Post by Kirree on Apr 11, 2004 15:20:25 GMT -5
The Grimoire
also known as the Book of Shadows
This is a personal book of rituals, private thoughts, meditations, spells, and anything else dealing with your Wiccan experiences. No one has a right to your grimoire but you. If you wish to share it that's fine, but it is your diary and no one should ever demand that you reveal it.
Because Wicca is such a personal religion, a grimoire is vitally important. Setting down information allows you to more exactly review it later or compare it to information acquired at a later date. I personally have also found it helpful to write because ideas that look fine in the book of a Big Name Pagan read a lot sillier when I try to write it in my own hand and helps me reconsider what I really believe, and what I'm blindly quoting.
Some authors include exercises in their books asking you to write down certain things in your grimoire such as your beliefs on a variety of topics. These are important to consider and eventually write down, but I find these exercises put pressure on the reader to make such decisions on the spur of the moment. Take your time. You don't, and shouldn't, need all the answers on day one. I'm on year ten, and I still don't have all the answers.
Some people use engraved, leather bound journals, others spiral-bound notebooks. I currently use the latter for general notes, and the former for formal inscriptions. Some places will try and sell you special inks for your grimoire, saying it will make your works more effective or even that regular inks render your book useless! This is like telling a Christian only crosses made of gold are effective.
Your grimoire is, however, the closest thing we have to a holy book. If you make a formal book you may wish to accredit it special care not because you have to, but out of reverence. The Jews have a tradition I'm simply in awe of. Every synagogue has at least one Torah scroll at their altar, handwritten by trained scribes. The name of god is always inscribed with a pen whose nib is of silver or gold. The scribes then come back periodically to examine the entire scroll. Any small flaw is corrected. Sections with larger flaws are unsewn from the scroll and rewritten.
also known as the Book of Shadows
This is a personal book of rituals, private thoughts, meditations, spells, and anything else dealing with your Wiccan experiences. No one has a right to your grimoire but you. If you wish to share it that's fine, but it is your diary and no one should ever demand that you reveal it.
Because Wicca is such a personal religion, a grimoire is vitally important. Setting down information allows you to more exactly review it later or compare it to information acquired at a later date. I personally have also found it helpful to write because ideas that look fine in the book of a Big Name Pagan read a lot sillier when I try to write it in my own hand and helps me reconsider what I really believe, and what I'm blindly quoting.
Some authors include exercises in their books asking you to write down certain things in your grimoire such as your beliefs on a variety of topics. These are important to consider and eventually write down, but I find these exercises put pressure on the reader to make such decisions on the spur of the moment. Take your time. You don't, and shouldn't, need all the answers on day one. I'm on year ten, and I still don't have all the answers.
Some people use engraved, leather bound journals, others spiral-bound notebooks. I currently use the latter for general notes, and the former for formal inscriptions. Some places will try and sell you special inks for your grimoire, saying it will make your works more effective or even that regular inks render your book useless! This is like telling a Christian only crosses made of gold are effective.
Your grimoire is, however, the closest thing we have to a holy book. If you make a formal book you may wish to accredit it special care not because you have to, but out of reverence. The Jews have a tradition I'm simply in awe of. Every synagogue has at least one Torah scroll at their altar, handwritten by trained scribes. The name of god is always inscribed with a pen whose nib is of silver or gold. The scribes then come back periodically to examine the entire scroll. Any small flaw is corrected. Sections with larger flaws are unsewn from the scroll and rewritten.