As I was planning this month’s selection of articles, I felt a tug and nudge toward writing about something that’s been on my mind a lot lately as I start my annual year-in-review and next year’s planning process. This time of year is often very fertile ground for my creativity, and this season I’ve been birthing a whole lot of it!

In thinking about how I want to talk about word witches and word witchery, it seemed silly for me not to mention perhaps the greatest form of word witchery that I’ve been exposed to.

The Grimoire.

A grimoire can be described as a lot of things, but the most common and widely used description is:

: a book of magic spells and invocations

But I think it’s so much more than that.

For many women, their grimoire was a sacred piece of text that held not only their “tips and tricks” to life but the secrets that had been passed down to them over the years. For some women, it was a “how-to” for certain customs and traditions. For others, it was information that connected them to their ancestors and elders… often the only remaining connection left.

But no matter what use the grimoire played in the lives of the women who wrote them, the common denominator was its sacredness.

Some witches call it their book of shadows, others called it their witch bible, but a large portion prefers to call it by its original term: the grimoire.

I have spent the last two years building my own grimoire from the apprenticing and studies I’ve been a part of. It’s shaping up to be a massively important book in my life.

However…

I have been craving the creation of a very specific kind of grimoire. A book that could hold all the magic, secrets, experiences, teachings, and observations of how to embody life as a word witch.

And as is the case with almost everything I create — I couldn’t find one. So I created it myself.

My Word Witch Grimoire Experience

What I’ve learned (and am still learning) is how powerful of a resource my word witch grimoire has been for me. I find myself using it for all my word witchery needs and more. It’s become a bit of a “bible” for me.

I’m using the Forever Digital Book of Shadows & Mirrors, Digital Grimoire by WildWitchCreativeCo as a base for my Word Witch Grimoire.

What’s unique about a word witch grimoire (and how I use it and teach about it) is that it encompasses all that makes up a writing life. And as we know — there’s more to our writing lives than just writing. So much of our writing is reflective of other parts of our lives. Our mental states, our triumphs, our failures, etc.

So this book is not just a personal “how-to” writing manual; it’s a way to mine and excavate deep insights that are connected to our writing. Perhaps things we would have never connected otherwise. Used in combination with journaling, some serious insights can come to the surface to help you make decisions or come to conclusions.

Here’s an excerpt from my word witch grimoire on some connected patterns I’ve noticed in my writing life and my journaling:

It also serves as a touchpoint for coming home to ourselves in times of need. As one of my word witch role models, Danielle Dulsky, says,

“In times of unfathomable uncertainty, it serves us to find guiding myths, story lenses to look through and grant us a thankful foothold as the haunted underground rivers rise.¹”

My word witch grimoire contains several myths and lore that keep me grounded and tethered to my reality. And then, there are the stories that prompt deep introspection and excavation. Regardless of how I’m feeling at any given moment, I know I can turn to my word witch grimoire to find a story for that moment.

Here’s an excerpt from my word witch grimoire on a piece of lore that has become a guiding myth for me in life and in writing:

The word witch grimoire is also the place to ask the unanswerable questions you seek to know. These questions remain in place after everything else has burned down and been answered. And they are unanswerable for a reason. It is not within the answer that you find meaning… rather the work of trying to find the answer. In my experience, these unanswerable questions linger in my mind all the time. Once in a while, I’ll get a little nudge of thought and add it to my grimoire. I repeat this process over and over again. I have filled several pages’ worth of thoughts on an unanswerable question just to get no answer. But that’s not the point, not really. Where the medicine and the magic speaks is within the thoughts themselves.

Here’s an excerpt from my word witch grimoire on an unanswerable question I’ve been working through for months:

One of my favorite and most tangible ways to use my word witch grimoire is in what witches call “correspondences,” which is a fancy word for connections. Most people already do this without realizing it’s a “witch thing.” Take, for example, a sun sign. In my word witch grimoire, under “correspondences,” I have my sun sign listed (Taurus, representing) and what that means for me personally and writing-wise.

Here’s an excerpt from my grimoire on my sun sign:

There is so much more to the word witch grimoire than I can explain in this article, but I hope this introduction intrigued you. It will form the basis of my offerings next year, so if you’re interested in learning more about word witchery, being a word witch, and how to build a word witch grimoire — sign up here: subscribepage.io/word-witch-grimoire

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¹ Dulsky, Danielle. The Holy Wild Grimoire (p. 3). New World Library. Kindle Edition.