First of all Happy Yule! I hope everyone is having a fantastic Winter Solstice. It's the darkest day of the year but the sun's been born and it only gets brighter from here!
Today we are going to talk about what a book of shadows (BoS) is and what kind of stuff one would put in their book of shadows.
So a book of shadows is like a journal about Wicca. If you're in a coven you may have a book of shadows for the whole coven and then you'd also have your own solitary book of shadows. A book of shadows can come in many forms. You can have a regular journal, you can have a binder, you can put it on your computer, etc. It is typically preferred to have it handwritten though as it makes it a lot more personal. Also, there is usually some sort of division between information about the religion and your personal thoughts and what not and then the actual practical work like rituals and spells. Some people have 2 separate books but I personally just divided my BoS in half. So half is info and the other half is practical. Some people also like to decorate their book on the outside and do decorations and whatnot on all the pages. Other people, like myself, just bought a pretty BoS and I don't decorate the pages. I just write in them.
For a lot of Wiccan's their book of shadows is extremely personal and they won't let anyone else see it. Some Wiccan's have physical locks on their books, other's have sigils or spells cast on their book to keep people either away or have it so anything an unwanted reader tries from their book will be unsuccessful.
So as for the practical side of a BoS there isn't much to talk about. There's rituals, spells, I also have poems, and just stuff like that. For the info side my BoS starts off with the Wiccan rede (which we talked about in the last post), I have 13 goals of being a Wiccan (which one can find on google), my Wiccan path, what deities I worship, info on all the sabbats and traditions I have for them, and I have info on how to read a birth chart. I am just starting my BoS so I am still in the midst of getting basic info in. Other things you can add is info about the elements, how to cast a circle, info on crystals, info on herbs, info on different Wiccan tools, and anything else you deem important.
That's mostly it for the Book of Shadows. If anyone has any questions about a BoS or anything else about Wicca please feel free to ask..... I think it might be fun to do a Q+A if I could get enough questions regarding the religion or any particulars about me in relation to the craft (i.e how I got into it, what my family thinks of it ect).... so if you think that would be fun you should let me know in the comments and leave some questions. I'll also probably talk about some smaller things that doesn't warrant it's own mytake but are still important.
The next post will be about different Wiccan paths and traditions (different denominations of Wicca).
Check out some of my earlier posts through these links: The Wiccan Rede: Part 11, More About Spells: Part 10, Wiccan Rituals: Part 9
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