The Book of Shadows, or simply "the Book", is a fictional book

Fictional book

A fictional book is a book that sometimes provides the basis of the plot of a story, a common thread in a series of books, or the works of a particular writer or canon of work. A fictional book may also be used as a mode of conceit to illustrate a story within a story.-Prominent fictional...

 of witchcraft from the TV series Charmed

Charmed

Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...

. In the beginning, the book was created by Melinda Warren and was passed down the family to the Charmed Ones. This book contains spells, incantations, potions and information of the evil beings that their ancestors have once faced. They first find out that they were witches when Phoebe finds the Book of Shadows in their attic, at midnight on a full moon, and reads an incantation aloud.
The Book of Shadows is enchanted. It can protect itself from any evil being who dares to touch it.

Outside of the television series, a Book of Shadows

Book of Shadows

A Book of Shadows is a book containing religious texts and instructions for magical rituals found within the Neopagan religion of Wicca. Originating within the Gardnerian tradition of the Craft, the first Book of Shadows was created by the pioneering Wiccan Gerald Gardner sometime in the late 1940s...

 is considered to be a collection of magical and religious texts of Wicca

Wicca

Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...

 and other Neopagan and witchcraft traditions, containing the core rituals, magical practices, ethics and philosophy of a practitioner. The Book of Shadows is a compendium of information on magical creatures/objects/forces of every variety, especially those that members of the Warren line had encountered, or believed would be useful to future generations. Within the realm of magical beings, it is considered to be the most complete book of magical information in existence.

In the television series Charmed

Charmed

Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...

, the fictional Halliwell Sisters or The Charmed Ones own a powerful and coveted Book of Shadows that has been passed down through their family line. It contains spells, potion

Potion

A potion is a consumable medicine or poison.In mythology and literature, a potion is usually made by a magician, sorcerer, dragon, fairy or witch and has magical properties. It might be used to heal, bewitch or poison people...

s, and information on evil beings their ancestors have faced. The book has been enchanted

Incantation

An incantation or enchantment is a charm or spell created using words. An incantation may take place during a ritual, either a hymn or prayer, and may invoke or praise a deity. In magic, occultism, witchcraft it may be used with the intention of casting a spell on an object or a person...

 to protect itself, causing it to move away from any evil

Evil

Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...

 being that attempts to touch it. It has a large triquetra

Triquetra

Triquetra originally meant "triangle" and was used to refer to various three-cornered shapes. Nowadays, it has come to refer exclusively to a particular more complicated shape formed of three vesicae piscis, sometimes with an added circle in or around it...

 set into its front cover, symbolizing the Power of Three.

Background

The ancestor of The Charmed Ones, Melinda Warren, began the Book of Shadows in the late 17th century. The year 1693 is inscribed on the first page of the book, below the title, presumably when the book was created. When Melinda was burned at the stake in the Salem Witch Trials, she claimed that throughout each and every future generation, every witch's power in the family would grow stronger and stronger, until the book will reach three sisters, known as The Charmed Ones, who will be "the most powerful witches the world has ever known". Her book was then passed on to her daughter, Prudence. The book was then handed down from mother to daughter until it came to the Charmed Ones in 1998.

The book has grown over the years with each witch who has possessed it, and by the late 1960s, it had about one hundred pages. It continued to grow as The Charmed Ones added more information to it. Penny Halliwell

Penny Halliwell

Penelope Halliwell is a recurring, supporting fictional character from the WB television series Charmed that acts in our world from beyond death....

 brags in the season five episode, Happily Ever After, that she created most of the good potion

Potion

A potion is a consumable medicine or poison.In mythology and literature, a potion is usually made by a magician, sorcerer, dragon, fairy or witch and has magical properties. It might be used to heal, bewitch or poison people...

 recipes in it. Patty Halliwell added text on Barbas

Barbas (Charmed)

Barbas, the Demon of Fear, is a fictional character cast as a major foe from the WB Television Network television series, Charmed...

, the Demon of Fear.

For many years, the Book has been kept in the manor's attic. Normally, all witches are supposed to keep their Book of Shadows in a specially protected altar room. However, the Book is usually able to protect itself from evil. When the sisters' powers were unbound, evil beings could touch it, but they couldn't get it out of the manor. However, by 2000, the sisters had become powerful enough that evil beings couldn't even touch it.

The Halliwell sisters have added several entries as well. The first entry added by Phoebe

Phoebe Halliwell

Phoebe Halliwell is a fictional character from the television series Charmed. One of the featured leads, Phoebe is introduced in the series as a witch and, more specifically, a Charmed One one of the most powerful witches of all time. The character was portrayed by Lori Rom in the unaired pilot,...

