What if you could have a living book that held all of your most precious spells and secrets? Well, you can! The witch’s grimoire isn’t just any old book made of paper and words, it’s a living, breathing entity. A friend to the witch. A familiar spirit. In this magical episode, we scour the pages of history in search of the most powerful grimoires, learn the importance of magical record keeping, and how to craft our own enchanted tome. So grab your cuppa, your pen and paper, and settle in.

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You are listening to the Otherworldly Oracle Official

2

Podcast, A Burning Hallows production.

3

We are your other worldly hosts,

ALO, rain, and Kitty Fields.

4

If you like what you're hearing,

hit the subscribe button for

5

notifications of future weekly episodes.

6

Head on over to patreon.com/burning

hallows to grab your exclusive

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book of shadows pages.

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To go along with each episode,

pay a visit to the other worldly

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market@otherworldlyoracle.com to order

your custom couture gir and stop by

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my website for tarot and numerology

readings, as well as custom candles.

11

And now onto the show.

12

Kitty Fields: What if you could have

a living book that held all of your

13

most precious spells and secrets?

14

Well, you can the witch's grimoire isn't

just any old book made of paper and words.

15

It's a living breathing entity,

a friend to the witch, a familiar

16

spirit in this magical episode.

17

In this magical episode, we scour

the pages of history in search of the

18

most powerful grimoires, learn the

importance of magical record keeping and

19

how to craft your own enchanted tome.

20

So grab your cuppa, your

pen and paper and settle in.

21

This is the end of the video.

22

Please like, comment,

share, and subscribe.

23

Kitty Fields: All right.

24

What's up?

25

What's up?

26

So I had a problem with the zoom

thumbnail being where I needed

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to scroll down on the script.

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Oh, nice.

29

That's always good.

30

Mercury retrograde.

31

Anyway.

32

It's almost over.

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Or just user error on my part.

34

Well,

35

Allorah Rayne: I say almost over.

36

Aren't we like, halfway through?

37

Halfway, yeah.

38

Yeah,

39

Kitty Fields: just about, yeah.

40

A little over, maybe.

41

I don't know.

42

Halfway.

43

Yeah, we'll go with that.

44

Allorah Rayne: Okay, so did you

keep a journal or a diary as a kid?

45

Yeah.

46

Yeah.

47

How about you?

48

Oh, yeah.

49

Kitty Fields: I'm a child of divorce.

50

Yes.

51

Yes, I did.

52

Exactly.

53

I still have one of my composition poetry

books from high school and it is very emo.

54

Allorah Rayne: Hmm.

55

So did you always, did you always

write in composition books or

56

did you have other diaries?

57

Yeah,

58

Kitty Fields: I think I had like a

fancy diary one time with a lock.

59

And then do you remember there was

like an electronic diary at one point?

60

Oh yeah.

61

And that was like all the rage.

62

I don't think I had one,

but I was one of one.

63

Allorah Rayne: Go ahead.

64

Oh no.

65

I was just going to say, yeah, like that

was the pinnacle of diaries, but I never,

66

I always just wrote in composition books.

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Kitty Fields: Yeah.

68

Same here.

69

I had a lot of those.

70

Oh yeah.

71

A lot.

72

They were cheap.

73

Allorah Rayne: Yeah.

74

Yeah.

75

For sure.

76

Right on.

77

So our obsession started early.

78

Kitty Fields: Oh yeah, definitely.

79

I love, I've always loved

writing just in general.

80

So the obsession started at a young age.

81

Oh, when I was in third grade, I

won an award for writing a story.

82

Shut up.

83

I swear.

84

No, because.

85

Allorah Rayne: So did I.

86

Kitty Fields: Same grade.

87

Well, tell me if your story was like

mine and that would be really weird.

88

So the story was that we were forced to

go to a boarding school where we had to

89

dress up like clowns and eat cold oatmeal.

90

Allorah Rayne: Oh, no.

91

I would have never written a story about

clowns unless it was a horror story.

92

True.

93

No, I had to write a fable.

94

That's all I remember about it.

95

Oh, okay.

96

I had to write a fable and I, and it was

about it was about a dad and three sons.

97

I remember that, but I don't remember the

details of the story, but I do remember

98

that it was made into a little book

and it was laminated and everything.

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And then they had like a

parent night or whatever, where

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they put them all on display.

101

And mine was like first place.

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And I was like, Oh, that's awesome.

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That's adorable.

104

That's so funny though.

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Third grade.

106

I was actually telling my husband

last night that third, like

107

third grade was pretty much

when I really got into reading.

108

Same here.

109

Like I had been reading since the

age of four, but like third grade

110

was when I started chapter books.

111

I was going to say

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Kitty Fields: I was

reading like whole series.

113

Yeah, exactly.

114

Allorah Rayne: Yeah.

115

And now I think, and now like

kids coming up now, I just.

116

It amazes me that, you know, third

grade, they're still reading Dr.

117

Seuss.

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Kitty Fields: Well, I think that

depends on the kid, but I, I hear you.

