This post was inspired by Questions #18 from this list.

I’m going to get a bit pedantic in this post. You see, it’s my understanding and opinion that a lot of people conflate a Book fo Shadows and a witch’s notebook/journal or grimoire.

A Book of Shadows is a book that contains the rituals and lore that is passed down as a part of a given tradition in order to preserve it. Part of the training process in such traditions involves making a copy of the Book of Shadows by hand. Usually, this involves talking over what you are copying and learning more about each bit of written lore (including the unwritten lore ore mysteries that go along with it). I’m not part of such a tradition, so I don’t have a Book of Shadow. At this point, I’m not trying to create my own tradition, so i see no need to create a Book of Shadows. If I ever create my own unique and cohesive craft practice that others might be interested in learning and imitating, I might actually write out such a book.

What a lot of people call a Book of Shadows is more of a journal or notebook of spells, often called a grimoire. These are much more deeply personal and tend to represent a witches personal experimentation with magic. Some such books will even include information about the results of trying a given spell in a certain situation. I don’t keep this kind of journal or book either. Part of that is simply from the practical part that I am disorganized and lazy. Plus I never learned how to take notes in school, and it feels like keeping such a book would be far easier and even more attractive to someone with that skill set.

I also rationalize my choice with the fact that I’m not really one to do the same spell more than once. I prefer to tailor my magical workings to a given situation and base how approach it to what I have on hand. Granted, I suspect that I might find such a book useful to keep track of and remember clever turns of phrase or really beautiful chants that I might re-use in a new working. But again,I lack the self discipline for that so far.