This is really a beautiful book. There is alot of information on spell craft and casting spells. Learn how you can use spells and rituals in your day to day routine. I thought this is a particularly wonderful reference for witches. It is your own personal journal of spells and rituals.

The Book of Shadows by Anastasia Greywolf is a book that fits in perfectly with the books I own. I love books like this because they are enlightening and interesting. this book is a journal of sorts that was created to work as a companion to Witchcraft: A Handbook of Magic Spells and Potions–but it also works great as a journal all on its own.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

This is an amazing book, so helpful in so many ways..

A beautiful book with stunning illustrations that goes back to basics, making it a joy to read and highly accessible to novices in witchcraft. The layout is clear and provides much information needed to begin your witch journey or brush up knowledge after a break. It is a book I long to own a physical copy of rather than an e-format version so it can reach it's full potential as a journal.

Loved this book great for any stage of spells. Helped me learn so much more. Pan to look back to this book for future references . Read this online and ordered a paperback copy.

Thank you NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for a chance to read and review this book!

I am very new to this so I’m not the right person to have much of an opinion but I do like how the author went about this book and provided a great format for beginners who are just learning how to cast spells document their efforts. While I’ve decided to stay away from spell magic at the moment, I do respect the amount of effort that went in here and the way this could be used.

This book was totally cool. The beginning is an intro to crystals and herbs and stones and candle colors all the things that you need to know at the beginning to get started. Then after that it starts dividing into different spell areas and magic. It gives you different spells to do and space to write about it and your intentions. Since I had an ebook I wrote down everything in my own journal. I really learned alot and found myself going back and re reading and trying different parts

What a beautiful, atmospheric book. I know almost nothing about witchcraft, but have been intrigued by it for along time so decided to start to look at some books. This seems a very gentle introduction with easy to follow spells for everyday needs. There are sections to help you assess how successful or not the spells are by journaling your results and how you felt about them. The artwork is very mystical and attractive. It is certainly a book I would consider purchasing and it has encouraged me to explore further.

This was a gorgeous "journal" for a beginner witch. It gives enough information to get you started, but leaves you room to make it your own. I would love to have this in print, so that I could actually write in it, rather than reading it as an ebook.

3.5 stars - A lovely little journal, with thoughtful writing prompts following different spell and ritual ideas. I do wish it had more pages available for tracking your own spells, thoughts and ideas.

Well this book surprised me, but I'm not sure in what way. I have read Anastasias Witchcraft: A Handbook of Magic, Spells and Potions, which I quite enjoyed. This on the other hand was more of a workbook/journal and I think one could get more out of it as a physical book rather than a ebook copy (which is what I read).

The first part of the book includes some basics on colour magick, herbs, crystals, tools, oils and moon phases. Then it moves on to the spells and journaling part where it suggests spells on healing, power, protection, prosperity, love etc.

I think someone just beginning their path might find this book more useful than I (practicioner for 10+ years). It might help try out pre-made spells before creating your own, as well as reflect upon them.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Author for providing this ARC!

I fell in love at first glance with the cover and title, and had requested this book on NetGalley faster than you can say "request". One can never read too many witchy books, right?

By now I've read my fair share of beginner books on the topic (I continue reading those because witchcraft seems an ever so expensive of a topic and I never feel like I've actually grasped the practice fully), and I can separate and judge which ones I found helpful, and which ones not so much.

Unfortunately, "The Book of Shadows" falls into the latter category. Despite the good intentions - spells with the ingredients list, explanation of the steps, as well as prompting questions as to the results - the book felt like an endless and extremely expensive shopping list.

Witchcraft books seem to fall into two categories: a) ones where the ingredients are very simple, the correspondences are explained thoroughly and encouraged, b) ones where you need to own an apothecary of the rare and macabre. Okay, minus the macabre.

I just felt extremely overwhelmed by the amount of herbs, flowers, crystals and oils that are required for each and every spell. To quote p. 45 (Antidepression spell): glass jar; coarse sea salt; eggshells from three eggs; orange zest from half an orange; 7 drops orange essential oil; rose petals from three roses; 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary; 3 drops rosemary essential oil.

Another spell calls for at least 3-4 different crystals, a third - for a handful of ivy.

That's not only a lot of ingredients, but a lot of money, too. I would still like to believe that the craft is not a way for new-agey entrepreneurs to sell herbs and crystals for exorbitant prices, but hey...

And also from that perspective, spell after spell, smudging is necessary/recommended, which is just another topic of profiting from things that should not be profitted from. Smudging is a very controversial ritual, which is not attributed, especially when it comes to white sage, to non-Native people, and appropriating it from the Native Americans has done it no service - the trendy Instagram smudging has caused overharvesting of white sage, which makes it unavailable for the Native Americans who not only use it for rituals and prayers, but also for medicinal purposes. What's more, smudging is used to clear bad energy, but in the belief of the Native Americans, the process of buying sage, in itself, is loaded with negative energy, passed down from the hands which harvested the sage through all the people who handled it until it was delivered to your doorstep.

This book was underwhelming, to say the least. I was hoping something more profound, everything in that book can be found in a quick google search. It’s not even good for beginners, because it doesn’t stop to give guidelines and general notions. I don’t know what the pretended audience for this is.
The edition was horrible to read in my big-screen cellphone, hope the physical edition works better. Literal headache.
Also, please don’t recommend the use of palo santo.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

a quirky book that has a load of information for budding witches and people who want to have a go at spells and incantations

quite a lot of information in this short book well worth a read and a go at some of the spells

This book is meant to be used. It has spaces for writing your results in it as well as a color code to separate different spells. I liked the simplicity and organization of the material and the way in which the problem or the need is described as well as how to go about fixing it. My favorite exercise was the free from the past spell. It was simple and used things that I could find. This book is a great addition to any magical persons library or those who find positive change doable . Well written and illustrated accordingly. Fun and positive this book is great!

I am always hesitant when reviewing a book of shadows, holding my breath for the inevitable darker side, even if only a single spell or section. However this book is so full of positivity and lightness that I am thrilled to share this with new practitioners. From a love spell that guides you to think of the qualities you want rather than a single person, to easing anxiety and depression, this makes my heart sing. It has a great set of basics and simple to follow spells to get anyone started along their journey.

*Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for my free advanced ecopy, this review is honest and separate from their generosity*

A workbook for intermediate practitioners, or brave newcomers wanting to jump in feet first.

This book is a compound collection of spells, with space to write next to them your own results from practicing them and really experience your own Book of Shadows if you hadn't already started one. There are spells spanning many separate results, from healing and harmony, to power, to protection, luck and prosperity and even love spells.

It seems to have a comprehensive overview of the best spells for newcomers or more practiced witches.

The reason for my low rating is I felt it handled some ethical issues poorly. The author seems to be unaware that not making a clear distinction between smoke cleansing and smudging, there is a high possibility newcomers may not realise smudging is actual an ancient *closed* practice in some Native American tribal practices, which has been hotly debated to the ethics of the spiritual community. To make it more uncomfortable, both Palo Santo and White Sage are suggested for use, and whilst it is noted White Sage is sacred to some Native American practices and also endangered due to over harvesting, there is no warning for Palo Santo which's environment where it's trees grow are also critically endangered. In this day and age it's simply imperative that we make people aware of the environmental impacts of our consumption as well as the ethical ones.

I absolutely love that this has sections to journal in - the graphics are amazing. The spells are easy to follow and aren't overly complicated. I will be purchasing this for myself!