Book of Shadows/studies

[DixieWitch]

What is usually in a Book of Shadows? I'm still working on mine. But when I look in it, the only things that I have in it are pages and pages of Sabbat information and crafts to do for each Sabbat. I have few spells, as I don't do them yet. I want to broaden my studies and I'm looking at broadening my BOS also. Where would anyone suggest I start for all these aspects--my studies and my BOS? I need something I can do essentially on my own, as I have searched and searched for a teacher and can't find one. I own so many books, but they are taking my nowhere it seems! Does anyone have any suggestions? Any help, advice, etc. would be greatly appreciated!!

[Mysterious]

Well because of secrecy issues in my house I've had to separate my BOS into several volumes.
I have one book that has moonphases for the next two years and correspondences.
I have a mini book that has all my magick alphabets in it, I'm trying to memorize all those.
I also keep a book with rituals I've found written in it, some I've used and some for the future. Another book has practice exercises in it, mostly energy work and that.
And the last one is my spiritual journal that I write how I feel, what I think, and just generally my own growth in it.

[asamananara]

I understand where you're coming from. Years ago, I reached a
conclusion that my path lay not in prescribed motions and assumptions
of others, but wholey within my own heart. I discarded every book
I owned related to magic, burned my BOS, and forced all derived knowledge
from my mind. I undertook a vision quest, free of expectation,
and found myself upon a unique path of revealed wisdom. I no longer
have any use for books... they speak from another's heart, not my
own, and therefore have little bearing on my path... as for a BOS,
the closest thing I maintain is a simple missal, a self-contained
contextual Holy Book crystalizing my beliefs and practices.
I suggest you do some spiritual house-cleaning. Take out the
trash and polish the silver. Reorganize. You shouldn't need to
take it to the extent I have, but by all means: define the obstacles which
hinder your progress, and clear them away.

[Antoninus]

Whatever you want basically. My BoS is rather small at the moment, 4 or 5 pages. But I hope it will grow. I coppy sections of Wiccan Books that I find informative or interesting, little tidbits and pieces of knowleage, spells, rituals, anything that I think might be useful later on.

[LeftToWonder]

I actually have a 5 subject notebook, all organized by sections. I have my mediattion log, which I keep track of when, how long, etc that I meditate. I have a rituals section, a dream log(As if I would remember them, but hey its worth a shot:)) and in the back I have a plain old mundane Diary. O, I forgot the research section, I take notes on books I'm reading, and tidbits I find online, and keep them there. Hope that gives you some ideas.

[Jenett]

One thing you might do is start researching one [thing] a month - say one deity, one herb, one stone (whatever works for you). That would help you focus what you're learning about, but still be manageable.

One other option might be to start with the beginning of something (say circle casting) and do research on all the different segments individually, and then pull it all together further with some other notes. Or pick a book and take notes on it.

Depends on what you'd like to learn more about, partly.

[mudweed]

My "book of shadows" is a small three ring binder (the 5x8 sixe, I think). I keep what I call a magickal journal, in which I write down things of interest: quotes, prayers, tarot spreads, correspondances, etc, that I read either here or other places online, or more often in my book of the moment. Then after I've had time to think about it, and internalize it, and see if it makes sense to me, then I transfer it to my BOS. Sometimes I print it off of my computer because I like how neat it looks (Virgo), and because then I also have a backup DOS (Disc of Shadows). Or sometimes I just write it down. I like the three ring binder because, even if the translucent purple plastic isn't as sophisticated looking as a snazzy leather journal, I like the practicality of being able to organize and reorganize just by shifting pages.

Right now the sections I have in it are:
Correspondances
Ritual & Prayer
Spells (my section here is empty, too...)
Divination... I may end up subdividing this, because I keep notes on runes, tarot, and astrology pretty extensively
And I just thought that I should add a section for my favorite Deities and Myth

So anyway, it's not as complicated as I make it sound. It works for me. It's kind of more of a grimoire, but I personally haven't seen any sense (yet) in having both a BOS and grimoire.

*rambling* --> too much hot chocolate! :javaswim:

[tamara]

It's another book, but Patricia Telesco has one about how to put together a book of shadows. I used it to get some ideas. I didn't follow it to the letter, but I think it"s a good book to use as a reference.

[CalliopeWinterwynd]

In my BoS, I write things down like information about the Sabbats and the Esbats, the Rede, a few quotations from books, ritual and circle info, and others. :) I think what is in a BoS is pretty much what you feel is important and should go in it :)

[DixieWitch]

Thanks for all the ideas!! I am definitly going to look again for the book by Patricia Telesco. I can't find it anywhere around here--might have to get it specially ordered. And I like the idea from Jennett--that is soemthign I never thought about doing. But another question comes to mind--how do I know exactly what I'm suppoed to be studying? Divination, correspondences, moon phases, dieties, rituals--this is probably some of it , right? Is there anything specfic I should be focusing on? Or I just take what I feel is the most important to me and start from there?

[Jenett]

Well, if you were working in a specific tradition, you'd probably have assignments for some of it (I know I do). But since you're not, you can pretty much follow your own instincts if you want.

I *do* think it's probably not a bad move to start with the basics - why you do various ritual steps a given way, daily devotions, maybe basic divination stuff (some people pick out a card a day and write a few notes on it...)

Is there a particular pantheon or deity you feel attracted to? That might be somewhere to start. For example, if you felt attracted to or interested in a specific deity, you might start researching them, then moving on researching other deities associated with them, the culture they came from, specific mythology, symbols, whatever - usually I find that one thing leads to another.