; a spell

Magic (paranormal)

Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...

 to banish the Woogyman. Phoebe has also added a detailed entry on Cole Turner

Cole Turner

Cole Turner is a fictional character on the WB television series Charmed, portrayed by series regular Julian McMahon between seasons three and five. McMahon returned for a guest appearance in the show's seventh season, for its 150th episode. Charmed is a series which focuses on three good witches,...

, Belthazor's human form and Prue added a spell to summon him in his demon form, as well as an animal conjuring spell. Later, at the end of the series, the sisters write about their adventures and what became of their lives.

Leo Wyatt

Leo Wyatt

Leonardo "Leo" Wyatt is a fictional character from The WB television series Charmed, portrayed by Brian Krause. A possible breakout character included in the writing initially as a love interest beginning in the seventh episode of the first season that initially set Phoebe and Piper quarreling and...

, Piper's husband, also added an entry titled "Tips for Future Whitelighters", fearing he may not live to see his sons grow up. The entry included information on whitelighter

Whitelighter

A Whitelighter is a fictional character featured on the WB television series Charmed. These beings are former human mortals who are given a second chance at life in order to serve under an angelic group known as The Elders as guardian angels for good witches and other future...

 powers and advice on using them.

In the final episode, Piper tells her granddaughter that the book will one day be hers.

Appearances

In the Charmed series, the Book of Shadows is a large green leather-bound book with an embossed red triquetra

Triquetra

Triquetra originally meant "triangle" and was used to refer to various three-cornered shapes. Nowadays, it has come to refer exclusively to a particular more complicated shape formed of three vesicae piscis, sometimes with an added circle in or around it...

 on the cover. The triquetra symbol has been known to change, usually according to some change in the sisters' powers or emotional state. The book is somewhat worn due to its three centuries of use, but it is almost completely intact, with the exception of the page on how to relinquish one's own powers, which was torn out and burnt by The Charmed Ones after they nearly lost their powers to a warlock in the season one episode Wicca Envy.

Powers, abilities and uses

• Can be used as a means of communicating with Grams
  Penny Halliwell
  Penelope Halliwell is a recurring, supporting fictional character from the WB television series Charmed that acts in our world from beyond death....
  
  , their grandmother, and other ancestors.
• Identifies and protects itself from evil in the form of a magical barrier.
• Can keep itself within the Manor, unless otherwise removed by one of The Charmed Ones or their family.
• Can have its spells reversed if they are read backwards.
• Cannot be photocopied.

Due to its link with the Halliwells:

• It can lose its entire content if all the Halliwells' powers are stripped.
• Its spells will become their evil counterparts if the sisters turn evil.
• If the sisters are under emotional distress, its power to protect itself from evil is diminished.

The Grimoire

The Book of Shadows also has an evil counterpart known as the Grimoire

Grimoire

A grimoire is a textbook of magic. Such books typically include instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms and divination and also how to summon or invoke supernatural entities such as angels, spirits, and demons...

. The Grimoire is a large brown book with an unknown demonic symbol of an upside down pentagram and skull on the cover. The pages of the Grimoire are said to be blackened by its evil. Much like the Book of Shadows, the Grimoire possesses the power to protect itself from its enemies or anything good.

Its spells and incantations are written in Latin. It makes only a few appearances and is later orbed under a mountain of rock in the West Andes by Leo

Leo Wyatt

Leonardo "Leo" Wyatt is a fictional character from The WB television series Charmed, portrayed by Brian Krause. A possible breakout character included in the writing initially as a love interest beginning in the seventh episode of the first season that initially set Phoebe and Piper quarreling and...

 to prevent the coronation of another Source.

Bianca, and her family of assassin witches possess a grimoire which contains their family's spells, although this is simply a grimoire and not the Grimoire. The book had a symbol of two snakes intertwined with each other added to its cover for the episode. The book was sold on eBay in late 2007 and reached a final bid of $405.00.

In the episode Bride and Gloom The Charmed Ones' Book of Shadows began to change itself into a grimoire when the girls were turned into warlocks under the influence of evil magic. For instance, good spells were replaced with evil spells.

Gypsy books

In the series, Gypsies and witches are sister traditions. Though never specifically stated to be so, Gypsy families also have their own versions of the Book of Shadows that is passed down to immediate family members. This was shown in the season five episode, The Eyes Have It, where the Gypsy Eva finds her family spell book previously owned by her mother after her death. Like the traditional Book of Shadows, Gypsies' books contain spells and magical recipes.

