Every other material in this practice is found. Stones come out of the earth, metals out of a jeweller's, plants out of a garden. Oils do not exist that way.
Oils derive their magical powers from plants, roots and flowers, and generally they have the same attributes as their plant counterparts. However, oils do not exist in the natural world wholly made. They need to be prepared by the Wizard using the correct amounts, the proper time, and following the appropriate recipes to the letter.1
Correct amounts, proper time, recipes to the letter. That is the only place in this material where a recipe is the unit of work, and it makes oils the one class of substance whose properties come from what a practitioner did rather than from where it was dug up.
The historical framing explains what has changed and it is refreshingly unromantic. Wizards once had to learn how to extract the essential ingredients of oils from plants, seeds, leaves, barks, stems, flowers and even from roots. That process was painstakingly serious, especially because the yield could be negligible, so the whole extraction had to be run several times before acquiring a suitable amount.
And it was dangerous: certain plants may be poisonous or hazardous when put to fire, steam, boiling water. Some oils were so potent that they were required to be diluted in other base oils so that the actual oil did not result hazardous to anyone. Then the modern verdict, stated without any nostalgia at all: the Wizards of the Modern Era are blessed, in the sense that most of these oils can be found in most magical stores already prepared for use.
⚠ And one warning, which is a real one: there are oils which are employed for decorative purposes only, and these oils tend to be irritants to the skin. The instruction is to find those oils which are especially made for personal use. Essential oils genuinely do burn skin undiluted, and several — cinnamon, clove, oregano — are common irritants. The material's caution is correct and the reader should take it.
The base oil is prepared before anything is mixed into it, and the rite has three steps. Choose an adequate recipient made of glass or wood, provided it had been finely crafted. Cast the In Nomine Deux Benedicto incantation upon the recipient three times, and make the sign of the cross over the recipient with your wand.
Three blessings again — the third object in this material to require exactly three, after the silver holy symbol and the gemstone being enchanted. Then the quarters, and the construction is the tidiest in the practical material. Call upon the Holy Names and move to the different cardinal points:
IERO LAIOS KATHAGIAS to the North. IERO LAIOS MYSTIKO to the East. IERO LAIOS THEIOSTES to the South. IERO LAIOS PHOTEINOS to the West.
One frame, four substitutions — the same shape as the Phoenician Star's eight epithets and the seven-pointed star's four quarter-names. Iero and laios are Greek-flavoured, and the four variable words are recognisably Greek: kathagias on the root for consecration, mystiko for the hidden, theiostes on the root for the divine, photeinos for luminous. Consecrated, hidden, divine, shining.
Then the oil goes in the vessel and the exorcism is spoken over it: EXORCISO IGITUR TE CREATURA OLEUM… — the shared frame again, with oleum in the substance slot.
Most operations here take one formula. This one takes two, and the difference between them is worth reading closely. The first is said over the base oil alone, once it is in the consecrated vessel. Its content is a request that the divine place its good faith upon the oil, so that it may be accustomed to the will of goodness and light. Preparation of a medium.
The second is said when the actual oils are mixed in, and it comes with a posture. The Wizard must use his or her wand in the right hand and place his or her left hand over the ingredient in a commanding pose.
A commanding pose. That phrase does not appear anywhere else in the practical material, and it changes the register entirely. The base oil is asked over; the mixture is commanded over. And the words match: this second formula runs EXORCISO IGITUR TE CREATURA OLEUM, UT OMNIS REX MALUM IMMUNDA EST IACIO ABSENTIS — that every unclean evil be cast out — and closes EXSISTO PURUS, SANCTUS ET BONUS, be pure, holy and good.
So the sequence is: bless the vessel three times, sign it with the wand, call four names to four quarters, ask over the base oil, then command over the mixture with the wand in the right hand and the left held over the ingredients. Five distinct acts before a single drop is used.
The handling rules are practical and one of them is straightforwardly good laboratory sense. Store the oils where they do not receive sunlight directly, for this will irremediably damage the oils. True, and the reason is chemical rather than magical — light degrades essential oils. Note that this is the exact opposite of the weapon consecration, which finishes an instrument with seven days of direct sun.
Bless all of the flasks where the mixed oils have been placed with the IN NOMINE DEUX BENEDICTO and DEUX CONSECRATUR incantations. The container gets its own consecration, separately from the oil in it. Mix in a crystal container, preferably a small crystal jar with a sealable top, and keep the mixtures in a dry place and away from sunlight.
And the best instruction in the section: when mixing the ingredients, use separate droppers for each ingredient, for this will avoid contamination. That is ordinary good practice, stated for an ordinary good reason, and it is the only place in this material where a procedure is justified on grounds anybody would accept.
Finally, whenever the oils are going to be used, cast a Magicartifex Ubertas incantation, thinking on the magical properties to be maximized. The oil is charged at the point of use, not once at the point of making.
The per-oil list is where oils become a technique rather than a substance, and every entry gives a site. Acacia: a couple of drops on the forehead, to heighten the wizard's vibrations — worn during meditation and to promote psychic powers, and also used to anoint candles on an altar, magical weapons and gemstones.
Anise: one drop on each temple and then one on the forehead, for clairvoyance and divination incantations. Benzoin: six drops on the forehead, for peace of mind, tranquillity and harmony. Amber: rubbed in the back of the neck and down, to balance the Spiritual Body. Arnica: four drops upon the bosom, to counter emotional distress. Basil: six drops upon the belly, to block the emotions of quarrelling people, friends or family members.