119

Yeah.

120

Allorah Rayne: You, I mean, like

the whole, like, The vast majority.

121

Yeah.

122

Like

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Kitty Fields: I

124

Allorah Rayne: was reading James and

the Giant Peach and Charlotte's Web

125

Kitty Fields: Chronicles

of Narnia in third grade.

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Allorah Rayne: Yeah.

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Kitty Fields: Yep.

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All right.

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So magical books.

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Yes.

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Books are magical.

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They are.

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And everyone should keep

their own magical book.

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AKA the grimoire, AKA book of shadows.

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Right,

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Allorah Rayne: right.

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Kitty Fields: So,

138

Allorah Rayne: okay.

139

So let's talk about the

history of grimoires.

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So what exactly is a grimoire for

everybody listening who may not know?

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And how does it differ

from a book of shadows?

142

Yeah.

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Kitty Fields: So there's a couple of

different schools of thought on that.

144

But basically a grimoire is a book

of magic put simply and can truly

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contain anything you want it to.

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The term is actually close in origin

or etymology of the word grammar.

147

So it actually originally once

meant a book, but became used

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specifically when it comes to you

know, magic books or books of magic.

149

Right.

150

Right.

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Allorah Rayne: Right.

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Kitty Fields: As far as the difference

between a book of shadows and

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a gir, often the terms are used

interchangeably depending on the

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person and the tradition, I think.

155

But the real difference is that

the Book of Shadows term was

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invented or, and or made popular

by Gerald Gardner, the founder of

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Wicca in the early 20th century.

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The book of shadows basically means

keeping your spells and recipes

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and things hidden from others.

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So hidden in the shadows.

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But to me, my personal opinion is

that you can call it what you want.

162

You could also call it your magic

book, your book of magic, your

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spell book, your book of spells.

164

I mean, I don't really think for me,

the terminology doesn't really matter.

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Allorah Rayne: Right.

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Yeah.

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It doesn't matter for me either.

168

I think

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Kitty Fields: people would disagree

with that, but that's okay.

170

Allorah Rayne: I think.

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Just because I like

the way that it sounds.

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I prefer grimoire.

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Kitty Fields: Yeah.

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Allorah Rayne: But that's just me.

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Kitty Fields: A hundred percent.

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Allorah Rayne: It just

sounds more magical.

177

Magical, yeah, exactly.

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Exactly.

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Okay, so let's talk about what the first

grimoires would have looked like because

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Just hot take it wasn't pen and paper.

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Kitty Fields: No, no, no, no.

182

So people have been writing or basically

etching and other materials for

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numerous reasons for thousands of years.

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One was to preserve a memory or

knowledge and stories of their people.

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Taken up like real far back.

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Another was for ritual purposes.

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So they would record prayers

incantations to gods and spirits.

188

They would also record medicinal,

what were actually magical

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medicinal remedies as well.

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Basically though, before paper and pen,

they were using things like stone slabs.

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Or stone tablets.

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And like I said, they were, they

would etch or carve into the stone.

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That's basically what we know of

the first earliest written magic.

194

Allorah Rayne: I need

to interrupt you here.

195

So in saying this, and this might ruffle

some feathers to people who have stumbled

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upon this podcast, who are not taken, but

now that you're saying stone slabs, wasn't

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Ten commandments on a stone slab to saying

yeah Like I have always said the Bible

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is a great book of magic Yes, like if you

can look past Dogma Psalms, it's fabulous.

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Kitty Fields: Yes.

200

Okay.

201

Can you read that you bring this up?

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Cuz I just started reading

the New Testament again for

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my own personal education.

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Allorah Rayne: That's so funny.

205

Kitty Fields: Yeah.

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Yeah.

207

I agree with you though.

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A hundred percent, but there's

so many of the books that were

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left out of the Bible too.

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Allorah Rayne: Oh yes.

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I know.

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Growing up Catholic, we had

seven extra books in the

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Kitty Fields: Bible.

214

So,

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Allorah Rayne: but anyway, in

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Kitty Fields: addition to that, there's

all the Gnostic gospels that were

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purposely left out of the new Testament.

218

Allorah Rayne: Like

219

Kitty Fields: the gospel of Mary, the

gospel of Thomas, I forget the other ones.

220

There's a bunch.

221

Allorah Rayne: Like I said.

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It's an excellent book of magic

if you know where to look.

223

Agreed.

224

Okay, continue.

225

100%.

226

That's my, that's my little

two cents for the day.

227

Kitty Fields: No, I agree with you.

228

So, and, and, and saying that, if I

haven't said this already, the grimoire or

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even the, the tradition of magic does not

discriminate when it comes to religion.

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Right.

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Exactly.

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I mean, it's every religion.

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It's a part of every culture, right?

234

So the war itself is not

one religion or another.

235

It could be anything.

236

Allorah Rayne: Oh yeah, definitely.

237

I mean, the Torah there's been, there's

a long history of Jewish mysticism.

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So yeah, there's magic in every religion.

