The Book of Shadows

What is a Book of Shadows?

The Book of Shadows can be regarded as a spiritual diary.

It is a place to hold details of anything you wish to record about your journey on this path. Typical entries would include trancework, knowledge of herbs/oils/crystals and suchlike, spellcasting, the wiccan year, any observances of the changing seasons, plans for rituals, symbolism, dreams you've had or poems you like or have written.

The Book of Shadows, like an everyday diary, should be kept secretly as it is personal to you. (After reading this you may be wondering, 'If they're meant to be secret, why are they on the web?'. Well simply, what you see on the web are resources for use by others in their own personal BOS. Like here, for instance, I have chosen to regroup all my knowledge pages under the title BOS, because then, you (the reader) will instantly know it is my collected knowledge. Whether it is from the recesses of my own mind or the Collective.

If you were to join a coven, then you would most likely copy from the coven's own BOS. But if you decide to go it alone (the hedgewitch way, solitary) then it is up to you what you put in it.

A word of warning though, as with all things magickal and spiritual, whatever you use for your own Book of Shadows, (as is the case with spellworking) don't use recycled material as any negative energy held in the material could dampen or hinder your use for it.