Book of Shadows or Grimoire?
To those of you who stumbled across my blog, welcome! I assume you, the reader, are here because you are interested in learning about witchcraft, spirituality, or Paganism. I have been practicing the craft for around two years and still have much to learn.
Throughout this journey, I will be learning along with you while I discover and research aspects of witchcraft, spirituality, and Paganism that I may not know about.
I want to discuss the difference between a Book of Shadows and a Grimoire. A Book of Shadows, or BOS, is one of the essential parts of witchcraft. A BOS is commonly referred to as a "witch's guidebook" and contains information about different aspects of magical research. Most witches have a book of shadows as it is a more personal book of the two.
A Book of Shadows includes information on spells, rituals, dreams, tarot readings, etc., as well as an interpretation of the work the practitioner completed. Initially, a BOS contained religious texts and instructions for Wiccan rituals, but this has changed over the years and is now more similar to a journal.
While both can contain similar information about magical properties, a Grimoire is nowhere near as personal. A grimoire typically contains information like the different healing properties of crystals, meanings of colors, how-tos, charms, enchantments, etc.
A Grimoire is more like an encyclopedia of witchy knowledge that one would need to know. The information in a Grimoire is typically well-researched and may resemble a textbook. Grimoires can also be passed down throughout generations or to others as a stepping stone in their practice.
If you are considering starting to practice witchcraft, consider beginning at least a Book of Shadows to contain all the necessary information. Many people use the two terms interchangeably, and while they are similar, both books are different enough to serve different purposes.
This is SO cool!! I can't wait to see where else you take this blog. I think that there are a lot of misconceptions about witchcraft, and I'm so glad to see you educating people on the topic. I think a post about open/closed practices would be great too!
ReplyDeleteHi Alyssa I like how you chose a very interesting topic. I agree with what Emma said previously, I think many people believe that witchcraft and all of that is a taboo topic. Which is why they tend to stay away and not learn about it. I like how in your first post you defined both books to begin with. That is a good starting point with educating individuals about this topic.
ReplyDeleteYour enthusiasm shows, which is great. I like the overall design of your blog, as well. Remember, you need to use at least one credible source per post. Because you say you are still learning, that makes it all the more important to do so. Let your audience know where you are getting your information from (and give that source the credit they deserve).
ReplyDeleteHi Alyssa! This is such a cool idea for a blog and I am certainly going to be following along over the next few weeks. Personally, this topic is brand new to me so I found it very interesting to learn about. Very well done!
ReplyDeleteThis is an awesome topic and something I have heard of but never fully understood. Your tone shows great passion for the topic and I can not wait to read/ learn more about it.
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