Artist: Unknown

A Book of Shadows:

What is it?

A Book of Shadows (commonly abbreviated to BoS) is also sometimes referred to as a Book of Light.  The name Book of Shadows is believed to have derived from the persecution of witches in the Middle Ages.  Some people believed that the fact that a working-class citizen could write proved that they were witches but, this point aside, finding a book of spells or other witchcraft-related information would have resulted in an instant charge of witchcraft.  The books and pages were therefore hidden, or placed in the shadows, hence the term ‘Book of Shadows’.

It is simply a collection of your magickal information to date. It does not need to be passed down to you – you can start your own today!  But, obviously a family BoS would be far more nostaligic, pertinent, interesting and (probably) powerful than a ‘first generation’ BoS.  It can quite easily become a family heirloom to be passed down to your chldren, who may add to it and pass it down to theirs – imagine the possibilities!

You don’t need to be Wicca to have a BoS.  Any Witch (a witch is simply someone who practises witchcraft, irrespective of what religion they belong to) should have one in which to keep their collection of spells, correspondences, divination, and any other magickal information which they want to keep together in one place.

A BoS can take any form that you want it to, or which you feel would best suit the magickal information that you currently possess and would like to add to in the future.  If you wish, you could invest your hard-earned cash in a one of the many (expensive) BoS’s currently available on the market.  But there are other alternatives:

1.        A filing cabinet full of files could very well be your BoS.  Each file would represent a different subject and they could be easily swapped around, added to and taken out according to your needs.

2.        A box containing all your information as loose-leaf pages.  The box can be as ornate or simple as your tastes and budget allow – and the contents are entirely at your own discretion, as only you know what information you wish to retain for future reference.

3.        A notebook or scrap-book would work as well as anything else.  You could decorate it (or not) to your own personal preferences.

4.        A lever-arch file in which you can organise your information (possibly with the use of divider cards).  The file can be covered in a material of your choosing and would build up in volumes as your BoS grows throughout your lifetime.

5.        A pc hard drive, floppy disk, or series of floppy disks.  This has the added advantage that you can ‘search’ the entries in your BoS.  A major disadvantage is that you can hardly haul your pc into your circle during ritual or spell-work!  You’d need to be constantly printing out the entries that you require as the need arises.  Another major point to make on this is to do a regular BACKUP of your data – one inopportune power failure and your whole BoS could literally disappear into thin air.

The possibilities are endless – and you will no doubt have more ideas as to what kind of BoS you want for your own use.

If you are not the only Witch in your family, you also have the choice of whether to have a Family BoS, a personal BoS – or you may decide to have both.  The choice is yours.  There is no real difference between the two – you may just prefer to have your own personal BoS – or perhaps you have spells/rituals that you’d prefer not to share with others.  Perhaps there is an area that only you are interested in (eg. Astrology) which no-one else is and it would therefore make more sense to insert this in your personal BoS than to clutter up the Family BoS with information that only you would use. 

If you become a member of a Coven, you would also have access to the Coven BoS and it is customary to copy sections of this into your personal BoS as part of your first year training – though this would obviously differ from coven to coven.

You must then decide where to keep your BoS (assuming it is in material form and not on pc).  If you have an open and accepting household then you may wish to keep it in open view.  If not, then you would obviously wish to keep it away from the eyes of those who would only critcise its contents (or mere existence).  Not only would this be distressing for yourself, but the negative energy would be attached to the BoS and could have a disastrous effect on your magic, or brush off onto you when you use it.  For this reason, some people keep their BoS ‘under lock and key’ and no-one else is allowed to see it or touch it at all – this ensures that the only energy on the BoS would be your own.  Only you know what kind of household you live in – and therefore only you can make the decision as to how best to store your BoS.  Should your BoS inadvertantly be exposed to negative ‘vibes’ you may wish to perform a cleansing ritual to remove this negative energy from it.

If your BoS is a ‘hard’ copy (ie. it’s not on pc) then it is traditional to perform a dedication ceremony on it prior to use, dedicating this item to your magickal workings and perhaps also consecrating it to remove any negative energy that may be lucking amongst the pages.  During this ceremony, you would most probably insert herbs underneath the covers, designed to repel negativity.  Part of this initial ceremony would also entail blessing the book.  You may use a standard Book Blessing (there are plenty of them around) or for added power, you could write your own.  This Blessing (in its written form) would be the first page of your BoS.

Amongst all of the information contained in a BoS, some Witches choose to draw charms, runes, hieroglyphs, etc designed to constantly protect the BoS.  These can be added as and when you add the information (as part of a formal protection/consecration ritual or not).  You may also wish to intersperse certain pages (at your discretion) with herbs designed for luck, power, banishing negative enrgy, attracting positive energy, etc. – the choice is endless!

Some Witches prefer to write their BoS in a type of code (see Magickal Alphabets) to prevent unwanted eyes from reading their personal information.  Although, if you kept it locked away (or had no objection to people reading it or knowing what it contains) then there is no need for this.  The first stage in this procedure would obviously be to memorise a suitable alphabet to use.  You would need to know this alphabet ‘like the back of your hand’ to enable you to be able to read your BoS without having to first painstakingly decipher it.  The choice is yours.

So, now you’re probably wondering what sort of information you are expected to keep in your new BoS …..

~~o00o~~

BASIC OUTLINE OF BOOK OF SHADOWS CONTENTS

Obviously, if you have no interest in a particular subject you would not include it in your BoS and, likewise, if there is a subject in which you have an interest or experience, then you can also add this.  The following list is by no means a definitive Contents list - simply a guide.  The choice is yours...