Working with Gusion: incense, clear sight of past, present, and to come

Gusion, and why past, present, and future belong in one working

In the Grimoire Companion entry, Gusion is a Duke who discerns all things past, present, and to come, reconciles friendships, and grants honour. That threefold discernment is the point of this article, and it is more demanding than asking about the future alone. A question about the future, asked without the past that produced it and the present that sustains it, is usually a question you cannot use the answer to. You may be told what is coming, and still not know what to do about it, because you do not know how you arrived here.

Gusion work, as described here, therefore starts further back than most divination workings do. Before you ask what is to come, ask what actually happened, and what is actually true now. That order matters. A future read on top of a false past is a story built on sand, and a reconciliation built on a false past does not hold either, which is why discernment and reconciliation sit together in the same entry. Honour, the third point, follows from the same root: honour in this context is not flattery or reputation, but standing straight in a situation where the facts are known, the past is owned, and the present is faced plainly.

That is why this article keeps coming back to preparation and to a clear, single-sentence purpose. Before you light anything, be able to say, in one sentence, what you want discerned, across past, present, and future, and which friendship, if any, you want reconciled. If you cannot say it in one sentence, you are not ready to begin. 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.

Incense is not background scent

Incense is not background scent for this work. It is part of the working itself. That 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 Gusion, 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. The smoke, the scent, and the act of lighting itself all tell you, in a physical way, that you have begun. That beginning matters, because a working that has no clear beginning often has no clear end either, and it drifts.

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.

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, be clear about why you are doing this working, what you are asking for, and what you are prepared to do yourself. A vague purpose produces a vague working, and a vague working is hard to read afterwards. 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.

Ask yourself, plainly, whether you are prepared to hear an answer you do not want. Discernment across past, present, and future is only useful if it can correct you, and correction is uncomfortable by nature. If you already know what answer you will accept, and every other answer will be dismissed as a failed working, then you are not asking for discernment. You are asking for confirmation. Name that honestly before you begin, because a working done for confirmation will almost always appear to confirm, and that appearance is worthless as information. Also ask whether there is ordinary-world work that should be done first, or at the same time. Ritual work is not a substitute for dealing with a legal matter, a safety matter, or a medical matter in the ordinary world. If any of those apply, deal with them first.

Preparing the room

Preparation is most of the work, and with incense that is literally true, because the room is the thing the incense acts on. 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.

Ventilation matters, in a practical sense that is easy to overlook when you are focused on the ritual side. A room that is completely sealed will fill with smoke quickly, and a room that is wide open will lose the scent before the working is done. Find a balance that works for your space: enough air to breathe comfortably, enough containment that the scent remains present through the working. Open a window a little, or leave a door ajar, and see how your room behaves before the night of the working, not during it.

Set out what you will need before you light anything: the incense, a safe burner or charcoal arrangement that you have used before, the oil if you are using oil as well, and a seal or tool if your practice calls for one. Fumbling for a tool after the incense is lit breaks the very attention the incense is meant to hold.

Preparing yourself

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 it matters doubly in a working whose point is discernment. You cannot discern past, present, and future clearly if you arrive already decided about all three.

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. In a Gusion working, that means naming the matter plainly, and naming the three times plainly if that is how your practice frames it: what happened, what is true now, and what is coming, as three parts of one question rather than three separate wishes.

Why incense, and why this incense

Incense works in a room in a way that anointing alone does not. Oil marks and anoints, and it stays on the skin or on a tool. Incense fills the space itself. It is present whether you are looking at it or not, and it is present for the whole working, not just at the moment you apply it. That presence is useful when a working needs time: time to speak, time to listen, time to sit quietly and notice what changes, and time to let an answer form that is not simply the first thought that came to mind.

The Gusion 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.

That made-to-order point matters here, too. It 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 Athena herself before it is sent out. No promise about what it will do for you is made here, only that it is made by hand, for this work, and not mass produced. That wording is about the magical work itself, not about delivery dates for physical items.

Oil to go with the incense

Oil and incense are often used together in Goetia work, and Gusion work is no exception. They do different jobs in the room, and they reinforce each other when they are used together with a clear purpose. 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 simply burning incense on its own, use both. Anoint first, with a clear purpose in mind, then 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.

The Gusion oil offered here is made in the same way as the other oils on this site: from only pure essential oils, roots and herbs, with no synthetics and no fillers, sometimes with the odd gemstone thrown in, in a 1/2 oz bottle, about twice as large as those little health food store essential oil bottles, unless otherwise stated. Each batch is hand made when you order. If you are anointing a seal, a candle, or your own hands for the working, that oil is the matching companion to this incense, for the same work with Gusion.

If you are only burning incense to fumigate a tool or a seal for later use, that is also a recognised use in this kind of work: to start a working, and for fumigating the tools and talismans that will be used in it. Do that fumigation deliberately, too, passing the item through the smoke with the purpose in mind, rather than waving it through quickly and putting it away.

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, as above. Second, set out the incense, the burner, and the oil and any seal or tool you will use. Third, anoint, if you are using oil, deliberately, naming the purpose in your own words. Fourth, light the incense and let the space settle. Fifth, speak your petition, clearly and once, rather than repeating it until it loses its shape. Sixth, sit quietly for a time and listen, rather than filling every moment with more words. Seventh, 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. That record is what lets you tell, weeks later, whether anything changed, and whether that change had anything to do with the work. Note the incense itself in that record: how much you used, how the room behaved, how long the scent remained. Those practical details are part of learning how to work with incense well, not a distraction from it.

What not to do

Do not burn incense in a room where it is unsafe to do so, and do not leave a burner unattended. Use a safe burner, on a heat-proof surface, away from curtains, papers, and anything that could catch, and stay with it for the whole working.

Do not use incense as a substitute for the rest of the working. Lighting incense and then doing nothing else, with no petition, no attention, and no closing, is not spirit work. It is just a room that smells different. The incense supports the work, it does not replace it.

If you have sensitivities to smoke or to particular incense ingredients, test carefully, ventilate well, or choose a different form of working. If the incense makes you cough, or gives you a headache, that is information, not a test of dedication. Stop, ventilate, and reconsider how, and how much, you use.

Keeping a record, and knowing when to stop

Keep a short record for each working: date, purpose in one sentence, incense and oil used, what you did, and what you noticed afterwards, over days and weeks, not just on the night itself. If nothing changes, that is also information. It may mean the petition was unclear, the timing was wrong, the work was not appropriate, or simply that the situation needs a different approach. In a discernment working, pay attention in particular to facts that check out in the ordinary world afterwards, not only to impressions on the night itself.

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.

Gusion incense, and Gusion oil to go with it

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

I hand make Gusion 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 Gusion, 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: Gusion Goetia incense, $44 CAD. View the product

I also make the oil to go with it, for the same work: Gusion Goetia grimoire demon evocation oil, $44 CAD, 1/2 oz bottle. View the product

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