239

Kitty Fields: So as far as the

earliest written magic that we know

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of Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets.

241

So on these tablets, we know

there, because of these tablets,

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we know that there were physician

magicians thousands upon thousands

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of years ago, and also exorcists.

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They actually wrote rituals on these clay

tablets that consisted of protection from

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ghosts and demons, and also from people

that might be casting malefic magic.

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At the time.

247

Right.

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What we would call which is many

thousands of years later on.

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Right.

250

So that's all very interesting.

251

Allorah Rayne: Well, I mean, and

the history of medicine as well

252

was very magical for a long time.

253

Right.

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Like even up until.

255

The early modern era, I'd say they

were still believing in humors,

256

Kitty Fields: right?

257

And every, everything, well, not

everything, but a lot of people

258

believe that spirits caused disease.

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Right.

260

Right.

261

Allorah Rayne: Right.

262

Which is a whole nother subject

on that, but just saying like,

263

this has a very long history.

264

Kitty Fields: Yeah.

265

Agreed.

266

Medicine was intertwined with magic.

267

Allorah Rayne: Oh yeah.

268

Kitty Fields: And to some

extent it still is today.

269

I was going to say that you beat me to it.

270

That's

271

Allorah Rayne: so funny.

272

Kitty Fields: Ah, okay.

273

So another part to the

history of grimoires.

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There's a book called the art

of the grimoire by Owen Davies,

275

and it's actually, I believe

edited or published by Yale.

276

I can't remember which, but it's

a beautiful book that I picked

277

up that shows all of these

different examples of ancient art.

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Magical texts and tablets.

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And there's actually like what

you were talking about, the Jewish

280

mystic like pottery where they're

drawing like spirits on and things.

281

It's really interesting if anyone's into

this topic, I recommend that book, but

282

also a big part of this is curse tablets.

283

So these were where people wrote or, you

know, etched on slabs of lead and they

284

were super popular during Roman times.

285

They're called the defictionists.

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They were thinner sheets that were

easier to transport and work with

287

than, you know, the heavy stone

tablets of the Sumerian times, I guess.

288

So at this point we see like

kind of an evolution with, with

289

writing starting to happen.

290

Allorah Rayne: I'm just laughing

because I'm thinking to myself.

291

This would be the equivalent

of an ancient Kindle easily

292

portable to fit in your pocket.

293

Kitty Fields: Right.

294

What gets me about these curse tablets

though, is that it still took a lot of

295

effort to, to write, you know, to etch

out these curses on these, these tablets.

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Slabs.

297

Right.

298

So I'm like, wow, you really had

to hate somebody to be right.

299

Not taking the time to etch

all this out onto lead.

300

You know?

301

Allorah Rayne: Yeah.

302

You had to be dedicated.

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Kitty Fields: Really dedicated.

304

And then so they're often inscribed

with curses that were against

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thieves and other people, like other

enemies of whoever was writing them.

306

And then they were thrown into Roman

baths, or they could also be buried in.

307

In tombs or, or in grave sites.

308

Yeah.

309

So the idea there was the ones that were

thrown into the Roman baths, they were

310

likely sort of thrown in there as a prayer

to whatever God or goddess, you know,

311

whoever's domain that was at that specific

bath house or, you know, thermal spring.

312

And as far as like burying it at a grave

site or a tomb, they were trying to,

313

Either summon someone from the underworld

to carry out this curse or you know,

314

or like symbolically putting it into

the other world, if that makes sense.

315

Allorah Rayne: I was just going

to ask these baths, if, if it was

316

like a natural, yes, bring, yes,

317

Kitty Fields: literally called bat.

318

It's called the town's

called bath England.

319

And it's, it was.

320

Name that for a natural

spring that was there.

321

And they actually found some of

these curse tablets in that Roman

322

bath house that had been there.

323

Allorah Rayne: Okay.

324

I was just curious because I was

thinking to myself, I wonder if.

325

They had sulfur in them

and if it ate the thin

326

Kitty Fields: iron sheet,

Oh, I don't know about that.

327

I'm not sure.

328

I know that they believe that they had,

you know, these springs or whatever, had a

329

lot of healing abilities and interesting.

330

Allorah Rayne: Okay.

331

And then,

332

Kitty Fields: yeah, then we see, you

know, there's a lot of magical writing

333

and rituals drawn and painted and etched

onto things like pottery and walls of

334

tombs and temples and things like that.

335

Yeah.

336

Yeah.

337

Allorah Rayne: Which then

evolves into a form of papyrus.

338

Kitty Fields: Have you ever seen, there

was a whole documentary on discovery

339

where there's these archaeologists

in Egypt that recently found, it's

340

something called the Waziri papyrus.

341

Allorah Rayne: It's,

342

Kitty Fields: it was pretty awesome

because in the documentary, they,

343

they show the archeology, excuse me,

the lead archeologist and his team

344

descending into this passageway that

they'd found in the Valley of the Kings.

345

I had to remember the name of

it and they find like a tube and

346

they're like, is this papyrus?