Asafetida: seven drops in the left palm when exorcising evil spirits — the left hand again, for what is being pushed away. Bergamot: five drops in the back of each palm in the form of a five pointed star, and you will be protected against the forces of darkness. That is the elemental pentagram, drawn in oil, on the hands.
Almond has the longest schedule: four drops upon the left hand every day for ten days at the fifth hour of the day, with a prayer asking for money — and prosperity will be attracted. Read them together and the map is the same one the gemstones use. Forehead for perception. Chest for feeling. Palms for what you are doing with your hands. Belly for other people's emotions. Left for expelling and receiving; right and both for projecting.
Two things in this material leave the practitioner and reach somebody who knows nothing about any of it, and oils are one of them. Herbal preparations are described as potions used by the very Wizard, or given to non-magical folks to help them in their daily lives. And the oils are the refined version of exactly that: a substance that carries a plant's attributes, has been consecrated, exorcised, commanded over and charged with an incantation at the point of use — and then goes onto skin.
Which makes anointing the most transferable operation in the practice. A grid stays on a table. A crystal ball must be uncovered by its owner. A gesture requires a trained hand. A drop of oil on somebody's forehead requires nothing from them at all — and, unlike the enchanted gemstone handed to a family member, it does not need them to keep or maintain anything either.
Nothing in the range read discusses asking that person first.
The whole sequence. Buy oils made for personal use, not the decorative kind, which are skin irritants.
Consecrate a base oil. A finely crafted glass or wooden vessel. In Nomine Deux Benedicto three times over it, then the sign of the cross with your wand. Then the four names to the four quarters: IERO LAIOS KATHAGIAS north, MYSTIKO east, THEIOSTES south, PHOTEINOS west. Then pour the base oil in and say the first exorcism over it.
Mix. Wand in the right hand, left hand over the ingredients in a commanding pose, and say the second exorcism. Use a separate dropper for every ingredient, and mix in a small sealable crystal jar.
Store the jar dry, dark, and never in direct sunlight. Bless every flask with In Nomine Deux Benedicto and Deux Consecratur. At the point of use, cast Magicartifex Ubertas while thinking of the properties you want maximised. Then apply to the site the oil calls for — forehead, temples, chest, belly, palms, the back of the neck.
The consecration, the two exorcisms and the handling rules are asserted with no tradition named and nothing quoted. This is the Eldest Tradition warrant on the source stub. 🚩 SINGLE SOURCE.
Three claims here are materially correct and worth crediting. Sunlight does degrade essential oils. Separate droppers do prevent cross-contamination. And some essential oils are skin irritants and should not be applied undiluted — the source's own warning about decorative oils is sound.
⚠ Anointing means putting oils on skin. Essential oils cause contact dermatitis and photosensitivity; several are unsafe in pregnancy; and applying anything to another person's skin without telling them is a matter of consent as well as of chemistry. None of this is discussed in the material.
The Greek in the four Holy Names is recognisable — kathagias, mystiko, theiostes, photeinos — and consistent with the consecrated/hidden/divine/shining reading given above. 🚩 Iero laios as a fixed opening has no attested source. ⚠ The oil-use list runs inline in this edition's conversion and individual entries are hard to separate cleanly. The named examples above are legible; a complete census of the list was not obtainable. Re-check the plate.
Unresolved: nothing states whether an oil applied to another person needs their knowledge or agreement.
Follow the preparation rules and an oil is made by a practitioner. Correct amounts, proper time, recipes followed to the letter, a consecrated vessel, four quarter-names, two exorcisms and a commanding pose — the substance is the product of everything done to it. Follow the modern concession and an oil is bought. Most of these oils can be found in most magical stores already prepared for use, and the wizards of the modern era are called blessed for it.
Both are in the same passage. And the second quietly removes the first for anybody who takes it: an oil off a shop shelf has had none of the vessel, the quarters, the two exorcisms or the commanding pose done to it, and nothing states whether the consecration must then be performed retrospectively or whether the purchase simply replaces it.
Cooling the Heated Brain: The Thermal Logic of Abhiṣeka — Both traditions pour a prepared substance onto a surface as the operative act, and in both the substance has been made rather than found: five things combined in a stated order, applied to a specified place.
The abhiṣeka is poured onto the deity's image, and the claim is that the practitioner is what gets regulated — the rite cools an overheated nervous system while looking like a bath for a god. The recipient of the pouring and the beneficiary are different, and knowing that is the teaching. Here the substance goes directly onto the person meant to benefit, and neither corpus notices what that simplifies away. A drop on the forehead for clairvoyance, five on the palms for protection, six on the belly against other people's quarrels — recipient and beneficiary are the same body every time. Which makes the operation legible and removes the indirection entirely. One tradition can only be understood by someone who has been told what the pouring is really for; the other can be performed correctly by somebody who has read one line, which is exactly why an oil is the thing in this practice that can be applied to a person who knows nothing.
Sharpest implication. Oils are the only material here that do not exist in the natural world wholly made — and the modern concession is that you can buy them ready-mixed. So the one substance whose power is supposed to come from correct preparation is also the one the material tells you to purchase.
Generative questions.