​If you are a practicing witch chances are good you have at least heard of a book of shadows and a grimoire; you may even have one or both yourself. There are countless books on witchcraft available that reference one or both of them, sometimes using them interchangeably. However, they are not actually the same thing.
A grimoire contains the knowledge you have gained as a witch. This can include spells, recipes, rituals, general knowledge, and so on. Kind of like a personal reference book or manual. This could be information handed down from other witches, read in reference books/papers, or found through other sources. A grimoire may be passed down, shared with others, or kept to oneself; it is up to the individual. It is simply knowledge.
A book of Shadows is much more personal. While it may contain some of these things, it is more of a record of a witch’s personal journey in his or her craft. The spells, rituals, recipes, etc.. that it contains would be ones that have been tried, pertinent information like moon phase, season, timing, and other such things recorded, and the results documented. It may include personal notes or changes to make improvements or things to try next time. This personal  record is not generally shared with others, unless it is one created by a coven for group use.
Either of these books can be made as personal as the creator/user would like. They can be nicely decorated books or plain for easy concealment, handwritten or typed, totally organized or organized chaos, whatever works for the witch in question. Not every witch will have one or both of these books. With easy access to so many books on witchcraft, one could have a whole library of resources that replace a grimoire (I may be guilty of this lol). Not every one likes to record every spell or ritual they do; some people are just not into writing anything down at all. While it would be helpful to remember what you did, when, and how it turned out, it is not necessary, and certainly doesn’t make you any less of a witch if you don’t. Both can be helpful, but neither are necessary to be a practicing witch.
So, do you have either or both of these? Do like to record, or just do? Do you have a grimoire, or more of a personal library?

Sigil magic is one of my favourite kinds of magic to use. There are two main trains of thought on sigil creation that I would like to talk about here.
The first way, the way I use most, involves coming up with a short sentence that outlines what you are trying to accomplish or manifest. This sentence should be a complete thought, expressed in as few words as possible, and be in a positive frame. So, if you were in a financial bind you would use something like “I attract money” rather than “I am not poor”, or if you were being bullied you could say “I am protected” rather than “My bully can’t harm me”. This positive phrasing goes for any manifesting really. The universe does not see the negative (words like not, doesn’t, or won’t), and so you would likely end up attracting what you didn’t want in the first place by using that type of phrasing. Next you would write that sentence down and cross out all the duplicate letters (leaving the first instance of it). So in the case of “I am protected” you would be left with the letters *I a m p r o t e c d*. Next you would take these letters and combine them together into one symbol. It does not matter if the letters are sideways, upside down, and once you have created that symbol you can leave it as is (as I do), or add some embellishments to make it look more “magical”. Whatever works for you. It might look something like this:

​The second way is to combine symbols that correspond to the message you are trying to convey. You could look up symbols and their meanings in various books like The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols by Adele Nozedar, but using ones that have special meaning to you is a better way to go to make your sigil more personal. To do this, you would make a list of all the concepts you need for your sigil like love, family, home, money, protection, man/woman etc.. and combining those symbols rather than letters. It would definitely be a good idea to write these symbols and what they mean to you in a journal or your grimoire for quick and easy reference in the future. It would also not be a bad idea to write down the sigil you created and its purpose somewhere as well, so that you can use it again if need be, and to keep track of what worked for you and what didn’t. If you want to learn more about this type of sigil magic I recommend Sigil Witchery by Laura Tempest Zakroff.
Now that you have created your sigil, you need to do something with it. You could write it onto paper, paint or etch it onto a crystal, burn or etch it into wood, paint it on your (or someone else’s) body, or anything else you can imagine that will help your spell work or manifestation. When you are ready to activate your sigil, you will then ground and center yourself, raise your energy however you normally do this (connecting your crown chakra to the universe, visualizing a white or coloured light stemming from your power center, connecting to the earth through your root chakra, etc.. whatever works for you) and you will bring this energy/power to your hands so that you can use it to trace out the sigil. If you used the first sigil making method you would trace out the letters in the sigil in the order they appear in the sentence, saying the sentence word by word as you do. This sets your intent. If you chose the second method you could trace out each symbol in the order they are needed for your intent to be laid out. So if you are a woman and your intent was to attract love and you chose symbols to represent a man, a woman, a heart and something for attraction, then you could trace them in the order of woman (representing you), the symbol for attraction, the symbol for man, and then the heart, while stating “I, (your name), attract a man to love, who will love me”. The same could be used for same sex attraction. I do recommend, however, that if you intend to do any kind of love spells, that you ask only to attract love to you, and not a specific person. Not only would this interfere with free will, it could backfire on you badly, and the universe may have a better plan, you never know. Always ask for these and other things “for your highest good, and to harm none”, unless you are cursing someone, but that is a whole different story.  
So, have you used sigil magic before? Which method did you use? Which one do you prefer? After reading this, would you try sigil magic (if you haven’t before)?

