Making a BOS

[Crazy Healer Lady]

It's not like in Charmed where the book automatically opens up on its own.

Did anyone else get frusterated in early childhood - say 4 or 5 - that all these magical things that happened in I Dream of Genie and Matilda didn't work for you???

[white_harmony]

Yes! lol So it wasn't just me!

[Kitsune]

I've never put spells down in my book. Either I've memorized the "Charm" or chant, or it doesn't require words. But back in the days before printers and scanners and photocopy machines were simply too expensive I would copy almost entire books into a binder or two. Unfortunately, over the years they have gone missing.

It was really too bad too, there was one book that told you how to make authentic jewerly ritual and charm items from scratch and what materials to use. It was in my school library, and I've never found it again. Mind you, when I was in school and got into this stuff, I started taking out every book I could find... witch burnings, supernatural, anything... It was easy since they were all in the same place. After they realized that someone had not only found the dark corner, but that somebody was taking them out, they had them all moved to seperate areas to make them harder to find.

I questioned them on it and they said that they'd recieved information from the school board requesting the change. Wish I'd known enough then to understand that it was my enthusiasm that got them removed, and not just some idiot at an office downtown calling the shots.

[Stormy]

I have several BOS - all hand written - my 'main' BOS and several that are topic specific - such as one for herbs and herbal 'receipes'.

It has been shown in several studies that writing something down by hand puts it more to memory than just reading it, listening to it, or even typing it - seems to be true for me. Plus - like CHL, I have a pen and paper fetish LOL. I enjoy spending time writing in my BOS and reading over previous goodies.

My main BOS has spells I've done, corrospondences, Goddess & God info, circle casting info, mediation info, etc. etc. It is contained in a spiral notebook that I found as a 'one time deal' at Wally world a number of years ago - the cover is super heavy (like 1/8" thick) compressed board with a pretty flower pattern on it, the spiral is of super heavy wire (at least 4 times the thickness of standard spirals) and inside the pages are thick, acid free (I think) with a floral border. I bought several to keep on had so that when volume one is full, I can move on to the next

[serenarian]

I made my own book. I bought parchment paper, hand-stitched the binding, made a cover and covered the book with velvet. I like being creative and for me writing in the book is doubly special because it contains all my creative energy, that I poured into it while in the process of making it.

[FyreGarnet]

Wow. That's impressive.


FyreGarnet

[jaredb]

Mine personal BOS is in a binder - but everything is handwritten. I believe it makes things more personal and you can become better connected if it's handwritten. Thats just me though

[My Psionic Nature]

Personally speaking I'm not into the virtual BOS, I prefer mine to be 100% hand written in a binder/book. (Obviously no offence to thos who use a computerised BOS) I channel a lot of my symbols and other information into the page itself rather than the ink on it. So the ink may say one thing (for nosey readers) but the paper will give me my true entry. Anyone else use this method?

[Unknown]

If you're living at home and your family doesn't agree with your path, I wouldn't have a physical Book of Shadows lying around.

I'd make a password-protected document on my computer for the time being, hidden somewhere in the folders where they wouldn't look for it...named something that they wouldn't consider questionable enough to open.

now there is greeat idea

[pheonix]

Anything that you feel connected towards, that you would use in your everyday craft is good to put in your Book of Shadows or Grimoire. It does come in hand to have an electronic back-up copy. Although I am more partial to a physical handwritten copy. When you physically hand write your own, it connects you more to it and your energy is directly imposed into it.

[Librarian]

Although a written one is nice, I really prefer the electronic version. I can't lose it, updates are easier, and I don't worry about spills.

[QUOTTO]

Current wiccans have a Disk Of Shadows. Essentially make a point to back up the data if there ought to emerge an event of catastophic PC crash or other turmoil.