Part 3 in my series about the spiritual toys and tools that have remained a part of my practice (or are part of it again, or have become important to me since I’ve started getting my groove back).
One of the things that I always loved about Wicca and its relatives was the idea of a Book of Shadows.
For those unaware, a BoS can be a lot of things to a lot of people. In some traditions the material in it is handed down upon initiation, and is either passed down verbatim or added to by the practitioner. In some traditions the whole thing is your own to create or curate. Some people use it as a journal of rituals, magical work, and divination; others use it strictly as a “cookbook” where they write down spells and rituals, both of their own composition and those copied from books or online. Some people keep two books, one a cookbook and one a journal.
A lot of people use some sort of handmade or beautiful bound book; some use a computer file. I’ve seen some that are sort of both nowadays that you can keep on your tablet but make look like a book using Goodnotes or another notes app. You young’uns and your technomancy!
There’s no right or wrong when it comes to a BoS (which some call a grimoire, others using one term for a journal and one for a spellbook) I’ve had several over the course of my magical career and the only kind I never could really warm up to was the digital variety. Keeping a BoS appeals to my love of pretty notebooks and journaling supplies. My last one was a gorgeous thin book of handmade paper I got at a local bookshop; I wrote in it all by hand, did all the borders and doodles, and nearly filled it up before it became obsolete for my practice.
Okay, there’s ONE “wrong” in a BoS, and that is not crediting your sources. Add where you got a ritual or poem somewhere on the page, both because it’s the ethical thing to do, and so that you can find it again if something happens to your book!
Last year I started a new one. I dubbed it my Book of Moonlight and Shadows, as the duality of shadow and light are very important to my practice, and have combined illustrations, poetry, prayers, and records of Tarot readings so far. I’m absolutely in love with the overall style I have going, so I wanted to show off a few pages here. Notice that you can see the new knob I got for my altar drawer to replace the boring wood one it came with.
Supplies used will be linked at the bottom if you wish to check them out.
Not pictured are images of Tarot readings, as those are extra personal. Those pages utilize a lot more washi tape and glued-in images. I’m considering moving my divinatory records to my bullet journal and making my planner much Witchier, in the same vein as Jessica Starr does in this video:
If you’re interested in any of the supplies I used, here are some links. They are not affiliate links and I receive no compensation, I just wanted to share things I enjoy using.
- Notebook: Archer & Olive A5 hardcover dot grid notebook, 160 gsm, Silver Crescent with silver edges.
- Washi tape: Fox & Cactus Witchy Vibes in purple with silver foil; they don’t currently have this one but they often have other colors of the same design, such as this one in black with holo foil. The set I got came with a narrow tape that’s just moons and stars. If you’re hell-bent on getting hold of some of a design that’s sold out, you can try Etsy shops that specialize in samples of limited edition and hard-to-find tapes, like MyLove4Washi.
- Drawing Pencil: Uni Kuru Toga Mechanical Pencil, 0.5mm – I love the Kuru Toga because it rotates the lead as you write/draw, so it’s nearly impossible to break the lead. Another one like the Kuru is the Zebra DelGuard.
- Fineliner Pens: Uni Pin Pen, pigment ink, size 03 and 05 in black.
- Colored Pencils: Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils, set of 120
- Eraser: Pentel Clic Eraser (not just for mistakes – eraser is an important tool w/colored pencil for lightening layers)