Working with Murmur: philosophy, the departed, and the bath as preparation

Murmur, and why this article is about questions

Murmur is a Duke in the Goetia, and the Grimoire Companion entry for him is direct: he teaches philosophy, and he compels the souls of the departed to answer questions. That is the point of working with Murmur, and it is what most people will be working with him on. This article is not about spirit work in general. It is about Murmur work in particular, and about philosophy and questions to the departed as serious, specific matters, not as vague wishes.

Questions are the thread that runs through both parts of that entry. Philosophy, in practice, is the discipline of asking better questions, and of following them honestly, even when the answer is uncomfortable, or incomplete, or different from what you expected. Compelling the departed to answer questions is the same pattern in a different register: a question, put plainly, to a soul, with an answer expected, and with the answer to be heard, and judged, rather than assumed in advance.

That is why this article keeps coming back to preparation and to a clear, single-sentence purpose. With Murmur, be specific about which question you mean, and to whom, or about what matter, you are putting it. A question that is vague cannot be answered clearly, and a vague answer cannot be judged afterwards. A clear question, put deliberately, can be judged by whether it was answered, and by what the answer actually was, in plain terms.

Starting with the work, not with the tool

Spirit work is not shopping, and a bath does not do the work for you. Before you use anything, be clear about why you are doing this working, what you are asking for, and what you are prepared to do yourself. 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. That pause is part of the work, not a delay in it.

With Murmur, that clarity has a particular weight, because questions to the departed touch grief, memory, and unfinished business, as well as curiosity. Ask yourself, honestly, why you are asking this question, and what you will do with the answer, whatever it is. Are you asking because a matter is genuinely unresolved, and an answer would change what you do? Or are you asking because you want a familiar voice, or a reassurance, that no answer, however clear, will finally give? Both motives are human, but they are not the same, and the working built on each of them will be different. Be honest with yourself about which one is yours, before you begin.

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. If the matter is a matter of grief, or of a recent loss, take care of yourself in the ordinary world as well: talk to people you trust, rest, and do not make a spirit working carry the whole weight of a bereavement on its own.

A bath is preparation, not background

A magick bath is not a pleasant soak that happens to have herbs in it. In the practice described on this site, a bath is a preparation: a way of washing, and of marking the body, before a working, and of setting the time that follows apart from ordinary time. That is the role the Murmur bath plays here. It prepares you, in body and in attention, for work with Murmur, for philosophy, and for questions put deliberately.

That point matters in practice, not as a luxury, but as a matter of attention. A bath made from real roots and herbs, in a small batch, for this work, is a different object from a synthetic bath product relabelled for the purpose. You will notice the difference when you prepare it, and you will notice it again when you are in the water, and the scent, and the feel of the herbs themselves, are present through the whole bath, not just at the first moment.

That is a reminder that a bath is made for a purpose, not pulled from a general stock, and that the purpose should be named when you order, so that the bath you receive is the bath for the work you actually mean to do.

How to use the bath

To use any of the baths, you simply add them to a pot of water, approximately 1 litre or so. If you do pour everything in, including the bits of herbs, just use either a strainer to get the chunks out after your bath, or one of those fish tank nets, or a bird catching net.

That practical detail is worth taking seriously, because it tells you how the bath is actually meant to be used, in ordinary terms. The herbs are real, and they leave bits in the water. Those bits are not a problem to be hidden. Prepare for that before you begin, so that you are not fumbling for a strainer, with wet hands, after the bath is done, and so that the bath itself is not interrupted by a practical worry that could have been settled in advance.

That three day pattern is part of the practice, not an optional extra. A single bath, taken once, hurriedly, before a working you have not prepared for, is not the same as a bath taken each day for three days, with the working itself prepared for through that period. The repetition, over three days, is what lets the preparation build, and what lets you notice, day by day, how your attention changes, and what questions become clearer, and which ones fall away.

Preparing the questions, over the three days

Use the three days well, and not only for bathing. On the first day, write down the question, or the questions, you mean to put, in plain language, and leave them overnight. On the second day, come back to them, and see which ones still read true, and which ones were written in haste, or in grief, or in curiosity alone, and should be set aside. On the third day, settle on the question, or the small set of questions, that you will actually put, and know what you are not going to ask, as well as what you are.

That slow settling is philosophy, in practice, as well as preparation for a rite. Philosophy is not only a subject to be studied. It is a discipline of asking, of listening to an answer, and of following where the answer leads, even when it leads somewhere you did not expect. A bath taken each day for three days, with the questions written, left, and returned to, is a philosophical practice in itself, before any spirit work begins.

When the time for the working itself comes, speak the question clearly and once, rather than repeating it until it loses its shape. Then sit quietly for a time and listen, rather than filling every moment with more words. Listening, after a question, is the part most often skipped, and it is the part that matters most with Murmur work, because the answer, if it comes, will not necessarily come in the form you expected, or at the moment you expected it.

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 questions, as above, and be clear about which one you mean. Third, prepare the room and yourself for the working itself, setting out any seal, oil, incense, or candle you will use. Fourth, speak your question, clearly and once. 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 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. Note the question itself in that record, and any answer you received, in the words in which it came, not in the words you wish it had come in. If nothing changes, or if no answer comes, that is also information. It may mean the question was unclear, the timing was wrong, the work was not appropriate, or simply that the situation needs a different approach. 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.

Murmur bath, and the oil and incense to go with it

If you are doing spirit work with Murmur, for philosophy, and for questions put deliberately, the bath is for preparation, over three days, not for show.

I offer this as: Murmur Goetia bath, $44 CAD, made from only 100 percent pure roots, herbs, and sometimes essential oils, with no synthetics, to be taken each day for 3 days in a row. View the product

I also make the companions for the same work: Murmur Goetia grimoire demon evocation oil, $44 CAD, and Murmur Goetia incense, $44 CAD. View the product

I make no promise about what any of these will do for you, only that the bath is made by hand, for this work, and not mass produced.

#BathPreparation #DemonEvocation #DisciplineAsking #MurmurGoetia #BathTaken #Bath #Grimoire #Goetia #Spirit #Seal