Editing Book of Shadows (section)

==History==
===Origins===

Gerald Gardner, the "father of Wicca", first introduced the Book of Shadows to people that he had initiated into the craft through his [[Bricket Wood coven]] in the 1950s. He claimed that it was a personal cookbook of spells that have worked for the owner; they could copy from his own book and add material as they saw fit. He said that the practice of Witches keeping such a book was ancient, and was practised by the [[Witch-cult]] throughout history. According to tradition, Gardner claimed that the Book of Shadows was burned after a person died, so that it would not be discovered that they had been a witch.

Gerald Gardner did not mention any such thing as a "Book of Shadows" in his fictitious 1949 novel about mediaeval witchcraft, ''High Magic's Aid''. High Priestess [[Doreen Valiente]] claimed that this was because at the time, Gardner had not yet conceived of the idea, and only invented it after writing his novel.

Valiente made the claim that Gardner found the term "Book of Shadows" from a 1949 edition (Volume I, Number 3) of a magazine known as ''The Occult Observer''. In this edition, she claimed, was an advertisement for Gardner's novel, ''High Magic's Aid'', which was opposite an article titled "The Book of Shadows" written by the [[palmistry|palmist]] [[Mir Bashir (palmist)|Mir Bashir]]. The article in question was about an allegedly ancient [[Sanskrit]] divination manual which explained how to foretell things based upon the length of a person's shadow.<ref name="Valiente1">{{cite book | first=Doreen | last=Valiente | author-link=Doreen Valiente | title=The Rebirth of Witchcraft | publisher = Hale| year=1989}} Page 51</ref> Valiente theorised that Gardner then adopted this term for his Witches' [[grimoire]]. She maintained that "It was a good name, and it is a good name still, wherever Gardner found it".<ref name="Valiente1" />
[[File:Ye Booke Of Ye Art Magical.JPG|right|thumb|A typescript from a page of ''Ye Booke of Ye Art Magical'']]

A leather bound manuscript written in Gardner's handwriting that was titled ''[[Ye olde|Ye]] Bok of Ye Art Magical'' was later found amongst his papers from the Museum after his death by [[Aidan Kelly]]<ref>''Crafting the Art of Magic: Book I, Aidan Kelly, page xvii, Llewellyn Publications, 1991</ref> and was later obtained by Richard and Tamarra James of the [[Wiccan Church of Canada]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Gerald Gardner – Ye Book of Ye Art Magical |url=https://wiccabos.net/gerald-gardner-ye-book-of-ye-art-magical/ |website=Rare Wiccan Books of Shadows |access-date=15 August 2019}}</ref> It appeared to be a first draft of Gardner's Book of Shadows, and featured sections based upon the rituals of [[Ordo Templi Orientis]] which had been devised by the occultist [[Aleister Crowley]].<ref>''The Rebirth of Witchcraft'', Doreen Valiente, page 58</ref> Gardner had gained access to these rituals in 1946, when he had purchased a charter from Crowley giving him permission to perform the OTO rituals.

Some people have taken this as evidence that Gardner invented the idea of a Witches' [[Grimoire]], perhaps sometime between 1946 (when he finished his novel ''High Magic's Aid''), and 1949, and had named it ''Ye Bok of Ye Art Magical''. In 1949, he had renamed it to the ''Book of Shadows'', and soon began to make use of it with his Bricket Wood Coven.

Adding weight to the evidence indicating Gardner invented the Book was that other Neo-pagan witches of the time, such as [[Roy Bowers|Robert Cochrane]], never made use of such a book.<ref name="ValienteCochrane">{{cite book | first=Doreen | last=Valiente | author-link=Doreen Valiente | title=Witchcraft: A Tradition Renewed | publisher = Hale| year=1990}} Page 8</ref>

===Valiente's rewriting===
In 1953, [[Doreen Valiente]] joined Gardner's [[Bricket Wood coven]], and soon rose to become its High Priestess. She noticed how much of the material in his Book of Shadows was taken not from ancient sources as Gardner had initially claimed, but from the works of the occultist [[Aleister Crowley]], from ''[[Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches]]'', from the ''[[Key of Solomon]]'' and also from the rituals of [[Freemasonry]].<ref>''The Rebirth of Witchcraft'', Doreen Valiente, page 54-55</ref> She confronted Gardner with this, who admitted that the text he had received from the [[New Forest coven]] had been fragmentary and he had had to fill much of it using various sources. He also stated that "well, if you think you can do any better, go ahead",<ref name="Witchcraft, Doreen Valiente page 61">''The Rebirth of Witchcraft'', Doreen Valiente, page 61</ref> and Valiente thought that she could, later stating that:

{{quotation|I accepted the challenge and set out to rewrite the Book of Shadows, cutting out the Crowleyanity as much as I could and trying to bring it back to what I felt was, if not so elaborate as Crowley's phraseology, at least our own and in our own words.<ref name="Witchcraft, Doreen Valiente page 61" />}}

Valiente rewrote much of it, cutting out a lot of sections that had come from Crowley (whose negative reputation she feared), though retaining parts that originated with ''[[Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches]]'', which she felt was genuine witchcraft practice. Valiente dramatically rewrote sections such as the ''[[Charge of the Goddess]]'' and also wrote several poems for the book, such as ''The Witches Rune''. She also helped to create a poem to include the [[Wiccan Rede]] within it.<ref>[[Rosemary Ellen Guiley|Guiley, Rosemary Ellen]] (1999) ''The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft''. p348.</ref>

Valiente also noticed that a chant in one ritual in the book was based upon the poem "A Tree Song" from ''[[Puck of Pook's Hill]]'' by [[Rudyard Kipling]], which she had enjoyed as a child.<ref>''The Rebirth of Witchcraft'', Doreen Valiente, page 54</ref> The chant in question stated that:
:Oh, do not tell the priest our plight,
:Or he would call it sin;
:But - we have been in the woods all night,
:A-conjuring summer in !
:And we bring you news by word of mouth -
:Good news for cattle and corn -
:Now is the Sun come up from the South,
:With Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!<ref>''The Rebirth of Witchcraft'', Doreen Valiente, page 55</ref>

(These eight lines are exactly the final stanza of [https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poem/poems_treesong.htm "A Tree Song"].)

This version of the ritual, written by both Gardner and Valiente, but containing sections adopted from various sources, such as [[Aleister Crowley]], ''[[Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches]]'', and even [[Rudyard Kipling]], went on to become the traditional text for [[Gardnerian Wicca]].