My Book of Shadows: The Personal Practice of a Green Witch

This is my Book of Shadows, or as I prefer to call it, my witch's journal. As cheesy as the use of a Slytherin notebook may be for this, it's a beautiful little thing, and a reminder that the magic of stories is just as powerful as the magic of the witch. As promised, I'm going to share with you how I use my journal, what goes into it, and how it helps focus my practice. Before I start I'd like to make a note that this is just an insight into my personal practice, not an instruction manual, and there is no right or wrong way to use your book of shadows, you can use any tatty old notebook if you like, or use the notes on your phone if you want something discreet. And any king of spellcraft, or any religious beliefs that you follow alongside your craft, are all equally valid. Here's a masterpost of many of the different kinds of witches and magic.

Spell Book  The obvious primary use of a book of shadows is a spell book, and all of my spells involve the use of natural ingredients. For me, the simpler a spell the better, relying on the power of the ingredients themselves rather than on ritual surrounding them. 

As I'm not a qualified herbalist I would never brew my own teas for ingestion (although I could never deny the power of a good witch's brew), and so a spell bag, to be carried or placed in a relevant position in the home, is my favourite method of spellcraft. I use little organza bags that can be found in craft shops (I got 10 for a pound at The Works), but an alternative I'm keen the try is little glass bottles that can be turned into necklaces. How the herbs and plants are stored isn't what's important here therefore, but they must be individually charged. This charging is as simple as holding the pile of the dried herb you are using and concentrating your energy into it, feeling it flow down your arms and charging the herbs as you concentrate on what you want to spell to achieve. Another of my trademarks when writing a spell is that there should be FOUR ingredients, one for each of the four elements; earth, air, water, and fire. Below is a transcription of the spells above;

Nightmare Banishing

Lavender (Mercury/ Air)

- sleep, depression, wish, divination

Rosemary (Sun/ Fire)

- under pillow ensures good night's sleep and drives away nightmares

- under bed protects against all harm.

Vervain (Moon/ Water)

- chases away evil spirits and malignant forces and calms emotions

- drives away nightmares

Thyme (Venus/ Water)

- under pillow ensures peaceful sleep and no nightmares

1. Charge individually

2. Put in herb bag

3. Place under pillow

Attracting Love

Rose petals (Venus/ Water)

- used in love spells for hundreds of years

Daffodil (Venus/ Water)

- on altar or carried for love spells. 

- Fresh flowers in bedroom increase fertility 

- plucked or worn next to heart for luck

Orange peel (Sun/ Fire)
- peels and seeds added to sachets for love magic. Flowers to those sachets lead to wedded bliss.

Apricot stone (Venus/ Water)
- carried to attract love

1. Carry all in herb bag to attract love.
2. If you want to encourage a certain someone to make their feelings known to you, place the ingredients out on the altar next to a small dish or cup of water and a lit candle and think of them as you hover your hands of them, before placing the ingredients in the bag.

Flower pressing

My book of shadows is also a record of my natural environment, and flower pressing is my main method of creating this. It is important to learn what kinds of plants grow around you as some of them may come in handy for a spell. Whilst I do use an Encyclopaedia of Magical Herbs, a Green witch must also rely on their instincts, and take note of what kinds of magical properties speak to them when they encounter a plant in the wild.

The quotes I have jotted down on these pages are;

"A garden must combine the poetic and the mysterious with a feeling of serenity and joy." 
- Luis Barragan

"Those who do not believe in magic will never find it."
- Roald Dahl

Research

This is the research that is likely to form the basis for posts on this blog, but the reason that my research on folklore, magical creatures, and witchcraft ends up in this book is that I believe it is important to learn of the history of these Pagan beliefs, and to allow this to inform my practice. If you have access to Jsor, there are some intriguing articles in the Folklore journal, but sacred-texts.com has a wide array of primary sources that you may find interesting. Fae magazine is a quarterly publication that also publish relevant articles.

For the beginners amongst you, below are a few of the books I'd recommend. They are by Wiccan writers, but these particular books seemed to have more of a secular approach so I still found them accessible and relevant. Whilst they helped me to get started, I'd still say to take anything you read in books about practising Witchcraft with a pinch of salt. You are your own authority and teacher when it comes to harnessing your power, so trust yourself, you're as much a part of nature as the plants in your spells, and you are just as powerful.

   

Thanks for reading! I'm going to be blogging regularly from now on, so expect another post next Monday! See you then :)