Books

I'm looking for a "book of shadows" type book such as the one by silver ravenwolf, but I can't seem to find any that aren't Wicca based. Any suggestions? Tanks

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This thread has been moved to Magic Items from Misc Topics.

Since the term "Book of Shadows" was something largely coined by Gerald Gardner in the early days of Wicca, it is going to be somewhat difficult to find a Book of Shadows that isn't Wiccan based.

What exactly are you looking for? A book of spells? Something else?

If it is a book of spells that you are looking for then I would suggest "The Encyclopedia of 5000 spells" by Judika Illes.

Or you might try search the word "Grimoire" whiich is the traditional name for the book kept by ceremonial magicians and some traditional Witches.

I think I may try grimoire, thank you. I'm looking for something that is more an overview of witchcraft, with various sections on types of spells and ritual, timing, colors, sigils, etc. A pretty broad informational piece, just not based in Wicca.

Well you can just go back to the sources from which Wicca borrowed those things. The Golden Dawn for example. And then if you want to go even further to the source, simply read Agrippa. Everything concerning the basis of the Western Mystery Tradition's philosophy is in the three books of occult philosophy by Agrippa. It is just a very dry read.

If your interest is in correspondences you would be best reading a work which attempts to explain these, I know of a few good ones which are qabalah based, however, you could also just do your own research. Correspondences aren't universal if you are using tobacco to represent the energies of Mars you must know yourself why tobacco represents Mars- it must represent Mars for you.

You could literally read any medieval grimoire and find a large selection of timings, colours, nd sigils appropriate for rituals. Again, researching the Golden Dawn would give you their system of attribution wich they extrapolated from other sources.

If you are looking for more traditional witchcraft type stuff the works of Gemma Gary, Michael Howard, and Sophia diGregorio may interest you.

Other than that it is about researching the physical and metaphysical properties surrounding certain items and then researching myths and legends surrounding them, connecting the dots, experimenting and finding out the occult virtues hidden therein.