Personal Grimoires: How bullet journaling improved my witchcraft

Personal grimoires are some of the most important things that we do in our magical practices. Most witches I know keep one. Whether you call it a grimoire, a book of shadows, or simply a magical record, this is such an important part of growth as a magician. They help us to process the magic we're doing, track results from spellwork, and serve as a potent record of our magical growth.

I have a deep adoration for notebooks, filing systems, and organization. I don’t always live up to that ideal, but it is something that I really adore. In general, when my grimoire is better organized, it’s easier for me to grow as a witch and magician. And that’s really the point of keeping the record - so that we can see how much we have grown over the years, as well as to track any results that we are looking for in our magic.

I have developed a pretty specific system for my own magical recording, and I've decided to share it because so very many people have asked about it.

But first: I need to talk about Bullet Journaling.

If you haven’t heard of Bullet Journaling I’ll explain it a bit. This is a system created by Ryder Carroll to help capture ideas, thoughts, and basically get all of those details out of your head and into one place: your journal. I am an avid Bullet Journaller. It truly does help me keep track of all of my to-dos and the outcomes of my brainstorming sessions. It also helps me to be more mindful. If I’m able to get the distractions out of my head and onto paper, I usually have a much better time keeping track of everything. I find it helps with my anxiety in a very real way.

If you’re curious about Bullet Journaling, check out Carroll’s video on it.

Here are several aspects of Bullet Journaling that I have incorporated into my personal grimoire:

• Index + Page Numbers
• Page Spreads
• Future Log

The most important aspect of my personal grimoire is the index and the page numbers. It’s so simple but honestly it has been a game changer for me. I have been keeping a magical record since I was a teenager, and I still have every single one of my old journals and grimoires. Sometimes I even reference them - particularly when I am teaching, or looking for that one spell that felt really good and it actually worked.

This also leads to me looking at every single page of whatever journal I need. Not … ideal.

The Index has been incredibly useful for me because it means that I can find things quickly. I can reference spells that I did six months ago, and if a new development has occurred that feels related, I can put it in there. So I can track results on a short scale as well as a long scale, and I can replicate or vary my spells based on what did or didn’t work.

This next part isn’t connected to Bullet Journaling, but it is really important. I leave at least a half page next to each spell or ritual so that I can record any results from that ritual.

Because I use an index, it’s really easy to go back and find whatever it was that I was doing. I like to record both what I did and then anything that happened after I cast the spell. I might also use some of this “results” section of the page for any ideas about what I would change if I were to replicate this spell.

On the left page of this journal is some spell instructions, and you can see that I have results written on the right side. (I’ve blocked it out because I’m private about my personal spellcraft.) When looking back at this spell in the future, I might have more ideas for how I would adapt it, or I might have ideas on why it did or didn’t work.

But this gets me into my next holdover from Bullet Journaling … Page Spreads.

This is not necessary, but I do find that adding spreads for things like upcoming astrological events  are really useful. Because they’re neatly labeled in the index, I can flip to them when I need to double check something. Of course if you’re doing intense astrological workings, I recommend checking your ephemeris. This is more for things like “is Mercury in Retrograde right now?” I also keep a log of the New and Full Moons in the same spread, for quick reference.

Really, a spread is just a page that you have set aside to hold specific information so that you can reference it later. You can make it as beautiful as you want, or as minimalist as you want. The point is not to create a beautiful piece of art - it is to create a functional journal you can use to track your magical experience. But if you love art, you can absolutely create good art in your grimoire.

I also make spreads by pasting in things that I collect while I’m out and about. For example, here are two spreads that I created. The first one is from a connection session that I had with the spirit of the Birch Tree while on my honeymoon. I also included some scraps of Birch bark to beautify the spread.

This next spread is to house those little slips of information you get when you buy a crystal at a metaphysical store. You know the ones. The ones that slip into the bottom of your bag, never to be seen again, leaving six-months-in-the-future you to wonder what kind of pretty rock this pretty rock is. I created this after realizing that I had lost the slip for a couple of crystals I was working with, and that I had completely forgotten their names. (Don’t worry - I was able to track them down again.)

As you can see, I even made a note that Sardonyx was in reference to my pendulum. I left space next to each of these little slips of paper so that I could make any notes on personal gnosis for working with these stones. If I have any thoughts I’ll be able to record them here. I don’t tend to buy very many crystals at all, so I’m not too worried about running out of space.

The last thing that I wanted to talk about a little bit was the idea of a magical “future log.” The Future Log in the Bullet Journal system is basically a space that you create to capture any information you want to about months in the future. For example, if I wake up and have an idea of something I want to do for Samhain, but that’s months away, I could write it in the Future Log of my grimoire. Or if I decided that I wanted to do a Nine Nights devotional to Odin in the winter, I might put it down in the future log.

I could see this being even more helpful for witches who work more closely with astrology. For example, if you know that a really juicy transit is happening in several months and you want to build a ritual around it, you could put it in your Future Log.

The real trick with the Future Log is remembering to check it, which I honestly have no tips for. Perhaps if you feel a nagging impulse in the back of your mind, check your Future Log to see if there’s anything you’re forgetting.

Since I started implementing these Bullet Journaling methods in my magical record, I’ve seen my own magical practice improve. I feel like I have so many more ideas, and a much better idea of what works and what doesn’t work in my personal practice.

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