THE BALANCER
The Forty Servants in Theory & Practice
Hello, good people of the internet, and welcome to The Forty Servants in Theory and Practice, a series where I take a deeper look into the philosophy, use, and evolution of The Forty Servants system, drawing on nearly a decade of hands-on experience and magical experimentation.
Each entry in this free section of the series will focus on one Servant at a time, offering background insight, design history, divination reflections, shadow aspects, magical applications, and how my personal understanding of each has shifted or deepened over the years.
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So, let's go…
The Balancer
This Servant shows us how to keep our lives balanced and in harmony. She encourages us to bring balance into all areas of our lives.
ARTWORK
While the artwork for The Balancer was used as part of my previously mentioned Art Print Series that I tried to sell on Etsy and Ebay, I’m not sure if I originally drew it for that.
The oldest version I have of it is in greyscale and is titled “Peace Girl”. While I am not 100% sure why I did it originally, it’s a good guess that it was intended as a visual representation of inner peace and the space between opposites. Or maybe it was meant for use as a title card for the blog. I don’t honestly remember.
The original version has The Balancer floating in front of a classical Yin-Yang symbol. When adapting it for The Forty Servants, I wanted to maintain that duality symbolism while tying it more closely to the desert and cosmic aesthetic found across several of the other Servants images such as The Adventurer, The Seer, The Father, and arguably The Road Opener and The Depleted.
The background was also reworked into a dramatic day/night split, with one side illuminated by a glowing Sun and the other bathed in the colder light of the Moon. The divide is stark but hopefully not too jarring, and the servant herself floats directly on the line, as does the Sigil.
The Balancer’s pose is the classical “as above so below”, “solve et coagula” or the “symbolisation of the equilibrium of opposites”, with her right hand pointing up and the left point down. Baphomet and the Magician from the Tarot use the same pose. There is duality in her posture, with one hand raised almost like a peaceful greeting, and the other hand pointing downward, evoking grounding and connection.
This pose is similar enough to The Adventurer, but is noticeably different. The Adventurer is more open and facing upwards with her arm outstretched. The Balance is more restrained, more moderate, and well… more balanced.
To me, there's something oddly serene, yet powerful, about the image.
THE SIGIL
The sigil of The Balancer is a minimalist interpretation of a weighing scale, which reminds me of Anubis and his “Weighing of the Heart”. The idea was to capture the idea of equilibrium, two sides evenly measured, but when I drew that it just looked like a cross and so hard to distinguish between it and The Healer’s sigil. So I slanted it to one side, which unarguably means it's unbalanced. But drawing it or seeing it as it makes us, or at least me, want to “fix” it, to balance it, and so the sigil is something that makes you want to balance things out. There is a need to straighten it up and make it level.
Use the sigil when you need to balance or recalibrate emotionally, spiritually, mentally, physically, or even logistically. Her sigil is useful for diffusing overreactions, centring scattered energy, or grounding you before a tense conversation.
Draw it on your planner, your diary, your wallet, or your mirror. Keep it in your wallet. Not sure anyone actually uses chequebooks any more, but if so, it would be a perfect place to draw it. Write it on bills, bank statements, or anything that you want to financially balance. Place it on a contract where you want the power or results to be divided fairly and equally.
Meditate on it when you feel overwhelmed, or like life is tipping too far in one direction. Feel the pull for the sigil to right itself and level out. Notice how it being to one side feels unnatural, and how all creation longs for it to return to rest in the middle.
Place it near places where energy tends to escalate, such as workspaces, bedrooms, kitchens, the family dinner table, and rehearsal rooms, and let it act as a gentle harmoniser.
If you’re being pulled in too many directions or feel your workplace is tipping into toxic extremes, draw her sigil under your desk or place it discreetly in your workspace. Ask her to help stabilise the atmosphere and restore fairness, both in workload and interactions.
DIVINATION
When The Balancer appears in a reading, it’s a sign that something is tilting too far off-centre. There may not be outright chaos, but something’s definitely skewed. Are you overworking? Under-resting? Saying “yes” to too much, or maybe hiding from responsibilities under the guise of “self-care”?
The Balancer asks: Where are you overdoing it? Where are you under-doing it? Where are you focusing on too much, and where are you ignoring?
It might show up when your priorities have shifted, either consciously or unconsciously, and now your time, energy, or attention is being drained in one direction. It may be a warning that the pace you’re currently keeping isn’t sustainable.
