BOS/Grimoire

A Book of Shadows is a very useful part of a witch’s tool set. If you’ve been with this spirituality you probably have a good idea of what a book of shadows is, but we’ll describe it for you just in case. It’s used to document spells, ingredients, and the results from spells. It can be a sort of recipe book, a journal, or a combination of the two. It can also be for a whole coven, in which case there’s often rules to what goes in it, or be for a solitary person, in this case it’s whatever the person wants in it. Alternatively people have used their electronic devices to create their BOS.

The term “Book of Shadows” began to be used for the book with Gerald Gardner sometime in the late 1940’s. Doreen Valiente, who was high priestess of Gerald Gardner's coven in the 1950’s, rewrote much of the first Book Shadows after she criticized it and Gardner challenged her to write a better one.

But Book of Shadows is not the only word that can be used. Grimoire is another term and much older. A grimoire originally comes from a French term grammaire meaning “a book written in Latin”. In the 18th century it became the name for magical books. There’s many famous grimoires; Testament of Solomon, Corpus Hermeticum, The Lesser Key of Solomon, and more. Often this is a less personal “recipe book” type set up, but some people have been using grimoire as an alternative to BOS. Whatever you call it, it remains a very useful tool in the witches toolkit.

Witch - Allison Balfour

Allison Balfour (aka Margaret Balfour) Is one of the most well known and spoken about witches in Scottish history. She lived in the region of Stennes of the Orkney Islands. She and her family were persecuted for witchcraft according to the Scottish Witchcraft Act of 1563 in which witchcraft was punishable by death. Her trial was held in 1594, she was found guilty and put to death.

Once again, as so many times in the history of the witchcraft trials of Scotland, if not all over Europe, this was due to the suspicion of some aristocracy plotting against another to orchestrate their demise. In this case it was the 2nd Earl of Orkney, Patrick Stewart (aka Black Patie) who believed that one of or all of his younger brothers were behind a plot to kill him, in particular John Stewart, Earl of Carrick. This was because the poison that Patrick discovered, at some point, was from Thomas Paplay, a servant of John Stewarts. Thomas was tortured for eleven days when he finally confessed to the event but also pointed the finger at Balfour and her family. Before Paplay was put to death he claimed his innocence. The damage to Balfour was, however, already done. It was found out that the brothers had gone to her to ask what kind of spell would be best to place on Black Patie to cause his demise. It is said that the first such meeting and others were in October 1593. Whatever was or wasn’t done the ultimate outcome produced no results, it had no effect on Black Patie.

Balfouf, her husband Taillifeir, her son and seven year old daughter were then moved to Kirkwall Castle in December 1594 . There she and her family were subject to extreme torture for two days in order to get a confession from her. After her trial they were all put to death by hanging and then their bodies were burned but not before she retracted and vividly outlined the entirety of the torture she had endured.

One such torture was that of a device which was made of iron that would enclose her legs so it could be heated to scald her legs until she past out. This was done multiple times. When she didn’t give in they took to her husband, it’s speculated that they used stones which were 700lbs and placed them on him to “press” the body. They then turned to her son and mutilated his legs by hammering them while strapped into an iron boot (stretching from knee to ankle). Finally they turned to her daughter and enacted the practice of the pinniewinkles (aka thumbscrews) which pulverized her fingers. This is when Balfour conceded to their accusations. It was strongly implied that they would not be put to death if she admitted to the crime. Naturally this was a lie.

So many “witches” of the time had the trials carried out in St Magnus Cathedral where they were also kept for their interrogation and torture. This wasn’t the case for Balfour, she was held in Kirkwall Castle. It is not clear where her torture was in fact carried out. Her interrogator was Henry Colville of Orphir, a friend of Patrick Stewart and a minister. After being found guilty they were taken to Gallow Ha for their sentence to be performed. This occurred on December 16, 1594.

Mayan Magic

This little history lesson should be prefaced with this, some of what we know comes from the Spanish conquistadors, who in their fervor to spread christianity, tried to destroy the native religion of Central America. They did write down some of the native religion, but it was done through a purely christian attitude.

Mayan civilization started a little before 1000 B.C.E. Theirs was a religion of order and chaos. Order was health, normal cycles of nature, and chaos was famine and sickness. There was a reciprocal nature to the relationship of humans to the Gods. Humans offered blood that the gods used, then the gods gave back supernatural power in exchange.

We’ve all heard of the human sacrifice there, but there seems to be little evidence for it in the archaeological records. If there was, it was probably during warfare and in small amounts. There was also the less lethal and more common bloodletting. This was done by rulers and their wives as well as others. There is one stone relief in which the wife is pulling a thorned rope through her tongue. I can’t imagine how painful that must have been.

The Gods included Kukulkan(feathered serpent), Chac (rain god), Itzamna (creator of writing), Kinich Ajaw (Sun god), Tezcatlipoca (archsorcerer), Yum Kax (maize god), and Ixchel (childbirth, healing, and the moon). It’s interesting to note that the gods had two sides, the side of order when propitiated and the side of chaos when not.

The Mayan calendar was comprised of two calendars, one that had 365 days, a solar calendar, and one that had 360 days, a ceremony calendar. Generally about every 20 days there was a ceremony held where there was dancing and religious happenings. These calendars were connected by 52 year cycles. The end of the cycles was feared, because anything might happen. These days were also used to divine the future of a person, being born on a certain day could give you good fortune or you could be predicted to be a bad person. One fact of note is that the Mayan calendar was even more accurate than our own modern day calendar in the sense of how well it charted the days of the year.

On another note mirrors were special and dangerous, as they could let spirits through. Thus it was a sign of courage to look into a mirror. I read in one place that warriors would wear mirrors on their backs to discourage other warriors from attacking from the back in fear of seeing into the mirror.

I wish there were more documentation of Mayan magic, but I didn’t have a great amount of info to work with. Now that also could be that I didn’t look hard enough, but I did my best.

Oracle

The Ginkgo Tree

Here we see paths leading to and from the Ginkgo tree, it looks as if the sun is rising, there is an imprint of a Ginkgo leaf on a stone and a bridge in the distance. The sun shines on a new day where a new beginning will take root. There is a history that has brought us to this tree perhaps that of our ancestors. The golden leaves of the ginkgo tree always offer me a smile, some joy and some hope. Even in the fall they shine as brightly as the summer sun. What is it that does that for you? The wisdom of the trees can give us a deep insight to the history that holds so much for us to learn from. What can you discover from your past or your family’s past? This tree suggests that there is something you may have forgotten or are ignoring. Again look into your history to see what you may be avoiding or missing. There are lessons there that can offer great insight into who we are if we are willing to look for it and grow from it. It may bring new light to your life and perception as to who you are and why.

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