347

And they all like freak

out because it's papyrus.

348

It's pretty hard to come by to find a

perfectly preserved papyrus roll, right?

349

That's thousands of years old, right?

350

So anyway, this, I also recommend people

look this up because it's pretty cool.

351

It is one of the longest and most

important works from the Ptolemaic

352

period of Egypt and contains hundreds

of chapters of the book of the dead.

353

Allorah Rayne: Oh, Oh, Huh.

354

Kitty Fields: Yeah, it's like 30

or 50 feet long or something crazy.

355

I

356

Allorah Rayne: just

357

Kitty Fields: got

358

Allorah Rayne: chills.

359

Kitty Fields: I know.

360

It was pretty awesome when they found it.

361

Like even my son was like, that's so cool.

362

Allorah Rayne: I can

363

Kitty Fields: see him.

364

Oh yeah.

365

Oh yeah.

366

So, yeah, so then after the papyrus, at

some point, I think people started using,

367

we, we came up with parchment and then

the parchment eventually led to paper.

368

I should do.

369

Yeah.

370

I mean, not that quickly,

you know, but over centuries,

371

Allorah Rayne: yeah.

372

Cause then when we get in the

medieval era, we start seeing

373

illuminated manuscripts.

374

Oh, I was just going to

say the construction of

375

illuminated manuscripts

was like years long.

376

Kitty Fields: Oh, some people, some

of the monks that, that created

377

them worked on them for a lifetime.

378

Which is pretty awesome when you think

about if you have your own grimoire,

379

it is something that you should work

on and use your whole, your whole life.

380

Allorah Rayne: Yes.

381

You

382

Kitty Fields: know, I mean, I have

a bunch of little ones that are just

383

journals and things, but if you have

a main massive Supreme grimoire,

384

that is something that you could

add to and work on your entire life.

385

Allorah Rayne: And what, so look for

anybody listening who may not know

386

what an illuminated manuscript is.

387

It's basically a book with hand

drawn colored illustrations, all

388

kinds and the books are really big.

389

A

390

Kitty Fields: good example

of one is the Book of Kells.

391

Which has all kinds of really

cool folklore around it.

392

And there's a movie actually

made called the secret of Kells.

393

Have you seen that?

394

I don't know.

395

Oh, please.

396

You need to see that.

397

It's so good.

398

It's a cartoon.

399

It's animated, but it's, it's just a

really cool look into that time period

400

when the book of Kells is made and.

401

You know, it's a Christian time period,

but it's also the age of the Vikings.

402

So they're, they're showing the

Vikings like raiding the monasteries

403

and it's really interesting, but it's

all about how that book was created

404

and then how they tried to protect it.

405

Allorah Rayne: Very cool.

406

Yeah.

407

So tell us about some

grimoires from medieval times.

408

Kitty Fields: So, yeah, when we

think of the grimoire, we, most of

409

us might picture the medieval style

where there's these huge books, like

410

what we're saying, beautiful cursive

letters and beautiful illustrations

411

of angels and even devils and herbs.

412

But some of the famous ones from the

medieval times include the Picatrix.

413

Allorah Rayne: That's the

one I always think of.

414

Kitty Fields: Hildegard

von Bingen, who was.

415

She's actually canonized.

416

She's a saint now, I believe, in Germany.

417

She was a nun and an abbess.

418

She wrote a couple of different

grimoires, but her most famous

419

one's called the Physica.

420

And there's also a grimoire from

Iceland called the Galdrabalk,

421

which is pretty popular among

like Norse pagans and heathens.

422

Allorah Rayne: I've heard of that one too.

423

Kitty Fields: Yeah.

424

In addition, we have the grand

Albert and the petite Albert.

425

Allorah Rayne: Why?

426

Cause I'm telling you what I'm

thinking about when I hear that.

427

And I know me too.

428

Kitty Fields: I thought that too.

429

I'm like, I got to talk about this though.

430

Cause it's funny.

431

So the The Grand Albert was a grimoire

432

and finished in the 1300s with the

433

It's attributed to Albertus Magnus,

so it's named for him, AKA St.

434

Albert the Great, who was a

friar, a scientist, a bishop, a

435

philosopher, and the list goes on.

436

Hmm.

437

Hmm.

438

The book itself is supposed to

contain Albert's secrets on the

439

powers of stones, herbs, and even

some animals as far as using them

440

for healing and magical purposes.

441

So, yeah, so I pulled this from Wikipedia.

442

Yes.

443

I'm quoting Wikipedia.

444

The book contained instructions on how

to summon the spirits, demons, and other

445

supernatural beings as well as spells

and incantations for various purposes,

446

such as healing protection and love.

447

It also recommends herbal remedies and

potions for common ailments, such as

448

the use of theory yak, a concoction

made of serpent's flesh and opium.

449

As a remedy for animal poisons.

450

I'm like, I need to read this.

451

Allorah Rayne: All I'm thinking

is, I don't think that's a remedy,

452

but it would definitely put the

person in a different world.

