Vapula and the oil: handicrafts, professions, philosophy, and the sciences

Vapula, patron of skilled work

Some spirits are spoken of for grand matters: kingdoms, battles, hidden treasures. Vapula is spoken of for something quieter, and in a working life, more constant: skilled work, done well, day after day. In the Grimoire Companion entry, Vapula is a Duke who teaches handicrafts and professions, philosophy, and the sciences — patron of skilled work. That entry describes a practitioner, not a moment: someone who makes things with their hands, who practises a profession, who studies a science or a philosophy, and who wants that work to be sound.

Handicrafts and professions are not two separate worlds here. A handicraft is a skilled hand work: casting, carving, sewing, building, making an object that will hold together and serve its purpose. A profession is a skilled work practised for others: healing, teaching, law, engineering, or any calling in which competence matters and mistakes have consequences. Both depend on the same qualities: attention, practice, knowledge of materials, and honesty about what you do not yet know.

Philosophy and the sciences belong in the same entry because skilled work without thought is mere habit, and thought without skilled work is mere talk. A practitioner who makes seals, for example, needs both: the hand skill to cast cleanly, and the knowledge to understand what the seal is for. A practitioner in a profession needs both as well: the technique to do the job, and the judgement to know when the technique is not enough. Vapula work, in this reading, is work for the whole practitioner, not for a single trick.

Why oil suits skilled work

Oil is the most personal of the Goetia tools, and it suits skilled work because skilled work is personal. Incense fills a room, and anyone in the room shares it. Oil goes on the skin, on a candle, or on a tool, and it stays there through the working. It marks a particular person's hands, a particular tool, or a particular act. For a craftsman or a professional, that marking matters: these are your hands, this is your tool, this is the work you are about to do.

Anointing the hands before work is an old, plain practice, and it should stay plain. Put a small amount of oil on your hands, rub them together, name the purpose in your own words, once, clearly, and then do the work. The oil does not do the work for you. It marks the beginning of the work, and it gives you a physical point of attention to return to when your mind wanders, or when the work becomes tedious, or when you are tempted to rush a step that should not be rushed.

Anointing a tool is the companion practice. A tool that is anointed deliberately, and then used carefully, is a tool that is respected. A tool that is anointed and then abused, or left dirty, or used carelessly, has been marked for nothing. Keep the tool clean, keep it sharp, keep it in its proper place, and let the anointing be part of that care, not a substitute for it.

Starting with the work, not with the tool

Spirit work is not shopping, and oil does not do the work for you. Before you anoint anything, be clear about why you are doing this working, what skilled work you mean, 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.

For Vapula, that sentence should name the craft, profession, science, or philosophy you are actually practising. Do you need steadiness in a particular technique? Clarity in a particular study? Patience with a long project? Honesty about a gap in your knowledge that you have been avoiding? Those are different petitions, and they should not be blurred together. A petition for skill in general is hard to judge. A petition for steadiness in a particular piece of work is something you can measure, over weeks, in the work itself.

Ask yourself, plainly, whether there is ordinary-world work that should be done first, or at the same time. If you need training, get training. If you need practice, practise. If you need a better tool, get a better tool, or learn to maintain the one you have. Ritual work supports skilled work. It does not replace apprenticeship, study, or practice.

How this oil is made

The oils on this site are hand made by Athena from only pure essential oils, roots, and herbs. Sometimes there is the odd gemstone thrown in as well. No extraneous ingredients or fillers are used, and no synthetics are used.

All colognes, perfumes, and oils are in a half-ounce bottle, about twice as large as those little health food store essential oil bottles, unless otherwise stated. That size is a practical point. A half-ounce bottle, used a drop or two at a time for anointing, lasts through many workings. It is not a bottle to be poured out freely. A little, used deliberately, is the whole practice of anointing.

This oil belongs to that use: an oil made for spellwork and spirit work, not a perfume made for ordinary wear, though it is made with the same care as the perfumes and colognes on the site.

Anointing hands, tools, and seals

Anointing is a simple act, and it should stay simple. Put a small amount of oil on your hands, and rub them together, or anoint a candle from the centre outward, or anoint a seal, according to the practice you already follow. Name the purpose in your own words, once, clearly. Do not repeat the petition until it loses its shape.

For hand work, anoint before the work, not during it, so the oil does not interfere with the material you are handling, and so your attention is on the work itself, not on the oil. Wash your hands after the work, in the ordinary way, and put the tools away clean. That ordinary cleaning is part of the discipline, not an interruption of it.

If you are anointing a seal, put the oil on it with care, and wipe away excess, so the seal is not left sticky or stained. Working with a seal, in Athena's general guidance, includes holding it, putting it under a candle, putting oil on it, carrying it, and wearing it as a pendant. Anointing is one of those ways, not the whole of the work. Hold the seal, state the purpose, anoint it, and then put it away properly, or carry it deliberately, as your practice directs.

Do not anoint everything in sight. Anointing your hands, a candle, a seal, and every tool on the bench, all for the same working, dilutes the act. Choose the one or two points that carry the working, and anoint those, deliberately.

Oil and incense together

Oil and incense do different jobs in a working, and Vapula work is a good place to learn the difference. Oil marks and anoints. Incense fills the space and sets the atmosphere for the working itself. Used together, with a clear purpose, they reinforce each other: the oil marks the person or tool, and the incense marks the room and the time.

If you are doing a full working, rather than simply anointing before a period of work, 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 anointing to speaking. Give the room a moment to change, and give yourself a moment to notice that change.

Vapula also has a matching incense, for spirit work with Vapula, and a matching bath and seal pendant as well. This article is about the oil, so it does not turn into a second article about those companions, but it is worth knowing they exist, because a working that uses oil, incense, and a seal together, each in its proper place, is a fuller working than one that relies on a single tool alone.

A simple working order, and a record

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 for any Goetia working, and write the skilled work down in one clear sentence. Second, set out the oil, and any incense, seal, or candle you will use. Third, anoint, deliberately, naming the purpose in your own words. Fourth, light incense, if you are using it, and let the space settle. Fifth, speak your petition, clearly and once. Sixth, sit quietly and listen, rather than filling every moment with more words. Seventh, close the working properly, and put the tools away, and then do the skilled work itself, with attention.

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. For skilled work, that record should be in the work itself: what you made, what you studied, what was clearer, what was still difficult, and what you will practise next. A working record that is separate from the work record is easy to fool yourself with. A record that is in the work — in the object made, the passage understood, the technique improved — is harder to fake.

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.

Keeping a record, and knowing when to stop

Keep a short record for each working: date, purpose in one sentence, oil and any incense 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 more practice, better teaching, or a different approach to the craft 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.

Skilled work, in the end, is judged by the work. The oil, the incense, and the seal are preparations for that judgement, and they are worth doing well, but they are not the work. Make the thing well, study the subject thoroughly, practise the profession honestly, and let the work itself be the record of whether the working helped.

Vapula Goetia grimoire demon evocation oil

Oil marks the person, the tool, or the act, and this one is made for anointing and spirit work with Vapula.

I hand make this oil myself, from only pure essential oils, roots, and herbs, with no synthetics and no fillers, sometimes with the odd gemstone thrown in, in a half-ounce bottle, each batch made when you order. I bless each one 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.

If you want the oil for that work, this is the one I offer: Vapula Goetia grimoire demon evocation oil, $44 CAD. View the product

I also make the incense to go with it, for the same work: Vapula Goetia incense, $44 CAD. View the product

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