Book of Shadows

In Wicca there is no set sacred text such as the Christian Bible, Jewish Tanakh or Islamic Qur'an although there are certain scriptures and texts that various different 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, which he would frequently add to and adapt. In his Book of Shadows, there are texts taken from various different sources, including Charles Godfrey Leland's Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches (1899) and the works of 19th-20th century 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.

"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."

Gerald Gardner to his followers.^[74]

Similar in use to the grimoires of ceremonial magicians,^[75] 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 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.^[76][77]

Today, adherents of many non-BTW traditions have also adopted the concept of the Book of Shadows, with many solitaries also keeping their own versions, sometimes including material taken from the published Gardnerian Book of Shadows. In other traditions however, practices are never written down, meaning that there is no need for a Book of Shadows.

In certain Traditional Witchcraft traditions, different forms of literature are used, for instance in the 1734 tradition, the published articles ofRobert Cochrane along with letters he wrote to Joseph Wilson, Robert Graves^[78] and others are held in high esteem^[79] whilst in the Sabbatic tradition, various grimoires are followed, such as the Azoetia of Andrew Chumbley.