What goes in a Book of Shadows & How often should you write in it? How far into Wicca should you start it?

Question

I just started explorign the wonderful Earth based world of Wicca and am loving it.

I understand a book of shadows is for spells, rituals, god/desses, herbs, oils, animals, nature, the moon, and so on.

And you can use your book fo shadows as a dream journal or just a learning journal.

Is there anything else to include in it?

How often should you write in it? Once a day? week? Month? or whenever you please? More foten then the above?

When shoudl you start it? I have one, but a friend told me to sudy wicca first and start it within a year or so? Is this good advice?

Answer 1

I would suggest that you start one today, there is no better time than the present...
What to include ?, well you seem to have that covered..Except that at the front, you may wish to keep a few pages free..You could include the Wiccan Rede and the Laws here, and all sorts of relevant literature that binds you to the Craft...
There is no set practice to Wicca, if it feels good to you then it must be the way for you...
Covens are a bit different, but most are fairly flexible..
Welcome... Love and Light.. BB... )O(

Answer 2

Well, there is an excellent book on the History of the persecution of Witches called "The Witch Hunts" by Robert Thurston who is a PhD in HIstory, he is the Phillip R. Shriver Professor of HIstory at Miami University in Oxford, OH, USA. It has a completely objective history of the persecution of Witches, Heretics, Gnostics, and Jews by ALL sects of Christianity from about 500 AD to the present. Yes, Witches are STILL being burned and hung in some parts of the World in THIS day and age. BB, Raji the Green Witch There is an awful lot of insight into the History of Christianity, the Bible, Satan, and Hell as well. I know it's not ON Witchcraft per se, BUT it is an excellent source of knowledge for those who STILL insist that 9 million women were killed or that the Burning Times was a war on women.

Answer 3

OK, first, read about the lives of famous occultists:

http://usminc.org/famous.html

Then decide if it's worth pursuing. If you want to wind up broke and forgotten, go for it!

If there is any truth to the old saying "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.", that truth is found in the occult, and Wicca in particular. Silver Ravenwolf has written close to a dozen books on the subject of "The Craft", and claims she has been studying it since about 1969, which is almost as long as I’ve been alive. She has written a book on how to cast money spells, and includes a chapter on how to do so in her Teen Witch book. But the thing is, she doesn't particularly sound all that prosperous herself. Ravenwolf writes,

" For years I couldn't afford to go to a hair stylist (still can't, it's shop and chop for me). I got pretty good at stying my own hair from looking at magazine pictures" [SOURCE: Teen Witch, Llewellyn Publications, 2003 edition, page 145]

OK, she so rich she can't go to the hairdresser. Hey, get me a copy of that Prosperity Spell book!

Silver Ravenwolf seems to have inadvertently discovered that Wicca makes things worse, but won't ever admit it as such.
In Teen Witch she says

"A lot of people tell me how bad their lives have gotten after casting a spell and tell me they won't do Witchcraft anymore. I tell them their lives would have been much worse for not having cast the spell".

Gee Silver, you would think a lot of people would be saying things like "Hey, Silver Ravenwolf, my life has improved tremendously with Wicca!" if Wicca is as great as they claim. Instead it makes lives much worse, and even Silver Ravenwolf admits she hears this a lot!!!

Why? Because sometimes, things are just as you think they are. Most average people will tell you the occult deals with black magic and demons, and demons are evil beings who wish us harm. This is how it is my friend. The occult is evil, and brings bad happenings into a person's life, and Wicca is an occult religion. When you stop trying to rationalize it with inaccurate data and just use common sense you will realize this. Some occultists are of above average intelligence, and I think part of the problem is they have book smarts but not common sense. There are two forces at work in this universe: the counterfeit and the genuine. Wicca’s source of power is not the genuine. There’s just simply no way Wicca (and thus the copycat Neopagan religions) can be created from the black magic writings of “The Great Beast 666", the bizarre sexual practices of Gardner, the spiritual “guidance” of the Watchers (fallen angels) and still be a source of good!

None of the people who have answered your question can make it work either, Don't delude yourself. It's an incredible waste of time and money, and it's spiritual poison.

Answer 4

What you put in it is entirely up to you. How often you write in it is, too. Of course, if you have a mentor who makes more specific suggestions, you should follow her advice.

I started a Book of Shadows when I was new to Wicca, but eventually I realized that I did not want such a book lying around. I still have the one I wrote then, and when I was unpacking recently after I moved to St. Louis, I came upon it. I am pleased to note that it was not as humiliating an experience to re-read it as I had anticipated. Most of what is in it is the words for the sabbat and esbat rituals.

There are also some comments on the preparation for my initiation, but they don't make a great deal of sense to me in this context. It is a curious fact that I remember very little about my initiation.

Answer 5

book shadows write wicca start

Answer 6

try www.maxpages.com/dusels and the book is for all spells and how u set them up,ect..

Answer 7

Throw it away and get a Bible.