UNDERSTANDING THE ASTRAL REALMS

THE BOOK OF SHADOWS.
By Kimberley Morgan

Keep a book let it be in your own hand of write.
Book of Shadows

The book of shadows, a dark mysterious object, conjuring up fascinations or rituals within the night, dark mysterious rites and rituals of witches, written in antiquity for all to observe, or a Witches recipe book full of interesting Tit-bits of Pagan ritual, Ceremony and spell craft – which is it to be ?
The answer to that enigmatic question of course is both!

The Book of Shadows is a term synonymously used by all witches of all persuasions to describe the book of spells and rituals that they practise and use. Often bound in a dark material such as Lesther, or Velvet the term actually got its name, not from the Dark shadowy rites contained within, but simply from the colour of the Cover!

Because each Witch is different from the next Witch it therefore goes without saying that each and every book of shadows contains different rites, ceremonies, spells and incantations, which is a concept that is far removed from the instigator of the concept Dr Gerald B Gardner.

The main inference to the Wiccan Book of Shadows, is that it is purported to contain the central sacred text of the Wiccan religion. However, it is important to point out that there is no 'official' Book of Shadows, like a bible or a Koran. Typically each Witch and then on coven has a hand-written copy of a Book of Shadows, written in both regular English (or Welsh or Dutch) complete with a cipher or code, for parts of the rites and rituals it contains within.

Within the Law ( or referred to by some Americans ‘The Lore’,) the instructions as to the book of shadows are clear
If you would Keep a book let it be in your own hand of write. Let brothers and sisters copy what they will, but never let the book out of your hands, and never keep the writings of another, for if it be found in their hand of write, they well may be taken and enjoined. Each should guard his own writings and destroy it whenever danger threatens. Learn as much as you may by heart, and when danger is past, rewrite your book an it be safe. For this reason, if any die, destroy their book if they have not been able to, for an it be found, 'tis clear proof against them

It is common practise within covens or in Magickal partnerships of Priest/ess and Student, that the original book of shadows be hand written, in front of the Priest/ess with every word, dot and comma written accurately and exactly the same as the original the Priest/ess themselves wrote out, when they first entered the Craft. It is further common practise for that student to add their own rituals spells and invocations, that they will in time pass on to their own Magickal students or coven members. For this reason and to stop the muddlement of Magickal heritages, the part of The Book of Shadows that was given in the first place should be kept complete and together in one part of your book and then your own rituals, rites, ceremonies, spells and incantations should be added Elsewhere. As another one of Gerald’s initiates, Patricia Crowther once told me of the Book of Shadows.

“You can add to the Book of Shadows, but you must never take anything away from it”
and I for one agree with Patricia on this subject, you can add as much as you like of your own rituals, rites, ceremonies, spells and incantations, just keep it separate from the original book of shadows that was given to you.

In his possession at the Witches Mill in the Isle of Man Gardner had such Grimoires ( old English for ‘Grammars’, a play on words of “Spelling!”) as the Goetia, The Key of Solomon and The Book of Abra Melin the Mage, and looking at the contents of the Book of shadows, as handed down by Gerald to his initiates, it is obvious that Gerald had it in his mind that the Book of Shadows for the newly re-emerging cult of the Wicca, should emulate such old Books of Magick and Spells. The text also shows influences from English and Celtic Folk-lore, the Enochian system of John Dee, Thelema, the Golden Dawn, Stregaria, Tantric Yoga, the KJV Bible and even Kipling.

When our detractors and persecutors talk of the Book of shadows, they slander the cause of the Book of Shadows being the Sacred Text of Wiccans because to them, it was not handed down to us by a divine supernatural deity, something which I disagree with in itself, lest we not forget that Doreen who was a High Priestess of the Old Religion, certainly had the voice of the Goddess moving through her when she reconstructed the beautiful rituals and ceremonies of the Wicca in which we all follow.
One of the main detractions of other religions against Wicca is the fact that our Book of Shadows is changeable for each and every person or group and therefore is not a ‘traditional’ text from antiquity! As though the Bible or the Koran are, the bible as we know it here in the UK was the King James Revised Bible, with most of the books that were popular in Europe in the Middle ages removed, and placed into a volume called the Apocrypha.