​Animism is a popular concept in metaphysical circles; however, this is not the only subject it holds meaning for.
In psychology, part of Jean Piaget’s cognitive behaviour theory attributes animism to the way children (usually ages 2 through 7) project life like qualities to inanimate objects. So, for example, how they may feel their toys are alive and have their own thoughts and feelings, or how an object may not “like” them if they fall or stub their toe. Carl Jung also used the term animism; however, he used it to describe the dual archetypal images of the feminine and masculine aspects of our subconscious. He described the anima as the female aspect of a man’s subconscious which he attributed to qualities like empathy, emotion, and sensitivity. The opposite of this, then, was the animus, which he described as the masculine aspect of a woman’s subconscious which displayed qualities like intellect, exploration, and activity. It is important to note that every person has both feminine and masculine aspects. The quality we most often display can depend on each person, to varying degrees, and for various reasons. We express these aspects through our hobbies/talents/interests, and we can use them to gain new perspectives and knowledge about ourselves, our environments, and other people. He proposed that each person needed to develop and express both of these aspects in order to continue to “grow” as a person.
Spiritually speaking, animism suggests that everything, whether it is an animal, a plant, a place, or an object, has a “soul” or spiritual essence. If you practice any kind of pagan or earth-based practice, then this is kind of a given. We tend to treat all living things with respect, recognizing them as conscious sentient beings. We may also recognize the spirit of place (genius loci), the spirit of plants (particularly when we are growing them, or harvesting from them), and that everything has its own vibrational frequency, which could be considered its “spirit”. Which is why we talk to our animals and plants, leave offerings/gifts when we take from nature, and keep totems/figures of animals we wish to connect with/learn from, and voice our needs and desires to the gods/goddesses and the universe itself, because yes, it also has consciousness.
Psychology and spirituality are both topics I read/research regularly and in depth. Though I am aware of the concept of animism from both points of view, and have been for a long time, I always sort of took it for granted as “the norm”. I talked to animals and plants as child just as much I did my favourite toys. It never occurred to me that they didn’t answer back/communicate with me in some way. I still talk to animals and my plants. Did you do this as a child? Do you still do it? Did you know that that was what it was called? Do you come across this term/concept in your reading often?

​While not specifically metaphysical terms, the words microcosm and macrocosm are often used in metaphysical books and conversations. While some texts helpfully explain what these concepts are, not all are so accommodating; possibly leaving the reader (or conversation partner) a little confused or without context. What may sound like a couple of five-dollar words, are actually fairly simple concepts. A microcosm is simply  a smaller part of something that has the same qualities/features as the larger whole, which is the macrocosm. They are the same, separately and together. So, for example, a country can hold specific laws, values, history, cultural beliefs/standards, etc..(representing the macrocosm), and each town would still hold those same qualities, but in smaller form (a town, not the whole country). On a larger scale, the universe is made of many particles, substances, and energies, which are also contained in our galaxy (one small portion of the universe as a whole). We can even say that our solar system contains those same particles, substances, and energies, which makes it a microcosm of our galaxy, or the universe itself. As you can see, pretty much anything can be listed as a microcosm, as long there is something with the same feature/qualities larger than it that is the macrocosm.
In metaphysical books, these terms are usually used to describe the universe and man (as they say, we are all made of star stuff). Also, as I see it, as the human race we are one collective, all connected (whether we choose to believe so or not), made up of the same basic parts. As individuals, we are still part of that collective, but with our own thoughts, feelings, and experiences. The individual within the crowd, the microcosm within the macrocosm. Sometimes it is also used to describe our relation to the divine. As spiritual beings we all hold the divine within us.
Before today, had you heard these terms before? Did you have a good understanding of what they meant? If not, was this helpful? (I hope so!).