Welcome to my library...or at least part of it. I am a book lover and a writer, and of course I have a million books that make up my 'book of shadows' (honestly, this isn't even all of them). When we talk about a Book of Shadows, it is often described as being a huge tome, handmade with an ornate cover, with illustrated and beautiful pages, holding all the information one has collected as they walk their path.
But as you can see, for some of us, one book just won't do! Not only is it simply not big enough, but it may not have the organization you want (or need!). And a fancy book of shadows probably isn't something that the average person would have had (even the big coven BOS' were probably quite plain on the outside). Of course, we live in a time now where we are free to have beautiful and fancy books to write whatever we want in, so if you like that kinda thing, have at it! I have a few really lovely and unique books in my selection...though as you can see, quite a lot are very simple or basic.
My first BOS was a three ring binder. This binder....which was really just my favorite binder from school. It has pockets (which is really handy for all those odd shaped papers that I like to keep in them). But most importantly, it has tabs and three rings! It let me move stuff around as often as I wanted, and in the beginning, that was priceless. It also let me easily remove and add pages...at any point!
In my early days, I remember reading all about the Book of Shadows, and how it had a counterpoint, the Book of Light. If the BOS was dedicated to the nitty gritty "stuff you do" then the BOL was all about inspiration: poetry and stories that delighted you. I think of it as something to turn to when you need a bit of spiritual uplifting. I have a few books where I keep particularly moving poetry (one for poems I write myself, and one for others I find). I even have a wishes book, which is basically a paper version of a pinterest dream board! I have a bunch of pictures I cut out of magazines or printed out, and it's just all pretty witchy stuff that makes me happy to look at.
From there, my books just started expanding. I made a little one (so it was portable!) for a Correspondence book, and I also made a travel BOS (which is a cute little leather bound book that I kept my most basic and most well used stuff in..for when I was away from home, but still wanted something!).
I have a dream book, though I struggle to use that. I used to dream every night, but only remembered my dreams for a short time upon waking. The problem was, that I really hated the process of writing it down. As soon as I started, it was like the process of writing made the fragments of dream flee even further. I think this is part of the process of figuring out which kinds of books you might want for your practice...sometimes they just don't work out!
Another type of book I kept early on (but don't use as much now) is a working record book. I would record the spells and rituals I did, how they went and how things turned out (okay I almost always forgot that last bit...). I have several of them now, though today I am more likely to use my witchy log than directly recording my work.
Speaking of the witchy log, that is a very recent book I started a few years ago. I really struggle with keeping up with tasks (in all realms of my life), and a planner has helped my everyday life so much, I thought having a book specifically dedicated to my witchy life would help. It gives me a place to check in everyday, do moon work, journal about the sabbats, record random witchy facts or ideas....and it's really working for me.
This kind of replaced my old Sabbat book, which was dedicated to my own reflections after Sabbat rituals. This one sort of fell in a funny place for me. It felt like a cross between reflective journaling and record keeping, but when I started keeping the Witchy Log, I just stopped using this one.
I also started some topic specific books (because my brain likes organization). I have books dedicated to runes, to tarot, to astrology, to moon work...pretty much any subject you are interested enough in to want a separate book for!
Art books are another whole category for me. I have the one that started it all, which is a smashbook I did for an intentional art retreat. It holds art that was done with specific purposes, so some of the pictures are about exploring archetypes or grounding or transforming. I ended up with another book (that holds hole punched pages) for loose leaf art, and what I call my healing art book (which is blank pages that I draw pictures/symbols in for healing). Sometimes my magic isn't about words, sometimes it's about images or color or emotions and these help me tap into that.
I also keep a small book for future ideas. I heard someone toss this out as concept, and it's so perfect for my brain! The idea is that you write down stuff you might want to work on...but that you don't have time/energy/motivation to do right now. It's a future log for magic! Mine is broken into problems and dreams..so problems are often more outward focused (like when a situation in the world is just bugging you), while dreams tend to be more personal (though of course you could just keep all your future ideas together!)
Now, you can probably see that most of my books are pretty spartan. I don't really decorate them (minus the art books, but those aren't technically decorated either...just full of art lol), because for me that honestly just feels like work. It's also a bit like that feeling of having a blank (expensive) book and not wanting to use it (because you are afraid of 'messing it up'...though I find just deliberately making a mistake early helps in this...I'm not perfect, my books don't need to be either). But many people really get into making their books into amazing art works, doing collage and making every word beautiful. So if that's your thing, go for it!
And if physical books aren't your thing....there are always digital options! I keep a ton of files on my computer, from books to stuff I've written to things I've clipped from websites. I've been playing around with OneNote as a way to organize digital stuff, though I've heard great things about Notion as well (and seen some amazing digital books there!) There are advantages to digital, it's easy to keep a ton of information organized and handy (and with smart phones, portable!) Personally, I'm more analog than digital, I sometimes struggle to read online text (books are easier for me), so I doubt I will ever be fully digital...but it's so nice for stuff that I am not sure I want/need for the long term.
When it comes to your Book(s) of Shadows, the sky is the limit. There is no right or wrong way to keep one, just ways that work better for you. And there is nothing wrong with trying out a few! Find the books you like to use (bound, spiral, 3ring, digital), figure out how you prefer to keep things (do you like one big book, lots of little ones, write as you go, dedicated sections) and then see which ones stick with you (because sometimes the one you are most excited about just doesn't click).
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