Book Of Shadows

Book of Shadows (BOS)

Description: Traditionally, a black covered book, filled with rituals, meditations, and spells, written by hand on parchment paper. Our coven uses a 3-ring binder, and puts the parchment paper in "plastic sheets" to protect them from candle wax and spilled wine, but they are still hand copied. Many covens have their BOS on disk, for easy storage and passing down. If you are a solitary, you can choose to use any medium you prefer. If you are going to work within a tradition, you will probably receive the "coven" BOS which should not be changed in any fashion, but handed down complete and "as is". If anything is added to the coven BOS, it is added by the HP and HPS only, and is duly notated as to the date and circumstances of the addition.

Element: If I were to assign one, it would be of Spirit.

Uses: This is your record of your journey through the sacred space of your life and your learning and growing in the Craft. Regardless of whether a witch is solitary or traditional coven, each witch should have her own BOS. In it will be detailed your magickal workings, and their outcomes, your personal mediations and observations, and anything that you find important or that you wish to include. My first BOS was a beautiful book I received as a gift, with gold leaf edges on the pages, and blank inside. I had to add "tabs" after a while to find things, but I still refer back to it for certain spells and rituals that I wrote. Since then I have several more that are filled or partially so, and there is no limit on how many BOS a witch can have! You may want to have one for just magickal workings, and use it as a magickal diary, another for just rituals and poetry, and maybe another for your personal meditations and insights into your life. This is a powerful tool for spiritual and personal growth