Basic Book of Shadows

Basics of Magick: Book of Shadows

The Book of Shadows, or Bos, is the one tool I actually use and enjoy. It can be a record of everything in your magical practice or path, or it can contain only the spells that you have cast. My book has everything in it. Most of what I post here comes out of my book.

Sections I have in my book:

Herbs

Crystals

Divination

Beliefs

Prayers

Spells

Rituals

Symbols

Reference

Correspondence

Holy Days

Astrology

Basics

Beginner information

Those are just some of the sections. I have others that pertain to my path as well.

A Bos can be made from anything. A cheap notebook, a three ring binder, an artists sketch book, a scrapbook, OneNote, Word Pad, or paper stapled together. The list goes on. Anything that strikes you as suitable for you bos is perfect.

No one has to ever see your book unless you wan them too. I started mine with a prayer and a dedication. After that I just put things in it as I saw fit. In almost 16 years my book, well books actually, never cease to amaze me. They show what I have learned, what I want to learn, the changes in my beliefs and my practices over the years. A bos can be a great record of your craft and the progress you have made on the path.

You can find many templates on what to put in a bos, some pagan shops sell premade pages for them. Don?t worry about it being perfect. Place in it what you choose to and what you want to. I have pressed flowers in some, pictures in others. It is your book, and you are the best judge of what to use it for.

taken from my blog on tumblr: http://paganmoxie.tumblr.com

How to make a Book of Shadows
NordStar
Date: tbd
Materials:
a form of media for writing (i.e. pen/pencil and paper, notebook, binder, computer, tablet, phone, etc.)
any information you have on the craft
Imagination
Patience
Self-love

If you google how to make a book of shadows, you will get about 11 million links. I’m going to show you how to make a simple book of shadows. This will be good for those just starting out and not a bad thing for those that want a smaller one to carry around with them.
Lesson 1
A Book of Shadows (BoS) is a witch’s record of her/his magical journey. It can be as complex or as simple as one chooses to make it. Pick something you feel you will use. Loose leaf paper and a binder are rather inexpensive and many students have those on hand, a notebook (Size of your choice), a word processing program, anything you have on hand that you are willing to work with. Remember, this is a start. It does not have to be perfect.
To start we will address the different sections to put into a book of shadows. The first thing to understand is, there is no right way or wrong way to do this. The book is yours. Do it the way you feel it should be done. Choose the sections that speak to you or don’t use sections. My first book of shadows was information written in a note book, not catergorized.
Many start their book of shadows with a blessing to the god/goddess they follow. Some just write a simple blessing for the work itself. I have also heard of some who put a spell on the book to keep people from snooping through it. All are acceptable and up to the owner.
I would like us to start with a simple blessing or statement of intent for the work.

Blessing:
Earth, air, fire and water
Bless this work and the one who creates it.
Earth bless this work as a solid foundation of my practice,
Air bless this work with insight and wisdom,
Fire bless this work with protection,
Water bless this work with peace.

Statement of intent:
This work I set forth as a foundation for my path.
I shall record the wisdom I learn
I shall make this work honest and true
This work shall be a guide post on my journey.

The words you use should have meaning to you. Write your blessing or statement of intent on the first page.

