Blog Article

Grimoire

So What Is A Grimoire?

Firstly “grimoire” is a bit of an umbrella term. There are few really specific and constant definitions that go beyond “a book of magic”. Some people say it’s more of a textbook, meant to be passed on as a teaching tool. Others say it’s a sort of magical recipe book, used for recording spells for later use. Neither one of these definitions is wrong, but they are both incomplete and far too narrow for the reality of modern grimoires. A grimoire is truly as varied a tool as every other part of the craft, and each witch will have their own version of what a grimoire is and they will put theirs together accordingly.

What’s The Difference Between A Grimoire & A Book Of Shadows?

The answer is really quite simple, a Book of Shadows is a grimoire specific to the practice of Wicca, it was a term originally coined to describe the ritual texts of Wicca. You can, of course, use the term if it speaks to you, but understanding where it comes from is always important.

What Types Of Grimoires Are There?

Spell Books

This type of grimoire is essentially a recipe book of spells. The pages are filled with ingredients, instructions, and illustrations for spells, either those you have found and want to keep or those that you have written yourself. Spell books often will also contain oil and powder formularies, actual recipes (for the kitchen witch), and space for notes to be made about the spells.

Journal Grimoire

This is one type of grimoire I recommend everyone keep, especially while they’re just beginning. The journal style grimoire is exactly what it sounds like. It’s written chronologically, rather than being split into subject-based sections, and each entry is typically dated. This sort of grimoire serves as a sort of catch-all. You can capture anything from spells to herbal notes to dreams, tarot readings, and your personal thoughts and feelings about magic and your experiences in the craft.

This can be an invaluable resource for beginners. Not only does it allow you keep track of your learning journey so that you have a real record of how much you’ve progressed, but it also allows you to learn and collect information without pressure. Frequently new witches, and those who have never worked within a grimoire before, will hold back from recording information because they’re not sure of what they’re doing. They don’t know how they should organize a book, whether or not certain information will be pertinent later, etc. A journal grimoire simplifies that process and ensures you’re gathering information regardless.

Pocket Grimoire

Pocket grimoires are exactly what they sound like, they’re small, pocket-sized notebooks that contain just the essentials. What are “the essentials”? That depends on your craft. If might be a collection of emergency spells. It might be a book of basic herbs, crystals, and ingredients along with their correspondences and uses in spells so that you can always work with what you have on hand. Whatever you put in a pocket grimoire, the intent is to have it be a usable reference for when you’re out and about.

Subject Grimoire

This is really a rather broad category of grimoire because you can make grimoires about pretty much ANY witchcraft subject. Herbal magic, kitchen witchcraft, astrology, tarot, sigil craft, ocean magic, urban witchcraft, art magic, the list goes on. If it’s a part of your personal craft you can probably make a grimoire dedicated to it. Because these grimoires vary so much in subject they vary a lot in style, they might be small or large, typed, purely visual journals or any number of other variations.

Belief Grimoire

A belief grimoire is used to document YOUR personal beliefs. This is an excellent way to connect more deeply with your gods and uncover what it is that you truly believe in regard to spirituality and religion. With this type of grimoire, always think of it as a living document. it is never truly finished; your beliefs will most likely change and morph over time and taking on the mindset that your grimoire is finished can stunt your spiritual growth.

The Medley Grimoire

The medley is a fusion of any of the above styles, and is my personal favorite style of grimoire. It’s essentially the grimoire of a witch who took a look at this list and wanted all (or some) of these but decided to shove it all into one giant, overstuffed, exquisite book. While grimoires with a set purpose can be beautiful and extremely functional I find the medley grimoire to be so efficient (even when the book itself is a mess). Anytime you have information to record you only have one book to put it in, so your grimoire becomes an extremely cohesive representation of your practice as a whole.

When you put together your grimoire, something to remember is that like any other tool, they must first and foremostly, be useful. There’s no point in having a fancy book stuffed full of information that you never use. Don’t add things that seem “witchy” just because, add in information that is relevant to you and your journey. I am a Cottage/Kitchen Witch that doesn’t practice ceremonial magic, so recipes and the meanings of herbs make sense for me and descriptions or rituals does not.

Have fun creating your grimoire and remember that like the rest of your magical practice, your book is yours and only has to work for you.