Book of Shadows

The Book of Shadows is a personal book that has been copied by each initiated Witch that contains the format of worship according to one’s tradition. In Traditional British Wica, every Initiate is required to copy the Book of Shadows (BoS) in their “own hand of write”. Normally the BoS is copied with the Initiator present in case any questions arise that isn’t understood by the initiate. The Traditional teachings of Traditional British Wica states that “nothing is to be taken out” of the Book of Shadows but that you may add to the BoS as you wish. This means that your copy of the BoS contains the same materials as your Initiator’s. Even if the material that you copy doesn’t appeal to you, it may appeal to your initiates. Copying all the material in your Initiator’s BoS also establishes a link to those that are initiated in your tradition and Initiated Line.

Many individuals have taken the “lazy approach” and instead of copying the Book of Shadows in their “own hand of write” have decided to copy the BoS electronically either using a computer or typewriter. There is much to be said about electronically copying the BoS. First and foremost, it doesn’t have the same appeal as it would if you copied the BoS in your own “hand of write”. To copy the BoS in your own “hand of write” leads the Witch to be conscious about what is being written and infuses the BoS with the personal energy of the Witch. Over the years, I have heard many excuses as to why one wishes to copy the BoS electronically; one being that the Witch doesn’t have legible handwritten. Terrible handwritten is a hallmark of many Witches and Magicians, but copying the Book of Shadows by hand requires that the Witch carefully construct each letter with precision and mindfulness. Another reason is that a Witch has some medical condition that interferes with their ability to write anything for long periods of time. There are several Witches in the Traditional British Wica that have arthritis or some other debilitating disease that may interfere with their ability to sit and copy the BoS at length, but they realize the benefits of copying the BoS in their own “hand of write.” Although it may take any Witch with these conditions longer to copy the Book of Shadows, it is always done with love and devotion. It isn’t a race to see who can copy the Book of Shadows in the least amount of time. Think about it, even Gerald Gardner had a typewriter and terrible handwriting but he even wrote the Book of Shadows in his own "hand of write".

There is another point that I would like to bring up about the Book of Shadows and that is that the Book of Shadows used by Traditionalist can be found on the internet. I would like to state that the Complete Book of Shadows has never been published on the internet or in book format. It is true that portions of the Book of Shadows have been published, but not the Complete BoS. The information that is found on the internet can easily be placed in a ½ inch binder, but the complete BoS of Traditionalist would take many more pages and a larger binder to contain all the material of Traditional Wica. Desert Henge, a Gardnerian Coven in Arizona, wrote about this topic on their website. If you would like to read about what Desert Henge had to say on this topic, it can be viewed by clicking here.