453

Agreed.

454

They wouldn't know what was going on.

455

Kitty Fields: For sure.

456

Yes.

457

However, the use of folk

cures and occult rituals.

458

Like the ones in the grand

Albert was actually much more

459

common with peasants at the time.

460

So those who had access to like

the mainstream medical care at

461

that time tended to avoid these

practices as they were often viewed

462

as superstitious and ineffective.

463

And there was a stigma attached to

reading grimoires like the grand Albert.

464

You weren't supposed to do that back then.

465

Well,

466

Allorah Rayne: which is

hilarious because again.

467

Magic and medicine went hand in hand,

though the mainstream medical service was

468

probably we're still talking about like

469

Kitty Fields: a guy with like a jacket

and an alley, like, hold on, I may

470

have something in the back here.

471

Allorah Rayne: But I mean,

it's just a different person

472

with different occult remedies.

473

Kitty Fields: Just what it was.

474

Absolutely.

475

So continuing on about the grand and

petite Albert, the grand Albert's

476

popularity was also partly due

to his reputation for granting

477

spiritual powers to its readers.

478

Some people actually believe that if

you read the book, it could result in

479

possession while others saw it as a

means of gaining supernatural powers.

480

Allorah Rayne: Like what?

481

Kitty Fields: Supernatural abilities.

482

I don't know.

483

I haven't read the grand

Albert, but maybe I need to.

484

I know.

485

Allorah Rayne: If it gives you

the ability to teleport, do it.

486

Kitty Fields: I find it interesting too,

yeah, that it's, it was the mainstream

487

religious authorities who were saying

that this could be potentially dangerous

488

and it was heretical and all this.

489

It's like, was it really, or

y'all just trying to hide all

490

the powers that be, you know?

491

Right?

492

We want to fly too.

493

Take it for themselves.

494

All right.

495

So the petite Albert, meaning the smaller

Albert is often, is often mentioned

496

in conjunction with the grand Albert.

497

However, they're supposedly separate works

and written by two different Alberts.

498

Allorah Rayne: Okay.

499

Then

500

Kitty Fields: I know the petite Albert

was written supposedly by Albert of

501

Saxony, who was a German philosopher

502

But apparently there was some confusion

and there still is about whether

503

Albert the great contributed to this.

504

Grimoire or not.

505

So this lesser Albert or petite

Albert contains love and sex

506

spells, tips and tricks for a

better harvest recipes for cooking.

507

Cause you know, that just,

just thrown in there.

508

I mean, like a typical grimoire nowadays

and household and hygiene products

509

and how to make a hand of glory.

510

What, wait, stop.

511

What's

512

Allorah Rayne: a hand of

513

Kitty Fields: glory.

514

Oh, you don't know what the

hand of glory is for real.

515

Ooh, we needed a whole episode on that.

516

Cause it could literally

be a whole episode.

517

So the hand of glory was a candle

made from a dead man's hand.

518

And it was used popularly, supposedly,

this is the, the history behind it by

519

thieves, because yeah, if you took it

into wherever you were about to rob,

520

it would render the victim paralyzed.

521

And I'm like, yeah, I guess, cause

I'd be, they'd be scared shitless.

522

Right.

523

Allorah Rayne: I, yeah.

524

Yeah.

525

No kidding.

526

But so I have seen that.

527

I've heard about it.

528

But I didn't know it was

called the hand of Lori.

529

Like that was new for me.

530

But also we were talking about.

531

The great Albert and the little Albert,

and then we have the hand of glory.

532

I mean, come on.

533

That's why I need to get you Albert

534

Kitty Fields: in there somewhere.

535

Okay.

536

So hand of glory though, if anybody

wants to learn more about that, we

537

have an article on which is cabinet.

538

com on the hand of glory.

539

Allorah Rayne: And I'll put it in

540

Kitty Fields: the info box too.

541

Cool.

542

Yeah.

543

So then we could also talk about the

greater and lesser keys of Solomon, but

544

we're not going to, cause I think most

people have heard of those and you can

545

find a lot of information on those online.

546

Yes.

547

And there's also the Munich manual

of demonic magic, which sounds crazy.

548

The book of Abraham Mellon, the

mage, hopefully I said that right.

549

The Emerald Tablets of Hermes

Trismegistus, and there's

550

many, many more I could list,

but we would be here all day.

551

Is that how you say

552

Allorah Rayne: that?

553

Kitty Fields: Trismegistus?

554

Allorah Rayne: Yeah.

555

Kitty Fields: Sure.

556

Allorah Rayne: I've, I've

well, yeah, I don't know.

557

I've pronounced it different, but

I have no idea how it's pronounced.

558

So I was like, Ooh, do you

know how to pronounce this?

559

Trismegistus.

560

Kitty Fields: Well, listen, what

I do with all these words is I

561

just fake it until I make it.

562

If I don't know, I try to act

like I do because, you know.

563

Okay.

564

So in more recent years, so fast

forward past the mEdieval times,

565

what old grimoires can we access?

