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The book of shadows is one of the most important books that every Wicca practitioner uses. In fact many different pagan religions have similar books, with a variety of different names. More than just a book of spells or a diary however, the book of shadows is an expression of the personality of the maker of the book. To this end, every book of shadows is different and as such the methods people use to make them can vary greatly as well. The key is simply to make the book easy to use and so that you can understand it easily.

The stereotypical view most people might have of a spell book is of an ancient leather-bound tome, sitting on a pedestal and only read by equally ancient wizards with waist length beards and robes. The reality however is a lot different, and most spell books more closely resemble either well-made scrapbooks or professionally made diaries. Also the range of different people that make and read them is massive, and certainly not limited to wizened old men.

The first step is to choose what kind of book you are going to use for your book of shadows. The variety of different books that are sometimes used is staggering, although generally the books all tend to be larger in size and decorated according to the beliefs and personality of the maker. So for example someone into the more historic side of Wicca might have magic symbols or writing in the Theban alphabet. Whereas someone more into the nature and earth magic side of Wicca beliefs might have images of nature or leaf pressings as a design.

Some people prefer to use diary type books that ring binders, purely because they often look better. However they tend not to be as good because of the fact that you only have a limited number of pages with these books. Similarly every time you make a mistake and want to start an entry again, you have to remove a page and again reduce the number of pages that you have. It is also harder to make separate sections and there is less scope for gluing in extra pictures or articles with books as opposed to ring binders.

Because of the increasing popularity of Wicca recently there are now readily made books of shadows that can be bought in many stores and websites. These tend to be gothic in design and often have locks on the front to make sure other people cant read them. The only drawback of these books tends to be that they are often fairly small, and that new pages cant be added when the book is filled. Also the fact that they already feature designs on the covers

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