Working with Stolas: astronomy, herbs, and stones
A teacher, not a shortcut
Stolas is a Prince in the Goetia, and the Grimoire Companion entry for him is a teacher's entry, plain and direct: he teaches astronomy and the virtues of herbs and precious stones. That is the whole frame for this article, and it is worth holding on to, because it tells you what kind of work Stolas work is, and what kind it is not.
It is study work. It is work done slowly, over nights and seasons, with a book, a plant, a stone, and a sky in front of you. It is not a way to skip the study. A spirit who teaches astronomy does not hand you astronomy in a single evening. He teaches it, which means you still have to learn it, night after night, with your own eyes open and your own notes kept. The same is true of herbs and stones. Their virtues are not slogans to memorise. They are qualities you learn by handling the plant, by growing it or gathering it where that is lawful and safe, by watching how it behaves through a season, and by keeping a record of what you observed, rather than what you hoped to observe.
If you come to Stolas work looking for a quick answer to a question you have not studied, you will be disappointed, and the disappointment will not be Stolas's fault. If you come to it as a student, with a question you have already begun to work on, the working has something to attach itself to. That is the first practical point in this article, and it shapes everything that follows.
Astronomy as a practice
Astronomy, in this tradition, is not looking at pretty pictures of the sky. It is a disciplined practice of observation. You learn the stars by their places, their risings and settings, and their relations to one another, and you learn them by going out, night after night, in the same place, at known times, and writing down what you saw.
Start simply. Choose one part of the sky you can see from where you live, and learn it well before you try to learn the whole heavens. Learn the bright stars first, then the patterns they make, then the planets as they move against those patterns. Keep a sky journal, separate from your ritual journal if you like, with the date, the time, the weather, and what you actually saw, in plain language. A journal that says "clear, cold, Orion high in the south, Moon three days past full" is worth more, months later, than a journal full of impressions and no facts.
That habit of plain recording is itself part of Stolas work. Astronomy rewards the observer who can say what happened, without adding what he wished had happened. It also rewards patience. The sky does not hurry for anyone, and a student who cannot wait for a clear night, or for a planet to return to a place worth watching, has not yet learned the first lesson of the subject.
When you bring Stolas into that study, bring a clear question with you. Not "teach me everything," but something you can actually work on: a star you cannot yet identify, a movement you do not yet understand, a passage in an old text that does not yet make sense. A specific question gives the working a shape. A vague question gives it nothing to hold.
Herbs and stones, learned by handling
The virtues of herbs and precious stones are learned in the same slow way. A herb is not virtuous in the abstract. It has a scent, a taste where tasting is safe and lawful, a season, a way of growing, and a place it likes. You learn those things by working with the plant over time, not by reading a list of correspondences and ticking them off.
The same caution applies to stones. A stone has weight, colour, hardness, and a way of catching light, and those are real qualities you can observe. What a stone is said to do in old books is a separate matter, and a careful student keeps the two apart in his notes: what he saw with his own eyes, and what the book said. Confusing the two is how a study turns into a collection of borrowed claims, and borrowed claims are poor ground for ritual work.
That is why a working for Stolas is well paired with ordinary study. Read the old text, then go and look. Handle the herb, if it is safe to do so. Hold the stone. Spend time under the sky the text describes. Then write down, separately, what the text said and what you found. Over months, that record becomes your own knowledge, and that is the knowledge a spirit teacher is teaching toward: not a pile of quotations, but a trained eye and a steady hand.
Preparation, and a clear question
Preparation for Stolas work is preparation for study. Clear the space you will use, and set it aside for this purpose. Gather what you need before you begin, so you are not hunting for a book or a tool halfway through a working. Bathe, or wash your hands and face, and change into clothes set aside for the work. That change of clothes is not decoration. It marks, for yourself, that this time is set apart from ordinary errands.
Then write your question down, in one clear sentence. If you cannot state it in one sentence, you are not ready to anoint anything yet. Leave the sentence overnight, come back to it, and see if it still reads true. That pause is part of the work, not a delay in it.
Be specific about what you want to learn, and honest about what you already know. A petition that says "help me understand the herbs I am already growing, and the stars I can already see on a clear night" is a working petition. A petition that says "make me wise" is a wish, and wishes are hard to read afterwards, because any outcome, or no outcome, can be fitted to them.
