Over the years I had several Books of Shadows. I am (unfortunately) a perfectionist and none of them (as you might have guessed) ever pleased me for the full 100 %. Instead of meandering along with my path and enjoying it, I kept re-modeling my notes and still wasn't pleased with it in the end!
And the problem got even more complex: In the summer of 2009 we finally found ourselves in our dream location, a beautiful small town amidst the soft rolling hills of Flanders. It really was where I wanted to be. I felt hugely inspired and began to delve in the local folklore, history, herbs, woods, and so on and recorded everything (about 40 handwritten pages) in a sturdy A4 book. For the first time in years I was pleased with the way things were progressing.
About three years later we had - due to circumstances - to leave this beautiful place which made me feel very sad. And when I look at the book I made back then, it all seems a waste of energy...
But we moved to a new area, a fresh start so to say, and several events rekindled the flame. I began to re-read 'a witch alone' and decided to work through it all over again, starting with the first chapter: mapping your locality.
I could continue with my old book, which contains a lot of energy, and my work from back then wouldn't be so pointless after all. I've only moved about 13 kms away from the town I used to live in so it's still pretty much in the same area.
Now, a book might have the right 'feeling' to it, but it has one big disadvantage too: it's pretty static. I never can re-arrange things of insert pages as I learn along the path.
Or I could start over again, and finally do what Marian Green has been suggesting all the time and choose a loose leafed system (in a binder). The idea of a loose leafed system however has put me off for a long time. I never actually get the same 'feeling' as with a book. But there are of course also many benefits: you can always add/insert more material as you go along...
So, what to choose? And does anyone of you have or ever made a 'book of illumination', as suggested by Marian Green?
Hope you can shed some light on this for me. Thanks for listening to me anyway
.blessings,
Morwenn
I was always trying to capture a sort of "ye olde book of arte" feel, with beautiful script, captivating diagrams and well-thumbed pages. What I ended up with was books with bits scribbled out, pages torn out and new ones sellotaped in, folded up pages of magazines with spells, meditations etc on them stuffed into the pack flap, plus loads of superfluous stuff I ended up never actually using. I've still got an idea that one day the "precious book" will actually exist, but for now I have started to put all my notes on an online notepad website, where I can sort everything into sections using a tag system, and can edit stuff as and when I please. The stuff which makes it to being "regular practice" will end up in some future incarnation of a hard copy book (I've already seen one with a triquetra on the front that I'd like as my "Wicceboc" or whatever I eventually end up calling it!) That's my plan anyway...
) it must at least have some ecological, organic touch to it. Natural colours and materials and so on. I have a picture in my files somewhere which kind of shows what I mean.
