Taking Notes for Witchcraft
You'll see the advice of "write everything down" everywhere, and for good reason. It's a fundamental skill when studying anything, in my opinion. You can be a great reader and know all the right ways to spot a bad source, but none of that matters if you aren't keeping notes. A student is only as good as their note-taking skills, and all witches are students.
But how do you take notes?
Well, first of all, take note of this: I'm not talking about a grimoire. This isn't about writing proven spells in a pretty notebook. This is about writing down everything in a non-judgmental, kind of messy, comprehensive log. It should have a standard layout or template to make it easier to use and look back on, but otherwise, it's a working document for your eyes only.
There are countless ways to keep notes on anything. If the school system failed you (as it did many of us), chances are, you weren't ever taught how to take notes. You were just told to "write that down" and never looked at it again. You're not alone! You, too, can learn how to take not just notes but good notes.
Fundamentals of Note-Taking
The important thing to remember here is that notes are for you. There is no test to pass, no professor to impress, no essay to write. These notes are meant to help you in your magical and/or spiritual practice. But what's the purpose of taking notes, if there's no one and nothing forcing you to take them? In my mind, there are a few:
Absorbing new information by associating a physical movement with the topic (as in, remembering writing something down and using that to recall the information)
Being able to go back and reread information you've already gone over, creating a reference document for future use
Making note of thoughts, opinions, and ideas in the moment so you remember them later
With these basic purposes in mind, you might think to yourself, "Oh, that's easy! Just write everything down. Easy peasy." But to make notes not only effective in the moment for absorption and having the information in one place, they also have to be organized. Writing things down willy-nilly is fine right up until the moment you're spending 20 minutes looking for one specific note buried in a pile of loose, unlabeled papers.
So here are my (very opinion-driven) guidelines for taking notes on anything:
Notes must be kept in a dedicated, bound notebook or dedicated digital file system. Not a binder, not in loose-leaf pages, not on scraps of paper. In a notebook. Spiral notebooks are fine, but I prefer something I can't rip pages out of. I have both a digital system and a notebook system; the notebook is for raw notes and unfiltered thoughts, whereas the digital system is more polished (my actual grimoire).
Notes must be kept in date order. Chronologically! Not by subject. No jumping around the notebook, either. It doesn't matter if one page has a list of recipes to test and the next is detailing an odd dream. If they happen on the same day, they exist together.
All pages must follow a template. I have several templates for various subjects -- one for test recipes, one for completed recipes, one for spells, one for research topics... Some are more rigid than others (recipes in particular). You can use any template or method that you want, so long as it works for you. What matters is that they're all the same every time.
The template must include the date, a title, and the purpose or a summary of what the notes are about. This makes it easier to remember when I did something, what it was, what the contents of the notes are, and why I was taking the notes later on.
Number your pages. A pre-numbered notebook is ideal, but you can always add the numbers yourself.
Notes have to be legible. It just has to be legible to you. If your handwriting sucks (like mine), that's fine so long as you can read it later. But this also means making an effort to use language you'll understand. Don't use fancy script you can't read or big words you don't actually understand.
Write in pen! Controversial, maybe! But you should take notes in pen, never pencil. For one, pen won't smudge and fade like pencil will. For another, writing in pen prevents you from erasing your thoughts in the moment. You shouldn't be afraid of making mistakes or crossing things out. Plus, erasing destroys paper. Just don't do it.
Write in two or even three colors. The third reason to use pen! When I write notes, I usually write my template out in black. Then, I'll fill in the basic information in the same black pen. The "actual notes" are taken using a colored pen (blue, often). As I take notes, I usually have thoughts and ideas outside of the information I'm trying to take down. To make these more clear and easier to find later on, I write them down in a third color (red or another fun color).
Let yourself be a little disorganized and "ridiculous." Look. I know I'm saying to use templates and write neatly. But these notes are for your eyes only. You can write things down that you don't think will be actually useful later. Jot down that this detail made you think of that person. Scribble doodles in the margins. Whatever. If it's not going to impede your note-taking, it doesn't matter.
But also, if you start reading a book today and don't come back to it until next week, don't pick up the notes on the prior page. Start a new page. The title should reflect that it's a continuation, but don't skip pages to make room for more notes. Fill in every page as you get to them. This is why we number our pages -- note down where the last set of notes are and then keep moving.
Let's say I'm reading a book and want to take notes from it. The first thing I want to consider is my goal in taking these notes and what I'm hoping to get from the book. My notes will look very different if I'm trying to review a book's quality versus learning a particular type of magic. For the purposes of this example, we'll say I'm taking general notes to glean as much information as I can from the book.
And let's say I'm using... *casts about looking for the nearest book*... The Bountiful Container, by Rose Marie Nichols McGee and Maggie Stuckey. A book I genuinely do recommend for anyone looking to learn how to keep an edible container garden, by the way.
My ideal template for a book includes:
The date in the upper left-hand corner
The page number in the lower outer corner (for left pages, bottom left; for right pages, bottom right)
The title of the book as the title of the page, followed by the author
What the book contains (spells, instructions, philosophy, guides, lists, etc.)
