The witch’s grimoire is actually a collection of books including your private journal, your Book of Shadows, your Book of Mirrors, and other books you choose to add (life maybe a dream journal or a tarot journal). This collection acts a little like a witch’s bible, and is highly personal and unique to each individual. It is both a chronicle of your spiritual journey and a record of spells, correspondences and information.
A daily journal can become a chronicle of your growth as a witch. Jotting down the events of the day and how those events affect you emotionally is both a way to cleanse yourself and a way to recognize patterns in your life. In your journal, take a moment to note the phase of the moon and which astrological house it is currently in. Over time, you can notice patterns of how these aspects affect your moods, personality, and physical health.
A dream journal serves to both help you remember your dreams in more detail, and over time becomes a glossary of your own private dream symbolism.
Similarly, if you use tarot or some other form of divination, keeping a notebook of your interactions will highlight key symbols that recur repeatedly in your readings, and will help you hone your skills and intuition when interpreting the messages Deity is sending you.
A Book of Shadows (BOS) is your own encyclopedia / recipe book for magic. It is your collection of knowledge, spells, and rituals. If you look at the MoonShine.life website, the Spellcraft and Wheel of the Year sections contain information directly from my grimoire.
A Book of Mirrors (BOM) is a record of each magical working. In it, we record our feelings and intuitions about the spells we cast or the divinations we perform along with the results. This is then used to help us reflect on our practice, what worked and what didn’t, and why.
Collectively, your personal journals and diaries make up your Grimoire. All of the books within your grimoire are deeply personal records, and should be treated as such. Keep these journals private, store them in a special place, and approach them with reverence.
Think about how you want to organize this information. It is very romantic to think of large, leather-bound books with heavy ornamentation and silk page markers, but most witches choose to be more practical. Remember you will be adding pages throughout your entire lifetime, and you may want to be able to move the pages around as you grow in your craft. Here are some ideas to get you started:
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- a large ring binder that you can divide into sections (or several smaller binders)
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- a disc binder that can expand as you add more pages
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- a collection of smaller notebooks can be kept together to create a personal library
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- a digital version using separate files, or a notebook app such as Microsoft One Note, Evernote, Good Notes, etc.
Choose whatever method of record keeping that seems appropriate to you. The handout below will give you some ideas for how to set up your grimoire in the beginning.
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