Book of Shadows

This article is about the spellbook. You may be looking for the episode of the same title.

“	Some books are made to be read, others to be written. Every one of us must keep one; A private grimoire of all our thoughts and dreams, our magic and experiments, all our deeds, dark and light. If it be worked properly, no one but she who inscribes it will be able to read what it contains, at least not while the author still lives.	”
	— Mary Sibley to Anne Hale^[src]

A Book of Shadows, also known as grimoire, is a personal journal recording a witch's experience.

Description

A Book of Shadows is a book of spells and personal journal that the witch obtains at the beginning of their journey after making a deal with the Devil. It is sealed with blood on the first page. By doing so, the witch obtains a familiar. Certain Books of Shadows can only be read by the witch who inscribes them through a glamour that hides their contents from prying eyes. To be able to read the contents, one must smear the pages with the owner's blood.^[1] Another way to unlock the secrets hidden in the pages of the grimoire is to create a replica of the book and create a link between the two by means of a drop of blood of the witch whose secrets are sought after. For witches who are part of a hive, upon their death the Book of Shadows finds its way to the Samhain, the coven leader, in order to preserve the ancient ways and prevent the grimoire from falling into the wrong hands.^[2]

Throughout Salem

Salem-Promo-Stills-S2E04-08-Mary Giving Book of Shadows to Anne — Mary gifts Anne her Book of Shadows

Anne Hale is introduced to the concept of the Book of Shadows by Mary Sibley. At the House of the Seven Gables, Mary acquaints Anne with how she possesses the late John Hale's grimoire and that is how she learned of his death and that Anne came to her powers. The time has come for Anne to begin to record her experience as well and Mary gives her a blank book with instructions to seal the first page with blood, which Mary draws from her finger with a pin. Back home, Anne does as she is told and as soon as she signs the book a little mouse peeps onto her table – it is her familiar, whom Anne calls Brown Jenkins. Amongst the first pages, Anne marks her vow to harm none. Unbeknownst to Anne, Mary uses the blood she stole from her to create a magical copy of everything Anne records in her journal. Mary thus finds out about the meeting between Anne and the mysterious Countess Von Marburg in Boston, Massachusetts, and how Anne is torn between the two witches over the Grand Rite. ^[2]

The Countess, traveling by sea to Salem, Massachusetts, writes her thoughts in a leather-bound grimoire lying on a small desk. Something she continues to do so throughout her sojourn in Salem. ^[3] Once in town, the German witch forces Anne to steal John Hale's Book of Shadows from Sibley's house. The Countess hopes the book will give her the information she needs to take over the Consecration from the Essex Hive. While the Von Marburgs and other diners are at Mary Sibley's table, Anne takes the opportunity to steal the book from her library and throws it out the window. At home, Anne takes refuge in her father's lair and has difficulty opening the clasp that closes the book. ^[4]

Moreover, Anne is not willing to share the book with the Countess without first reading its content. Although drawing bloods from her veins allows her to open the book, neither her nor Brown Jenkins' blood make the pages reveal their secrets. Only by scraping her father's blood from the walls of the lair does Anne finally manage to dispel the glamour. Anne thus begins to read the enchantments and thoughts of her late father. ^[1] Anne begins to put into practice the teachings of the book, mastering her powers in moving objects with thought and balancing the scale of life and death of a plant. The deeper Anne gets into reading the grimoire, the more she learns about its darker aspects, including an eerie illustration that resembles her. Anne is disturbed by what John has written about the price for their powers – a sexual assault from the Devil marking the witch as his own. ^[5]

Cotton Mather learns of his wife's witch heritage by reading John Hale's Book of Shadows after he is trapped inside the lair.^[6]

Memorable Quotes

Mary Sibley: "If it be worked properly, no one but she who inscribes it will be able to read what it contains, at least not while the author still lives."

Mary Sibley: "After the death of a witch, the book finds its way to the Samhain. This ensures the survival of the discovery of witches so that the old ways are not lost. Some of these go back hundreds of years to some of the earliest Essex witches. In fact, I have your father's book. That's how I knew he was dead. The book appeared that morning.

Mary Sibley: " Now go home and inscribe your book. You may write with ink, but first, you must sign it with blood. The deep magic, the strong and permanent kind, always requires a little blood. Your blood signature guards it from all eyes but yours."

— Book of Shadows

Entries

"Three innocent people are dead because of me, including my own mother and father, so this is my promise to you, book, and to you, little Brown Jenkins, and to myself, I will master this power inside me, but I will use it for the common good. I will do no harm."

— Anne Hale's entry in her Book of Shadows.

"Tonight, Mary Sibley bade me confront my fear and go down into the well. And so I went to create a warning charm. I drowned the animal. I filled the vial. I saw the hag. She spoke to me in the voice of the Countess Marburg, and I do not know who I fear more Mary Sibley or this Countess Marburg."

— Anne Hale's second entry in her Book of Shadows.

"My dearest daughter, if you are reading this, then I am dead, and you have gone some way down the dark path. I sealed this work so that you could only read it if you had attained some skills and a familiar. But what awaits is yet more significant and treacherous. Perhaps I was mistaken in keeping this all from you, but I dreamed I could save you from your fate. Now the lessons I should have taught you, you'll have to learn without me. But my heart and love are with you always. Know that you are not alone."

— John Hale's entry in his Book of Shadows.

"You have known for some time that you can move objects with your thought and without touch, but you must learn to do it without the heat of emotion. A lightning bolt may scorch an entire forest. Only a human hand can build a fire and tend a flame. Control is all. There is one power above all others, a divine power that comes with the greatest of responsibilities That of life and death. The essence in all things is palpable to you. With it, you can give life or snatch it away. This is the truest malice a witch may perform To kill at a distance with nothing but their will. You may wonder, dear daughter, with such gifts at your disposal, why I hid them from you. Because, dearest, there is no gift that is not also a curse, and I wish you save you from the price of your gifts. But having come this far, the price must be paid. I am so deeply sorry, my child, but it cannot be escaped or evaded. No gift without a curse. And He is the curse."

— John Hale's entry about Sorcery and the Devil in his Book of Shadows.

Trivia

Season Two's Salem Experience has an entry dedicated to the 'Book of Shadows'.
Originating within Gardnerian Wicca, the term Book of Shadows indicated the corpus of Gardner's teaching before shifting to a more general term for a witch's journal.
Grimoire refers to a practical treatise on occult subjects.
No reference to a Book of Shadows was made for Mercy Lewis, with Tituba stating that she will get her familiar in time. ^[7] A reason within the narrative is that Mary was not as interested in educating Mercy as she was in controlling Anne Hale and discover her secrets recorded in a grimoire.