Working with Valefor: a ready and willing familiar spirit

Valefor, and what a familiar spirit means

Valefor is listed in the Grimoire Companion as a Duke, and his office is stated in a single line: a ready and willing familiar spirit to the practitioner. That line is worth reading slowly, because each word in it carries weight. Ready means prompt, not reluctant, not delayed by ceremony for its own sake. Willing means consenting, not compelled against the grain of the work. Familiar means close, known, and regularly present, not a distant power invoked once and never again. And to the practitioner means the relationship is personal: it belongs to the person who does the work, not to a general audience.

A familiar spirit, in this sense, is not a pet, and it is not a servant in the ordinary sense. It is a spirit with whom the practitioner has a working relationship, built over time, through regular work, attention, and keeping of agreements. That relationship is the work itself, more than any single petition. A practitioner who approaches Valefor looking only for a single favour, with no interest in the relationship beyond it, has misunderstood what the office offers.

Before any working with Valefor, be clear about what you are actually seeking. Is it a steady working relationship, over time, for the practice as a whole? Or is it help with a particular matter, through a spirit known for readiness and willingness? Those are different petitions, and a petition that blurs them together is hard to read afterwards. Name the matter, in one sentence, and name the kind of relationship you are prepared to keep.

Readiness, and what it asks of the practitioner

Readiness, on the spirit's side, asks for readiness on the practitioner's side as well. A ready spirit met by an unready practitioner is a poor pairing. Readiness in the practitioner means preparation done properly: the room set aside, the tools in their proper place, the petition written down and considered, and the ordinary business of the day dealt with rather than left to intrude on the working.

It also means a clear head. Avoid starting a working when you are exhausted, drunk, or already agitated. A clear head is a working tool, just as much as a seal is, and a working begun in agitation will carry that agitation into the relationship from the start. If the matter is urgent, a short pause, a wash, a change of clothes, and a petition written down and read back will serve the work better than rushing into it.

Readiness also means knowing what you will do with an answer, a direction, or a change once it comes. A practitioner who asks for help and then ignores it, or who asks the same question repeatedly until a preferred answer arrives, is not ready in the sense that matters. Decide, before you begin, how you will receive what comes, and how you will record it.

Willingness, and the keeping of agreements

Willingness, in a working relationship, is kept by the keeping of agreements. That is true in ordinary life, and it is true here. If you promise a regular working, keep it. If you promise an offering, give it. If you set aside a place, a time, or a tool for the work, keep it set aside. A relationship built on kept agreements grows steadier over time. A relationship built on promises made in enthusiasm and then forgotten does not.

That is also why a familiar spirit working should not be begun lightly, or in a burst of enthusiasm that will not survive the month. Consider whether you are prepared to keep the working going, regularly, through ordinary weeks when nothing dramatic happens. The familiar relationship is proved in those weeks, not in the dramatic nights. A practitioner who can keep a quiet, regular practice is a practitioner a familiar spirit can work with.

Be honest with yourself about that before you begin. If your life at present does not allow a regular practice, it is better to wait, or to work in a different way, than to begin a familiar relationship you cannot keep. Waiting is not failure. It is part of the discipline.

What a seal is, and what it is not

A seal is a figure belonging to a spirit, used as a focus and a link in the working. It is not a charm that works by itself while the practitioner does nothing, and it is not a substitute for the petition, the preparation, or the keeping of agreements that belong to the relationship. Think of it as the point where attention gathers: the thing you hold, look at, and return to while you work, so that the working has a centre rather than drifting.

The seals described here are lost wax cast seals of the Daemon Demons of the various grimoires. They are pure metal, actually cast, starting with a wax version, which is a much higher quality than the three-dimensional printed versions, using metal powder and plastic, found around the internet. That distinction matters, because a seal you will hold, wear, and work with for years, in a regular familiar relationship, should be made to last, and made properly, not printed as a novelty.

The seal can be had as a disc, and it can also be fitted with a bail, cast on or soldered on depending on the metal used, so that it can be used as a pendant. Gold, for example, cannot be cast in the same way for a bail, so the bail is soldered on. Those are the maker's practical decisions, made for the metal in hand, and they are part of what makes a hand cast seal different from a mass produced copy.

Working with the seal

There are several plain ways to work with a seal, and the right one depends on your practice and on the matter in hand. You can hold it during the working, so that the petition and the seal are together in your hands. You can put it under a candle, so that the working burns above it for its duration. You can put oil on it, anointing it deliberately, with the purpose in mind, rather than dabbing at it hurriedly. You can carry it with you, so that the working travels into ordinary life. You can wear it as a pendant, so that it is present through the day. Or you can show it to the desired person, where your practice and the situation make that fitting.

For a familiar spirit working, wearing and carrying have a particular value, because the relationship is meant to be regular rather than occasional. A seal worn daily, or carried daily, keeps the working present in ordinary life, not only on working nights. That presence should be deliberate, not casual: know that you are wearing it, know what it is for, and treat it with the care a working tool deserves.

Whichever way you work, do it deliberately. Name the purpose in your own words, handle the seal with attention rather than haste, and then put it away in its proper place when the working is done. A seal left lying about with other clutter loses its character as a working tool, and a working that has no clear closing often has no clear shape either.

Do not use the seal as a substitute for the rest of the working. Holding a seal and doing nothing else, with no petition, no attention, and no closing, is not spirit work. The seal supports the work; it does not replace it.

Preparing yourself and the room

Prepare the room and yourself as you would for any serious working. Clear the space, set it aside for the purpose, and set out what you will need before you begin: the seal, a candle if your practice calls for one, oil if you are anointing, and incense if you are using it. Fumbling for a tool halfway through breaks the very attention the seal is meant to hold.

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. If you have a regular working space, use it. If you do not, choose one place and use it consistently, so the place itself starts to carry the association.

Work from the instructions and teaching you already follow in the Goetia 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.

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 room and yourself, as above. Second, set out the seal and anything else the working calls for. Third, hold the seal, or set it in its place for the working, deliberately. Fourth, anoint it, if you are using oil, naming the purpose in your own words. 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 seal away in its proper place, or wear it deliberately if wearing is part of the working.

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, kept over weeks and months of regular work, is what lets you tell whether a familiar relationship is actually forming, and what it consists of, rather than a single memorable night.

Keeping a record, and knowing when to stop

Keep a short record for each working: date, purpose in one sentence, how you worked with the seal, and what you noticed afterwards, over days and weeks, not just on the night itself. For a familiar relationship, that record matters more than usual, because the relationship is built over time, and memory alone will not hold its shape. Note the regular workings kept, the agreements made and kept, and any change in the matter in hand, in ordinary terms.

Do not repeat the same petition 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, and in a familiar relationship, it is also a poor way to treat the other party.

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. Sit with that plainly before deciding what to do next.

Valefor cast seal pendant, 2 inches

A seal is the point where attention gathers in a working, not a charm that works while you do nothing, and a familiar relationship is built on kept agreements, over time.

I cast these seals myself, by the lost wax method, in pure metal, starting with a wax version. They are not three-dimensional printed copies. This one is Valefor's seal, made as a pendant two inches across, fitted with a bail so it can be worn. I have been practising magic for twenty-five years, and I make these seals for traditional Goetia work with Valefor: a ready and willing familiar spirit to the practitioner. I make no promise about what a seal will do for you, only that it is cast by hand, for this work.

If you want the seal for that work, this is the one I offer: Valefor cast Daemon Demon seal pendant, 2 inches, $216 CAD. View the product

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