About Book of Shadows Online
What is a Book of Shadows?
A Book of Shadows is a personal journal of magical practice - a sacred repository for spells, rituals, correspondences, divination records, and spiritual insights. Traditionally handwritten in leather-bound journals, the Book of Shadows serves as both a working reference and a spiritual legacy.
Book of Shadows Online brings this timeless tradition into the digital age while honouring its sacred purpose. Our platform allows you to maintain the privacy and personalisation of a traditional grimoire while enjoying the benefits of digital organisation, backup, and selective sharing with trusted circle members.
Account Tiers
Book of Shadows Online offers six membership tiers to match your level of practice and needs:
Seeker (Free)
Perfect for beginners exploring the craft. Create up to 2 books with 4 total entries. Access basic features and templates to start your journey.
Dedicant ($7.49/month or $74.99/year)
For dedicated practitioners building their grimoire. Create 5 books with 100 entries, share 1 book, create custom components, and access the magical calendar.
Initiate ($11.99/month or $119.99/year)
First-degree practitioners expanding their practice. Create 10 books with 250 entries, share 3 books, create 1 group, and access import/export functionality.
Adept ($17.99/month or $179.99/year)
Skilled practitioners building comprehensive libraries. Create 20 books with 500 entries, share 5 books, create 3 groups, with full collaboration features.
Priestess/Priest ($26.99/month or $269.99/year)
Third-degree practitioners who teach and guide. Create 50 books with 1,500 entries, share 10 books, create 5 groups, and moderate the community library.
Elder ($44.99/month or $449.99/year)
Experienced teachers with extensive libraries. Create 100 books with 5,000 entries, share 25 books, create 10 groups, with featured community placement and priority support.
All annual plans save you the equivalent of 2 months free compared to monthly billing.
Core Features
Books
Create multiple Books of Shadows for different purposes. You might maintain separate books for:
- Personal Practice: Your daily spiritual workings and observations
- Coven Work: Shared rituals and group ceremonies
- Specialized Studies: Herbalism, divination, astrology, energy work
- Seasonal Celebrations: Sabbat rituals and wheel of the year observations
- Dreams & Visions: A dedicated journal for intuitive experiences
- Research Notes: Book reviews, workshop notes, study materials
- Magical Records: Spell results, ritual outcomes, divination logs
Each book can be customized with its own title, description, cover image, and tradition. You control exactly who can view each book through our flexible sharing system. Books can be organized by the 28+ magical traditions we support, from Wicca and Traditional Witchcraft to Druidry, Heathenry, and Eclectic practice.
Pages (Entries)
Pages are the heart of your Book of Shadows - individual entries that document your practice. We support eight distinct entry types:
- Spells: Document magical workings with materials, timing, and results
- Rituals: Record ceremonies and formal magical practices
- Recipes: Magical cooking, potion-making, and kitchen witchery
- Meditations: Guided visualisations and contemplative practices
- Divination: Tarot readings, scrying sessions, pendulum work
- Dreams: Dream journals with symbol interpretation
- Correspondences: Quick reference guides for herbs, colours, moon phases
- Journal: Personal reflections, observations, and spiritual insights
Each entry can include:
- Title & Content: Rich text formatting for detailed documentation
- Materials: List ingredients, tools, or components needed
- Instructions: Step-by-step directions for rituals or spellwork
- Moon Phase: Record the lunar phase when work was performed
- Difficulty Level: Mark as Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, or Expert
- Components: Link to reusable magical components from your library
- Tags: Organize with keywords for easy searching
- Celebrations: Associate with Sabbats, Esbats, or special occasions
- Images: Add photos of altars, ingredients, or results
- Notes: Record observations, results, and things to remember
Components
Build a personal materia magica by creating component entries for everything in your magical toolkit. We support five component types:
- Herbs: Plants and botanicals with their magical properties, correspondences, and uses
- Crystals: Stones and minerals with energetic properties and associations
- Tools: Ritual implements like athames, wands, chalices, and cauldrons
- Oils: Essential oils and magical oil blends
- Incense: Resins, herbs, and incense blends for burning
Each component entry can include scientific names, magical properties, elemental associations, planetary correspondences, and personal notes. Link components to multiple pages to track how you use each item in your practice. This creates a powerful cross-reference system within your magical library.
The system comes pre-loaded with 38 common magical components to get you started, and you can create unlimited custom components (tier permitting).
Calendar & Moon Phase Tracking
Never miss an important magical timing with our comprehensive calendar system:
- Automated Moon Phase Tracking: All eight moon phases (New, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, Waning Crescent, Dark Moon)
- Eclipse Information: Track solar and lunar eclipses with detailed type information (Total, Partial, Annular, Penumbral)
- Pre-loaded Celebrations: The eight major Sabbats plus Full and New Moon Esbats
- Personal Celebrations: Add your own holy days, anniversaries, and special occasions
- Hemisphere Support: Set your hemisphere (Northern/Southern) for accurate seasonal timing
- Timezone Accuracy: Set your timezone for precise moon phase times
Moon phase data is calculated astronomically and includes exact times, illumination percentages, and astrological sign placements.
