Your Book of
Shadows is your most important form of record keeping and
a reflection of your piritual journey. It is an ever-evolving
volume, or volumes, that will change and grow along side of
the individual creating it. It becomes a record of all of
your magickal workings, spells, and their results, as well
as, any knowledge you have gleaned along the spiritual path
you have chosen.
Since our tools are such personal
extensions of ourselves I think it is difficult to tell someone
what they "have to" do when building one. We create
unique book by recording those sacred individual events and
all those things that are holy to you. Ultimately your Book
of Shadows is your reference manual on you spiritual path.
There are guidelines that are generally followed by most people
that I know and by myself. I have included them here and hope
you find some measure of help from them. Be aware that if
you feel something more or less should go into yours then
you should be sure to follow that instinct. I will refer to
the Book of Shadows as a BOS, henceforth, in this article.
My private BOS is actually
3 separate volumes kept in three ring binders. One binder
is titled Potions and Recipes and contains things such as
recipes for bath and toiletries, cakes and ale and crafting
projects. The second section titled Spells contains ritual
and spell work (wow! What a concept! J) and the third section
titled Grimoire contains all the correspondences, information
and lore that I have studied and used in my journey. You might
use this method yourself and perhaps keep a separate journal
in a blank bound book or in another binder.
There are those who like to
use blank bound books for their BOS and they add to them,
as needed along with their journal entries. There are drawbacks
to this option that should be considered. These drawbacks
do not make the task impossibility. They just must be thought
about, and measures taken, to see that they do not create
any problems. One should number all the pages and create a
table of contents in the beginning of the book and/or and
index in the back of the book. Although, time consuming to
begin with, this will save you countless hours of running
through the book page by page when you need a particular correspondence,
spell or ritual. I have seen books done with this method and
the owner simply used the book from front to back and when
the book was full they created an alphabetical index in the
last several pages and then just used a new book to continue
on.
To many people, keeping a
BOS in their own hand is the only way that is acceptable.
Actually there are some traditions that demand such. There
are benefits to this method, one of which is that a person
will absorb much of the information while doing the actual
writing in their book. Something to consider if you decided
on this method is that you will be filling the book with your
own unique energies while writing. This will make a personal
and tangible connection between you and your book.
I find nothing wrong with
using one's computer, with its variety of fonts and graphics,
to create a book that is not only beautiful but also unique
and easy to read. There are those who wish to keep their books
on disk in order that they may replace or rewrite sections
with ease. I use a combination of these methods. I write my
book with a computer program and keep it on disk, but I also
print the hard copy whose information I keep in the different
sections I explained earlier. I also cover each page with
a sheet protector. This has saved me on many an occasion!
Dripped wax, spilled wine, water and oils are all hazards
around your beautifully created pages. The sheet protectors
offer one resolution to these problems that will, again, save
you not only time copying or reprinting items that are ruined
but also the paper you would normally have had to replace.
Many beautifully bound books
are available for purchase. You may also wish to create your
own unique volume. Fabric may be used to either cover or create
a storage bag for your BOS. Silk, wool, linen or cotton are
good choices if you prefer natural fibers (or your tradition
requires it), or velvet or satin are nice if you like other
"posh" fabrics. If you wish to put herbs in the
cover of your book, you might do so by wrapping or gluing
the outer cover in fabric and sandwiching the herbs between
the book cover and the fabric. You might also decide to prepare
a fabric bag in which to store your book and any herbs you
may choose can be put into the bottom of the bag. You may
also wish to sew the herbs into the walls of the bag if you
are creating a lined bag.
A dedication
A protection spell for the book
A blessing
Table of Contents
Glossary of terms
Traditions in Wicca
Magickal Ethics-Wiccan Rede, Laws of Return, etc.
Beliefs & Doctrine
Paranormal studies
Herbalism
Recipes
Ritual and holiday foods
Bath Salts
Oils
Incense
Meade and other drink
Correspondences
Amulets
Planetary hours
Color magick
Crystal, gemstones and minerals
Elements
Herbs, Plants and Trees
Wheel of the Year
Moon Phases
Chakras
Animal Totems
Oils
Incenses
Days of the week
Planets
Months of the Year
Dream interpretation
Magickal Symbolism and Alphabets
Crafts
Listing of Books and Sacred Texts
Divination studies
Dowsing
Egg
Smoke, Flame, Fire
Astrology
Runes
Scrying
Pendulum
Phallomancy
Palmistry
Tarot
Tealeaves
Numerology
I-ching
Face Reading
Pedomancy
Gastromancy
Kumalak
Playing Cards
Ouiji
Tyromancy
Phyllorhodomancy
Onychomancy
Omphalomancy
Uromancy
Medicine Cards
Shamanism
Wheel of the Year-traditions
Rituals & Spells-actual rituals and spells along with
outcomes for those performed
Circle Casting
Cleansing and Consecration
Blessings
Quarter calls
Meditations
Prayers
Candle magick
Ritual Construction
Rites of Passage
Invocations
Music/Chants
Tools
Web-weaving-a list of contacts and web addresses
Dragon Lore
Fairy Lore
Humor
Index
| Authors Details: Your Book of Shadows
by Dawn Walenda |
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