As someone who has been solitary almost my entire Pagan Life, I have never really been required to keep a structured Book of Shadows. There was no one who required me to note certain laws or rules or correspondence tables, labouriously copying information by hand from my teachers in my own hand into a book. Instead I felt, due to a feeling of lacking something in not being taught and guided by a group of more experienced Pagans, that I was overwhelmed by the variety of vastly differing information available to me in books. 

And so, being the writerly type, I started devising a system of keeping track of the variety of information I was finding. I started out, originally, by keeping notes on loose leaf paper, in a common purple binder. As I was a high school and later university student during the frenzied learning portion of my path, I had easy access to binder paper, and keeping things in a binder made things both easy to carry and easy to hide from prying eyes. But this format just never seemed quite “right” to me.

I am a collector of blank books (I currently have over 20 books I have never written in, and this number is likely to continue to rise as I just LOVE blank books) and this all started, not surprisingly enough, with my search for the “perfect” book to write in. I have had 3 books now and as I fill one I always replace it with the same type of book. For myself I prefer hard bound blank, unlined, sketchbooks. I usually buy black covered artists sketch books, which I purchase from the local art supply store or university. I do not require the book to have a black cover, but it is a preference of mine just because I like the quality of the paper as well as the sturdiness of the hard bound books. I do not like pre-lined books either, since I find it hard to illustrate in a book with lines. 

For me writing is very ritualistic. Even when I am simply copying things out,  it is a very deliberate, conscious, act in which I become very mindful of my thoughts, feelings, and spirit in the moment, and so, for me the act of keeping a book of magickal practice, thought and theory is essential. 

I start the ritual of “record keeping” by having a shower or bath, the same as I would when I start any spiritual working. For me it allows me time to cleanse and center myself and enter into the appropriate mindset in which to start writing or recording. I try to find a private, comfortable spot to sit where I will not be disturbed, and I lay out my instruments. I have pens that are dedicated to use ONLY with the Books — fountain pens are my preference for this kind of work, sort of as a scriptic athame dedicated in service of record keeping. I like the deliberateness of filling the inkwell with ink and the process of drawing the pen across the paper to make a mark in my own hand. I usually light a candle and incense, and either put music on or plug into my iPod, to inspire me while I write.

I have chosen to split my Book into three parts with different purposes: I have the “Book of Shadows” in which I keep information on the things that are mysterious and hidden, correspondences, charts, lore, laws, the Rede and more “hidden” information; the “Book of Light” in which I detail information about myself, my walk on the Path, rituals I have written, spell work I have done (and the results), and my own thoughts and philosophy, as well as pictures that I keep of altars or tarot readings or craftworking; and lastly the “Book of Mirrors” in which I track dreams, dreamwork, divination, poetry, stories, rituals, drawings, and other “Godswrought” or inspired working. 

As well as a magickal “diary” set, I also keep a personal more mundane diary/journal, an online diary, a blog, and several scrapbooks. I have also found a very large (14″ x 17″ ) sketch book that I hope will very soon (once we move to our own place) be pressed into service as a “family diary” as a project to pull together the daily influences of not only MY life, but the life of my children as well, into a coherent timeline of our lives. 

For me there truely is no more magickal practice than setting down our own words on paper… it is a deliberate action that involves all my senses, and allows me to let go of my self conscious mind and enter into a sort of communing with the divine.

the Eternally ink stained, Moon’sLark