The earliest form of the Koran, was written by followers of the prophet Mohammed. From 610 until his death, he was alleged to have received visions brought to him by the Angel Gabriel of writings from a book that Allah owned in heaven. Muhammad's followers recorded these visions in what is now the Koran the final version was compiled after his death and what was omitted from the Koran but were nonetheless sayings of Mohammed was collated into a book called the Hadith.

So as we can see, Jews Christians and Muslims have all rewritten their holy books in one form or another, doesn’t stop them being holy to them. So next time some Christian, Jew or Muslim denounces your book of Shadows as not being a genuinely Spiritual work, just remind them, their own books have been rewritten and added to several times in their history, so why should it be such a big deal to we Wiccans??
According the Doreen Valiente ( Charge of the Goddess p94) Gerald used his own Book of Shadows from the late 40’s until 1953, when he initiated Doreen, and told her that the material contained within had come directly from The New Forest Coven and were remnants of the Old religion that had passed down through the ages.

Ever the eagle eyes and extremely well read Doreen had noticed that one of the passages used by Gardner had been taken directly from Crowley’s Gnostic Mass, when questioned on this matter Gardner admitted the parts of the Book of Shadows he had been handed down from the New Forest Coven was so fragmented that he filled in the gaps as best he could! In around 1961 He asked Doreen to re-evaluated his own book of Shadows and she did so, replacing much of the original Crowleyan and Masonic Material with her own Craft inspired Verse and prose, restructuring the concept of The Book of Shadows into a viable working tradition of the Craft of its time

Gerald’s Book of Shadow is a magnificent beautiful work bound in dark brown leather with a very distinctive Calligraphied Gothic style, in both Green and Red Ink and forms the basis of the Craft how we know it.
It was thinking of Gerald's Book of Shadows that spurned me on the rewriting my own Book of Shadows, with the Basis of the Gardnerians Book in my mind, I set about the construction of my very own Gardnerian Book of Shadows, that in itself looks like it could have been a brother or a sister to Gerald’s. My intent was specific, I had to obtain a book, leather bound in a dark old leather with parchment pages that would be worthy of such a calligraphied masterpiece. In this day and age, of internet and eBay, there were many offerings purporting to be “Books of Shadows” some had embossed pentagrams on their covers, some even had the legend emblazoned in its front, these mass produced factory made offerings were not required for this project, the one I was looking for had to be special, magickal!!!!

So it was on the Full moon after Imbolc that such a book came into my possession, after seeing a bookbinder's work on Ebay, I cheekily emailed her to tell of my intentions and to ask whether she had a book that may be suitable. She responded and told me of a large leather bound book, over 500 pages of parchment, with Straps and clasps and copper and brass fastenings. This was to be my new book of Shadows!

Upon arrival the book was duly consecrated, pens and ink – real nibbed pens, real ink were purchased, in Black Red and Green and work began, as you can see by the photographs contained within, the book itself is truly magickal, the main calligraphied body of text is complete, now the embellishments of illuminations begin, with paints and gold leaf I shall embellish my book of Shadows over the forthcoming year that it may be a lasting testimony to my Craft, my belief and my one true Goal, to be as one with the Olds Gods and Goddesses.

So that is our Book of Shadows, Diverse in its very many paths, united under one Goddess in a book that I consider as sacred as any Bible, Torah or Koran and one that has the Magickal light of clever Witches shining out from their very words.
and let us also remember that the Book of Shadows unites witches all, When we all say those words, that have been handed down by nameless witches long forgotten, collated by Gerald and added to by Doreen, we have a unified presence within our rites within circle, all over the world, our Magickal powers grow and intensify, they get stronger because we are all contributing to a Magickal Gestalt that is the Magickal Power of the Craft

Excerpts fromGerald's Book of Shadows