Working with Glasya-Labolas: learning, foresight, and incense that sets the room

Incense is not background scent

Incense in Goetia work is not background scent. It is part of the working itself. It fills the space, it marks the time as set apart, and it gives you a clear beginning: the moment the smoke rises, the ordinary room becomes a working room. That change is not decoration. It is how you, and anyone else present, know that the work has started, and it is how you notice, afterwards, that the room has changed back again when the working is closed.

The incense in this article is for spirit work and spellwork with Glasya-Labolas. It is hand made in the same way as the other incenses here: 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 them 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. That is a practical claim about use, not a promise about result, and it is worth reading it that way.

Glasya-Labolas, and what working with him is for

In the Grimoire Companion data, Glasya-Labolas is a President who teaches all arts and sciences, knows past and future, and grants invisibility. Those three offices point in different directions, and it is worth separating them before you work. Teaching is one kind of work. Knowledge of past and future is another. Invisibility, in the traditional sense, is a third, and it is not the same as simply not being noticed in a crowd, though the two are sometimes confused in conversation.

Teaching all arts and sciences, in a working context, means asking for learning that is grounded and usable, not for a vague feeling of cleverness. If you are studying a craft, a language, a system of magic, or a practical art, be specific about what you want to learn, and what you will do with that learning once you have it. A petition for learning works better when it names the subject, the level you are at, and the next step you are actually trying to take, rather than asking for knowledge in general.

Knowledge of past and future works in the same way. Ask for what you need in order to act well, rather than asking for everything at once. A question about the past may be about a cause: why something happened the way it did. A question about the future may be about a consequence: what follows if you take one road rather than another. Put the question in one clear sentence before you light the incense, and write it down. That written question is what you will check your notes against later.

Why incense, and why this incense

Incense and oil do different jobs in the room, and it is worth knowing which job you are asking incense to do. Oil marks and anoints, on skin, on a seal, or on a candle. Incense fills the space and sets the atmosphere for the working itself. It is also used, in the general wording here, to start a working, and for fumigating the tools and talismans that will be used in it. If you are preparing a seal for Glasya-Labolas work, fumigating that seal through the incense smoke is a common way to begin that preparation.

The quality of the incense matters in practice, not as a luxury, but as a matter of attention. An incense made in a hurry, from synthetic scent, does not carry the same weight in the room as an incense made for this specific work, in a small batch, from real materials. You will notice the difference when you light it, and you will notice it again halfway through the working, when the scent is still there and still clear, rather than sharp at first and gone a few minutes later. A working that is interrupted by a poor scent, by coughing, or by a room that smells of chemicals rather than of the work, is a working that has been pulled out of its own atmosphere.

Hand made, when you order, also means the incense has not been sitting, opened and closed, through other people's orders. It is made for your order, and then blessed by me 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. That wording is about magical result, not about delivery dates for a physical item.

Preparation is most of the work

Preparation in this kind of work is not decoration. It is how you get yourself into a state where you can listen, speak clearly, and notice what changes. Start with the room. Clear the space you will use, not just physically, but in the sense of setting 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 oil or incense is.

Next, prepare the words you will use. Do not improvise a whole petition on the spot if you can avoid it. Know what you are going to say, in your own words, and know what you are not going to say. A petition that tries to cover every possible outcome usually covers none of them well. Keep it direct, keep it honest, and keep it to the matter at hand.

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. Do not treat a general article as a substitute for proper teaching in the system. First, prepare the room and yourself, as above. Second, set out the seal, tool, or candle you will use, and the incense. Third, 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.

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, thanking in whatever way your practice requires, and put the tools away in their proper place. If you fumigated a seal or tool at the start, note that in your record, and put that tool away with the same care you gave it at the start.

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 anything changed, and whether that change had anything to do with the work. For learning work in particular, keep a second record as well: what you studied, what you practised, and what you could actually do afterwards that you could not do before. That is the record that shows learning, rather than a feeling about learning.

When this is not the right work, and knowing when to stop

Sometimes the right answer is not a spirit working at all. If the situation is a legal matter, a safety matter, or a medical matter, deal with that matter in the ordinary world first, or at the same time. Ritual work is not a substitute for a lawyer, a doctor, or for leaving a dangerous situation. If you are unsure whether a working is appropriate, wait, ask a teacher you trust, or choose a simpler practice first and see how that sits.

It is also worth asking, honestly, whether the question you are bringing is a question you can answer by ordinary study, by asking a person who knows, or by looking at the record you already have. Spirit work for learning does not replace study. It sits alongside study, and it is most useful when you are already doing the work of learning, and you want counsel, clarity, or a push past a block that ordinary study has not shifted. If you have not opened the book, or picked up the tool, start there.

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. Keep the record short, keep it honest, and let it teach you what the next step actually is.

Glasya Labolas incense, and a seal and bath for the same work

Incense is not background scent for this work. It is part of the working itself.

I hand make Glasya Labolas incense myself, in small batches, when you order, and I bless it myself before it is sent out. It is incense I use myself for spirit work and spellwork with Glasya-Labolas, not a bulk incense relabelled for the purpose. 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: Glasya Labolas Goetia incense, $44 CAD. View the product

A Glasya Labolas cast seal pendant and a Glasya Labolas bath are also offered for the same work, for use alongside incense where your practice calls for them.

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