I Put A Spell On You

A grimoire is a book of spells. Plain and simple. However, this community grimoire offers a lot more than that. It gives you the chance to tap in to the communal energy of the people who have come before you, whether it was someone adding their own spell or copying down a spell to take home with them. And in a very physical and real sense, you literally have a witch at your fingertips who can help answer any questions. You aren't just reading from a book at home or googling it on your phone. You are in a witchcraft store studying a spell. You literally have everything you need right in front of you.

Our grimoire sits on a podium in the middle of the shop, with a fountain pen and ink well right next to it, waiting for me to add my contribution to it…. And it's a little intimidating. So permanent and so powerful. Spells from seasoned witches (more seasoned than I am, for sure) and something that others would see. I definitely didn't want to be the one to mess it up. However, Witch Mama insisted that I needed to add a spell, so I began the process of finding my spell. I browsed quickly through a couple of the books in the shop, but nothing was hitting it for me. I kept feeling my eyes glaze over, or my attention would start to pull and I take that as a sign from my intuition to move on. Then I found it. It was in a book we sell in the shop called, "Moon Phases" by Diane Ahlquist. 

Writing that spell down was fun…at first. Then I found myself looking for ways to shorten each sentence, somehow, just to make it a little shorter, so I wouldn't have to write so Goddamn much. Then I even tried to concentrate and write a little faster. I thought about switching to cursive instead of print. I thought about suggesting to Witch Mama that we allow printed computer pages to be in here. You know, like, type it up, print it out and then glue it on a page in the book. It would be cute! Kind of all mismatched!

But I knew that wouldn't fly. I had to resign myself to the fact that this would take time, because sometimes….that's what is needed. I mean, isn't that a huge lesson I have learned in the past year? Now matter how quickly you get all the ingredients together, you can't shorten the process of time. If the cake has to bake for 45 minutes, it has to bake for 45 minutes. Just leave it be! Only thing you can do in the mean time is try to learn from the experience and make the waiting productive. So instead of focusing on all the different ways I could make writing quicker, I focused on the task at hand. I copied the spell neatly and efficiently. I focused on each letter and each word and let my mind go blank. Then I started to see myself doing the spell and reciting the words I was writing over and over again. Then I had another small realization; This, right here, was the power of a community grimoire. In this very moment, I was pouring my concentration and power into this book and into the spell I was writing in it. So I wasn't just helping myself memorize and learn a spell. I was also giving back to the grimoire by putting my energy and effort into it. And that’s what every other witch writing in this grimoire would do too.  Along with every witch that would come by and copy a spell out of this grimoire and into their own.