The Eclectic Witch’s Book of Shadows Companion
Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Deborah Blake, author of several books, including The Eclectic Witch’s Book of Shadows and the new The Eclectic Witch’s Book of Shadows Companion .
A funny thing happened on the way to my current book…
Back in 2021, I put out The Eclectic Witch’s Book of Shadows. It was a great book, if I do say so myself, made even more appealing by the brilliant Mickie Mueller‘s gorgeous cover and fabulous full-color illustrations inside. (Really, if you haven’t seen it, you should check it out.) This was my prettiest book ever, and my first hardcover, so I was really excited.
I had a great time writing the book, because I wanted to give people a hands-on tool that would make their Witchcraft practice even more fun, rewarding, and easy to do. A Book of Shadows is a convenient reference tool and a useful way of keeping track of the knowledge you need for your magical work, so I came up with one that had all the basics: herbs, stones, candles, instructions for creating things like charm bags and magical oils, info on divination and various gods and goddesses, plus of course some invocations, spells, rituals, and even some recipes for yummy feast foods.
We even made sure to include lots of blank pages for people to write down additional information in all those categories, either things they found in other places, or learned from their own experiences as they went along. The whole idea was that the witches who used the Book of Shadows could make it their own, adding their own personal touches over time.
But there was one thing we hadn’t taken into consideration. Apparently, we made the book too pretty. I got lots of emails and messages from folks telling me that they really loved the book, and used it all the time, but they just couldn’t bring themselves to write in it because it was such a beautiful hardcover! Whoops.
But I didn’t want to give up on my goal of providing people with a Book of Shadows that they could expand with their own experiences and what they learned as they continued their practice. So I talked to the fabulous folks at Llewellyn and suggested an alternative—a paperback version with even more information, and cool new additions like coloring pages, so that the witchy folks could have the best of both worlds. One stunning hardcover that they didn’t have to write in if they weren’t comfortable doing so, and one relaxed paperback where they could add anything they wanted and even decorate it themselves.
So now we have The Eclectic Witch’s Book of Shadows Companion , and all my witchy readers have two options for creating their own perfect source of information and magical wisdom. Of course, you don’t have to have the first book to use the new one, but I’m hoping that most people will want to have them both, and use them to deepen and expand their personal magical practice. I can’t wait to find out what people think. Tell me, will you be writing in yours?
Our thanks to Deborah for her guest post! For more from Deborah Blake, read her article “Making the Most of Your Book of Shadows: 10 Simple Tips.”
