Book of Shadows Online - How-To Guide

Book of Shadows Online offers six membership tiers, each designed for different levels of practice and needs. Your tier determines how many books you can create, how many entries you can add, and which features you have access to.

Follow these steps to set up your Book of Shadows:

Creating a New Book

1. From your dashboard, click the "New Book" button
2. Enter a Title for your book (e.g., "Personal Grimoire," "Kitchen Witchery," "Tarot Journal")
3. Add a Description explaining what this book contains
4. Choose a Tradition from 28+ options (or select "Eclectic" or "Other")
5. Upload a Cover Image if desired (optional)
6. Click "Save"

Editing a Book

To modify an existing book:

1. Find the book in your Books list
2. Click the Edit icon
3. Make your changes
4. Click "Save"

Deleting a Book

To delete a book:

1. Find the book in your Books list
2. Click the Delete icon
3. Confirm the deletion when prompted

Organizing Books

Tips for organizing your grimoire:

• By Purpose: Separate books for spellwork, rituals, divination, correspondences
• By Tradition: Different books for different paths you study
• By Season: Books dedicated to each sabbat or season
• By Privacy: Keep public/shareable content separate from private work
• By Project: Create books for specific magical goals or courses of study

Entry Types

Choose the appropriate entry type for your content:

• Spell: Magical workings with intent, materials, timing, and results
• Ritual: Ceremonial practices and formal rites
• Recipe: Magical cooking, potions, oils, and incense blends
• Meditation: Visualizations and contemplative practices
• Divination: Tarot spreads, scrying sessions, rune casts
• Dream: Dream journals with symbols and interpretations
• Correspondence: Quick reference guides for herbs, stones, colours, etc.
• Journal: Personal reflections and observations

Creating an Entry from Scratch

Using Templates

Templates provide pre-formatted starting points for common entry types.

1. Click "New Entry from Template"
2. Choose from available templates:
   • Basic Spell Template
   • Full Moon Esbat Ritual
   • Dream Journal Entry
3. The entry will be pre-populated with sections and formatting
4. Fill in your specific information
5. Save

Editing & Deleting Entries

To Edit: Click the Edit icon on any entry, make changes, and save.

To Delete: Click the Delete icon and confirm. Deleted entries cannot be recovered unless you have a recent export backup.

Components are reusable magical ingredients and tools that you can link to multiple entries. Available with Dedicant tier and above.

Component Types

• Herb: Plants and botanicals
• Crystal: Stones and minerals
• Tool: Athames, wands, chalices, etc.
• Oil: Essential oils and blends
• Incense: Resins and incense mixtures

Creating a Component

1. Navigate to "Components" from the main menu
2. Click "New Component"
3. Choose the component type
4. Fill in details:
   • Title: Common name (e.g., "Lavender")
   • Scientific Name: Latin name if applicable
   • Properties: Magical properties and uses
   • Associations: Elements, planets, zodiac signs
   • Description: Personal notes and experiences
5. Mark as Private if this is personal to you, or leave public to share
6. Save

Pre-Loaded Components

The system includes 38 common components to get you started:

• Herbs: Lavender, Rosemary, Sage, Mugwort, Chamomile, Cinnamon, Mint, Basil, Rose, Bay Leaf
• Crystals: Clear Quartz, Amethyst, Rose Quartz, Black Tourmaline, Citrine, Selenite, Labradorite, Carnelian, Moonstone, Green Aventurine
• Tools: Athame, Wand, Chalice, Pentacle, Cauldron, Bell, Mortar & Pestle, Besom
• Oils: Protection Oil, Love Oil, Prosperity Oil, Psychic Oil, Blessing Oil
• Incense: Frankincense, Myrrh, Sandalwood, Dragon's Blood, Copal

Linking Components to Entries

When creating or editing an entry:

1. Scroll to the "Components" section
2. Click "Add Component"
3. Search for or select components from your library
4. Add quantity/notes if desired
5. Save the entry

Linked components create a powerful cross-reference system. You can view all entries that use a specific herb or stone.