Or perhaps it’s an invitation to step back and make peace with the push-pull of life without trying to force it all to be equal. Some days you win and are on top of everything, other days are a slog and nothing works. Sometimes one area will demand more, but only temporarily. The Balancer reminds us that this is fine as long as we consciously aim to return to our centre and aren’t focusing on one thing to the detriment of other things we also cherish or need.
It can also signal a call to restore fairness in your relationships. Are you giving too much and receiving too little? Are you being overly controlling? Or perhaps you’re leaning too hard into passivity, waiting for others to fix what you could begin to adjust yourself?
In health readings, it can mean your physical, mental, or emotional inputs are off-kilter. Spiritually, it might suggest you’ve tipped too far into logic, or too far into dreaminess. Maybe you are overly relying on magick and not on doing the mundane legwork.
The Balancer isn’t about overcorrecting or militantly making sure everything gets equal attention, but more an aim for everything being in harmony.
SHADOW REVERSAL
Reversals in The Forty Servants don’t signify the opposite of the normal energy of the Servant but more a dysfunctional version of it, or a detrimental misuse or misunderstanding of the qualities.
In its shadow form, The Balancer becomes obsessive. Maybe you’re chasing an unrealistic vision of “perfect balance” and driving yourself mad in the process. You’ve turned balance into a performance, or a shield to hide behind. Does everything have to be “perfect” in order for you to be happy? Can you be OK with something not being in its correct place? If not, why? What is the underlying need?
Sometimes the reversed Balancer shows up when we fear balance or when part of us enjoys the extremes. Possibly you like being in the centre of drama. Potentially, you’ve become so comfortable in chaos that stillness feels boring.
Or perhaps you’re overcompensating, trying to please everyone, and losing your own centre in the process.
There can also be a fear of confrontation disguised as “balance” where you never pick a side because you’re too afraid to cause disruption. But neutrality isn’t always noble. Sometimes refusing to tip the scale means you’re enabling the imbalance. Not picking a side is often also picking a side.
Are you trying to hold together that should probably fall apart? Balance is harmony, and sometimes harmony can only occur when we let go of something.
MAGICK
Magically, The Balancer is excellent for restoring harmony where chaos or extremes have taken hold. She can help stabilise emotional turmoil, help calm the inner critic, and help reset spiritual or energetic burnout. She’s also a powerful ally in helping with relationships, especially when things feel one-sided or when conflict needs tempering rather than inflaming.
To work with The Balancer, try invoking her presence by staring at her sigil or artwork and then speaking out loud to her, as if she were in the room in front of you, about the situation you want to stabilise. You can also carry her sigil with you on a piece of paper, or drawn on a stone during particularly volatile days, or when you know there will be events or circumstances that need to be tamed.
Another good way to begin working magically with The Balancer is to create a simple altar space divided between opposites: black and white, light and dark, or any other polarity that reflects your current challenge. Place her card, artwork, or sigil in the centre as the axis point. Each day move the polarities closer together.
Her energy is particularly useful in reconciliation, moderation, peace-making, and financial balancing. Light two candles, one white, one black, and place her sigil between them. Breathe in, breathe out and find a place of calm within the storm, then ask for guidance on how to restore balance in your current situation.
While not her typical domain, The Balancer can be applied to bind situations that have become dangerously out of control, like cooling an overheated argument or halting a power dynamic that’s become abusive. Her strength here is de-escalation. She's the Servant who resets the scale rather than flipping the table.
When you work with The Balancer regularly, you may start to notice that things just… settle.
SERVANT COMBINATIONS
The Balancer works well with The Healer to bring physical or emotional healing through realignment. Ideal for inner work and burnout recovery. Use The Balancer and The Depleted to battle exhaustion by asking them to show where energy leaks are occurring and how to restore equilibrium.
Combining The Balancer with The Idea could help filter the creative influx into something manageable to prevent overwhelm, and then help build realistic plans.
Not as contradictory as it sounds, but combining The Balancer and The Opposer could help you pick battles wisely. Knowing when to stand your ground, and when to let go.
THE FORTY SERVANTS IN THEORY & PRACTICE SERIES SO FAR
ARTICLES:
THE WITCH
THE GATE KEEPER
THE MOTHER
THE FATHER
THE PROTECTOR
THE SAINT
THE CONDUCTOR
THE PROTESTER
THE IDEA
PATREON LECTURE VIDEOS:
001 — Introduction
002 — Beg, Borrow, Be.
003 — Art History
004 — The Book Of Pacts
005 — Pathworking Astral Addresses
And that's it for this time, I hope you got something good from it. If you'd like to chat about it, you can leave a comment below, or come find me on Bluesky!
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So, until next time,
MAY YOUR BEST DAYS BE AHEAD!
Tommie