Book of Shadows | |
---|---|
Charmed element | |
![]() Book of Shadows open at spell pages | |
Publisher | Spelling Television |
First appearance | Something Wicca This Way Comes |
Created by | Constance M. Burge |
Genre | Magic |
In-universe information | |
Type | Family heirloom Book of spells |
Owners | Charmed Ones |
Function | A collection of spells and magical lore from previous family generations |
Traits and abilities | Can detect evil |
Affiliation | Prue Halliwell (Former) Piper Halliwell Phoebe Halliwell Paige Matthews |
The Book of Shadows, or simply the Book, is a book of witchcraft from the TV series Charmed . 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 is considered to be a collection of magical and religious texts of Wicca 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 , the Halliwell Sisters or The Charmed Ones [1] own a powerful and coveted Book of Shadows that has been passed down through their family line. It contains spells, potions, and information on evil beings their ancestors have faced. The book has been enchanted to protect itself, causing it to move away from any evil being that attempts to touch it. It has a large triquetra set into its front cover, symbolizing the Power of Three.
The Charmed Ones' ancestor Melinda Warren began the Book of Shadows in the late 17th century. [1] The year 1693 is inscribed on the book's first page, below the title, [1] presumably to indicate when the book was created. When Melinda was burned at the stake in the Salem Witch Trials, she claimed that the magical powers of each successive generation of witches in the family would grow in strength, until the book reached three sisters known as The Charmed Ones, who would be "the most powerful witches the world has ever known". Melinda passed the book on to her daughter, Prudence, and it continued to be handed down from mother to daughter until it came to the Halliwell sisters in 1998. [1] [2]
The book has grown over the years with each witch who has possessed it, and by the late 1960s, it had about 100 pages. It continued to grow as The Charmed Ones added more information to it. Penny Halliwell brags in the season five episode, "Happily Ever After", that she created most of the good potion recipes in it. [3] Patty Halliwell added text on Barbas, the Demon of Fear. [4]
For many years, the Book was kept in the Manor's attic. Normally, all witches are supposed to keep their Book of Shadows in a specially protected altar room. [5] The book has a different protection mechanism against evil. In several episodes, various effects resulted from an evil magical being tried to take the book for themselves, including: jumping off the stand in "Once Upon a Time" and "The Seven Year Witch", repelling the being away from the book in "Death Becomes Them", projecting a spherical shield around the Book in Death Becomes Them, burning the user's hands in "Imaginary Fiends", and so on. 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 occasionally wrote down their experiences after vanquishing a demon, which Billie mentions this when she studied the Book of Shadows in "Run Piper Run". The first, added by Phoebe, was a spell to banish the Woogyman. [6] Phoebe added a detailed entry on Cole Turner, 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 in the book about their adventures and what become of their lives.
Leo Wyatt, 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 powers and advice on using them. [7]
In the final episode, Piper tells her granddaughter that the book will one day be hers. [8]
In the Charmed series, the Book of Shadows is a large, green leather-bound book with an embossed red triquetra on the cover. The triquetra symbol has been known to change, usually according to some change in the sisters' powers or emotional state. [9] 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 The Charmed Ones tore out and burned after they nearly lost their powers to a warlock in the season one episode "Wicca Envy". [10]
Due to its link with the Halliwells:
The Book of Shadows has an evil counterpart known as the Grimoire. [15] The Grimoire is a large brown book with an unknown demonic symbol of an upside down pentagram and skull on the cover. The Grimoire's pages 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.
The Grimoire's spells and incantations are written in Latin. It makes only a few appearances in the television series and Leo later orbs it, to rest under a mountain of rock in the West Andes, 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. [16] The book's cover in that episode had a symbol depicting two intertwined snakes. That book was sold on eBay in late 2007 and reached a final bid of $405.00.[ citation needed ]
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.
