BoS problems

[Sekushi Cho]

I was going to put this in Just Pagan, but I figured this was more a newbie question, so.... here you go.

I've been with the Craft for a while now and I've never really been successful at keeping a BoS. I always end up puting a few things in it, and then I just don't know what to do with it, or more so, how to use it efficiently and effectively. Could any of you give me some advice as how to approach starting my BoS or share some of their approaches?

[Against The Tide]

A BOS is difficult to keep sometimes, it's part textbook, part notebook, and part journal.

If you write it like a diary you get a good way of seeing your thoughts and practices develop over time, but when it comes to reviewing just a single element you are forever turning the pages back and forth to find all the related info (example you are looking for every dream recorded in your BOS and you have to look at every date entry in turn).

If you write it out like a planned book (leave gaps and lump all similar info in each chapter) you get to concentrate the information you want over a few pages so it is very easy to revise and review - except your workings are also scattered out (example - you are preparing for a sabbat so you have to turn to the chapter on that particular sabbat, then you turn to the chapter for the framework that all sabbats have in common, then you turn to the notes from your last sabbat, then you turn to the different sections on spells in order to prepare your next workings)

So it might be a good idea to keep your notes in a file (as in lever arch things you put hole punched paper in). You can order the pages anyway you want. You can remove and add additional pages - great if you want to edit your work. If you work from your BOS you can get all the pages - scripts, prompts etc you need and put them at the front for easy reading and access. If you want to lighten your load, you can archive all your early workings in a seperate folder and so on. An equally good idea might be to keep an electronic BOS - that way you can keep everything together but not have it jumbled up with everything else, you can use tags to cross reference things and share your information easily with those you work with.

As for what you actually do with a BOS, I think its up to the person using it - what do YOU need it for? Filling it out should never become a boring horrible chore, I like writing my observations down because it acts as a sounding board, I it develop my basic ideas into more complex ones, especially because of the observations made many times over time - I look at the patterns and that helps further my understanding of how things work.
As well as your ideas develop you can flick to the first few entries and compare them to now and witness how YOU'VE developed. Especially good if you are meditating/divining and want to gauge how its coming along.
I like writing stuff down because its reassuring to have that knowledge at your fingertips. I hate reading something, partially forgetting what it was and then forgetting where I read it - to have a single stop (which can direct you to other sources if needed) makes it easy to reinforce what you are learning.

My BOS does the following:
Recording of magical working: what I did, why I did it, how I went about it, expectations, what actually happened, conclusion. Not always in ubber detail, but I take a scientific approach with my workings.
My thoughts and feelings about my workings and experiences - this
reads like a diary and sometimes it includes mundane things because mundane things like moods and relationships, health and work CAN impact your spiritual development - yet I don't want to get too messy and diary like, so I only write what I feel is necessary.
A dream diary/tarot notebook - Many people keep these separate, but having a separate book or folder for everything different thing I'd do would leave me with 10000 of them.
A bit of lore, history and fact - stuff copied out of books or reputable websites, just filling in the blanks in my knowledge and as the (Celtic) gods of my Pantheon are numerous, are known by different names depending on the region, have different aspects to them and there is alot of information I can't store and recall at once I like to have it all to hand.
Information about the religion, other Pagan religions, the holidays and significant events, ethics and so on. I know all of this by heart now but my BOS would feel incomplete if it didn't include everything :P Besides I may pass this to my children one day, this book contains everything I wanted to know when I first felt my calling. Having a single source to read from would have been like finding treasure :) I'd like to give someone else that.
Spells and rituals - Alot of this stuff is committed to memory but again I write it down. These are not only templates, that guide/remind me how to do a spell/ritual, but they are also save space and my hand as I can just refer to these rather than write the entire thing up every time I write a report/conclusion.
Related skills and crafts - it depends on how you want to grow and develop. I mean I am interested in plants and herblore so I've written a bit about medical use, my personal observations etc. I am not as interested (well thats a lie, but the truth is, I'm a bit lazy :)) in astrology so that I've not included.

[Sekushi Cho]

Wow. That was a nice response. Very helpful, too, gave me some good ideas. I've been working on keeping a BoS on my computer, just because one of my bigger problems is being so unorganized or out of room to put anything. I hope it works out well.