Why anointing, and why oil at all
Anointing is a way of marking something, or someone, for a purpose. In practice, it is often done on the hands, the forehead, or on a tool, seal, or candle that will be used in the working. The act itself is simple, and that simplicity is the point. You are touching the thing, naming the purpose, and doing it deliberately.
Oil is used for anointing because it stays. It does not vanish in a moment like a scent on the air, and it does not wash off at the first touch. It remains on the skin or on the tool while you work, and that staying quality is part of how it functions in a ritual setting. You can smell it, you can feel it, and you are reminded, through the whole working, of what you set out to do.
For study work, that reminder has a particular use. A long night of observation, or a long afternoon with a herb book and a plant in front of you, is easily broken by distraction. An anointed hand, or an anointed tool, is a small, steady signal to yourself: this time is for this work, and nothing else, until the work is closed. The oil does not do the studying for you. It marks the studying as set apart.
How the Stolas oil is made here
I hand make all of my own perfumes, colognes and oils from only pure essential oils, roots and herbs. I do not use any extraneous ingredients or fillers. I also do not use any synthetics. Sometimes there is the odd gemstone thrown in as well.
The oil is made for anointing and spirit work with Stolas, and 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 made-to-order, hand-made point matters for study work in a plain way. An oil made in a hurry, from synthetic scent, does not carry the same weight in the room as an oil made for this specific work, from real materials, in a small batch. You will notice the difference when you open the bottle, and you will notice it again halfway through a long working, when the scent is still there and still clear.
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, and write your question down in one sentence. Second, set out the seal, book, herb, stone, or tool you will use, and the oil. Third, anoint, deliberately, naming the purpose in your own words. Fourth, do the study itself: observe, read, handle, and take notes, rather than filling the time with more words about the study. Fifth, sit quietly for a time when the study is done, and note what stood out, in plain language. Sixth, close the working properly, in whatever way your practice requires, and put the tools away in their proper place.
Afterwards, keep the record going. A study record is kept over days and weeks, not just on the night of a working. Note the date, the question, what you did, and what you noticed, and revisit it when the same star, plant, or stone comes up again. That revisiting is where learning shows itself, or fails to show itself, and either result is information.
What not to do
Do not do study work when you are exhausted, if you can avoid it. Astronomy, in particular, punishes tired eyes: you will misidentify stars, misread times, and write notes you cannot trust the next morning. Wait for a night when you can be alert, even if that means waiting a week.
Do not use the oil internally, and do not use it on broken skin. It is made for anointing and ritual use, from essential oils, roots and herbs, and it should be treated as a ritual oil, not as a food, a medicine, or a skin treatment. If you have sensitivities to essential oils, test a small amount first, or do not use it on skin at all, and anoint a tool or candle instead.
Do not repeat the same working endlessly in the hope that repetition alone will force understanding. Do the work properly, once, observe, study in the ordinary world between workings, and then decide, calmly, whether a second working, a different question, or a longer period of plain study is the right next step. Repetition without reflection is not persistence. It is noise.
Keeping a record, and knowing when to stop
Keep a short record for each working: date, question in one sentence, oil used, what you studied, 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 question was unclear, the study was too broad, the timing was wrong, or simply that the subject needs more ordinary study before another working.
Study is a long road, and Stolas work, as the Companion presents it, belongs on that road, not beside it as a shortcut. Walk it steadily, keep plain notes, and let the work be judged by what you can actually see, name, and explain afterwards, in the sky, in the herb garden, and in the stone in your hand.
Stolas oil, and Stolas incense to go with it
If you are doing spirit work with Stolas, the oil is for anointing, not for show.
I hand make Stolas oil myself, from pure essential oils, roots, and herbs, with no synthetics and no fillers, and I bless it myself before it is sent out. It is made for anointing and spirit work with Stolas, in a 1/2 oz bottle. 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.
If you want the oil for that work, this is the one I offer: Stolas Goetia demon oil, $44 CAD, 1/2 oz bottle. View the product
I also make the incense to go with it, for the same work: Stolas Goetia incense, $44 CAD. View the product
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