The Book of Shadows: how to start and keep your own

How to read the labels Historical what the old sources say. Later tradition what later writers added. Modern modern practice and my own notes.

Ask ten witches what a Book of Shadows is and you will get ten answers. For one it is a hand-copied coven book that is never shown to outsiders. For another it is a ring binder of recipes, moon notes and pressed leaves. For a third it is an app on a phone. For many people it is the heavy book from a television show.

This page helps you start your own and keep it going. It covers where the Book of Shadows really comes from, how to set one up in an evening, what to put in it and how to write records that actually teach you something. You do not need anything special. A plain notebook and a pen are enough.

The labels in the text show what kind of claim each part is: Historical for what the records support, Later tradition for practice that grew up in the decades after, and Modern for the way most people keep a book today.

What a Book of Shadows is

Gerald Gardner and the first books

Historical The Book of Shadows begins with Gerald Gardner (1884 to 1964), a retired British civil servant who, from the late 1940s on, promoted the religion now called Wicca. Gardner said he had been initiated into a surviving coven in the New Forest in 1939. Historians still debate that claim. What is not in doubt is that Gardner wrote, collected and rewrote ritual texts, and that his books of rituals became the model for every later Book of Shadows.

The earliest surviving example is a manuscript among his papers called Ye Bok of ye Art Magical, usually dated to the late 1940s. Researchers broadly agree on its mix of sources: the ceremonial magic of Aleister Crowley, Charles Godfrey Leland’s Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches (1899), older magical books such as the Key of Solomon, Freemasonry and literature. One rite even borrowed lines from a Rudyard Kipling poem. How much came from the people Gardner said initiated him, nobody can now say.

Where the name came from

Historical Gardner did not use the name at first. It seems to have entered his vocabulary around 1949. Doreen Valiente later pointed to a surprising source: in 1949 a small magazine, The Occult Observer, printed an article called “The Book of Shadows” by a palmist named Mir Bashir, opposite an advertisement for Gardner’s novel High Magic’s Aid. The article was about an old method of divination by measuring a person’s shadow. It had nothing to do with witches.

Valiente’s suggestion that Gardner saw the article and borrowed the phrase is a likely inference, not a documented fact. It is still a far better explanation than any claim of an ancient name. I like that the most famous witch’s book may be named after an article about shadows on the ground. Traditions are built from borrowed pieces, and that is normal.

Doreen Valiente and the coven copies

Historical Doreen Valiente (1922 to 1999) was initiated by Gardner in 1953. She found that parts of his book were taken almost word for word from Crowley, and she rewrote large sections in her own voice. Her best-known text, the Charge of the Goddess, is still protected by copyright, so it is not quoted here. If you want to read it, look for the version published by the Doreen Valiente Foundation.

Later tradition In early Gardnerian practice, each new witch copied the book by hand from their initiator’s copy. Copies varied, mistakes crept in, and each lineage grew its own version. Much of that material is still taken under oath in Gardnerian and Alexandrian Wicca. My position is simple: oathbound material belongs to the people who swore to keep it. Do not ask initiates to break their promises, and do not treat leaked texts as your inheritance. Nothing on this page comes from them.

From coven book to everyone’s book

Later tradition For its first twenty years, you could only see a Book of Shadows by joining a coven. That changed in the late 1960s and 1970s. Raymond Buckland, who had brought Gardnerian Wicca to the United States, founded Seax-Wica in 1973 as a tradition a person could begin from a published book. Publishers started printing guides that showed readers how to compile their own.

Modern By the late 1980s, the solitary witch was a familiar figure. Scott Cunningham’s Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner (1988) encouraged readers to write their own rituals and keep their own books. From there the idea became general. A Book of Shadows was no longer a copied coven text but a personal notebook, filled with what one person had learned, tried and kept. Since the 2000s, many witches keep theirs in a notes app or a private cloud folder.