Celebrations & Traditions
Organize your practice around the turning of the wheel with our extensive celebration system. We support 14 different celebration types:
- Sabbats: The eight major Wheel of the Year celebrations
- Esbats: Full moon and new moon celebrations
- Personal Celebrations: Your own meaningful dates
- Life Passages: Birth blessings, coming of age, handfasting, eldering, death rites
- Deity Festivals: Celebrations honouring specific gods and goddesses
- Folk Festivals: Traditional European celebrations with pagan roots
- Agricultural Festivals: Planting, growing, and harvest celebrations
- Astronomical Events: Planetary alignments, meteor showers, celestial festivals
- Ancestral Observances: Times dedicated to honouring the dead
- Celtic Traditions: Celebrations specific to Celtic lands
- Norse Traditions: Germanic and Scandinavian practices
- Greco-Roman Traditions: Ancient Mediterranean festivals
- Magical Workings: Auspicious times for specific magical operations
- Community Gatherings: Group celebrations and interfaith events
The system comes pre-loaded with 33 major celebrations including detailed descriptions of all eight Sabbats, various Esbat types, and traditional cultural celebrations like Wassailing, Walpurgis Night, and Festival of Diana.
Traditions help you document the specific paths and practices you follow. The system includes 28+ magical traditions including:
- Wicca (Gardnerian, Alexandrian, Dianic, Eclectic)
- Traditional Witchcraft
- Druidry
- Norse/Heathenry
- Hellenic (Greek) Reconstructionism
- Kemetic (Egyptian) Reconstructionism
- Various Witch Types (Kitchen, Green, Hedge, Sea, Cosmic, Secular)
- Ceremonial Magic
- Chaos Magic
- Folk Magic Traditions (Hoodoo, Conjure, Brujeria, Stregheria)
- And many more
Page Templates
Save time and maintain consistency with pre-formatted templates for common page types. The system includes templates for:
- Basic spell documentation
- Full moon esbat rituals
- Dream journal entries
Each template provides a structured starting point with all the relevant fields pre-formatted, but you're always free to customize as needed. Templates help new practitioners learn proper documentation while giving experienced practitioners a quick starting point.
Customization & Personalisation
Make Book of Shadows Online truly yours with extensive customization options:
Seven Beautiful Themes
- Light: Clean, bright default theme with modern aesthetics
- Dark: Comfortable dark mode that reduces eye strain
- Midnight: Deep blues and purples inspired by the night sky
- Forest: Earthy greens and browns connecting you to nature
- Celestial: Space-inspired deep purples with golden accents
- Parchment: Old book aesthetic with cream and sepia tones
- Moonlight: Soft silvers and cool grays evoking lunar tranquility
User Preferences
- Timezone: Set your local timezone for accurate moon phase times
- Hemisphere: Choose Northern or Southern for proper seasonal alignment
- Notification Preferences: Control what alerts you receive
- Privacy Settings: Manage default visibility for new content
Organisation & Discovery
Powerful Search & Filtering
Find exactly what you need in your growing grimoire:
- Search across all books, entries, components, and celebrations
- Filter by entry type, difficulty level, moon phase, or tradition
- Filter by tags for cross-referenced topics
- Browse by celebration or sabbat
- View by component to see all entries using a specific herb or stone
Tags for Cross-Referencing
The system comes with 33 pre-loaded tags covering common magical topics:
- Magical Purposes: Protection, Love, Prosperity, Healing, Divination, Banishing, Purification, Blessing, Manifestation
- Elements: Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Spirit
- Moon Phases: Full Moon, New Moon, Waxing Moon, Waning Moon
- Sabbats: All eight major sabbats
- Practices: Meditation, Ritual, Spellwork, Herbalism, Crystal Magic, Candle Magic
Create your own custom tags to build a personalized organisation system that reflects your unique practice.
Favourites
Mark your most-used spells, favourite rituals, and essential correspondences as favourites for quick access. Perfect for those recipes you use regularly or spells you return to again and again.
Difficulty Levels
Every entry can be marked with a difficulty level:
- Beginner: Suitable for those new to the craft
- Intermediate: Requires some experience and knowledge
- Advanced: For experienced practitioners
- Expert: Complex workings for master practitioners
This helps you build appropriate curricula for students, track your own progression, or ensure you're starting with accessible practices.
Ratings & Reviews
For shared components and public resources, the community can provide ratings and reviews. This helps identify particularly useful correspondences, effective recipes, and valuable resources. Rate entries from 1-5 stars and leave detailed reviews to help your fellow practitioners.