Now we will review some different sections we can put into the book. Sections include, but are not limited to:
Deities
Beliefs (Wicca, Vodou, Magic, path specific things)
Holy days
Correspondence charts
Spells
Herbs
Crystals
Divination
Rituals
Journal
Resources
Signs and symbols
This list can go on for a long time or can be much shorter. Depends on what you are looking for. More sections can help to keep things organized. For me, less is more. I have only about 8 sections in my current book of shadows. Main topic you might call them, everything else fits into one of those. The sections should be put in an order that speaks to you. As my craft and my religion are separate, I put the religion stuff toward the end.
Deities:
This is the section for the Gods and Goddesses you may already be working with. This is where you record who they are, what they do, what offerings they like, and any other information you can think of.
Beliefs:
This is where your personal and path specific beliefs go. Are you Wiccan? Gardnarian? Alexandrian? Folk Witch? Kitchen Witch? Whatever you are, this is where you keep information pertaining to that path.
Holy Days:
What holy days do you follow? How do you follow them? What do they mean to you? What is there history?
Correspondence Charts:
Moon phase, intent, herb, crystal, timing, astrological sign, colors, and days of the week. There are many different types of correspondence charts. Place the ones you use here. I’m not big on the charts. I hyperlinked one into my word document. Click and go. Put only what you use. Don’t put in anything and everything you can find. It will make the book cumbersome and annoying to deal with.
Spells:
Here is where you can record your spells, spells you want to try, your results (success and failure). Potions, brews, oils, etc can all go in here. I find that detailing the issue and what I used to deal with it are generally helpful. Later when a similar issue comes up, I can return to this section and find some solutions.
Herbs and Crystals:
These sections are for the uses of the items. Which ones you like to use, what you have on hand, and most importantly, the shopping list of what you need to pick up because you are out.
Divination:
Here you can record the types of divination you have used and record your sessions. Similar to how you would record a spell. Detail the situation, record the reading. Also a handy place to keep a list of tips and techniques for different divination methods.
Rituals:
Any and all ritual information that you use can go here.
Journal:
I like to record thoughts when reading books here. Things that pop into mind from time to time about magic, spells, etc. This is also a good place for recording dreams, listing topics to research, and general information.
Resources:
This is where I list books and articles I have read. Author, title, publisher, number of pages, and a quick thought on the book or article. This is also a good place to write down website addresses for places you shop from, get information from, etc.
Signs and Symbols:
The sign and symbol and meaning. A reference for you to return to later. This works especially well if you are learning a ‘magical alphabet’ to write your book of shadows or spells in.
Okay, now that we have covered that, all be it loosely, it is time to put the book together.
Some tips on organization:
If you are using a binder, tabs work wonders, figure out how many sections you want and put in that many tabs. If you are using a note book you can make tabs with a cut up index card taped to a page. You can also shade a line of the sheet in a specific color and place for a particular section, index them on the last page of the notebook. (http://lifehacker.com/mark-page-line-edges-to-organize-your-paper-notebook-1621183184)
Microsoft word:
If you use Microsoft word, you can make your bos in that. You can create a template or use one of theirs. Add Hyperlinks to sites you use frequently, book mark your table of contents to your document for quick navigation

OneNote method:

With OneNote you can make a section for each topic you want and than put the information in that section. Makes it easy to move things around and you can draw, add spreadsheets, hyperlink, add photos and a whole lot more
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- Don’t fret about making it perfect. Just set up a basic list of what sections you want and dedicate a portion of the book to that section.
- Like a particular color? Use it for writing your book.
- Don’t like the cover, put a different one on. Make a book cover for your book.
- This book is for you, no one else.

Assignment: Make a bos and post pictures or tell me about it.

Wanted to say thank you for teaching this class in the chatter earlier today and for posting this here in the forums. As I expressed earlier: I had not looked much into a BoS because I had pre-conceived ideas that it was more path specific or something Wicca-y, and I hadn't thought in a more broad sense about how it can essentially be used in nearly any practice. I realized that in many ways, I've already created a BoS of sorts with my own written works and compiled notes on research that I've kept bundled together.

I might work on making a printed version of all this and make my own BoS with a little heathen flair :)

I often think the name is what puts people off from it. In reality we could call it any thing we want to. Mine is titled with my tumblr name, Pagan Moxie, I've titled others before as a way to make it my own.

What a wonderful read! I have already been gathering research, starting to write more of my own in a notebook here and there. I have a dream log, an oracle reading log. But I think I will start using my three ring jewel covered binder. I want to start filling it out and making an offical BoS. I will work on how I want to name and bless my book as well. Make it offical.

As a continuation of Katahdin's work (as her student of this course), I would like to share how I build things and how it's relevant to me. This is likely a tomorrow thing.

Can't wait to see Eis! <3