566

I tend to say if you want to go for

more of a grandma folk Remedy recipes,

567

that kind of thing, two to three

centuries ago, you can actually find

568

cookbooks and remedy books online.

569

There's an online archive actually,

that's free here in the U S that

570

I've used for a number of things.

571

That's pretty interesting.

572

Cause you can, you can literally read

through someone's recipe book from the

573

1800s and a lot of them have old recipes.

574

Like I found one with Florida water.

575

Ooh, neat.

576

Which is pretty cool.

577

Yeah.

578

Yeah.

579

So I, I think, I mean, they're not

going to be called Grimoires, right?

580

But it just depends on how, what

you look at and view as magic too.

581

Allorah Rayne: What is

the name of that archive?

582

If you don't mind

583

Kitty Fields: sharing.

584

Allorah Rayne: Yep.

585

I'll

586

Kitty Fields: pull it up right now.

587

I have it.

588

Allorah Rayne: I have it bookmarked.

589

Kitty Fields: I do.

590

Okay.

591

It is.

592

Yep.

593

On actually nyu.

594

edu, you would look up, you can just

look up early American cookbooks.

595

nyu.

596

edu.

597

Allorah Rayne: So NYU has them.

598

Kitty Fields: Yes.

599

Gotcha.

600

Yep.

601

And it's a huge collection.

602

I mean, they have a collection.

603

Okay.

604

1, 450 cookbooks.

605

Allorah Rayne: That's a

606

Kitty Fields: lot.

607

Published in the U.

608

S.

609

between 1800 and 1920.

610

But I would actually tell you

that there are some from the.

611

Late 1700s that I've even found in there.

612

Allorah Rayne: I wonder if other

universities have something similar,

613

like in different parts of the country.

614

Kitty Fields: That'd be pretty awesome.

615

I mean, well, this is, this is

from all over the country though.

616

So you're getting from

different libraries.

617

Huh.

618

Oh,

619

Allorah Rayne: it's called,

620

Kitty Fields: okay.

621

It's called the Hathi

trust digital library.

622

I can put this in the

info box too, for folks.

623

Allorah Rayne: Yeah.

624

Cool.

625

Okay.

626

So

627

Kitty Fields: where else can we look?

628

In addition to that, you can look up

actual books of shadows written by

629

20th century Wiccans and witches like

Doreen Valiente or Gerald Gardner.

630

You can find those on

Sacred Texts for free.

631

Yeah.

632

Sacred Texts is a really cool site.

633

How many times have you and I used that?

634

I'm sure over the years.

635

A million.

636

A

637

Allorah Rayne: million at night.

638

I took a class in university

that was science, magic, and

639

religion in the medieval era.

640

And I used it every day in that class.

641

Oh, that's awesome.

642

Yeah.

643

Well, we did.

644

Oh, it was a cool class.

645

Cause we did, we role

played the trial of Galileo.

646

Oh, so we each were ascribed

a role and I was a Cardinal.

647

That's cool.

648

So you had to access.

649

Actual documents from the

trial of Galileo and, you know,

650

Bible pages and all this stuff.

651

So yeah, it was, it was really fun.

652

That is cool.

653

I like that.

654

Sounds fun.

655

Okay.

656

So the importance of record

keeping and personal traditions.

657

Kitty Fields: So in building your

own grimoire and keeping your own

658

grimoire, adding to it over the years.

659

You're.

660

Not just keeping a record

of what you've done.

661

You're actually building

your own personal tradition,

662

Allorah Rayne: right?

663

Kitty Fields: So if we don't do that,

we don't record our own, you know,

664

recipes, spells, rituals, experiences,

dreams, all those things, then

665

all of those things die with you.

666

I mean, it's sad to say, but right.

667

That's what happens.

668

So I'm kind of.

669

I'm not kind of, I'm very passionate about

telling people to write this stuff down.

670

Even if you don't have a big elaborate

grimoire, like what we've said

671

before, your composition book, right.

672

You can get those at the

dollar store, you know?

673

Right.

674

Yeah.

675

I just think it's really important.

676

And I wish more people would, would do

it and, and keep it, keep it sacred.

677

Keep it.

678

You know, be more religious

about it, I guess you could say.

679

Allorah Rayne: And you know what?

680

It's funny.

681

There's even a third term for your

personal experiences in performing magic,

682

or it's basically known as a mirror book.

683

Oh, yes.

684

Kitty Fields: I've heard that term.

685

Allorah Rayne: Yeah.

686

So if you are thinking, Oh, but that's

not really a grimoire when we're

687

talking about composition books.

688

Yes, but I mean, if you, if you,

if that's your mindset, it most

689

certainly can be a book of mirrors,

which is your personal experiences.

690

It's basically a witch's

diary, if you will.

691

Yeah.

692

Kitty Fields: I mean, I like that.

693

I think if you want to keep that

separate from your actual spells

694

and recipes, that makes sense

695

Allorah Rayne: for

696

Kitty Fields: me.

697

I kind of.

