RavenWolf - Solitary witch: the ultimate book of shadows for the new generation

About the Author

The best way for a magickal person to be accepted is to let people get to know you, recommends Silver. Once they understand your personal values and principles, their attitudes about your alternative religion interests tend to be more positive. Let them know you for the work that you do. Silver RavenWolf is a true Virgo who adores making lists and arranging things in order. The mother of four children, she celebrated her twenty-second wedding anniversary in 2002. Silver extensively tours the United States, giving seminars and lectures about magickal religions and practices. She has been interviewed by the New York Times , the Wall Street Journal, and US News & World Report . It is estimated that Silver has personally met over 25,000 magickal individuals in the last five years. Silver is the Clan Head of the Black Forest Family that includes 28 covens in 19 states and 1 in Canada. Visit her website at: http://www.silverravenwolf.com

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Solitary Witch: The Ultimate Book of Shadows for the New Generation 2003 by Silver RavenWolf.

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First e-book edition 2011

E-book ISBN: 9780738717623

Book editing and design by Rebecca Zins

Cover design and interior illustrations by Gavin Dayton Duffy

Cover image Photodisc Background

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Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to

Ronald Hutton, Professor, University of Bristol

Thank you for helping me bring magick, history, and people together.

Tempest Smith

Gone but not forgotten.

Special thanks to Ronald Hutton,

Professor of History at the University of Bristol,
for reviewing this work and making such helpful suggestions
in the avenue of historical accuracy.
Any mistakes on historical content are my own.

Contents

: The Ultimate Book of Wiccan Shadows
for the New Generation Solitary Witch

Shadows of Religion & Mystery

Shadows of Objects & Tools

Shadows of Expertise & Proficiency

Shadows of Magick & Enchantment

Shadows of Magick & Real Life

The basic modern scholarly definition of religion

was provided in 1871 by Sir Edward Tylor,
who suggested that its essential component
was a belief in the existence of spiritual beings and in
the need of humans to form relationships with them.

Ronald Hutton

Preface

The Ultimate Book of Wiccan Shadows
for the New Generation Solitary Witch

This book represents a collection of magick, spells, rituals, and definitions related specifically to modern Witchcraft, yet it is grounded in the magickal work of people who lived in the ancient world. In this book you will read about and practice the magick of many ages, collected and combined in a user-friendly way that can bring about the same results today as they did many thousands or hundreds of years ago.

Even though the early Egyptians, Greeks, or Celts didnt have lockers, cafeterias, school bells, cheerleaders, guys on skateboards, the Internet, the stock market, or the prom, they still had debt, malicious gossip, bullies, parties, homework, a social pecking order, street gangs, sickness, poverty, troubles at home, the need to find love (and keep it), and the driving question, Why am I here in the first place?

This tells us that the old adage is truethe more things change, the more they stay the same. Believe it or not, magick has always been around to help solve our problems and give us mental tools that can allow us to shape our lives into what we want them to be; all we have to do is provide the faith.

What Youll Find in This
Book of Shadows

Like a medieval magickal book, this one is a collection of neat and nifty spells, charms, formularies, rituals, and all manner of enchantments. Unlike a textbook, it doesnt build toward closurethats your job. Take the bits and pieces of information and put them together the way it feels comfortable for you. If youve ever seen The Grimoire of Lady Sheba or other unpublished works of the Witch famous, magickal lodges, or European cunning-folk, youll discover this same disjointed effect. In many Books of Shadows, especially in some of the German ones Ive looked at, the student was given a main spell format and a main ritual structure, to avoid repetition in every spell or ritual in the book. At one time, getting paper wasnt like popping over to the nearest store and picking up a few reams. You will find some of that format here, where several of the rituals can be used for a variety of spells and conjurations.

Solitary Witch honors what has gone before and what is new. It is a vehicle of personal interpretation, magick, and faith. Its a magickal cookbook, encyclopedia, dictionary, and more, and is alphabetized under five distinct categories. Part I, Shadows of Religion & Mystery, discusses the religion of Witchcraft, its ceremonies, and common practices associated with the religion. Part II, Shadows of Objects & Tools, talks about the tools and objects commonly found in modern Witchcraft and where their use most likely came from. Part III, Shadows of Expertise & Proficiency, is where we look at things like auric programming, dreaming, the Tarot, and other occult-related subjects. Shadows of Magick & Enchantment, Part IV, covers general forms of magick and items associated with it, ranging from the discussion of holographic quantum physics to medieval ideas. The last part, Part V, Shadows of Magick & Real Life, hits human-related subjects: eating disorders, dating, sex, suicide, peer pressure, anger, stalkers, shopping, family difficulties, gradesmagick and real life combined. Theres fun stuff and serious stuff, and plenty to keep you amused. Finally, as much as possible, all categories are not only discussed in modern terms, they are also associated with their historical roots so that when you are called on to take the plunge and seriously discuss the history of your religion, you have a wide array of research to rely on.