Sharing & Collaboration
Individual Sharing with Permission Levels
While your Book of Shadows is private by default, you can choose to share specific books with individual practitioners. When you share a book, you can grant one of four permission levels:
- Read: View content only
- Write: View and edit content
- Admin: View, edit, and share content with others
- Owner: Full control including deletion (only the original creator has this by default)
This granular control allows you to:
- Share your personal grimoire with your High Priestess for guidance
- Give a student read-only access to your teaching materials
- Collaborate with a magical partner on shared spellwork
- Grant your coven admin access to contribute to a shared ritual book
Groups for Larger Collaboration
Create or join groups for larger circle work. We support ten types of groups to match different needs:
- Coven: Traditional Wiccan or witchcraft working groups with formal structure
- Circle: Informal gatherings for regular ritual and fellowship
- Study Group: Learning and research focused on magical traditions or texts
- Grove: Druid working groups or nature-focused communities
- Lodge: Ceremonial magic groups with formal initiatory structure
- Teaching Circle: Groups where experienced practitioners teach newcomers
- Hearth: Home-based practice groups focused on domestic magic
- Temple: Ceremonial groups with established temple space and ritual structure
- Kindred: Norse/Heathen spiritual groups
- Community: General magical or pagan community gatherings
Groups can be public (anyone can join) or private (invitation/approval required). When you share a book with a group, all approved members can view its contents according to their role.
Group Roles
Groups support four distinct roles:
- Admin: Full control - can edit settings, invite/remove members, moderate content, and manage all aspects
- Moderator: Can invite members and moderate content, but cannot edit group settings or remove admins
- Member: Standard participation - can view shared books and participate fully
- Initiate: New member with limited privileges or restricted access to certain content
Comments & Community Interaction
For shared entries and collaborative books:
- Leave comments on entries to discuss techniques or share insights
- Rate shared components to help others find the most useful resources
- Write reviews of spells or recipes you've tried
- Engage in constructive dialogue with fellow practitioners
Library Moderation (Priestess/Priest Tier & Above)
High-level members can contribute to and moderate the community library:
- Submit high-quality entries as public templates
- Curate and organize shared resources
- Help shape the collective wisdom of the community
- Ensure quality and accuracy of public resources
Data Management
Import/Export (Initiate Tier & Above)
Your data belongs to you. Import/Export functionality allows you to:
- Backup your entire grimoire for safekeeping
- Export books in multiple formats for offline access
- Import entries from other systems or formats
- Move your content between platforms
- Archive completed work
Version History
Track how your practice evolves over time. Version history preserves previous versions of entries, allowing you to:
- See how a spell has evolved through multiple uses
- Restore a previous version if needed
- Track refinements and improvements
- Document your magical growth
Activity Log
A complete record of your practice including:
- When entries were created and modified
- What rituals you performed and when
- Your most active periods of practice
- Patterns in your magical work
Privacy & Security
We take the sacred nature of your practice seriously. Every feature is designed with privacy in mind:
- Private by Default: Nothing is shared unless you explicitly choose to share it
- Granular Control: Share at the book level - choose exactly which books to share and with whom
- Permission Levels: Control exactly what shared users can do (read, write, admin)
- Group Management: Group owners control membership and can remove members at any time
- Unshare Anytime: Revoke access to your books whenever you choose
- Secure Storage: All data is encrypted and securely stored
- No Data Mining: We never sell your data or use it for advertising
- Your Data: Your content belongs to you, always
Who is This For?
Book of Shadows Online serves practitioners at all stages of their journey:
- Solitary Practitioners: Maintain organized, searchable records of your personal practice
- Coven Members: Share ritual scripts and collaborative magical work with your circle
- Teachers & Mentors: Create curriculum and share lessons with students at multiple levels
- Students: Build your knowledge base and learn from experienced practitioners
- Eclectic Seekers: Explore and document your unique spiritual path across traditions
- Traditional Practitioners: Preserve lineage knowledge and sacred teachings
- Research-Focused Practitioners: Document experiments, track results, and refine techniques
- Community Leaders: Organize group rituals, manage coven resources, and build community
Getting Started
Ready to begin your digital grimoire? Here's how to get started:
- 1 Choose Your Tier: Start with the free Seeker account or select a paid tier for more features
- 2 Set Your Preferences: Choose your theme, timezone, and hemisphere
- 3 Create Your First Book: Give it a meaningful name and choose its tradition
- 4 Add Your First Entry: Document a favourite spell, ritual, or correspondence
- 5 Build Your Components Library: Add herbs, stones, and tools you use regularly
- 6 Explore the Calendar: See upcoming moon phases and sabbats
- 7 Try a Template: Use pre-formatted templates to speed up documentation
- 8 Join or Create a Group: Connect with your coven or find a study circle
For detailed step-by-step instructions, see our How-To Guide.
Our Vision
We envision a world where magical practitioners can preserve their wisdom, connect with kindred spirits, and pass down their knowledge to future generations - all while maintaining the privacy and sanctity that spiritual work requires.
Book of Shadows Online is more than software - it's a sacred space for the modern practitioner, honouring ancient traditions while embracing the tools of today.