A
Book of Shadows is a book containing religious texts and instructions for
magical rituals found within the
Neopagan religion of
Wicca. Originating within the
Gardnerian tradition of the Craft, the first Book of Shadows was created by the pioneering Wiccan
Gerald Gardner sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s, and which he utilised first in his
Bricket Wood coven and then in other covens which he founded in following decades. The concept of the Book of Shadows was then adopted by other Wiccan traditions, such as
Alexandrianism and Mohsianism, and with the rise of books teaching people how to begin following Wicca in the 1970s onward, the idea of the Book of Shadows was then further propagated amongst solitary practitioners unconnected to earlier traditions.
Initially, when Wicca was still dominated by
covens, "only one copy [of the Book] existed for an entire coven, kept by the high priestess or high priest. That rule has proved unfeasible, and it is [now] commonplace for all Witches to have their own copies."
[1] In the various traditions that make up
British Traditional Wicca, copies of the original Book composed by Gerald Gardner with the aid of his High Priestess
Doreen Valiente, along with alterations and additions that have been made since then, is followed by adherents. They have tried to keep the contents of this Book a secret, although it has been published on a number of occasions by figures such as
Charles Cardell, Lady Sheba and
Janet and
Stewart Farrar. In other Wiccan traditions and amongst a number of solitary practitioners, alternate versions of the Book have been written that are independent of Gardner's original.
Numerous associations and traditions have since grown up around the Book of Shadows. Traditionally, "a Witch's book of shadows is destroyed upon death."
[2]
Again, diaries, not Scriptures. One might, with diligence, find a copy of Gardner's... but Gardner himself is not undisputed.
