Book of Illuminations?

[Ball-Bhreac Ròn]

Do you keep a Book of Illuminations? Well, what I consider a Book of Illuminations - a sort of diary that records all of your thoughts & feelings, and your magicks and rituals. You may have a different name for it (for instance, you may call it a Book of Shadows, but I consider that somewhere where you record spells etc).
Actually, a better topic for this thread is what do you put in a Book of Shadows and a Book of Illuminations?

[Flaire-FireStar]

To answer your first question..Yes I do keep a Book of Illuminations (I call it a Mirror Book though :))..What's in it? How I've been coming along so far in my journey.. Describing my feelings of coming out of the closet and such and such. Also I have drawings in there of how I see the goddess (I did a really beautiful one last night ;)).
In my Book of Shadows, I keep my notes on the elements, Gods & Goddesses, some spells, notes on colours for magick, etc, etc, etc else.
So, yes.... I do slit them up - I don't think I could fit one into the other, that'd be one massive book. :D

[Ball-Bhreac Ròn]

*phew* I'm glad someone knows what I'm on about...;)


I only keep a Book of Shadows (sacred spaces, correspondences, meditation & trances, & rituals are the main things I have in it)...I keep on meaning to start a Book of Illuminations, but I've never been any good at stuff like that, diaries and the like...*sigh* I really want to start one though, I want to see how I've come along, how the moons affect me, etc...:ahhhh:

[Flaire-FireStar]

Office supply places usually have a whole bunch of books. :D I figured out that popular ones now are ones bound with string as a back.. (Got one of those for my Tarot readings... :p)
Right now, my mirror book is a (large) spiral bound one with lined pages one side and blank on the other. :) I love that book.. hehe :D

[Earthcup]

ummm... unfortunately all my stuff, shadowy and illuminating, is crammed into various notebooks and computer files... so I could use some tips as well...

I've been thinking of getting a 3 ring binder to organize my stuff because I tend to scribble all over books and notebooks in a most undignified manner...:lol: that way I could arrange pages in the proper order and add and remove stuff easy...

Do you guys use books, notebooks, computer files?:huh:

[Flaire-FireStar]

I use all three.. My BoS is both on disc (mostly) & in a 3-ring binder...and partially in a coil notebook..

My Mirror book & my newer tarot stuff is in notebooks, while my older tarot notes & stuff are in another 3-ring binder.

[Ball-Bhreac Ròn]

Yeh, my BoS is in a binder, so I can chop, change, re-organise and add whenever I learn something new...;)

[Arduinna]

I use one book for my dream journal, one for tarot readings and a main book for my BOS. I keep correspondces, rituals, spells, astrology, elemental interpretations, symbols all kinds of stuff in it.

I also have an online BOS/private community I share with my hubby. We share stuff there, and it's an easy place to keep notes of things that I find online. Especially when I can't find anywhere else to put it for the moment.

it's sort of my gathering place for anything I might find useful. I don't move stuff into my BOS until I have actually worked it out, written it myself and decided it works for me.

At least that's what I do.

[Myst]

I keep a lot of stuff on a zip disk, some printed stuff in a binder, and a bound black notebook.

It gets to the point when keeping a BoS becomes a large enough part of your practice :D I think in the beginning keeping one diligently helps you study the Craft and learn, but after awhile it becomes a pain in the butt to remember to write things down etc. hehe.

[phoenixsong]

I have a 'Book of Shadows', though under Ball-Bhreac Rón's description I guess it counts as a Book of Illuminations. Almost everything in it is hand-written, cos my printer broke down after printing two pages :mad:. I keep descriptions of rituals, meditations and general thoughts in it, as well as spells, correspondences, etc. It's in a big red binder.

[Arduinna]

Yes, it can be a pain writing so much down,
but some of us suffer from an obsession of
organization ;)

[Myst]

hehe I was just trying to decide if I should print out some new info I got.. and where my binder and hole punch are.. lol

[Flaire-FireStar]

heheheh....I need a bunch of 3-hole punches to lie around my house so I know where one is everytime I need it. :lol:

[Andromeda]

I don't really have a BOS. I have A DOS (drawer of shadows) hehe. I've really been meaning to put everything in a notebook or binder but I just haven't had the time.

hmmm.....

I really need to get more organized. :rolleyes:

[someone else]

well, i got this pretty cool looking book the other day, its purple velvet cover with a very elaborate ankh on the front. i was going to use it to start a BoS, but ive been reading a pretty good book lately, which suggested that i keep a Mirror Book (aka BoI) and i decided that at this moment, a BoI is a bit more imprortant than a BoS, seeing as i have done no spells or such yet, im taking it slow, and now after probably 3 weeks of reading and such, im going to begin mediataing. ill probably get casting and such next week, depending on how i feel about it, but when that time comes, then ill work on my BoS...

[McKennaRain]

I went out and bought a 3 ring binder that had a really stable cover and then I went to a fabric store and found some really interesting material and made a cover for it.

[Danustouch]

Being the typical anti organizational Gemini that I am, I have several written books of shadows. With information scattered between them. Some day I'll actually sit down and put it all in one book, or on a disk. I'd like to have something to hand down to my children, if I ever have any.

[Ball-Bhreac Ròn]

Part of the reason why I love my BoS is cuz itgives me something to organise...I'm an organisation freak ;)
Material covering? Why did I never think of that? :lol: I was thinking of painting it to cover the ink stains....material would be even better though, thanks McKenna! :D

[KissMeImIrish!]

I am actually a compulsive organizer...I have 4...yes 4 different magickal 'journals'. I have my BOS (for spells, correspondences and other spell and ritual stuff), it is a big black leather book with my personal seal on it. Then I have my book of illuminations, my dream diary and my records book. I really am quite psychotic aren't I lol! I like everything to have its own little book so when I need something it's easy to find. ;)

[magdelena]

I used a 3-Ring binder for my Book of Shadows. It might not look fancy, but it gets the job done, and makes my life a little easier

I use a notebook for my Book of Illuminations. Since its more or less to reflect my thoughts and feelings, I feel no need to keep it organized because well, that's not how I think.

[AmbivalentMirage]

I have a combination of the two, but I simply call it my Book of Shadows. It's a large three-ring binder with plenty of paper. Near the back is a section called "Memories". I write in it like a journal, but add things that I learn/realize.. it helps me find out more about myself. :)