Personalizing Your Book of Shadows: From Cover to Cover

“Magick is an art; using reality and the world as its canvas.”
-Dacha Avelin

Book of Shadows Arts and Crafts Witch-Style: If you have a physical Book of Shadows, there is a lot you can do with those pages besides read! Even people who don’t see themselves as overly artistic can use a lot of these ideas without getting flustered.

Drawings and Photographs for Your Grimoire

[wisew_rectangle_large align=”left”]Adding imagery to your pages gives your magical purpose a visual form. Even if the drawing is simple, like that of a rune that corresponds to the page’s theme, it provides one more dimension to the energy you’re creating. Every sensual cue you give yourself (visual, tactile, etc.) improves the overall impact of the page on your superconscious self. In other words, these extra touches help you internalize what you’re writing in your spellbook on a more intimate and spiritual level.

Note that if you use graphite or colored pencil drawings, you can fix the image by dipping the pencil in skim milk and lightly painting the image with it afterward. This is a nice alternative to using chemically based sprays.

Pressed Flowers and Herbs

There is nothing more whimsical than opening the pages of a book and discovering a perfectly preserved blossom inside. Better still, if the flower or herb resting on that page of your spellbook represents the section’s focus, you’ll have a handy, dry, energized spell component at the ready!

How to Press Flowers for Your Book of Shadows

To press flowers or herbs, choose ones that are already somewhat flat for the best results (clover is a good example). Next, follow these steps:

• Step One: Pick the plant, cleaning it gently with a soft toothbrush, getting rid of any residual dirt.
• Step Two: Place your chosen herbs and flowers on a large piece of absorbent paper. Space them out so there’s about an inch between each item.
• Step Three: Put several paper towels on top, then another sheet of absorbent paper (like the paper from grocery bags), and more flowers and herbs. You can assemble up to one inch of material in this manner.
• Step Four: Lay several heavy books or slabs of wood on top. It will take about six weeks for the greenery to dry and press completely.
• Step Five: Harvest! The greenery should peel off easily and not feel the least bit damp when you check the layers. If it seems damp, wait another week.

Now use them in your spellbook, giving more significance to the words. Glue a bay leaf next to the spell for strength, a marigold next to your ritual for receiving prophetic dreams, and so forth. Let Nature’s citizens adorn your Book of Shadows and your magic in meaningful, lovely ways.

Calligraphy or Special Fonts for Your Book of Shadows

Starter calligraphy sets are readily available in many gift shops today, including the larger bookstores. Mind you, if you’re a beginner, practice a bit before trying your hand on the pages of your spellbook. The more adept calligrapher can look through the various pen styles available and choose one whose visual personality best suits their tome. For example, someone with an elaborate Book of Shadows complete with an elaborate leather cover, brass hinges, and a lock might want to use a medieval-styled script. Someone who has chosen a Victorian theme might try a precise yet flowery style as was seen in many period signatures.

[wisew_rectangle_large align=”right”]For those who know they’ll leave globs of ink behind, the wonderful world of technology offers a simpler alternative: computer fonts. You can look at either the name of the font, its visual impact or both for symbolic value. For example, Albertus or Letter Gothic both suit an antique-looking spell book, while Universe is good for more contemporary styles or perhaps for spells designed to increase your “Universal” awareness!

Accents within the Text: Bad puns aside, you can also use different styles of fonts for emphasizing parts of your text. For example use:

• Bold lettering for singular attention,
• The strikeout function as part of a banishing spell.
• Progressively larger lettering represents “increase”
• Subscript or tiny prints symbolize diminishing.

For those of you looking for some good font options, check out Adobe Type Manager and the Windows 10 font manager. These have a tremendous variety from which to choose. Also, people making modern or sci-fi looking spell books might want to review the Star Trek fonts or other similar popular media for ideas.

Sensual Magical Aromatherapy and Book of Shadows

The re-emerging art of aromatherapy is thousands of years old. Texts dating to at least 1500 BCE reveal the use of aromatics for everything from health to providing it as a suitable offering to the God/dess. For example, lavender was recommended for melancholy, and it also appeared on numerous altars around the world for pleasing the Divine.

If you’d like using scented paper or inks for accents in your Book of Shadows, here’s a brief list of associations to which to refer. For paper, a little dab will do ya’. For ink, add essential oil to the dipping well. Also, some pen and marker manufacturers now have scented editions!

You may, at some point, want to add this list to your spellbook wherever you keep correspondence lists.

Magical Aromatic Attributes of Oils

Cedar: Courage, strength, purification
Chamomile: Peace, tranquility, healing
Coriander: Energy (improving)
Geranium: Balance, symmetry, harmony
Ginger: Power
[wisew_rectangle_large align=”left”]Jasmine: Socialization
Lavender: Peacefulness, sleep, lifting despair
Mint: Prosperity
Myrrh: Meditations, protection
Orange Bergamot: Soothing anxiety
Rose: Love (Can change with color of the flower used)
Rosemary: Memory, healing, hex breaking
Sage: Psychic, astral purification, turning negativity
Sandalwood: Spirituality, psychism
Vanilla: Passion
Vetiver: Change, shape shifting, glamoury
Violet: Wellness, protection

HINT: Nearly every aromatic has the same magical associations & vibrations from which it comes. So, you have a lot more options than this.

Wax Seals in Your Book of Shadows

For hundreds of years, in a variety of cultures, people favored wax as a way of leaving one’s personal mark on letters or other important documents. Signet rings were made specifically so a notable person could press them into wax and seal his or her words safely within. Anyone receiving this paper would know immediately by its wax impression from whom the message came.

Since your Book of Shadows is definitely among the most important documents in your life, you might want to mark its pages similarly. Accomplish this by purchasing a wax sealing kit at a stationery store. Choosing the kit according to the impression that it makes. Some have initials, some have flowers, and there are a few other designs out there. You also have a variety of colored wax from which to choose, improving the symbolism.

Book of Shadows Customization: Odds and Ends

Think like a fairy and save, save, save! What? How about:

• Bits of ribbon
• Glitter
• Self-stick stars
• Buttons
• Silk flowers
• Tiny colored beans or seeds
• Fabric swatches
• Sand or minuscule, flat stones
• Feathers

All these things and many more can adorn your Book of Shadows when you’re looking for a little extra pizzazz. This is scrapbooking for Witches!