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", wherein the Gypsy Eva finds her family spell book previously owned by her mother after her mother's death. Like traditional Books of Shadows, Gypsies' books contain spells and magical recipes. [17]
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 wiccan practices. [18] Judika Illes adds that the Charmed Book of Shadows describes the show's witches much in the same way as the real world Italian Benandanti 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. [19] 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. The author is more critical of Charmed's use of the book compared to real-world wiccans but adds, as Buckland did, that it is still a fantasy show. [20] While not specifically mentioning the Charmed Book of Shadows by name, The Craft: A Witch's Book of Shadows, by Dorothy Morrison, appears to have been highly influenced by the series and features the same triquetra symbol on its cover as does the Halliwells' Book of Shadows. [21]
Criticism has also been garnered for Charmed's Book of Shadows. Author Peg Aoli, a noted Wiccan and media critic at The Witches Voice, [22] has been critical of mixing real world Wiccan ritual items, such as athames and the Book of Shadows, with Charmed’s "Hollywood" witchcraft. Aoli critically slammed the series' representation of witchcraft in an essay in Totally Charmed: Demons, Whitelighters and the Power of Three. [23] 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. [24]
Following The Charmed Ones' suit, fans worldwide began creating replicas of the Charmed Book of Shadows, when the series began in the 1990s. Like the famed book of the series, the replica versions continued to grow as fans created more and more pages. The most extensive replica source has 2,500 pages to date[ when? ] and is distributed digitally (see source list). Fan-made Book 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 scrapbooking. [ citation needed ]
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 members had the best claim to the book. The candidates finally narrowed down to Brad Kern, the series' showrunner for its entire run; and Holly Marie Combs, who played Piper Halliwell and was the only cast member to appear in every episode, including the unaired pilot.
Kern and Combs were supposed to share custody of the book, and agreed to alternate possession between the two of them, each getting the book for a year at a time. Most recently[ when? ] Combs, appearing on a Comic Con Panel, confirmed that although Kern and her did agree to share custody, Kern has not shared the book.
Wicca, also known as "The Craft", is a modern pagan, syncretic, earth-centered religion. Considered a new religious movement by scholars of religion, the path evolved from Western esotericism, developed in England during the first half of the 20th century, and was introduced to the public in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant. Wicca draws upon ancient pagan and 20th-century hermetic motifs for theological and ritual purposes. Doreen Valiente joined Gardner in the 1950s, further building Wicca's liturgical tradition of beliefs, principles, and practices, disseminated through published books as well as secret written and oral teachings passed along to initiates.
A Book of Shadows is a book containing religious text and instructions for magical rituals found within the Neopagan religion of Wicca. Since its conception, it has made its way into many pagan practices and paths. The most famous Book of Shadows was created by the pioneering Wiccan Gerald Gardner sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s, and which he utilised first in his Bricket Wood coven and then in other covens which he founded in following decades. The Book of Shadows is also used by other Wiccan traditions, such as Alexandrian Wicca and Mohsianism, and with the rise of books teaching people how to begin following non-initiatory Wicca in the 1970s onward, the idea of the Book of Shadows was then further propagated amongst solitary practitioners unconnected to earlier, initiatory traditions.
Charmed is an American fantasy drama television series created by Constance M. Burge and produced by Aaron Spelling and his production company Spelling Television, with Brad Kern serving as showrunner. The series was originally broadcast by The WB from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006. The series narrative follows a trio of sisters, known as The Charmed Ones, the most powerful good witches of all time, who use their combined "Power of Three" to protect innocent lives from evil beings such as demons and warlocks. Each sister possesses unique magical powers that grow and evolve, while they attempt to maintain normal lives in modern-day San Francisco. Keeping their supernatural identities separate and secret from their ordinary lives often becomes a challenge for them, with the exposure of magic having far-reaching consequences on their various relationships and resulting in a number of police and FBI investigations throughout the series. The series initially focuses on the three Halliwell sisters, Prue, Piper, and Phoebe.
Piper Halliwell is a fictional character from the American television series Charmed, played by Holly Marie Combs from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006. The character was created by Constance M. Burge, who based Piper on her second-oldest sister. Piper is introduced into the series as the middle sister to Prue and Phoebe Halliwell. She is one of the original featured leads and, more specifically, a Charmed One – one of the most powerful witches of all time. Piper's power was initially described as the ability to stop time in her surrounding environment. As the series progresses, Leo reveals that her power actually works by slowing down molecules to the point that they stop. She also receives the power to cause evil beings or objects to explode using her hands, by instead speeding up molecules to the point of combustion.
