Inspiration for Your Book of Shadows

In a world of online life and digital record-keeping, the lost art of paper journaling might seem best relegated to a bygone era.

But keeping a Book of Shadows is a rewarding experience and a lovely way to pass on the secrets of your tradition. Here are a few pages from mine to inspire you.

I like recording holiday traditions in my Book of Shadows.  Over the years, I have collected some unique rituals and celebration ideas.  I reference these sections during Sabbats over and over.

Book of Shadows
Litha ritual notes.
Ritual notes.
Ritual notes.
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Samhain ritual notes.

Many are fans of the Old World style grimoires.  If this is you, there are lots of awesome options out there for you, including handmade, leather bound blank books with real parchment and covers with detailed embossing.

Personally, I like to include modern references as well as ancient ones.

In this passage on sex and spirituality, instead of including a more traditional love goddess from one of the classical pantheons, I used a postcard of Marilyn Monroe, who was, in her own way, a modern-day Venus.  References modern-era pop culture like this help me to see the “magic” living in the world around me.  Thinking outside the typical “Book of Shadows box” creates a unique, expressive grimoire with personal meaning.

book of shadows
Sex and Spirituality notes.

Similarly, in this collection of beauty and glamor spells, I included images of 20th century beauty icons like Angelina Jolie and Elizabeth Taylor.

Beauty Spells for the Modern Witch
Beauty Spells for the Modern Witch

Of course, I have also made many notes on traditional goddesses from different pantheons that I found unique or interesting.

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In this passage, I recorded my thoughts on the Greek goddess Iris.  Iris is the goddess of the rainbow, which symbolizes the bridge between worlds.  In Greek mythology, Iris passes messages to the gods.

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Notes on the Greek rainbow goddess, Iris.

I’ve had this beautiful, elaborate love spell in my Book for over 10 years.  Every time someone close to me asks for a love spell, I pass this one on as you would a baking recipe to a close friend.

love spell page
Love spell.

That’s all for now.  I would love to see some of your Books as well, so please do share!

book of shadows wide

7 Comments

  1. A few months back I completed reorganizing, and recreating roughly 30 years worth of witchery into my all-new and updated BOS. I’m grateful for the use of my computer though. My hands and fingers (thanks to arthritis and rheumatism) don’t necessarily work as well as they used to. Plus, I’ve found that keeping a BOS on the computer (and wisely backing up the information onto another hard drive or DVD disc) is recommended in case your computer takes an unexpected dump.

    In any case, I recreated my BOS utilizing a 3 ring binder, and sheet protectors. And once all my ritual work and so forth was updated, I simply printed everything up, and re-placed all the information into the “new” BOS complete with a “Table of Contents”.

  2. Very lovely! Ten years maintaining it must mean there’s lots of love put into that book. 🙂

  3. Hi! I love your blog, I just wanted to say that this helped me a lot. Although I unfortunately can not create my book of shadows on paper, I am going to create one on my blog! This helped me learn for future references when I am able to create my own book 🙂

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