Wicca Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Book of Shadows=== {{Main|Book of Shadows}} [[File: Wiccan 'Book of Shadows'.jpg|thumb|A 'Book of Shadows', sitting on a Wiccan altar, alongside plants and crystals.]] In Wicca, there is no set sacred text such as the Christian [[Bible]], Jewish [[Tanakh]], or Islamic [[Quran]], although there are certain scriptures and texts that various traditions hold to be important and influence their beliefs and practices. Gerald Gardner used a book containing many different texts in his covens, known as the [[Book of Shadows]] (among other names), which he would frequently add to and adapt. In his Book of Shadows, there are texts taken from various sources, including [[Charles Godfrey Leland]]'s ''[[Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches]]'' (1899) and the works of 19thβ20th century [[occultism|occultist]] [[Aleister Crowley]], whom Gardner knew personally. Also in the Book are examples of poetry largely composed by Gardner and his High Priestess [[Doreen Valiente]], the most notable of which is the ''[[Charge of the Goddess]]''. {{Quote box|width=246px|align=left|quote=The Book of Shadows is not a Bible or Quran. It is a personal cookbook of spells that have worked for the owner. I am giving you mine to copy to get you started: as you gain experience discard those spells that don't work for you and substitute those that you have thought of yourselves.|source=[[Gerald Gardner]] to his followers{{sfn|Lamond|2004|p=14}}}} Similar in use to the [[grimoire]]s of [[Magician (paranormal)|ceremonial magicians]],{{sfn|Crowley|1989|pp=14-15}} the Book contained instructions for how to perform rituals and spells, as well as religious poetry and chants like ''[[Eko Eko Azarak]]'' to use in those rituals. Gardner's original intention was that every copy of the book would be different because a student would copy from their initiators, but changing things which they felt to be personally ineffective, however amongst many Gardnerian Witches today, particularly in the [[United States]], all copies of the Book are kept identical to the version that the High Priestess [[Monique Wilson (witch)|Monique Wilson]] copied from Gardner, with nothing being altered. The Book of Shadows was originally meant to be kept a secret from non-initiates into BTW, but parts of the Book have been published by authors including [[Charles Cardell]], Lady Sheba, [[Janet Farrar]] and [[Stewart Farrar]].{{sfn|Farrar|Farrar|1981}}<ref name="witch-boy-2004">{{cite book |title=Witchcraft and the Book of Shadows |publisher=I-H-O Books |location=Thame |first=Gerald |last=Gardner |author-link=Gerald Gardner |editor=Naylor, A. R. |year=2004a |isbn=1-872189-52-0}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page