A lot of rubbish and plain mis-truths have been published about what a Book of Shadows is. It is, quite simply, nothing more than a witches notebook. It must be remembered that witchcraft is a fertility religion, and therefore has its roots in the countryside. Therefore the idea that there are traditional Books of Shadows handed down from generation to generation is ludicrous as most simple country folk didn't start to learn to write 'til the turn of this century!

The idea of the modern Book of Shadows comes from Gerald Gardner, and the Gardnerian tradition of Wicca. There is little doubt that its creation and the mythos surrounding it comes directly from him, and the Gardnerian Book of Shadows is the most well known, being the root source of the ritual material of many Wiccan traditions; the Alexandrian Book of Shadows derives from the Gardnerian Book of Shadows of Patricia Crowther, Alex Sanders being initiated by one of her initiates.

Gardner started his first book shortly after joining the New Forest Coven (for more on this you need to read The Witches Bible or The Witches Way). There are several distinct versions of Gardner's Book of Shadows best labelled by the date of their completion; 1949, 1953, 1957 and 1961. In the early versions (1949 and 1953) there was very little ritual, and it was Doreen Valiente who added the Charge of the Goddess and most of the poetry, in fact she is responsible for the modern Book of Shadows being what it is today (we have actually come across witches claiming they have a centuries old Book of Shadows handed down through the family, when it has Doreen's poetry in it; a good example is Lady Sheba's Book of Shadows published in the 1980's).

From Doreen Valiente onwards each High Priestess of Gardner's added their own material. We calculate that from the period prior to Geralds death, their must have come at least eight genuine Books of Shadows. We want to point this out because on several occasions we have come across witches claiming to have Gerald's original.

Gerald never meant the Book Shadows to fall into dogma; one story is told that he actually he switched pieces of the rituals around to make people think about what they were doing. Unfortunately it didn't work, and rumour has it there is another version going around with some of the rituals in the wrong place!

The confusion over the various Books of Shadows has been compounded by the existence of Medieveal Grimoires, the work books of Ritual Magicians which can sometimes date as far back as the Elizabethan period. A good example of one of these can be found in the British Museum and belonged to John Dee, the Astrologer Royal of Queen Elizabeth I.

The Book of Shadows is sometimes referred to as the 'Liber Umbarum', the black book. This is probably a more correct title. It is said that the term 'Book of Shadows' actually refers to a middle eastern form of divination, not surprisingly, involving shadows (could the name have originated from Idres Shah, a student of sufism and one of Geralds original initiates?). This has led many witches to rename the Book of Shadows (BOS). In Seax-Wicca (Saxon Witchcraft developed by Raymond Buckland) it is known as 'The Tree'; a reference to Yggdrasil, the World Tree of Germanic mythology (Gavin's book is called this). The pages within it therefore become 'leaves of the tree' - a relevant pun. Other witches call their books by other names, and we have come across several 'Books of Lights' on our travels.

The form these books take can be varied, from mystical looking black bound leather books to school exercise books, (and of course now we are seeing the next development; the 'Floppy Disc' of Shadows. We have several of these already, all from different sources and this includes Geralds original manuscripts put on to Disc). The main thing about the BOS is its practicality, and for these reason we recommend a loose leaf folder, as it is easy to replace pages if they become covered with candle wax (which they no doubt will) or water. It also means you can decorate your pages when you have time, and replace any hastily written notes as you do so.

A witch's BOS normally contains rituals which have been copied down from the main coven book, and rituals and spells which the witch has written themselves. When a witch is in training their Book of Shadows becomes an example of their course work. Their Priest/ess will regularly want to inspect it prior to initiation, and it should therefore contain notes on anything they have read, and on any work they have been set. We also expect our students to have a bibliograpy at the back of their books so we can see what they have read.