SaltDark aleA black stone left at a boundaryAcknowledgement of a blight
Invocation Approach
Tone
Guarded and direct
Address
BalorBalor of the Evil EyeKing of the Fomorians
Relationship
The adversary you name so that you can aim
Warning
Do not call him for help and do not meet his eye
Resonance
Those facing tyranny those breaking a hold
Symbols
Evil eyeTowerTorySling
Mythology Summary
Balor is the Fomorian king of Cath Maige Tuired, whose single eye, opened by four men with a forked stick, blights whatever it looks at, and he kills Nuada in the battle. A prophecy said he would be killed by his own grandson, so he shut his daughter Ethniu in a tower on Tory Island; Cian reached her with the druidess Birog's help, and their son Lugh killed Balor with a sling stone that drove the eye out through the back of his head. Lebor Gabála also makes him the killer of Macha.
Modern Practice
Approached as an adversary who is named rather than a patron: the eye is used as an image for blight, tyranny and the gaze that kills, and the work is to put the stone through it. Modern practice keeps him at the edge of the circle, not at its centre.