Purification & Blessing of your Grimoire

Book of Shadows Lesson
* Part 5 *

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

The first thing to do with your new Grimoire before using it, as with any ritual object, is to purify and bless it.  Purification removes any energy that the book may have picked up when it was created, or while it sat on a shelf.  Blessing it puts positive, sacred energy -- your energy -- into the book.

Since you are just starting out as a Wiccan, here's a simple purification/blessing you can do.  

Purifying and Blessing Your Grimoire

Start by coming to a calm, still place within.  Meditating for a few minutes is a perfect way to do this; you could chant OM for a while if you like — this very effectively brings the mind to stillness.

If you have a nice cloth, spread it out in front of you.  Set a candle nearby and light it,[3] to represent the Divine being present with you during this ritual.

Take some salt — preferably chunky sea salt — and sprinkle it on your Book of Shadows, the front and the back.  Let the excess fall to the cloth.  With your heart full of this intention, say something like:

"By the power of the Earth and the living waters of the Goddess, be this book cleansed

By the blood of the Mother Creatrix, be this book sanctified

Blessed Be!" [4]

You can say more, if you like.  If it helps you to feel the magick, you can make up something to say in rhyme.[5]

When you feel that the salt has completed this task, dust it off onto the cloth.

Hold the book up so that the light of the candle shines on it.  (Careful not to get it too close and singe it.)  Shining the light on both front and back, say something like:

"By the breath and fire of the living light of the God, be this book purified

By the light of Pure Consciousness, I dedicate this book to the path of Wicca and the wisdom of Divinity

Blessed Be!"

When you feel this is complete, offer thanks for the blessings of the Divine that have helped you with your task.

Your purification and blessing of your Grimoire is complete.

Extinguish the candle.  Gather the cloth up, to hold the salt, and carry it to the sink.  Let the salt go down the sink to rejoin the waters of the Ocean.

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[3] Any candle will do, even a tealight.  Try to get a white or light-coloured one if possible, though.  It's preferable to use a healthy candle, unscented and made of beeswax or soy.
Make sure to keep it away from flammables, on a dish or something to collect wax spills, and never leave a candle burning unattended.

[4] "Blessed Be" is a Wiccan way of saying "Amen" or "Aho" — it's a way of expressing our desire for something to come true, our gratitude for things that are, and our blessing on something (in this case, our work, ie, the purification of our Book of Shadows)

[5] Rhyming is a good magickal technique.  More on this in the lesson on the Fundamentals of Magick.  

~~~

Continue to Book of Shadows Lesson Part 6:
Using Your Grimoire, & Conclusion

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Find out more about this course:

A Year And A Day: 
53 Weeks to Becoming a Wiccan

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Continue with Book of Shadows, part 6:
Using Your Grimoire, Review, & Conclusion