Grimoire, Book of Shadows, Book of Mirrors

People use several words for the witch’s notebook, and the differences are useful:

• Grimoire. An older word, from French, for a book of magic, usually ceremonial magic such as the Key of Solomon or the Lesser Key of Solomon. A grimoire is usually a book of instructions written by someone else.
• Book of Shadows. In its first sense, a Wiccan coven’s book of rituals. In its broad modern sense, any witch’s own book of practice.
• Book of Mirrors. A personal journal of dreams, feelings and reflections. Some people keep it separate from the ritual book, and others combine the two.
• Practice journal. A plain name for any record of what you did and what happened.

Use whichever word feels honest to you. “My book” works too.

The “ancient book” myth

You will often read that the Book of Shadows is an ancient text, copied in secret since pagan times. There is no evidence for this. No witch’s Book of Shadows survives from before the twentieth century, the name cannot be traced earlier than 1949, and most of Gardner’s material can be matched to modern sources. That does not make the tradition less valuable. It makes it a living tradition about seventy-five years old, and your own book continues it. You can read more about the wider story in a short, honest history of witchcraft.

Setting up your book

A Book of Shadows does not need to be beautiful on day one. It needs to be easy to open, easy to add to and easy to search. The most common reason people stop keeping one is not lack of interest. It is a format that fights them: a lovely blank journal they are afraid to spoil, or an app they forget they installed.

Choosing a format

Modern There are four main options, and none is more authentic than the others:

• Ring binder. The most practical choice for most beginners. You can add, remove and reorder pages, and move a spell from “trying” to “keeping” when it proves itself. Use tab dividers for sections.
• Bound notebook. It feels special and travels well. It works best as a dated journal, with each entry on the next page and an index at the back. Number the pages before you start.
• Digital. A notes app, a word processor or a private document folder. It is searchable, easy to back up and easy to lock with a password. Export your notes now and then so they do not depend on one app.
• Hybrid. A rough everyday notebook or app for drafts and daily notes, and a neater binder for the rituals and spells you have tested. Once a month, move the useful parts across.

Whatever you choose, give it a test month before you spend money on a fancy version.

Set up your book in one evening

1. On the first page, write your name or a chosen name, today’s date and one sentence about what the book is for.
2. Write three to five lines of personal ethics in your own words, for example: “I don’t work on other people without their consent. I keep safety first. I check my sources.” The ethics guide can help.
3. Reserve two pages for an index and write “Index” at the top.
4. Choose four or five sections from the list below and give each a tab or a heading.
5. Make your first real entry: the date, the moon phase from any calendar, the weather and one sentence about why you are starting.

Stop there, even if the book looks plain. Decoration can wait.

Keeping it findable

A book only becomes a reference when you can find things in it. Number your pages, keep a running index (“Mint tea, Recipes 4”), and if you like, use four or five colored tabs, such as green for the seasons, gray for the moon, red for spells, blue for divination and yellow for recipes. Date every entry. Dates are what turn notes into evidence.

Pens, paper and pressed plants

Special inks and parchment are optional. A pigment-based pen fades and runs less than a cheap ballpoint, and heavier paper handles ink and pressed leaves better. Skip folk “inks” made from soot, blood or plant juices: they fade, stain or irritate skin.

Pressed flowers are a lovely way to record the year. Dry them fully between sheets of paper inside a heavy book for one to three weeks, then cover them with clear archival tape or a sleeve so they do not crumble or grow mold. Do not press plants that are dangerous to touch or to pets, such as foxglove, yew, oleander or lily of the valley. Never bring true lilies indoors if you live with a cat. A drawing or a photo records them just as well.

Privacy

Many witches keep their practice private, because of family, work or simple preference. Your book can be as private as you need. A plain cover on a shelf among other notebooks draws less attention than a locked box. On a phone or laptop, use a device password, and remember that synced accounts can show your notes on shared devices. Your safety always matters more than your book. If someone who controls or monitors you is part of the picture, that comes first. The Closet Witch covers private practice in much more depth.

What to put in it: twelve page types

You do not need all of these. A book with one section that you open every week is better than a book with twelve sections that sits on a shelf.

