Working with Leraje: contests, courage, and the incense I make for that work

Leraje, from the Grimoire Companion seal set.

Leraje governs contests

Leraje is listed in the Grimoire Companion as a Marquis, and his character is the contest. He governs contests of skill and mastery, he stirs strife, and he decides the outcome of battles. That is a particular kind of work, and it should not be blurred into general spirit work. A working with Leraje is not a working for calm, or for comfort, or for a quiet life. It is a working for a situation where there is a contest, where skill will be measured, and where someone will come out ahead and someone will not.

That character is also why the Companion tags Leraje with courage and power. A contest is not only a test of skill. It is a test of nerve. The person who falters at the decisive moment often loses a contest they had the skill to win, and the person who holds steady often wins one they were expected to lose. Before you work with Leraje, be clear about which contest you mean, and what winning it would actually look like. If you cannot state the matter in one clear sentence, write it down, leave it overnight, and come back to see if it still reads true.

What counts as a contest here

A contest, in this sense, is wider than a battlefield. It can be a competition for a position, a trial of skill against rivals, a dispute where the outcome turns on who argues, performs, or endures better, or a confrontation where the stronger will carries the day. It can also be a contest against yourself: the mastery of a skill that has resisted you, the discipline to hold a standard under pressure, the courage to stand in a place where you would rather withdraw.

Those are different petitions, and they should not be run together in one working. A petition for victory in a dispute is not the same as a petition for mastery of a skill, and a petition that tries to cover every possible outcome usually covers none of them well. Pick the one contest, name it plainly, and let the rest wait. 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.

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. That last part matters more than usual with Leraje, because a contest is won by preparation as much as by anything else. Have you done the practice? Have you prepared the argument, the performance, or the case? Is there 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.

Ask yourself, plainly, whether this is the right working at all, and whether the timing is right. A working for a contest should be done before the contest, not during it in a panic, and not after it in regret. Know what you are going to say, in your own words, and know what you are not going to say. Keep it direct, keep it honest, and keep it to the matter at hand.

Incense is not background scent

Incense is not background scent for this work. It is part of the working itself. In ritual work, incense 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 Leraje, 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. 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. With Leraje, that settling moment is also a moment to gather yourself. A contest rewards steadiness, and steadiness begins in the room where you prepare, not only in the place where you compete.

Preparing the room and yourself

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.

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

Why incense, and why this incense

Incense works in a room in a way that oil 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 gather your nerve before the contest itself.

The Leraje 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.

Oil to go with the incense

Oil and incense are often used together in Goetia work, and Leraje 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.

The Leraje 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. 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 Leraje. 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. Do that fumigation deliberately, 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. With Leraje, watch the record for nerve as much as for outcome: did you hold steady where you used to falter, did you prepare more thoroughly, did you stand your ground in the contest itself? Those are part of the working, not separate from it. Note the incense itself in that record too: how much you used, how the room behaved, how long the scent remained.

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.

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. 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.

Leraje incense, and Leraje oil to go with it

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

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

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

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