Vassago Evocation: Past, Future, and Things Hidden or Lost
Who Vassago is in the Goetia
Vassago is a Prince in the Goetia, and his offices are about seeing: he reveals what is past and what is to come, and he discovers things hidden or lost. That is a narrower field than some spirits are given, and its narrowness is its strength. Vassago is not a spirit for every matter. He is a spirit for the matter where something is missing, whether that missing thing is a fact, an object, or a clear view of where a situation is heading. If your question is really, what happened, what is coming, or where is the thing I have lost, then Vassago is the spirit whose offices match the question.
That is a historical note, not a different spirit, and it is worth knowing if you come across more than one seal figure for Vassago in older books and wonder which one is meant. The seal shown above is the figure from the Grimoire Companion set used for this article. If you work with a seal of your own, use the figure your own practice and teaching call for, and do not mix figures in the middle of a working.
Past: what actually happened
Questions about the past are often the hardest to ask well, because the past is already full of stories we have told ourselves about it. A Vassago working on the past should start with a plain question, written down before anything else: what happened, in this particular matter, that I do not yet understand? Not a general wish to know the past, but a specific gap: a decision whose reasons were never clear, an event whose causes are still muddled, or a situation that has never quite made sense, even though you have lived with it for years.
It helps to separate what you know from what you suspect, before you ask. Write two short lists. What you know, in facts you could show someone else. What you suspect, or fear, or hope, which is not yet a fact. Bring the gap between those lists to the working, not the whole tangle. A spirit who reveals the past is more use to a practitioner who knows where the gap is than to one who brings a whole life history and asks for it to be sorted out at once. And be ready for an answer that changes the story you have been telling yourself. That is, after all, what asking about the past is for.
Future: what is to come
Questions about the future need even more care, because a glimpse of what is to come is easily turned into a fixed fate, and then into an excuse for doing nothing. A Vassago working on the future is best framed as asking about direction, not about a guaranteed outcome. What is this situation heading towards, if it continues as it is? What is likely to come, if nothing changes? What should I be watching for? Those are questions that leave room for you to act, which is where they should leave room, because you are the one who will have to live with what comes.
Write the future question down in the same plain way as the past question, and write down what you will do with the answer. If the answer suggests a difficulty ahead, what will you change? If it suggests an opportunity, what will you prepare? If it suggests nothing much will change, will you accept that, or will you change something yourself? A divination that does not lead to a decision is only a story, and a story about the future, told without a decision attached, tends to become worry, not wisdom.
Things hidden or lost
The third office, discovering things hidden or lost, covers both meanings of lost: an object that is physically missing, and a fact or connection that has been hidden from view. For a lost object, the practical side matters as much as the ritual side. Before the working, search in the ordinary way, thoroughly, and note where you have already looked. A working that is asked to find something you have not bothered to look for is a weak working, and it wastes a good question. Bring the search you have already done, and the places that remain, to the petition, and name the object plainly, not as a category, but as the thing itself.
For a hidden thing, the same discipline applies. Name what is hidden, as far as you can, and name why it matters that it be found. A hidden motive, a hidden connection between two events, or a hidden fact about a situation: all of these are legitimate matters for Vassago, but all of them need a specific question, not a general wish to know secrets. And ask yourself, as with any hidden matter, whether you are ready for a true answer, and whether knowing it will help you act better. If the answer would only give you something to brood over, the question may need reframing before it is asked.
What an evocation performed on your behalf means
An evocation performed on your behalf means Vassago is evoked for you, with a request given to the spirit, rather than you performing the evocation yourself. Your part is real, even though it is smaller than a full evocation of your own: light a candle at home, in the time agreed, with the same request in mind, and keep your attention on the matter while you do it. That candle lighting connects the working to you and to your location, rather than leaving it somewhere else entirely.
Offerings and rewards also have a place here. Athena also gives candles and offerings during the evocation, and afterwards, on your behalf. An offering given after the work, when you can see that something has moved, is part of closing the working properly, not an extra added on afterwards.
Preparing a request worth giving
A request for Vassago should be one question, not three. Past, future, and lost things are three different offices, even though they belong to the same spirit, and a single petition that tries to cover all three will blur all three. Choose the one that matters most now. If the lost thing is the urgent matter, ask about that. If the past is what blocks you, ask about that. If the future is what you need to prepare for, ask about that. The other questions can wait for another time, and they will be clearer for having waited.
Write the request in one or two sentences, in your own words, and read it back the next day. Does it name the matter? Does it name what you are asking to be revealed or discovered? Does it leave room for a true answer, even if that answer is not the one you hoped for? If it does all three, it is ready to be given. If it asks for reassurance rather than revelation, rewrite it. Vassago's offices are about seeing truly, and a request that only wants to be comforted is not asking for sight.
Working with the seal
The seal of Vassago, shown above, is a useful focus for your own part of the work at home. You can hold the seal while you light your candle, put it under the candle while it burns, put oil on it if that is part of your practice, carry it with you during the days of the working, or wear it as a pendant if you have it in that form. For an evocation performed on your behalf, the main home use is simple: hold the seal, or have it near, while you light your candle, and keep it in a proper place afterwards, rather than leaving it where it will be handled carelessly.
The seal focuses the work. The petition says what the work is. The candle at home connects the work to your location. All three together, done with attention, are worth more than any one of them done elaborately on its own. Do not treat the seal as a decoration, and do not treat it as a substitute for a clear question. A clear question, a steady candle, and the seal held with attention are enough for your part of this working, and they are the part that is actually yours to do.
Afterwards: reading what comes, and knowing when to stop
After a Vassago evocation, watch for answers in the forms they actually take, not only in the form you expected. An answer about the past may come as a memory returning, a document turning up, or a conversation that suddenly makes sense of an old event. An answer about the future may come as a change in the situation itself, or as a clearer sense of direction when you sit down to think. An answer about a lost thing may come as a sudden recollection of where you left it, or as the thing turning up in a place you had already searched. Write down what comes, with dates, in plain language, and do not force every small event into the shape of an answer.
If nothing comes, that is also information. It may mean the question was unclear, the timing was wrong, or the matter needs a different kind of work, in the ordinary world or in ritual. Do not repeat the same evocation endlessly in the hope that repetition alone will force a revelation. Do the work properly, once, with your own candle lighting at home and your offering afterwards, observe, and then decide, calmly, whether a second working, a different approach, or no further working is right. No promise is made here about what the evocation will reveal for you. That wording is about the magical result, not about delivery dates for a physical item.
Vassago Evocation
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Candles and offerings are given during the evocation and afterwards on your behalf, and offerings and rewards after results start to be seen, and when the work is complete, are highly recommended. No promise is made about what the evocation will reveal for you. That wording is about the magical result, not about delivery dates for a physical item.
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