Book of Shadows

You may have noticed, I have chosen to call this my virtual Book of Shadows. I have been informed that a BoS is a purely Wiccan term, created in the 1940's by Gerald Gardner... the whole concept, in fact, and not just the term itself. I respectfully disagree. I can not attest for the first appearance of the term itself... I'm not a historian by any means (though I do have one I plan on asking next time I see him).

I do however know enough about my history to know that Grimoires of one sort or another have been around since the 4th-5th century, when they were clay tablets in Mesopotamia. I will take the time to compile a more complete history at another time, but for now I will just skip ahead to now, and me, and why this is the term I use.

A grimoire is a book sorcery and magick according to Dictionary.com it can be anything from a list of spells, how to invoke angels and demons, how to make amulets and talismans, to use of herbs for curing illness (Kitchen witch may be a newer term, but hardly a new practice!) So what is a Book of Shadows? Looking up my friends claims about Mr. Gardner... well it is a bunch of conflicting information I am more inclined to ignore. A more popular idea (and the one I subscribe too) is that it is a Witch (or Wizard or other Magick persons) personal book of their own research and discovery of their path. It holds everything they know and believe... and may include an account of anything they have attempted that did not work out. There are any number of other names for this, but... I like this one. There are as many reasons for the name as there are witches who use it (remember, ask ten witches one question, and you will get eleven answers). My reason no doubt bares little resemblance to what it was originally, but things mean more when we take them and make them our own, right?
My words, what I write... they are a shadow of myself. Often more great and striking than the original- but always resembling truth. My Shadows (okay, I do prefer to shorten it, "Book of" just makes it sound stuffy) are a memory, a recording of what I have done, and of the things I have thought.

So these are my shadows. They won't always make sense, but I will try to make the informational ones... well, informational. Personal blurbs... I recommend finding a red string and holding on tight. Thank you for sharing in this with me.

Be well.