[PhoenixRose]

My solution is part of my need for neatness. I keep three books, one journal, my acutal BoS and a 'Rough Draft' BoS. I keep the Rough Draft with me most of the time and when I read something important, get a impression I haven't felt before or just have a question I'd like to look into, I scribble it down not really worrying how it looks, if it makes sense or if its proper grammar. Then, later, it goes into my Book, neatly written, along with anything else that may relate to it. The same goes with writing out rituals, spells, or things of that nature. I right a rough copy, revise it and then copy it neatly for future reference. In these cases, I try to leave some extra room to write if it went well or if it was a total flop. As for how studying is going or the personal religious aspect {for lack of a better word} I use my journal. Sometimes it has nothing Pagan related, just about life. Other days its nothing but Wicca or a interesting Tarot reading I've done. I just keep it for me.

My best advice would be to use a binder you can add paper to easily. Not to mention you can add dividers to help keep it organized. Try to make it personal. I like to think some day maybe my great great great grandchildren will be flipping through the pages hoping to study witchcraft just like Nana did. An electronic Book would be equally as good if you don't like the idea of having a big book laying around. You could print out whatever you needed ahead of time and have it ready to go. My only advice for this would be to keep whatever you have backed up on disks just in case something happens to your hard drive. You don't want years of work and information to be lost in an accident.

All in all, as Against The Tide said, what do you want in a BoS? Start there and work your way up and make it personal and interesting.

[Calli]

My BoS is scattered. I have a binder with pocket folders with a bunch of stuff in it. I have a file on my hard drive with stuff in it. I probably have other stuff in a stack on my sewing machine table (the desk is full...) I actually bought materials to organize it with (two years ago...) I really need to do that soon.

The important thing is that if I need it, I can find it.

[Aeryn]

I have a 3-ring binder and I love it! I have ten dividers in it so far and I've been keeping it organized the way I want it. I used to use a regular journal, but things are so scattered I never know where to look for things and I get frustrated. The BoS on the computer is a good idea, but after having several old computers completely crash I'm very nervous about having anything important stored on them.

[*oonagh*]

I have a 3-ring binder and I love it! I have ten dividers in it so far and I've been keeping it organized the way I want it. I used to use a regular journal, but things are so scattered I never know where to look for things and I get frustrated. The BoS on the computer is a good idea, but after having several old computers completely crash I'm very nervous about having anything important stored on them.

the three-ring binder is a great idea, just be sure to use sheet protectors. also, if you save your bos on a flash drive, you won't have to worry about computers crashing.

[Sionnach le Fey]

Personally, I just keep everything in organised files on my laptop. I have files for different paths, correspondences, deities, holy days, tools etc.

I'm too much of a perfectionist to write things down - it never turns out the way I want.

[Aeryn]

the three-ring binder is a great idea, just be sure to use sheet protectors. also, if you save your bos on a flash drive, you won't have to worry about computers crashing.
That sounds like a pretty good idea. Hmm, I may have to try that and see if I like that better. Thanks!

[Human]

Personally, I just keep everything in organised files on my laptop. I have files for different paths, correspondences, deities, holy days, tools etc.

I'm too much of a perfectionist to write things down - it never turns out the way I want.

I agree with you, but I think I would take a combined approach -- print out what you want to say (no chance for handwriting errors, and I don't know about you, but those bother me the most) and put it in the binder with the covers and dividers.

You'd get the best of both worlds!

[childofcrow]

Some people even prefer to keep a Livejournal or Wordpress blog as a BOS.

[LyricOpal]

The BoS should definitely be whatever feels natural and right to you. There is no reason to force yourself to do something or do it in a way that is a struggle. It is possible that a BoS or at least one like a traditional one isn't right for you.




I keep three books, one journal, my acutal BoS and a 'Rough Draft' BoS. I keep the Rough Draft with me most of the time and when I read something important, get a impression I haven't felt before or just have a question I'd like to look into, I scribble it down not really worrying how it looks, if it makes sense or if its proper grammar.

I really like this idea. My current BoS is extremely new, and unsurprisingly rough. I might adopt this idea and use that as my rough BoS. Thanks!