The magical calendar helps you track moon phases, sabbats, and important dates. Available with Dedicant tier and above.

Moon Phases

The calendar automatically calculates all moon phases for your timezone:

• New Moon: New beginnings, setting intentions
• Waxing Crescent: Building, growth, attraction
• First Quarter: Action, decision-making
• Waxing Gibbous: Refinement, adjustment
• Full Moon: Peak power, manifestation, release
• Waning Gibbous: Gratitude, sharing
• Last Quarter: Breaking habits, letting go
• Waning Crescent: Rest, reflection, banishing
• Dark Moon: Deep shadow work, final release

Eclipse Tracking

The calendar marks all solar and lunar eclipses with type information:

• Solar Eclipses: Total, Partial, Annular, Hybrid
• Lunar Eclipses: Total, Partial, Penumbral

Sabbats & Celebrations

The system includes 33 pre-loaded celebrations:

• 8 Major Sabbats: Samhain, Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lughnasadh, Mabon
• Esbats: Full Moon, New Moon, Blue Moon, Blood Moon Eclipse celebrations
• Cultural Celebrations: Traditional festivals from Celtic, Norse, and other paths

Adding Personal Celebrations

1. Click "Add Celebration" in the calendar
2. Choose a celebration type
3. Enter the name and date
4. Add description and traditional activities
5. Mark as private if it's personal to you
6. Save

Themes

Choose from seven beautiful themes to personalize your experience:

• Light: Clean and bright for daytime use
• Dark: Easy on the eyes for night practice
• Midnight: Deep blues and purples
• Forest: Earthy greens and browns
• Celestial: Space-inspired purples with gold accents
• Parchment: Old book aesthetic with cream tones
• Moonlight: Soft silvers and grays

To change themes: Go to Settings → Appearance → Select Theme

Timezone & Hemisphere

Critical for accurate moon phase timing:

1. Go to Settings → Location
2. Select your Timezone from the dropdown
3. Choose your Hemisphere (Northern or Southern)
4. Save

Notification Preferences

Control what alerts you receive:

• Upcoming full moons
• Sabbat reminders
• New comments on your shared entries
• Group invitations
• System announcements

Privacy Settings

Set defaults for new content:

• Default privacy level for new books
• Default privacy for new components
• Profile visibility options

Using Search

Find anything in your grimoire quickly:

1. Click the Search icon in the main navigation
2. Enter your search terms
3. Optionally filter by:
   • Entry Type (Spell, Ritual, etc.)
   • Difficulty Level
   • Moon Phase
   • Tradition
   • Book
   • Tags
   • Components
   • Celebrations
4. View results

Using Tags

Tags help you cross-reference related content across multiple books.

Pre-loaded tags include:

• Magical purposes (Protection, Love, Prosperity, Healing, etc.)
• Elements (Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Spirit)
• Moon phases
• All eight sabbats
• Practice types (Meditation, Spellwork, Herbalism, etc.)

Creating custom tags:

1. When editing an entry, type a new tag name in the Tags field
2. Press Enter to create it
3. The tag is now available for all future entries

Viewing entries by tag:

1. Navigate to Tags in the main menu
2. Click any tag to see all entries with that tag

Difficulty Levels

Mark entries by difficulty to track your progression or build student curricula:

• Beginner: Suitable for those new to the craft
• Intermediate: Requires some experience
• Advanced: For experienced practitioners
• Expert: Complex workings for masters

Filter searches by difficulty level to find practices appropriate for your current skill level.

Mark your most-used spells, favourite rituals, and essential correspondences for quick access.

Adding to Favourites

1. View any entry, component, or celebration
2. Click the Star or Heart icon
3. The item is added to your Favourites

Viewing Favourites

1. Click Favourites in the main menu
2. See all your starred items in one place
3. Click any item to open it

While everything is private by default, you can share specific books with individual practitioners or groups.

Individual Sharing

Share a book with one person:

Revoking Access

To stop sharing:

1. Open the book
2. Click "Manage Sharing"
3. Click the X next to the person's name
4. Confirm removal

Groups allow larger-scale collaboration. Available with Initiate tier and above.

