Create a Book of Shadows

A Book of Shadows is a personal record of spells and beliefs, typical to Witchcraft and Wiccan traditions. Each one is individual, and most often very private.

Steps

  1. Decide how you are going to keep your Book of Shadows. You can keep it on your computer, in a spiral notebook, in a binder, or in a journal. Many people use binders because of the ability to shuffle pages around and create sections.
  2. Lay down a statement of your beliefs. What do you believe in? Who are your patron gods/goddesses, if any? Do you follow the Wiccan Rede or the Threefold Law? Do you believe in spell casting, or only in ritualistic worship? These questions and more can help you get a better sense of your beliefs and put them on paper. (you do not have to do this if you don't want to.)
  3. Write down any rituals or spells you have created, step by step. Date all your entries for future reference.
  4. Write down any rituals or spells you perform as well as influences such as moon phases etc, and what the results are. You can look back on these later and see how you are progressing, or what you may be able to do differently.
  5. Include chants, poetry, stories, artwork, etc, whether created by yourself or others. As long as it inspires you, or honors the God/Goddess, it is fair game.
  6. All BOS need to have correspondence pages. At least the basics such as the moon phases and their meanings, basic color charts.
  7. It may be a good idea to keep a table of contents so that you can find things easily in your BOS. It makes finding the correct Ritual, Spell, charm, Etc. much faster and can help make the ritual, spell, charm, etc. run more smoothly.

Tips

  • Scope out crafts stores for embellishments, stickers, and other scrapbooking goodies for use in your book.
  • Computer-based Books of Shadows aren't traditional (yet), but you may find this method considerably easier to maintain than a dead-tree version. Note-taking programs, such as Google Notebook, Evernote, or MS Office OneNote, are useful for this purpose. Remember to back it up--you might want to keep a Thumb Drive of Shadows. Since it is not a physical book, there is less of a chance that others may stumble upon it. Password protection can also be used. If you need a page with you for a ritual, you can always print it off and destroy it afterwards.

Things You'll Need

  • A notebook, binder, dividers, etc.
  • Pens and pencils
  • Colored pencils and glue or other crafty kit for any decorations
  • A computer
  • If you have created one, a list/outline of things you want to put in your Book of Shadows

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