Critical reception

Pagan author Raymond Buckland said in his 2002 book, "The Witch Book", that the Charmed Book of Shadows gave the show an air of authenticity and showed that the producers of the show seemed to at least know a little of what they were talking about when depicting Wicca

Wicca

Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...

n practices.
Judika Illes

Judika Illes

Judika Illes is the author of non-fiction books of folklore, folkways and mythology about the subjects of the occult, magic, divination, spiritualism, fairies, witchcraft and the paranormal...

 adds that the Charmed Book of Shadows describes the witches of the show much in the same way of the real world Italian Benandanti

Benandanti

The Benandanti were an agrarian fertility cult in the Friuli district of Northern Italy in the 16th and 17th centuries. Between 1575 and 1675, the Benandanti were tried as heretics or witches under the Roman Inquisition, and their beliefs assimilated to Satanism...

traditions. She claims the show draws deeply on Wiccan terminology and ritual (such as the witches adding information to their Book of Shadows), but asserts that it is still a fantasy show. In "The Book of Shadows: The Unofficial Charmed Companion", Ngaire E. Genge talks about the Charmed Book of Shadows in relationship to a modern Wiccan Book of Shadows and the ancient grimoires of such notables as Abra-Melen the Mage and King Solomon

Solomon

Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...

. The author is more critical of Charmeds use of the book compared to real-world Wiccans but adds, as Buckland did, that it is still a fantasy show. While not specifically mentioning the Charmed Book of Shadows by name, "The Craft: A Witch’s Book of Shadows" by Dorothy Morrison appears highly influenced by the series, featuring the same triquetra

Triquetra

Triquetra originally meant "triangle" and was used to refer to various three-cornered shapes. Nowadays, it has come to refer exclusively to a particular more complicated shape formed of three vesicae piscis, sometimes with an added circle in or around it...

 symbol on its cover as does the Halliwells' Book of Shadows.

Criticism has also been garnered for Charmeds Book of Shadows. Author Peg Aoli, a noted Wiccan and media critic at "The Witches Voice" has been critical of mixing real world Wiccan rituals items, such as athame

Athame

An Athame or Athamé is a ceremonial dagger, with a double-edged blade and usually a black handle. It is the main ritual implement or magical tool among several used in the religion of Wicca, and is also used in various other neopagan witchcraft traditions. It is variously pronounced or...

s and the Book of Shadows, with Charmed’s "Hollywood" witchcraft. Aoli critically slammed the series' representation of witchcraft in an essay

Essay

An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...

 in "Totally Charmed: Demons, Whitelighters and the Power of Three". Furthermore, other critics at "The Witches Voice" argue that Charmed's representation of witchcraft, including their Book of Shadows, creates "so many misconceptions" about Wicca in the modern world.

Fandom and Replica Books of Shadows

Following suit of The Charmed Ones, fans worldwide began a "Replica" Charmed Book of Shadows since the series began in the 90's. Like the famed book of the series, the book continues to grow as fans create more and more pages. The most extensive replica source has 2,500 pages to date and is distributed digitally (see source list). Fan-made Books of Shadows have become an art form in itself, and many different people create these. Every artisan owns the rights to their own work, so many differences appear in each artist's re-creation of the pages. There is no one-copyright holder to this collective work, which has become a hobby like scrap-booking. Each artist, however, does own the rights to their page designs, making many artists responsible for the Book of Shadows replicas coming to life.

The Book of Shadows Post-Charmed

After Charmed ended its run, the one prop from the series that everyone wanted was the Book of Shadows. There was good-natured discussion over several years concerning which of the long-time crew and cast had the best claim to the book. The candidates finally narrowed down to Brad Kern

Brad Kern

Brad Kern is a distinguished television producer and writer best known recently for his work as head writer and executive producer on the hit supernatural drama Charmed, which he was showrunner on for all eight seasons...

, the series' showrunner for its entire run; and Holly Marie Combs

Holly Marie Combs

Holly Marie Combs is an American film and television actress and producer whose roles have included a portrayal in Charmed as Piper Halliwell and another in Picket Fences, where she received a Young Artist Award for her role, as Kimberly Brock...

, who played Piper Halliwell and was the only cast member to appear in every episode, including the unaired pilot. According to the official Charmed Magazine, Brad Kern took the book. Holly Marie Combs later confirmed this via twitter.