June 1st, 2015

Well, I hadn't been anticipating going to the zoo yesterday, but that's what we did, and thus my other plans got rather derailed. It's alright, though. I always enjoy getting to see the animals.

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This afternoon, I would like to take some time to discuss my notebooks, and what I use them for in my Craft. In the picture, one can see two Alice in Wonderland notebooks, spiral-bound. There is not much which outwardly distinguishes either one; in fact, they are entirely innocuous, the sort of thing that any young person might own. 

Almost any Pagan living with (or even frequently visited by) unsupportive family finds themselves subject to trying to hide their practice. I myself accomplish this by keeping my altar in my closet, and making sure that those things I have visibly around the house are common enough to not raise any eyebrows. Granted, I have it better than many, and my solutions may not be suitable for those whose housemates are especially invasive of privacy, but that's a topic for a different post.

The point I am slowly working my way toward is that while my BoS stays in my closet, with its triple goddess and stag head imagery, I can carry either of these notebooks around anywhere and no one is any the wiser. 

The blue book on the left hand side is the one which I just filled up on Saturday, after four years of sporadic use. Started in August of 2011(about a month before I made this blog, actually), it tracks things like:

• Psychic experiences
• Pagan events or festivals I attend
• Feedback on rituals
• Specific notes on spells and their results
• Research (including first drafts of all of my crystal posts)
• Tarot spreads and notes on accuracy
• Contact information for Pagan stores, artists, etc.
• Other miscellaneous Craft-related info

In short, it is a record of my life as a young adult Pagan. I wish I would have thought to start one when I first became interested in my religion, but I was never very good at keeping a journal growing up. The second notebook only has one entry so far, but it will serve the same purpose.

Spreads like this allow me to clip in business cards, highlight relevent information, doodle altar layouts, design sigils, and etcetera. I found over time that writing in pen is the best option, as pencil has an unfortunate tendency to fade. Also, I do record the dates and times of all of my entires. I have considered adding in notable astrological info, but ultimately never bothered.

Other ideas I would like to try sometime include adding stenciled headers, marking a page with a specific oil or perfume, or including bits of herbs left over from a spell or ritual.

Something that I've had a great deal of success with in other applications is writing in code, particularly when one is concerned about somebody reading what you've written. I like Futhark runes myself, as I memorized them in my childhood and therefore have an easy time reading and writing them. Also, I figure that most people are not interested enough in my writing to look up the translation and decode it. That being said, one could always simply invent one's own alphabet if one were particularly worried.

Whether you already keep a journal or are interested in starting one, I hope that this little explanation of my own inspires your work, or at least was mildly interesting. I'm always looking for inspiration myself, so by all means share your own journal if you have one!