A grimoire is a book which contains magickal principles, rituals and techniques – either those of a particular school of magick, or those of an individual magickian. Grimoires are usually viewed as being quite sacred, especially to the magickians involved in their creation and use, and although the tradition of grimoires being handed down from one generation to the next is far less common than it used to be, it does continue to some extent. In that respect, Kreafy’s Library itself could be viewed as a modern-day grimoire, as it offers a wide variety of proven magickal techniques and ideas for those who care to use them.
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Whilst online grimoires may well become more common than their traditional hard-copy counterparts of the past, it is unlikely they will come to ever replace the personal grimoires which are created by and for the personal use of individual magickian. There is something about creating your own grimoire which makes the resulting volume of personally tried-and-tested methods something particularly special, and being able to take care of such a book, and to feel its weight in your hands, is impossible to replicate in any other way.
How to Create Your Own Grimoire
Creating your own grimoire (or Book of Shadows, if you prefer the more Wiccan term) is not a singular activity, but an ongoing process that will continue throughout your magickal career. This is because you will quite naturally find, develop and refine the ideas, rituals and techniques that you use as you progress. That said, setting up your grimoire is something which can be approached as a project in its own right, and one which is fairly straightforward if you adhere to the step-by-step guidelines which follow:
Step 1 – Obtain a Suitable Notebook
The grimoire is a physical book which should be both aesthetically pleasing and also robust enough to last many years, if not a lifetime. That being the case, no magickian will want to cut corners when obtaining one which is suitable. A hardback or hard-wearing leather-bound volume is almost essential if you want it to provide good service for the long term, and you also need to make sure that the binding is of good quality. Search for the term ‘embossed journal’ to explore the possibilities and select one which appeals to your tastes and budget.
Step 2 – Obtain a Working Notebook
In addition to the notebook that you will use as your grimoire, you should also obtain a working notebook. Unlike the grimoire, the working notebook need not be particularly special. It simply needs to be one in which you can keep a record of your magickal activities and results on a daily basis. Whether you use a standard office notebook or a stack of yellow legal pads for this purpose is entirely your choice.
Step 3 – Practice Magick
A grimoire is not simply a collection of different techniques, although that is, unfortunately, how many people have come to view it. A genuine grimoire is a collection of techniques that you have proven to be effective through your own personal experience. Every magickian is different, and so you need to find those ideas, rituals and methods which work most effectively for you, given your own unique personality and preferences.
The only way to discover which magick spells, rituals and techniques work best for you is to dive straight in and practice magick on a regular basis. As you do so, keep notes about the techniques that you use, and the results than you get, in your working notebook.
Step 4 – Add Your Best Workings to the Grimoire
The fourth step is to review your working notebook on a monthly or quarterly basis, and to add your best magickal workings to the grimoire itself. For example, if you use three different types of Deity Magick in the first quarter of this year, you might find that all of them work as expected, but that one method gives you quite spectacular results. In that case, you might choose to add the ‘standout’ method which leads to those best results to your grimoire.
Note that the aim of your grimoire is to serve as your own personal collection of proven magickal methodologies, so you should only add workings which you have personally proven and which you know you will want to refer back to and use in the future. It is therefore a good idea to keep a separate list of workings which you may like to include, but which you have not yet had the chance to prove personally.
Taking Care of Your Grimoire
Your grimoire will become increasingly valuable to you as its contents expand, so you should be careful to take good care of it. Many magickians like to wrap their grimoire in a protective cloth before storing it in a box they have selected specifically for that purpose. Such an approach is not only a good way of protecting the grimoire itself, but it also helps to keep it away from prying eyes.
However you choose to store your grimoire, be sure to treat it with the respect it deserves, and it could well become one of your most valued possessions.