Mistake #1) I took my book WAY too seriously. I tended my grimoire like a freakin' surgeon saving a life. This was serious business. ONLY the BEST rituals, the most ELABORATE drawings, the most PRECISE notes would earn a space in its pages.

I took it so seriously that I stopped working in it for long stretches of time all together. I was afraid of my own book. Boredom and resentment set in. Fun officially sucked out.

What I do now: PLAY. I bring humor, adventure, vulnerability and play to my book and now we hang out regularly. All relationships in life grow stale when we stop playing together- including our relationship with our art and magickal life. Treat your grimoire like a friend, and it will be a friend to you.

Mistake #2) Using my grimoire as a measuring stick for my "witchiness". "Real witches perform ritual *all the time* and have piles of books with records of supernatural encounters. Real magicians have painstakingly organized books- not a crunchy shamble of rainbow pages full of cartoon mer-cats... Real grimoires are reference books... If I were a real witch I wouldn't feel stuck or have “unspiritual” or messy feelings- ESPECIALLY not in my grimoire! GASP! " *Clutches witch pearls* I took in too many voices about what my witchery should look like and used them to beat myself up.

There's no right way to witch. No right way to art. No right way to art witch.

And no REAL way to keep a grimoire either...

What I do now: I work in their pages when I want to celebrate my magick, when I want to document memories, when I make personal discoveries- whether those memories or discoveries present as stereotypically “witchy” or not. This is big creative freedom. (AKA Magick.)

Mistake #3) My grimoire needed to look old to feel real. I think this urge for a giant ancient dusty book initially came from play, mimicry and a strong interest in book arts and art history-- which is GREAT! Or perhaps it was the the belief that "old ways are better"... The illusion of age lending authenticity or legitimacy to what I was doing... My grimoire was not a handbound museum piece or film prop... (The book nerd in me is drooling by the way...)

My book wasn't an relic. It was a .25 chapter book from a thrift shop. The part of me that desperately wanted to “do it right” kept trying to force my grimoire to be something she wasn't...

What I do now: Acknowledge my grimoire is a living evolving document that mirrors who I am as a creatrix. Instead of trying to shoehorn myself into a style that doesn't reflect my life experience- I treat my book more like a familiar, Part scrapbook, part art journal, part pet, part playground... a Being with their own personality, quirks and stories.

When I let go of the “antiquity” requirement, an affection for what I could do and create started to blossom in a quiet way... and then less quiet ways...

I can assure you- life got SUPER interesting once I started doing art and magick MY way.

And I promise, Moon Baby. Yours will too.

• Relax

• Play

• Be Curious

Go forth! Fill the Grimoires! Make The Things! I know you can do it.

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WITCH ON, WITCH BOLDLY & BE WELL