[DixieWitch]

Thanks! I will definitly go that route. I feel attracted to Bast, so guess that would be a great place to start!! Guess I'll go hit up Google!! Thanks Jenett, for all your help!

[Loreley]

Many people have different books for different things.
For example, a BoS for Sabbats and rituals, a grimoire for spells, recipes, correspondences and so on, ,a journal for recording magical and ritual acitivity, and an additional notebook for thoughts, ideas, spiritual progress etc. Others have special booklets just for potions or just for incense recipes, if they have many of them, and so on. Others just have one huge volume for everything. It depends very much on the tradition and training, or if the person is solitary, on personal preferences and leanings.

There are many things that you can put in your BoS: Sabbat rituals, full moon rituals, Rites of passages, personal rituals, mythological stories that are significant to you, folklore tales, poetry, spells, charms, amulet designs, chants, recipes, correspondences, table of planetary hours, meditation techniques, astral projection techniques, invokations, evocations, prayers, hymns... the list just goes on and on.

The main question is, what do YOU want to put in your BoS. What is important for you to learn now? Are you interested in learning about deities? Or are you interested in candle magic? Invokations? The meaning of tools?

Once you point out to yourself what you want to learn, it's time to research it and get information. The results of your research can go to your BoS. And once your'e finished, you ask yourself again, "what is the next thing I want to learn?", again research it and the results go to the book. Basically, the book is reflecting your personal progress in the path. You can copy loads of materials from books or websites, and compile a huge volume, but that won't reflect your work... That's at least my opinion. :)

Good luck!

[Kithic06]

well..i am kind of new at this. But i have one book that i use as a journal(every day life, special things that happen to me, quotes that i like) and i have one book with my Sabbats correspondenses, signs and symbols, spells, quotes, general info., and so on and so on. i only have on book (scott Cummings Solitary Practitioner) but i have a few friends that let me borrow their books as well as their BoS's. I read through them and i like my organization better then some of my friends. So i say definatly do wut u feel is comfortable. And i say gather as much info as u can. You can always by more empty books to fill.

[AuroraSilvermist]

I keep everything in my BOS except my journal, which I keep separately. I keep my BOS on my computer, although I also have a printed version in a binder. If it helps, I'll share how I've organized mine. This is just one of a zillion ways you could do it, but it may give you a place to start.

I do change and add things as I go along, so none of this is set in stone. My index (at the moment) looks like this:

Blessings

Craft
- herbal
- Candle
- Incense
- Aromatherapy/oils
- Other

Knowledge
- Sabbats
- Esbats
- God/dess Lore
- Herbs
- Other

Philosophy*

Rituals
- Sabbats
- Esbats
- General Prayers
- Other

Spells
- Protection
- Banishing
- Friendship/Love
- Prosperity
- Other

* My Philosophy folder is full of tidbits that I find and like. "The Wolf Credo," for example. And "To Be a Witch," and other assorted goodies.

[IndigoMoon]

I have a 3 ring binder with a section for every subject that I am interested in having at my fingertips.

1. Spells, Ritual, and Potions
2. Herbs
3. Candles
4. Stones, Gems, and Crystals
5. Dieties
6. Sabbats
7. Traditions and History
8. Astrology

I have to be able to shift my papers around. My book is getting so big now that I am seriously thinking about getting a bigger one with subdivisions!!

[G.H.O.S.T]

I too have a binder that I keep my limited information in. I think its just easier that way, if you mess up in a binder, no BFD, just take the page out, put a new one in. A girl I know spent 100 bucks on a fancy schmancy book of shadows (REAL nice lookin thing, brass inlay, leather covering, absolutely beautiful). She had about 10 pages filled and she spilled in ALL OVER THE BOOK. So I think its just easier to have a binder, if your serious, you could probably get a fancy BoS and copy what you wanted into it carefully.

[SylverStar]

I so bad at doing anything organizational. But basically what I'm putting in mine is anything I'd have to search for. It'd be nice to have everything I use in one book. Also any spells, rituals, ect I've done or made up.

[DixieWitch]

[QUOTE=tamara]It's another book, but Patricia Telesco has one about how to put together a book of shadows. I used it to get some ideas. I didn't follow it to the letter, but I think it"s a good book to use as a reference.[/QUOTE

What is the name of this book?

[Calyx]

Hey Rowan!
I think you have a really good question there and this has been a good post. Hubby gave me a really pretty leather journal for my BoS for Christmas, but I haven't started writing in it yet. Everything I have is hodgepodged all over the place, but what I intend to put in it looks something like this....
1. Days of the week and their associations (i.e. Monday=moon, what the colors of that day are and what is good to do on that day, such as Monday=family, medicine, gardening, blah blah)
2. Herbs
3. Flowers and their colors, meanings, and uses
4. Color associations
5. Chants
6. Spells, charms, etc.
7. Moon cycles and their associations
8. All my soap and bath salt recipes

Anything else that interests me--quotes, info, etc.

I am excited about doing this but haven't had the time yet. I am going to keep following this thread as it's already got some good stuff! :)
Let us know what you decide to put in yours!

[Calyx]

Argh--forgot to put this in my last post--why don't you go down to the Magic and Rituals section and search through the MW BoS?
There's a lot of excellent info in there that you can use....

[DixieWitch]

Thanks Calyx! Just might have to do that!!! I'm also going to go look for a BoS protection spell.