Creating a Group

1. Navigate to Groups in the main menu
2. Click "Create Group"
3. Choose a group type:
   • Coven, Circle, Study Group, Grove, Lodge, Teaching Circle, Hearth, Temple, Kindred, or Community
4. Enter group name and description
5. Set visibility:
   • Public: Anyone can find and join
   • Private: Invitation/approval required
6. Choose if approval is required for join requests
7. Save

Inviting Members

1. Open your group
2. Click "Invite Members"
3. Enter email addresses or usernames
4. Assign a role:
   • Admin: Full control - can manage everything
   • Moderator: Can invite members and moderate content
   • Member: Standard participation
   • Initiate: Limited access (you define what they can see)
5. Send invitations

Sharing Books with Groups

1. Open the book you want to share
2. Click "Share"
3. Select "Share with Group"
4. Choose the group from the dropdown
5. All approved group members can now access the book

Managing Group Roles

As a group Admin, you can:

• Change member roles
• Remove members
• Approve join requests
• Edit group settings
• Delete the group

For shared books and collaborative entries, the community can interact through comments and ratings.

Leaving Comments

1. Open a shared entry
2. Scroll to the Comments section at the bottom
3. Type your comment
4. Click "Post Comment"

Rating Entries

For public components and shared resources:

1. Open the entry or component
2. Click the star rating (1-5 stars)
3. Optionally write a review
4. Submit

Moderating Comments (Priestess/Priest Tier & Above)

High-tier members can moderate the community library:

• Flag inappropriate comments
• Curate public templates
• Help maintain quality standards

Available with Initiate tier and above. Your data belongs to you - back it up regularly!

Exporting a Book

1. Open the book you want to export
2. Click the Menu icon
3. Select "Export"
4. Choose format:
   • JSON: For reimporting to BOS Online
   • PDF: For printing or offline reading
   • DOCX: For editing in Word
   • HTML: For web viewing
5. Click "Export"
6. Download the file

Importing a Book

1. Navigate to Books
2. Click "Import Book"
3. Choose your JSON export file
4. Click "Import"
5. The book and all its entries will be recreated

How many books can I create?

This depends on your account tier. Seeker accounts can create 2 books, while Elder accounts can create up to 100 books. See the Account Tiers section above for full details.

Can I change my account tier later?

Yes! You can upgrade at any time. You can also downgrade, but note that if you have more books/entries/shares than your new tier allows, you'll need to reduce them before downgrading.

What happens if I exceed my limits?

You won't be able to create new content until you either upgrade your tier or delete some existing content to get back within your limits.

Are my books private?

Yes, absolutely! Everything is private by default. Nothing is shared unless you explicitly choose to share it. You control exactly who can see each book.

Can I print my Book of Shadows?

Yes! Export any book as PDF, then print it. Available with Initiate tier and above.

What if I lose access to my account?

This is why we recommend regular exports! If you maintain JSON backups, you can reimport your entire grimoire if needed. Contact support if you have account access issues.

Can I share individual entries instead of whole books?

Currently, sharing is at the book level. If you want to share specific entries with someone, consider creating a separate book just for shared content.

What's the difference between sharing individually vs. sharing with a group?

Individual sharing gives one specific person access to a book. Group sharing gives all approved group members access. Group sharing is more efficient for covens or study circles.

How accurate are the moon phases?

Moon phases are calculated astronomically using your specified timezone. They're accurate to the minute. Make sure your timezone and hemisphere are set correctly in Settings!

Can I move entries between books?

Yes! Edit the entry and change which book it's assigned to from the dropdown menu.

What happens to shared books if I cancel my subscription?

If you downgrade to a tier that doesn't support sharing, your existing shares will be revoked. People will lose access to books you shared with them. Export your books first if you plan to downgrade!

Can I use this on mobile?

Yes! Book of Shadows Online is fully responsive and works on phones, tablets, and desktops.