Grimoire

  Hello, everybody, and welcome to another article on my blog. Since it is too hot to do anything outside and the school break still lasts, I have plenty of time for exploring and reading inside the house or in the library so I´ve decided to continue my research on Paganism and the history of England. As you can see, this article is a part of my research of Paganism since it is about Grimoires and Grimoire is basically a witches´ book. Now, just to clean the stereotipes off, witches do not really practice black magic or some kind of bad magic. Those who do that use it for wrong things and I´m not supporting them, just like Paganism doesn´t neither. Neo-paganists and those who are worth to be called witches practice white magic which is magic used for helping, healing and conecting with the nature. In my opinion, witches who perform white magic deserve a huge respect.

 So, it is summer, outside is like in hell, and I find pleasure going out only if I´m going to the seaside. I love swimming and it´s the right time for that. But I´ve already started to wish for autumn. Just thinking about that autumnish colour of the forest and Halloween and autumn nights makes me happy. But we must enjoy summer, too, because it blesses us with many gifts like it´s delicious fruit and warm weather good for going to the beach.

 Grimoire ( also called Book of Shadows, Spellbook, Workbook, Witches´ Book, Codex Wicce... ) is a book that contains one´s spells, descriptions of rituals, prayers, recipes for medicinal beverages etc... It is basically a textbook of magic in which a witch can write anything that could help perform rituals, put on spells and conect with the nature. It can also be a witches´s diary of some sort since a person can also write thoughts and other knowledge in it.

 The word itself, Grimoire, comes from French gramair – grammar which comes from Greek word for „the one who can write and read“. The word started to be used after 1801. when Francis Barrett published book The Magus. Before that it was mostly called just Book of magic.

 We´d be very much wrong if we were to compare Grimoire with the Bible or some other book connected with one of the monoteistic religions. Grimoire could be some sort of saint book in Paganism, but it is not only one book and there are no real rules about it. Every single person can make it´s own Grimoire in which he or she may put anything wanted, from simple thoughts to magical spells, from legends and stories to prayers. The book doesn´t have a proper look; it can be simple or extravagant and decorated with flowers or something else – that doesn´t matter at all, it all comes to it´s owner.

HISTORY OF GRIMOIRE

 The oldest magic texts come from Mezopotamian city Uruk from 5th century B.C., but it is known that Old Egyptians also wrote magic spells ( Book of The Dead ) and so did some other civilizations that existed very long ago. There were many texts similar to this one in the Library of Alexandria, but sadly, they are all destroyed together with the library. The most important magic text in Hermetizam would be Key of Solomon, also known as The Key of Knowledge. Solomon was the king of Israel in the 10th century B.C. and he is considered one of the wisest kings that ever lived. Many grimoires that are written later are based on this one. The grimoires continued to be written through the Old Age and their popularity has rised in the Middle Ages although the inquisition had strongly forbidden them, so witches had to hide them just like any other objects connected with their beliefs.

 Grand Grimoire comes from the 18th century. It has instructions how to some demons and perform dark rituals. Grimorium Verum is simmilar to the Key of Solomon, but it also contains many texts conected with the Stan and black magic. To be clear, I´ll say right away that these are NOT books conected to the Paganism or the grimoires that I´m talking about. Dark magic is not something that should be admired.

 In the 19th and 20th century people could freely posses grimoires again after centuries of hidding them before the Church. Gerald Gardner´s Book of Shadows should be mentioned; it appeared in 1940s and brought the neopagan Wicca with it. Perhaps ypu heard about the writer H. P. Lovecraft. He wrote Necronomicon, also considered some kind of dark grimoire, but it is only fictional.

 There are not rules about how to decorate grimoire or what you can or can not put in it really, but there are some rules about owning it. It can have one and only owner, it´s maker, but it can also be owned by a coven. It must not be destroyed except it´s owner alowes that. The owner may destroy it if he or she wishes to and must not be asked why that has been done; the owner might have his or her own reasons others might not completely understand. Noone can just take someone else´s grimoire; if the owner dies without declaring who shall own the grimoire after he passes away, it should be destroyed; that´s quite sad in my opinion, so I think owners of Grimoire should always decide will they leave them to their families, coven or some other specifical person. 

 Thank you for visiting my blog, I hope that you have enjoyed in reading and I´ll write you soon. Stay magical and njoy the summer because it will be gone before we know it!