A book of many names, the Book of Spirits is also known as Book of Shadows, grimoire, and a thousand other names personal to the practitioner.
The Book of Spirits is an acronym for the Book of Sacred Practices, Invocations, Rituals, and Intuitive Teachings and is the central record of which your faith and its practices are documented. For solitary practitioners and groups this is typically the central spiritual record of their faith when they first start and evolves as they gain experience, employ new methods of worship and write their thoughts as a spiritual or personal journal.
Creation
The Book of Spirits can be created with any large binder or folder capable of being organized into sections/ pages being moved around as the practitioner grows in their religious journey. It is better to physically write or draw in your book rather than type or print pictures as the effort of creating the words, phrases and invocations has a power that is simply greater than typing the letters out in a document. As a baseline, the book should be divided into sections that are easy to access. An example would be having tabs for correspondences, recitations, journal entries, and rituals. This is not to say you cannot have different names, placements, or more referential tabs, but provides a baseline of what to have for inspiration. Correspondences are your reference materials, describing what things are and their use such as candle color correspondences, aspects of Divinity and their breakdown, tarot cards and the meaning of the minor and major arcana, holidays and their representations and times, etcetera, etcetera. Recitations are just that, things you recite. This will be prayers, blessings, cleansings, chants. Rituals of the past, current, and future rituals, celebrations, or holidays. I suggest writing what you did and plan to do as its good inspiration for the future.
I would highly suggest having sheet protectors as the constant rubbing of the pages and removing/ inserting pages will eventually wear out the pages or rip the holes out. I personally use college ruled paper so that I may pack as much information into each page while wide ruled paper may be used for drawing if not using blank copy paper.
For drawing you can buy compasses, goniometer, pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers, grid paper if you like drawing charts or references such as tarot card breakdowns, the zodiac and their meaning, or herbs, gems, and crystals. All of the above can be purchased at your local dollar store or equivalent faster than Amazon, though I don’t expect many places to have a goniometer, but look around anyway and use the picture in the link as reference to show the store associate. This works even if you’re (hover mouse over the next word) silenced as the tools can be masked as you taking up drawing, though I would highly suggest having a Book of Spirits online/ on your computer or USB drive with password protection and multiple password protected copies if you’re in that situation.
Actual books can be used if you prefer an empty journal or more decorative book. These can be used for more permanent writings that are less likely to require reorganization such as personal journals or religious entries, or dream journals. Recording your rituals can be done this way too, though I strongly suggest using a practice sheet to ensure your measurements and text are correct so the official entry into your Book of Spirits are as exact and perfect as possible assuming you document your completed rituals. Once you’ve created the official entry, store the practice entry in the binder until you’re able to destroy it.
Treatment
Intent and action are equally vital in your path, your Book of Spirits is no different. It is your link to the Gods and physical embodiment of your faith, treat it with respect and reverence. Below are the minimum treatment standards:
- Wash your hands before and after use– Physically and ritually cleaning yourself before and after use gives your book and the Gods the respect they deserve. The intent is to convey importance and respect while also ensuring you’re not leaving food, dirt, grease or any other contaminants within the pages. Additionally you can say a prayer or phrase before you open your book and as you close it or as you conclude your interaction with its pages at any level.
- Place your Book of Spirits in a position of respect– Not on the floor or with mundane materials atop it. This standard is different if you’re silenced as it can’t be helped. But if you’re not silenced then its easy to put in on a bookshelf, atop your desk, but not on the floor. If its dropped, create a way to spiritually and physically clean it. Again, intent and action. Don’t feel guilty about a mistake or as if the Gods have some feeling against you as its not fatalistic, its an honest mistake. Clean it, have a small ritual and place it where its supposed to be.
- If its mishandled by someone else then its of course not your fault. There are detractors who don’t respect others, but their mistreatment of your religious material is a reflection on them not on you.
- Open versus closed words– I highly suggest having open and closed words for when your book is eventually discovered by someone. Open words are text anyone with access to your book can read and understand. Closed words are text only you or a small amount of people can understand. Make up a writing scheme you can understand and can practice to understand so whoever finds it can’t understand all the information. Even if you’re not silenced, it is good practice to further bond yourself to your book and the Gods.
Management
- Tabs- Create tabs labelled References,
- Who can read it?– This aspect is up to you. Some folks have more positive relationships with their family, friends, and community while others don’t. I recommend keeping your book secret or restricted access, but some aspects can be shared online. If you’re in a group and have oath bound or otherwise secret practices then of course that must be kept under heavy lock and key.
- Revisions– As you grow in your practice you will inevitably make revisions and add new material to your Book. What you do with past revisions is up to you. you can keep a historical coy for archives and to track the changes in your belief system, or you can destroy it by fire and saying a prayer.
- Proper Labelling- Clearly label content specific to open, closed, shared, or private circles. This emphasizes the use of closed words when writing your entries and data to ensure secrecy is maintained at the appropriate level.
- Cite Sources- If there’s a video, book, person, or any other inspiration for a work, make sure you cite it for yourself. This preserves what the source material is in case you need to go back to it for later reference or have additional sources on inspiration.
Your First Entry
Your first entry is about your intent and goals. As you start on your path what do you want to achieve? How are you going to achieve it and why is it important to you?
Your religious journey is the first step of many miles covering many years. There’s no rushing in a marathon and the same can be said about your start or continuation of the path. Take things easy and don’t expect to climb a mountain within a day or fortnight.
Start off with small goals. Read a book on general Paganism or the history of witchcraft. Why do certain sects have the correspondences they do? What are the different ways one can see and interact with the Gods? These small goals set the foundation of greater and more specified knowledge as you learn more, do more, and share more. Be sure to update your goals often so you keep on track and hold yourself accountable; taking the time to write down new things you’ve learned to document your findings.