Mankey - The witchs book of shadows: the craft, lore & magick of the witchs grimoire

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

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The Witchs Book of Shadows: The Craft, Lore & Magick of the Witchs Grimoire 2017 by Jason Mankey.

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First e-book edition 2017

E-book ISBN: 9780738750149

Book series design by Rebecca Zins

Cover design by Lisa Novak

Cover Illustration by John Kachik

Interior illustrations by Mickie Mueller

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Names: Mankey, Jason, author.

Title: The witchs book of shadows : the craft, lore & magick of the
witchs grimoire / by Jason Mankey.

Description: FIRST EDITION. | Woodbury : Llewellyn Worldwide,
Ltd, 2017. | Series: The witchs tools ; # 6 | Includes bibliographical
references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016047265 (print) | LCCN 2016051780 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780738750149 | ISBN 9780738751917 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Witchcraft. | Magic.

Classification: LCC BF1566 .M27653 2017 (print) | LCC BF1566

(ebook) | DDC

133.4/3dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016047265

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Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

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Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

introduction

My first Witch tool was a Book of Shadows. It was a tiny little Nepalese journal that I picked up at a local head shop/hippie store. Instead of being black, it was a virtual rainbow of colors on a soft cloth cover. Its pages were handmade (at least according to the stamp inside of it), with none alike. Some of them felt like tissue paper, while others were far more sturdy.

It was a rather appropriate BoS ( BoS thats how many Witches abbreviate Book of Shadows) for me at the time. I was kind of a tree-hugging free spirit and loved the idea of a resurgent 1960s type of counterculture. With its emphasis on the earth and the seasons, Witchcraft felt like a natural extension of what I had already come to believe as a young adult. My book was pocket-sized too, and I envisioned myself scribbling in it at jam-band concerts, jotting down the sort of secrets that can only be revealed during an eight-minute guitar solo.

Though I still own that first Book of Shadows, I never did that much with it. Dreaming about its contents was far easier than creating content for it. There are a few ritual sketches inside of it, and I did transcribe a chant I learned at my first Pagan festival (a chant that is now so commonplace to me, I nearly giggled when I came across it before writing today). Theres also a Christo-Pagan ritual in it, written when my first footfalls on the Pagan path were more tentative than sure-footed. On the last page of that early BoS is a call to the Inuit goddess Pinga written for a long-ago Samhain ritual.

That first BoS is a curious little snapshot of my early life as a Pagan and a Witch. There is a lot of confusion in its pages, and it contains several ideas that ended up being spiritual dead ends in my life. I like to flip through it sometimes to remind myself of how far Ive come, but its not all that representative of where I am today. On the plus side, it does take me back to a simpler time in my life, which is sort of fun.

My second attempt at a Book of Shadows yielded much more fruit. That book was originally a blue leather-bound journal with a sun on the cover that I purchased at a local Barnes and Noble. Its pages were lined and uniform, and I filled much of it up over the next few years with rituals, poems, and even some handcrafted mythology. Its still my favorite BoS, and Ive used it at handfastings (marriage ceremonies) and an assortment of rituals around the country. It contains some of my earliest coherent thoughts as a Witch and still occupies a place of honor in my ritual room.

Also important to me is my wifes BoS (dont worry, she doesnt mind when I flip through its pages). Her first BoS was a rather generic brown journalthere were no suns or moons on the cover of her book. When I have a question I dont know the answer to, I sometimes page through her writings in hopes of finding the information I need. Her BoS has not weathered the years particularly well and is literally falling apart at the seams.

If you were to ask my wife and me about the two most important tools we use in Witchcraft, wed both say our athames and our books. We often refer to her first BoS and my second as our books. Theyve been such an important part of our journey that we feel as if they deserve a little extra recognition in our lives, even if the way we refer to them is a bit mundane.