698

Allorah Rayne: Oh, no,

I put it all together.

699

Kitty Fields: I kind of just

put everything together.

700

Yeah.

701

I'm not even gonna lie to you guys.

702

I sometimes have like grocery

lists and to do lists in my,

703

in my grimoire that I'm keeping right now.

704

But I have like, I have a big one that

I'm working on for myself, but I also

705

have like a million other journals

that I use as grimoires too, for like

706

day to day record keeping, I guess.

707

Allorah Rayne: Right.

708

Yeah.

709

Kitty Fields: It's kind

of a problem though.

710

Cause I, every time I go to the bookstore

and I find a pretty journal, I buy it.

711

Don't go to Barnes and Noble.

712

Oh, that's what I mean.

713

I think I brought three home the

last time that I went there and I

714

haven't even written on them yet.

715

So I just started using them as, as

like, as like notebooks, you know,

716

I'm just writing anything that I feel

like I want to write in them, which

717

includes grocery lists and Yeah.

718

Yeah.

719

Yeah.

720

Yeah.

721

Research for podcasts and

you know, just anything.

722

I think it's kind of cool.

723

You know, like if someone ever found

my journal in the future, or my note,

724

one of these grimoires that I'm keeping

separate, they'd be like, this is odd.

725

Why is it talking about the

hand of glory on one page?

726

And then the next page, it's like,

need a jar of pickles from the store.

727

Allorah Rayne: Funny.

728

Kitty Fields: Yeah.

729

Anyway, I guess we should talk about how

to start crafting your own tome, right?

730

Allorah Rayne: Yes.

731

And before we get, before we get into

that, when we were just talking about

732

whether the grimoire should be secret

to the witch or pass down, you have

733

started hand making grimoires, right?

734

Right.

735

Which I now own one.

736

Yes.

737

Yay.

738

It's gorgeous.

739

It's fabulous.

740

Well made.

741

Well crafted.

742

You can definitely tell that it's, you

took your time and it is spectacular.

743

But I would say the grimoire

that you made for me, that is

744

something that I will pass down.

745

Like That to me is an

ancestral type grimoire.

746

Kitty Fields: Yeah.

747

Yeah.

748

That's awesome to hear you say that.

749

That's the goal with, with what I'm doing

with grimoires that I'm making, because

750

I do want it to be something that lasts

longer than hopefully than a lifetime.

751

And, you know, with the paper

books that we have nowadays,

752

They fall apart, you know,

753

Allorah Rayne: right.

754

And I will like

755

Kitty Fields: covers

756

Allorah Rayne: for anybody

out there who's interested in.

757

Purchasing one of your grimoires.

758

So Kitty here, she customizes

everything to what you want.

759

So you get to pick the fabric, you get

to pick the outside, you get to tell her

760

different things that you'd like in it.

761

And you even customize the content

based on where somebody is.

762

Yeah.

763

Yes.

764

Yeah.

765

Like you can put that in there.

766

Yeah, I can.

767

Mm-Hmm.

768

. And so, yeah, it's just

amazing and magnificent.

769

And it's also made out of wood.

770

It's not a regular book, correct?

771

It's like, yeah.

772

It's like book from Hocus pocus.

773

Okay.

774

Kitty Fields: Yes, they're alive made

of wood and either faux leather or real

775

leather, depending on what you want.

776

As well as cotton.

777

And the, the great part about it is that

you can remove and add pages as well.

778

I know it's so great.

779

So it's not as simple as a three

ring binder that you can pop open,

780

but it's still, it's still, you can

make it what you want basically.

781

Allorah Rayne: Exactly.

782

And you even do like the

custom sizing and stuff.

783

So if somebody wants ginormous

one, you can do that.

784

And if somebody wants a

smaller one, you can do that.

785

Kitty Fields: I can, I haven't

gotten to that level yet.

786

That would probably take a little more,

just some tweaking on my end, but yeah.

787

Allorah Rayne: Well, in saying

that mine's pretty freaking

788

huge, like it took two hands.

789

And some leverage to

pull it out of the box.

790

I know.

791

I know.

792

Yeah, they're not small.

793

Okay.

794

They're pretty large.

795

But if you want to craft your own

and forgo Kitty's gorgeous work.

796

Kitty Fields: Yeah.

797

So how I first started this actually

was that I have an ancient ancestor

798

that I've been working with.

799

Allorah Rayne: The only

800

Kitty Fields: one that I've ever worked

with, honestly, that came forward.

801

And she was a What they

call a spell weaver.

802

She was a scribe.

803

She would write the spells and

rituals for her coven down.

804

And so she kind of has been

pushing me to do this work.

805

And so if you want to tap into some kind

of ancestral guide or, you know, use

806

energy, then you can always ask your

ancestors, one of them to come forward

807

and help guide you through the process.

808

Cool.

809

Yeah.

810

Next though, there's different

ways to make your grimoire.

811

Obviously we said you can just use

a composition or spiral notebook.

812

I mean, that's worked for me for

many years, journals and diaries that

813

you buy from Barnes and Noble even.

