms, over days and weeks, not just on the night of the working.
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.
A pendant, worn, and that difference matters
A seal pendant is worn differently from a seal kept only in a ritual room, and that difference changes the work. A pendant hangs close to the body, and can be tucked away, taken off, or held in the hand. It is present through the ordinary day, as well as through the working, and that suits Dantalion work in a particular way. Thoughts, learning, and love are not matters that happen only in a ritual room, on a single night. They happen, or fail to happen, in ordinary life: in conversations, in study, in the way you present yourself to another person, day after day.
The pendant offered here is 2 inches across, as its title states. That is a substantial size for a pendant, large enough for the seal to be seen clearly when it is held or set out, and to be felt as a presence when it is worn. It is a working size, and it should be worn, or carried, with that in mind, not treated as a small charm that disappears under clothing and is forgotten.
Before you order, ask yourself whether you want that daily presence, or whether you would rather keep the working separate from ordinary life. Both are legitimate, but they are not the same choice, and ordering one when you meant the other leads to a pendant that is either worn with discomfort, or left in a box. Choose deliberately, and choose the form that fits the life you actually live.
How a lost-wax cast seal 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 is the form offered here: a cast seal made to be worn, with the means of wearing it built into the object itself. That process also explains why a cast seal is made to order, and why it takes time. Dantalion is a listed pendant, so the shorter timing applies to it in principle, but timing can change with the work queue, and it should be settled at ordering, not assumed from an article.
Working with the seal, in the general way seals are worked
With Dantalion, each of these has a particular fit.
Holding the seal, when you are studying, or when you are reflecting on a conversation, or on a thought you are trying to understand, is a way of bringing the working back to attention at the moment it is needed. Putting it under a candle is a way of keeping it present through a working, set beneath the flame, in the space where the work is done, for the duration of the rite. Putting oil on it is anointing: marking it deliberately, naming the purpose in your own words, with an oil made for that kind of work. The Dantalion oil and the Dantalion incense, both offered on this site, are the matching companions for this pendant, for the same work with Dantalion, and a Dantalion bath is also offered, for a bath working with the same spirit.
Carrying the pendant, and wearing it, keep the working present in the conversations, the study, and the relationships where thoughts, learning, and love are actually tested. Showing it to the desired person is mentioned in the general guidance, and it deserves a plain word: showing a seal is not a trick, and it is not a substitute for speaking plainly to the person concerned. If your practice calls for showing the seal, do it openly, as part of a working you understand.
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 be clear about which part of the Dantalion entry you mean. Second, set out the pendant, and any oil, incense, or candle you will use. Third, anoint or fumigate the pendant, if your practice calls for it, deliberately, naming the purpose in your own words. Fourth, speak your petition, 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 keep the pendant on, or put it away in its proper place, as your practice requires.
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. With Dantalion work, note the ordinary record alongside it: what was said, what was learned, what was understood, and what changed in the thought, the study, or the relationship itself, in plain terms. If nothing changes, that is also information. 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.
Dantalion seal pendant, 2 inches, and the oil and incense to go with it
If you are doing spirit work with Dantalion, for thoughts known or changed, for arts and sciences, or for love stirred, the pendant is for wearing and working with, not for show.
I offer this as: Dantalion cast Daemon Demon seal pendant 2 inches, $216 CAD, lost wax cast, made to order. View the product
I also make the companions for the same work: Dantalion Goetia grimoire demon evocation oil, $44 CAD, and Dantalion Goetia incense, $44 CAD. View the product
I make no promise about what any of these will do for you, only that the seal is cast by hand, for this work, and not mass produced.
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