| A Blank Book of Shadows is a blank inline book where wiccans, pagans, and other practitioners of witchcraft copy a collection containing the core rituals, magical practices, ethics and philosophy of a Wiccan or other tradition. In Wicca, a blank book of shadows is normally copied by hand from the book of one's initiating High Priestess or Priest, who copied theirs from their initiator. In modern Eclectic Wiccan terminology, however, a Book of Shadows is a personal magical journal rather than a traditional text. Within traditional lineage forms of Wicca there are a number of versions of the Book of Shadows, their contents varying to a greater or lesser degree from the early versions belonging to Gerald Gardner, who first popularized Wicca. While Gardner seems to have originally treated the book as a personal journal, it has come to be considered a religious text in most traditions. |
