book of shadows

[treefae]

The original Book of Shadows Gardner created was actually called `Ye
Bok Ye Art Magical,' and like his later Book of Shadows, was bound in
a very old cover about knives, as Gardner wrote a few books on the
subject. In his later book, `High Magic's Aid,' he says that witches
keep rituals in a book known as a Book of Shadows. This book was
actually an East Indian book of funeral rituals (like the Egyptian
Book of the Dead) that was long ago lost.

http://darkart.homestead.com/

[Ron]

No. Gardner et al wrote his Book of Shadows. It is not some ancient East Indian 'lost gem' book.

Get informed.
Triumph of the Moon: A history of Modern Pagan Witchcraft by Prof. Ronald Hutton. (He's cool because we have the same first name.)

[Vervain]

I think treefae is saying that Gardner bound the Book with an old cover to make it appear old, not that the contents were old. And I, too, have heard that the title "Book of Shadows" was borrowed from Eastern sources, rather than coming from any pre-Wiccan witchcraft traditions or being created by Gardner himself.

[DebLipp]

"Ye Bok" was not Gardner's original BOS. The unique thing about "Ye Bok" was that it was set aside; it was no longer in use as a BOS. Gardner then added other things to it. Then it got lost and was found during the sale of the Ripley's collection.

It is pretty clear from current research that parts of "Ye Bok" were written by Gardner, parts were copied from published sources, and parts appear to have been copied from his Craft teachers.

Despite what Ron thinks, Hutton does not say that Gardner made it all up. Hutton does a good job of comparing uses of the word "witch," the development of ideas that became modern Wicca and Paganism, and does excellent work compiling secondary source material about Gardner and his group. However, he did not primary research into Gardner. Philip Heselton is the source for that, and he has put together a pretty good set of ideas about who Gardner's initiators were.

We don't know how far back they go, but it seems certain that Gardner was interacting with other people practicing various forms of Paganism and folk magic well before he wrote any of his own BOS material.