My goal in reading it and taking these notes
A heading to delineate where the actual notes begin
Dividing parts or chapters in my chosen note-taking pen color
Here's an example of what that might look like:
Note how I'm using bullet points to keep my thoughts organized and separated. You can also see the purple writing that denotes my less organized, in the moment thoughts and feelings on what's being said in the book. Here, the black pen is the template, the teal is the facts presented by the book, and purple is my personal commentary.
You don't have to divide your commentary and factual notes, by the way. I do it because I want to easily delineate between what's actually being said by the authors and what I'm thinking in the moment about what's being said. Sometimes, I'll write them as I have in the above example, in the margins or next to the factual stuff. Other times, I'll write them in line as a dedicated bullet point. It all depends on when I have the thought.
Another Example - Spell Notes
"But what about spells?" I hear you hypothetically asking. I'm glad you've hypothetically asked, dear reader! A very similar approach can be applied to writing notes on spells.
For the purposes of this example, I'll actually show off an updated version of the notes for my Pickled Pickle Hex. Note that this isn't my actual notebook or grimoire, since those are for my eyes only.
For spells, my ideal layout includes:
The name of the spell as the title
The date in the upper left corner
The page number as described previously
Type of spell (hex, protection, edible, jar, candle)
Ideal timing, if applicable
Space for notes before, during, and after the spell (during/after notes may be recorded separately)
And here's the visual example:
Note again how the template and basic information is all in black. This color is all business, detailing the actual, physical steps taken for the spell. The teal pen describes the magical parts -- ingredient correspondences, magical acts, incantation locations, etc. In the actual version, I include the incantation itself here. Then, the purple pen is my thoughts while recording it. It's mostly me talking to myself, but note under number 5 in the second image where I ask, "Include time frame here?" It's a note to self to consider where to add an expiration or expected end date during the casting process.
Again, you can include whatever you want. My original notes have doodles and copious notes in the margins... plus ingredients I needed to pick up for the spell. You can include whatever notes you need to. If it's relevant in the moment, write it down.
A big part of note-taking for me is writing down how things work and how it all went. After all, why would I want to cast a spell again if I didn't enjoy it and it didn't work?
It's important to keep notes during your casting. I would suggest tracking the following:
Thoughts and feelings you have (nervous, tired, happy, angry, "I'm hungry," "I should've brought water with me," etc.)
Messages you receive from spirits or other entities
Odd things you notice (wax dripping strangely, shapes in the incense smoke, sounds nearby, increased pet activity, tarot cards jumping)
Alterations to prescribed steps, ingredient substitutions, added or removed steps or actions
Questions you have during the casting and answers if you look them up immediately
Concerns that come up regarding efficiency, energy levels, whether you're "doing it right," missing ingredients, and so forth
How the final result turns out (how it looks, how you feel about it, etc.)
What your next steps are (hiding it, burying it, setting it on your altar, eating it, etc.)
During this stage, particularly for that last bullet point, decide when you'll come back to this spell to check how it went. Sometimes, it isn't possible to test your results (hexes on someone you don't see consistently, for example). Even so, you should still return to the spell to record how you feel, what you think with hindsight on your side, and so forth. If you can tell how the spell worked, write down what happened and why you believe it's connected to the magical working.
If you like, you can make additional notes on the spell and steps themselves. What I do is I put a note under the post-casting section that says, "Additional notes written [date] in this pen color." And, true to form, it'll be a different pen color to everything else I've written with so far.
Again, remember that these notes aren't final. They're experiments and study notes, not grimoire pages. These notes are what your grimoire will be based on. Once you feel confident with a spell, write it into your official grimoire using your layout and medium of choice. In my case, this means typing up the final, expanded version of my notes and spells.
Look, in the end, it doesn't matter how you're writing stuff down. All that matters is that you're writing it down. Keeping it organized makes it easier to use later. Do what works for you.
Here are a few suggestions for note-taking methods and applications that have fed into my philosophies:
Bullet journaling - This ended up not really being for me, but a lot of the ideals are really appealing. This is where the templates idea came from.
Lab notebooks - By far the biggest influence. I highly suggest all magical practitioners give the lab notebook method a try, especially for testing spells and recording results.
Writing prompts - No, really. Using writing and spell prompts to build out and test my note templates was critical when I was trying to figure out how best to set things up. It's a low-effort way to bang out a bunch of ideas and refine layouts.
Spell books - Obviously. Take a look at how authors lay out their spells. It's organized, easy to parse, and includes details about the working. That's ideally what your notes should mimic.
Obsidian - This is an application for taking notes. It completely replaced my massive, disorganized folder of Word documents. Link between pages, tag documents for easy sorting, embed content from reference websites, draw brain maps, organize folders, use add-ons to create templates... Obsidian has literally been life changing. I use it for everything, including my grimoire. You have to pay for it, but it's very worth it. [Note: Obsidian is free! I was thinking about the other program I've used, Scrivener.] A second brain, indeed.
Try different layouts, formats, methods, mediums, everything. Hell, write notes on what works and what doesn't for your note-taking. You gotta start somewhere.
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