A Practitioner’s personal collection of spells, rituals, and other knowledge.
General[]
The Book of Shadows was primarily associated with Witchcraft, but similar concepts existed in other Practices. It would contain the Practitioner’s most private spells, rituals, and knowledge.[1] Witchcraft was mostly orally based, and the individual Book of Shadows was created with a personal connection to its writer and their magic.[2]
Books or collections of similar sort were held by many Practitioners, though the emphasis on a personal connection was probably not as strong.[3] It was possible to mass-produce other books of magic or spellbooks, though this might partly have depended on the exact Practice; Hermeticism in specific seemed to allow mass production of books.[2]
Known examples[]
- Elizabeth’s Book of Shadows was bequeathed to Molly and Onyx after her death. This caused quite a stir in the Seattle Practitioner community.[1]
- Michiko’s copy of the Family’s unique spells was taken and retained by Zafirah. However, it was not a Book of Shadows in the strict sense.[3]
- Shadow and Echo by the witch Justina Straliene might have been an example, since the printed copies of it were hand-set and hand-bound by the writer.[2]
Trivia[]
The term Book of Shadows is used within neopagan Wicca. The term might have been borrowed either directly from there or via an intermediary source, possibly the TV series Charmed.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 “Authenticity”
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 “Legitimacy”
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Past Due, chapter 16