shadow work – The Northern Witch' s Blog

Today and for the rest of the month, I´m going to let you have a closer look into the structure of my Book of Shadows. The same structure is applied to my online Book of Shadows and to my cell phone.

I begin with some formal information about how I´ve build my Book of Shadows , the history of witchcraft and the dedication section that I´ve chosen to include, because it reminds me of why I´m a witch and that I need to behave accordingly to my kind of ethics that pretty much sums up to the Golden Rule and a lot more than that.

1 Construction Preface
2 The Book Of Shadows Index
3 History Of Injustice
4 Harm Ye None
5 Shadow Work
6 Work And Chart Sheets
7 BOS Colouring Pages
8 Nice Resources Online

Construction Preface : Here I have the “house rules” of behaviour and working with magick in my home, Book of Shadows blessing, how to make a Book of Shadows and magickal rules.

Index : The index is divided into theme subjects and sub-categories with numbers for easy and quick reference, and I adjust it from time to time, when I´ve worked with e.g. a sub-category like 74. Magickal Tools and learned that magickal tools are many things, whereof some need their own sub-category.

History Of Injustice : The dark history of witchcraft is always interesting, since persecution of free-thinkers always has been and is a major issue to be taken very seriously.

Harm Ye None : My oath of/pledge to witchcraft and my self-dedication as a witch, I´m a grey witch, the Witches´ Creed, the Herbal Rede, Charge of the Goddess, Charge of the God, Charge of the Dark Goddess, Charge of the Dark God, Charge of the Crone, written ethics, positive affirmations about being a witch.

Shadow Work : We all have a darker side that needs to be taken care of as well as our body, mind and soul need it. So I work with negativity in the sense of trying to transform it into positivity. I always try to write some positive affirmations about this kind of work, because I only do it when I´m feel confident enough to. You should never do shadow work when you are depressed or have a rough period in life.

Work And Chart Sheets : The picture for today´s post below shows my template for my rituals. I plan to do a lot more like that, when I get the time for it.

BOS Colouring pages : I´m a very creative person who loves to colour and decorate my pages, but I´m also very picky, so I´ve bought a Colouring Book of Shadows and I use free material as well as I make a lot of stuff myself.

Nice Online Resources : Here I plan for a future post coming later in Autumn. But for now I can recommend the Witch of Lupine Hollow (www.witchoflupinehollow.com) , because she has made a thorough examination of grimoires and inspired me to work with my Book of Shadows on a daily basis.

This is basically the core structure of my Book of Shadows. And during July I will take you through it with me, so you hopefully get some inspiration and good energy to work with your own grimoire or Book of Shadows.

On Monday you can expect traditions and the old ways. To me they are inspirational and guiding not only in my work with witchcraft, but also on a daily basis in everything I do.

First of all, let me point out that there are as many ways of creating and working with a Book of Shadows as there are magickal people. Therefore, I do recommend that your make your Book of Shadows suitable for you and nobody else, since it is you who are going to work with it.

For a thorough examination of what a Book of Shadows or a grimoire is, I would like to recommend The Witch of Lupine Hollow ( https://www.pinterest.dk/pin/483574078733958147/), where there is a link to her site), who has inspired me to work more focused with my Book of Shadows, so it is integrated in my daily work with witchcraft.

My choice is a mix between handwritten and printed material. I have multiple Book of Shadows and ritual books, because I work both online and offline. I have handwritten notes, rituals, spells and a lot more than that. But in order to keep myself on the right path for practical work with a Book of Shadows, I´ve also by necessity and to be able to get in touch with like-minded people a Book of Shadows on my laptop, on my cellphone and on Pinterest. Then I have a Ritual Book of the Year, where I record all my ritual workings and ritual books for sabbats and spells.

So you see, I have a pretty busy schedule when working with my Book of Shadows.

My Book of Shadows is structured like this (for my Book of Shadows on Pinterest click : https://www.pinterest.dk/thenorthernwitch/ ) :

1-8 The Book Of Shadows (ideas for a Book of Shadows, index for my online boards and my physical ring binders, history of witchcraft, shadow work and ethical rules). It also includes good examples of work sheets, ideas for colouring pages and links to nice resources online.
9-23 Traditions And The Old Ways (old traditions and inspiration)
24-31 Mythology And Folklore (the deity world and different beliefs
32-35 Spirituality (spiritual guidance, angels and the fairy world)
36-51 Divination 1 (different kinds of divination)
52-57 Divination 2 The Tarot (Tarot and divination)
58 Divination 3 Lenormand (Lenormand and divination)
59-78 The Northern Witch´s Den (the daily cottage witch)
79-97 Correspondences (correspondences, familiars and spirit animals, symbols and sigils)
98-107 Sabbats (the Wheel of the Year)
108-115 The Moon (all about the Moon)
116- 120 Spellcasting (the art and magick of casting spells)
121-133 Rituals (rituals and practical stuff)
134-135 Witchy Tips (good ideas and a collection of advice)
136-142 Creative Magick (affordable witchy art and inspiration)
143-144 The Grey (between white and dark is the shadows, I´m a grey witch)

I develop it on an ongoing basis, because as with everything else in witchcraft, in my opinion, it is an evolving process that never stops. We are never too old or too young to learn something new or something old.

My Book of Shadows is my life line to my daily magickal practice. I use it to plan rituals and spells, to record my personal journey in witchcraft and my Tarot spreads and for many, many other purposes.

I keep it close to my ritual altar, because it and my understanding of what magick and witchcraft can be are the basic tools in any of my magickal workings.

In a future post I´ll return to the subject of magickal tools. There are as many possibilities as there are creative ideas. It is easy to buy, but it is also both magickal and fun to try to make your own tools. And it´s up to you what you need, as long as you remember that the most important tools in any kind of witchcraft is yourself and your intentions with your magickal workings.