A Heathen book of shadows?
I've been drooling on line again at the various shadow books out there, for them who don't know what I'm talking about, a Book of Shadows is a sacred book of ritual and magical lore, spells, chants, divination and other matters of practice. I look at them frequently and the witchy side of me thinks that maybe I'll do something like that one day.
What I'd really like to do now though is some form of book of my heathen beliefs and thoughts. I admit it's not really a normal heathen thing to do, at least not from what I can see from other heathen sites, but then I've never been one who thought that I must follow the flock and do as others do. I love books and really fancy crafting one for myself with my most important thoughts and notes in. In fact I fancy creating more then one book, because I can think of so many different topics.
I've been trying to think what I could call a heathen version of a book of shadows, of course I don't suppose there is anything stopping me from calling it just that, but to my mind the book of shadows is very witchy and is also something I link mainly with the Wiccan faith. I've thinking on calling it a 'Heathen Materia' materia being an encyclopedia type book on collections of information on a general subject, though I've not made my mind up yet so if anyone has any other suggestions please let me know.
I got that name materia from the book 'Crafting Magick with Pen and Ink' by Susan Pesznecker. If you've not come across that book and your interested in introducing writing in to your magic and faith practice, then it's one I'd highly recommend. I'm always dipping in to my copy for inspiration and writing knowledge. It's help me find ways to get my often fleeting thoughts on to paper and slowly build them up. One of the parts I love is the list of all the different types of books that may be of some use in a magical way, many of which I've never heard of before, materia being one of them.
What ever I decide to do I know most of the internal writing will need to be in typed format due to my problem joints and this does bother me. I still look upon the printed form as not being as personal as the hand written word. I don't tend to send many personal letters now for this reason, it seems so formal and unfriendly to send a printed letter somehow. Still I guess if the intent in the book is honest then it's the actual words that will matter more then their form? For now I'll just go on drooling a bit longer over the lovely Shadow books on line, while I decide how best to tackle this project of myself.
What I'd really like to do now though is some form of book of my heathen beliefs and thoughts. I admit it's not really a normal heathen thing to do, at least not from what I can see from other heathen sites, but then I've never been one who thought that I must follow the flock and do as others do. I love books and really fancy crafting one for myself with my most important thoughts and notes in. In fact I fancy creating more then one book, because I can think of so many different topics.
I've been trying to think what I could call a heathen version of a book of shadows, of course I don't suppose there is anything stopping me from calling it just that, but to my mind the book of shadows is very witchy and is also something I link mainly with the Wiccan faith. I've thinking on calling it a 'Heathen Materia' materia being an encyclopedia type book on collections of information on a general subject, though I've not made my mind up yet so if anyone has any other suggestions please let me know.
I got that name materia from the book 'Crafting Magick with Pen and Ink' by Susan Pesznecker. If you've not come across that book and your interested in introducing writing in to your magic and faith practice, then it's one I'd highly recommend. I'm always dipping in to my copy for inspiration and writing knowledge. It's help me find ways to get my often fleeting thoughts on to paper and slowly build them up. One of the parts I love is the list of all the different types of books that may be of some use in a magical way, many of which I've never heard of before, materia being one of them.
What ever I decide to do I know most of the internal writing will need to be in typed format due to my problem joints and this does bother me. I still look upon the printed form as not being as personal as the hand written word. I don't tend to send many personal letters now for this reason, it seems so formal and unfriendly to send a printed letter somehow. Still I guess if the intent in the book is honest then it's the actual words that will matter more then their form? For now I'll just go on drooling a bit longer over the lovely Shadow books on line, while I decide how best to tackle this project of myself.
I think a book with your deepest and most personal beliefs and thoughts is the most sacred thing. Have fun at it. And maybe share a bit ;-)
ReplyDeleteI guess I've done this in various forms since I could draw stick figures, then form simple words.
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to express myself and words are a chosen outlet.
I scrapbooked long before there was a "proper way" to do it, journaled before I learned cursive script, and still prefer handwritten.
I believe a materia or spell book or whatever one chooses to call it must be personal to have value or to serve its intended purpose.
But I can relate to those aching uncooperative joints.