814

A three ring binder with sheet protectors.

815

We've talked about those in the past.

816

Allorah Rayne: Yeah.

817

If you're a Virgo,

that's, that's your go to.

818

Kitty Fields: Yeah.

819

And those are great for like

kitchen type witchcraft too.

820

Cause with recipes you, most

people want to preserve them.

821

And if you're using them a lot in the

kitchen, the paper might get stained.

822

So something to consider there,

you can also do junk journal style.

823

And if nobody knows what that is, it's

like you're upcycling using, using junk.

824

Basically, you can use any

kind of scrap paper boxes.

825

I, I used a cake box and made it

into a little fairy spell book.

826

And all I did was like print out

some paper, you know, some pretty

827

paper, some pretty pictures.

828

From online and then I use lace

scraps to, to bind it all together.

829

Very cool.

830

It allows you to be super creative.

831

And like I said, if you, if you can't

afford much, you can literally make,

832

make these books out of anything.

833

It just takes a little bit of time

and practice and trial and error.

834

Interesting.

835

Yeah.

836

And then, you know, moving forward,

once you have your grimoire

837

made, then you think about what

content you want to put in it.

838

For me, I'm just putting

literally everything that I want

839

to in it, which could include.

840

Like I said, grocery lists.

841

No, I'm not going to put that in my main

one, but spells of rituals, your Sabbath

842

information, your full moon information.

843

Something that I think is really important

is your familial traditions for holidays,

844

your heirloom recipes, any recipes that

you got from your grandmother or your

845

mom, superstitions and old wives tales

from your families are important too.

846

Allorah Rayne: Yeah, that's

definitely the most cherished.

847

Thing I would think in a grimoire.

848

Kitty Fields: So if you still have some

old folks that are alive in your family,

849

you should be asking them those questions.

850

If you don't know your family

stories or superstitions and whatnot,

851

and then obviously info on tools,

like your best, some of your

852

cauldron, your wand, you want

to keep info on herbs, crystals.

853

If you're into tarot, any form of

divination signs and omens dreams.

854

I mean, we could go on and

on about all this, right?

855

Allorah Rayne: Oh yeah.

856

Kitty Fields: Yeah.

857

And I mean, also too, it can, you can

have all this typed and printed out.

858

You can hand write it, you can

pull things out of other books and

859

magazines, like for a junk journal

type style, and so much more.

860

They're the, the, the

options are limitless.

861

Allorah Rayne: The options are limitless.

862

The limit does not exist.

863

Hey, I do have a question about

your GRS that you're making.

864

Yeah.

865

Okay.

866

I know that you said that you're gonna

have a couple different styles in stock.

867

do you have those up?

868

No.

869

In your, in your marketplace?

870

Mm-Hmm.

871

The only one I have right

872

Kitty Fields: now is the

Practical Magic style, the

873

trifold with the two books in one.

874

Got you.

875

But the one I'm working on right now

is gonna be the second style, which

876

is just, it's, it's not, the two

books in one is just one large grima.

877

Allorah Rayne: Right.

878

Got ya.

879

But the point in saying that is if you

are not into the practical magic style

880

grimoire, keep looking on other worldly

marketplace because Kitty is going to

881

stock a couple of different styles.

882

She just hasn't gotten there yet.

883

Kitty Fields: Yeah.

884

And I'm, I'm also planning on making

a smaller, I think it's a four

885

size or maybe it's a five a five.

886

Allorah Rayne: We use a

four paper here every day.

887

So I know exactly what a four is.

888

And it's not a four.

889

I knew you were going to know.

890

Kitty Fields: I knew you were going

to know it was either a four, a five.

891

I'm like, I think it's a

four is the larger one.

892

So it's a five, a five.

893

Mm hmm.

894

And I have it's, it's actually a

leather like style that will be a

895

ring binder for those, and this will

be a little bit more affordable too.

896

Allorah Rayne: Right.

897

Cause there's actually,

898

Kitty Fields: you could hide those

easier if you're in the broom closet.

899

So look out for those too.

900

Allorah Rayne: Yeah, definitely.

901

Yeah.

902

I'm so excited about your new

adventure because it's so good.

903

They're so good.

904

Thank you.

905

You're so gorgeous and you get bookmarks

and they're so cool and just so good.

906

Pockets too.

907

And pockets.

908

Mm.

909

Yeah, definitely.

910

Yeah.

911

Very cool.

912

I try to

913

Kitty Fields: add little details that

really, to me, make it more magical.

914

Allorah Rayne: And more unique.

915

I have never seen a grimoire with pockets.

916

Me neither.

917

So.

918

Kitty Fields: So.

919

Allorah Rayne: Don't touch you apart.

920

Oracles, we need your help.

921

If you haven't had a chance yet, open your

podcast app, rate, and review our podcast.

922

Every good review helps us become more

visible to other oracles out there.

923

And don't forget, whether you're in

the land of the Fae or the land of

924

the ancestors, stay otherworldly.