The Grimoire - A book emerging from the shadows
Say the words "Spell Book" to people and they will conjure images Witches Hats, Broomsticks and Black Cats, while uttering the words "Book of Shadows" you may get a few giggles and replies of “Oh that TV show about the three Sisters,” but mention the word “Grimoire” and you get a lot of confused faces and a few “A what now???”
What is a Grimoire? I hear you ask, simply it is a Witches textbook of magik, but since you have stopped here, lets dive in a little further and find some answers. Hang up the Broomstick, put the Cauldron on, grab your favourite familiar and let ask the Divine for some answers.
History of the Grimoire
The word Grimoire originated from the old French word grammaire, which when first used would refer to any book written in Latin. Then as the word gained in popularity around the 18th Century, Grimoire was used to refer solely to books of magik.
Traditionally a Grimoire was a book held by the High Priestess with the core rituals and practices of her Coven, these remained unchanged over time. Newly initiated Witches would copy this information into their personal books, adding their own magikal experiences such as herbal lore, astrology, and information they gathered in divination. These personal books would be looked over by the High Priestess to see how the student was progressing in the magik workings.
The early Grimoires were said to be written in the Runic Alphabet or in other codes only known by the High Priestess and her Coven, to hide their magikal meanings and to protect the Coven from persecution and death if found by the Witch Hunter.
Today, a Grimoire is a Witches personal handbook of magik. It is here she keeps her magikal workings, how to summon or invoke, how to perform spells, charms and incantations, instructions on making amulets and talisman, colours and their meanings, herbs, and their meanings, what crystals to use, what works well and what does not and can even be her personal journal of thoughts and feelings.
Now days, these books of magik can be called, Grimoire, Spell Book, or Book of Shadows.
What is the difference between a Grimoire and a Book of Shadows?
Ummmmmm personally I say Nothing!!!!
You may prefer the word journal, diary, spell book, or dare I say it, Bible over the word Grimoire, your book is whatever you want to call it. Remember it is just a collection of information on a subject.
The term “Book of Shadows” was introduced to the World in the 1940’s by Gerald Gardner. Who is Gerald Gardner?? “You are going to love this guy,”
Gerald is an Old English author and archaeologist born in 1884. He was also known by his Wiccan name of Scire and is the founder of the tradition of Gardnerian Wicca. Gerald was involved in bringing the contemporary Pagan religion to public attention, to what we know today as Wicca, and some say Gerald is the founder of modern Witchcraft, but I stray from my subject, Gerald can be the subject of another Blog.
“Oh, let me pencil that into my calendar...... must write blog on Gerald Gardner.”
Why call it a “Book of Shadows”?
It is believed to draw its name from its contents. As we know, the Book of Shadows holds spells, rituals and incantations used by practitioners of magik and pagan religion. One concept for the term “Shadow” is that it refers to the “Dark Arts,” and we all know this being a practice that for centuries Witches have been accused of performing. Another concept is that the book was traditionally burnt following the Witches death, this was said to be done to protect the privacy of the persons views from those who may be less accepting of what she practiced, thus keeping her beliefs “in the shadows.”
What should a Grimoire look like?
Well, it does not have to look like the Halliwell Sisters Book of Shadows if that is what you are asking, “I know you remember the TV Series Charmed and loved it. Like me you could not wait until the next episode aired a week later.” Traditionally a Grimoire was a book bound in black leather, the black was said to keep the negativity out and protect the contents of the book.
A Grimoire can be a simple spiral notebook, a Lever Arch folder with a notebook and plastic sleeves or an elaborate store-bought leather-bound beauty. I am a Green Witch, and my Grimoire is something that I hand made many, many moons ago. I is an old spiral notebook, with blank pages, and I covered it in Purple Velvet. I have spells and incantations, there are notes on crystals, herbs, and oils, I have past Tarot readings; I even have a few notes on family and friends written down in the pages of my Grimoire. There are bits of paper and newspaper clipping in it, drawings and I even have a recipe to make shampoo and conditioner in it.
Electronic V Hard Copy
Personally, I am old school, I love the feel and smell of books, which is funny when you think about it, because I have written a blog that right now you are reading on my website, no books, pages, or a drop of ink in sight.
Of course, we cannot forget our “Techy Witches” who would prefer an electronic Grimoire. This can be as simple as jumping into Microsoft Office and using One Note for Windows, a Word Document, or even Google Documents and the places where you can store your Grimoire are endless from an external hard drive to the iCloud, Google Cloud and even One Drive Cloud which has a personal vault where you can lock away your Grimoire. The options for a Grimoire are only limited by your imagination.
For the love of old books
Some Witches use one book over time, adding new pages when needed or simply starting a new volume once the old one is full, while others start a new book every Samhain, (this is the end of harvest which marks the beginning of Winter in the Northern Hemisphere), but this is entirely up to the Witch. If you like the idea of starting a new book every Samhain or a new volume once the other becomes full, I recommend dating the front page of each book. This just makes it easier to track back when things happen, like a diary entry.
A Grimoire does not only have to have spells and witchcraft notes in them, as I said at the start, they are a good place to keep a personal journal of feelings and thoughts too.
I have just had a great idea, there should be a Website where you could buy hand crafted Grimoires and other Witchcraft goodies and it should be called Mystic Cauldron. Sounds great right??? Well, let me work on the hand-crafted Grimoires and I will keep you let you know when they become available.
I love that my first blog has been about Grimoires, considering my blog page is called The Grimoire, is that a coincidence or what??? No…. not really, I did it on purpose.
Why? It is because the Grimoire is a book every Witch has, it is her sacred book of magik. The Grimoire holds all secrets, information, and answers of Witchcraft and that is what my intention is for my Grimoire blog pages.
Blessed Be