There are lots of legends and myths surrounding a Witches' Book of Shadows. The key thing to remember that a Book of Shadows is nothing more then a notebook, everything is stored in them, from the outcome of divinations, to spells, correspondences and poetry or articles that have caught the owners attention.

One of the most fanciful myths surrounding the Book of Shadows is that of an inherited Book. There are several reasons why this is impossible:

The main reason is that Wicca (the religion that the Book of Shadows originates from) is believed to have been born in the early 20th Century by Gerald Gardner. At the largest stretch of the mind, the religion is based on the practices of the country wise men and women. There is no evidence that the religion of Wicca predates the late 19th Century.

The idea of the modern "Book of Shadows" comes from Gerald Gardner and the Gardnerian tradition of Wicca. The Gardnerian Book of Shadows is the most well known, being the source of many rituals still practised today. The Alexandrian Book of Shadows has a basis in this as well; as Alex Sanders was an initiate of Pat Crowther.

Gerald Gardner Started his first book shortly after being initiated into the New Forest Coven. There are several versions of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows, the early versions did not contain much ritual and the Charge of the Goddess written by Doreen Valiente.

There are many Books that the owners claim was handed down to them through the ages, when it has actually contained Doreen Valiente's poetry. A Good example of this is Lady Sheba’s Book of Shadows (Circ. 1980) Since Valient every HPs of Gerald Gardner has added their own material, and there is in fact several different Books of Shadows, each original in their own right.

Another reason is that Paganism is an earth related belief structure and as such has its roots in the countryside. Many country folk were poor, and as such did not read. It was an expensive luxury, and so until the Education Act of Queen Victoria, was not available to the common man.

It is believed that the main reason there is this confusion over the books is the medieval books, the works of ceremonial magicians, some of these books can be dated back as far as the Elizabethan period. A particularly good example is on display at the British Museum and belonged to Jack Dee, Astrologer Royal to Queen Elizabeth I.

There are many different names for the Book of Shadows; one of these is “Liber Umbarum” meaning “The Black Book”. It is thought that the term “Book of Shadows” actually refers to a middle eastern divination involving shadows.

In Seax-Wicca (created by Raymond Buckland) it is named “The Tree” in reference Yggdrasil, the World Tree of Germanic mythology, the pages of the book are then aptly called “The leaves”. Other names include The Book of Light, Book of Dreams, The Book and there are many more out there.

Ideas for the content of your Book of Shadows

There are no right or wrong ways to keep a Book of Shadows, It is individual to the person who creates it. If you belong to a coven there may be a coven BoS that you may be expected to copy from, otherwise you will be creating from scratch. If this is the case, do not be overwhelmed, it is merely a case of keeping the information you gather that you would like to keep.

A popular way of keeping a BoS is in a ring-binder or folder. This makes easy moving and replacing of pages as the need arises, it also makes phtocopying easier.

Any Pen or Pencil or paper is fine, while we all have ideas of having a beautiful book, filled with drawings and traditional handwriting, few of us are capable of this type of aristy, and there is no shame in using some of the wonderful pre-printed paper readily available in shops such as WHSmith, PCWorld and other Stationary and Computer shops.

Dont forget, there is nothing to say that you cannot have mopre then one BoS. Think of them as a way to measure your growth, a nice thin to do at the beginning of each Book is to write a personal Blessing, and a personal belief system, this can help you focus on areas that you may wish to study more, i.e. reincarnation, Karma etc.

Here are a few suggestions