1. Front page: your name, the date you began and what the book is for.
2. Ethics page: your own short rules, in your own words.
3. Safety page: allergies, pets in the home, herbs and oils you avoid and your fire rules.
4. Index: a running list of where things are.
5. The year: one page for each of the eight sabbats, with what you did and what you want to try next year.
6. The moon: a short moon log and notes on full and new moon practice.
7. Rituals: your opening and closing, and any short rites you use often.
8. Spells: what you are trying and what you keep, each with a record.
9. Divination: a log of tarot readings and other readings, with dates, questions and outcomes.
10. Correspondences: herbs, stones, colors and days, marked as traditional or as your own associations, with sources.
11. Recipes: seasonal food and teas, always with allergens and safety notes.
12. Reflections and reviews: dreams, feelings and your monthly and yearly reviews.

Mark which entries are your own experiments and which come from a book or a teacher. Note the source of anything you copy. Copying a ritual into your own book for personal use is a long tradition. Publishing someone else’s words as your own is not.

Try, keep, retire

A simple three-stage system turns your book from a scrapbook into a handbook you wrote yourself:

• Trying: anything new goes here first, with the date you first tried it.
• Keeping: when something has worked well for you two or three times, mark it with a star or move it to a “keeping” section.
• Retiring: things that no longer fit go to the back. In a bound book, draw a single line through the heading and write “retired” and the date. Your past practice is part of your record.

Keeping records that teach you

A Book of Shadows can be a collection: spells copied from books, lists and pretty pages. Or it can be a record of what you actually did, when, why and what happened afterward. Collections are pleasant. Records teach.

Memory is a poor witness. Almost everyone remembers the spell that “worked” and forgets the three that did not. That is not a flaw in witches. It is how human memory works. Records correct for it, and they protect you too: if practice ever starts to make you anxious or frightened, your book shows when it began and what you were doing.

Before you begin, write

• The date and time, and what you are doing.
• Why, in a sentence or two.
• What you hope for, as something you could actually observe. Not “more money” but “one extra freelance job this month.”
• What would count as no change. This odd-sounding line stops you from moving the goalposts later.
• The practical steps you are also taking, such as the applications, the conversation or the doctor’s appointment.

Do not edit these lines afterward. If you change your mind, add a new dated line.

Afterward, write

• What you actually did, including anything you skipped or changed.
• How you felt before, during and after, in a few words.
• Anything striking, written plainly before you interpret it.
• Conditions: moon phase, weather, sleep, stress.

Then come back in a week or a month and write what happened, what you did in ordinary life that might also explain it, and what you would change next time.

Observation first, meaning second

“A crow landed on the fence as I finished” is an observation. “The spell was accepted” is an interpretation. Both can go in your book, on separate lines, with the observation first. When you look back, you can check how often crows land on that fence on ordinary days too. “I saw nothing” and “nothing changed” are good, honest entries.

A simple page template

If you want a page you can copy by hand tonight, use this layout for any spell, ritual or reading:

• Date, time, moon phase, weather
• What I am doing (name, source, any changes)
• Why
• What I hope for (observable)
• What would count as no change
• Practical steps I am also taking
• Safety notes (flame, herbs, allergies, pets)
• What I did and how I felt
• What I noticed (observation only)
• What I think it might mean
• Review date and what happened

Ideas by month

If a blank book feels hard to start, give each month one small focus:

• January: set up the book and write your ethics page.
• February: start a moon log and keep it for one full cycle.
• March: write your safety page and check every recipe you have copied.
• April: press a few spring leaves from plants that are safe to handle.
• May: add one simple ritual you would like to repeat.
• June: draw a card each morning for a week and log it.
• July: start a correspondences page with sources for every line.
• August: record a harvest meal or a recipe you love.
• September: do a half-year review of your “trying” pages.
• October: write about the people and pets you remember.
• November: tidy the index and retire what no longer fits.
• December: write a yearly review and one hope for next year.

Caring for your book

Photograph or scan handwritten pages every few months and keep the images somewhere private. If the book is lost, the practice is not. Keep the book to one side of the altar, not in the middle, when a candle or a water bowl is in use, and never pass a book through smoke or flame. You may also want to leave a short note with your personal papers saying what should happen to your book one day.

The best Book of Shadows is the one you actually open. If your format stops working, copy the useful pages into a new book and keep going. That is how every Book of Shadows has always grown. When you are ready for the next step, the witchcraft guide and The Novice’s Guide to Witchcraft show the practices worth recording.