Phoebe Halliwell is a fictional character from the American television series Charmed, played by Alyssa Milano from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006. The character was originally played by Lori Rom in the unaired pilot episode. However, Rom quit the series, and a new pilot was filmed with Milano in the role of Phoebe. The character was created by Constance M. Burge and is based on Burge herself. Phoebe is introduced into Charmed as the youngest sister to Prue and Piper Halliwell. She is one of the original featured leads and, more specifically, a Charmed One – one of the most powerful witches of all time. Phoebe initially possesses the power of premonition, which enables her to see into the future and the past. To make up for initially only having a passive power, Phoebe develops martial arts skills in order to better assist her sisters when they fight evil beings. As the series progresses, she also gains the active powers of levitation and empathy.
Paige Matthews is a fictional character from the American television series Charmed, played by Rose McGowan from October 4, 2001, until May 21, 2006. The character was created by executive producer Brad Kern as a replacement for lead character Prue Halliwell, following the departure of actress Shannen Doherty. Paige is introduced into season four as the fiercely independent younger half-sister of the female leads, Prue, Piper and Phoebe Halliwell. Like her sisters, Paige is a witch, and more specifically, a Charmed One—one of the most powerful witches of all time. Paige is introduced as the secret love child of the Halliwell sisters' mother Patty and her whitelighter Sam Wilder, making Paige both a witch and whitelighter. She was given up at birth and raised by her adoptive parents, Mr. and Mrs. Matthews.
Prudence Halliwell is a fictional character from the American television series Charmed, played by Shannen Doherty from October 7, 1998, until May 17, 2001. She is the eldest daughter of Patty Halliwell and Victor Bennett. The character was created by Constance M. Burge, who based Prue on her older sister. Prue is introduced into the series as the eldest sister to Piper Halliwell and Phoebe Halliwell. She is one of the first original featured leads and, more specifically, a Charmed One – one of the most powerful witches of all time. Prue initially possesses the power to move objects with her mind by channeling telekinesis through her eyes. As the series progresses, she learns how to channel her telekinesis through her hands and gains the power of astral projection, the ability to be in two places at once. Prue also develops martial arts skills and becomes an effective hand-to-hand fighter like Phoebe.
Kyra, also known by her title the Seer, is a fictional character from the American television supernatural drama Charmed, which aired on The WB Television Network from 1998 to 2006. Kyra was created by executive producer Brad Kern and portrayed by actress Charisma Carpenter. Her original contract was a recurring role that included three episodes in the show's season seven. TV Guide reported the WB had considered promoting her to a series regular.
The triquetra is a triangular figure composed of three interlaced arcs, or (equivalently) three overlapping vesicae piscis lens shapes. It is used as an ornamental design in architecture, and in medieval manuscript illumination. Its depiction as interlaced is common in Insular ornaments from about the 7th century. In this interpretation, the triquetra represents the topologically simplest possible knot.
"Something Wicca This Way Comes" is the first episode of the television series Charmed. Written by series creator and executive producer Constance M. Burge and directed by John T. Kretchmer, it was first broadcast in the United States on The WB on October 7, 1998. "Something Wicca This Way Comes" was the highest-rated episode of Charmed in the entire series. It was watched by 7.7 million viewers and broke the record for the highest-rated premiere episode in The WB's history, being later surpassed by the pilot episode of Smallville.
The Wiccan Laws, also called the Craft Laws, the Old Laws, the Ardanes or simply The Laws are, according to claims made by Gerald Gardner in the 1950s, ancient laws governing the practice of Covens, passed from initiate to initiate as part of the Book of Shadows.
"All Hell Breaks Loose" is the twenty-second episode and season finale of the third season of the American television series Charmed; it is also the 66th overall episode in the series. The episode was originally broadcast in the United States on May 17, 2001, on The WB. It was written by Brad Kern and directed by Shannen Doherty. As well as being Doherty's last episode as director, it was also her last appearance on the show as the character Prue Halliwell, although the character would later return in the comic book series. In the episode, The Charmed Ones deal with their secret of being witches going global and all of the news reporters swarming them.
Billie Jenkins is a fictional character who appeared in the American television supernatural drama Charmed, which aired on The WB from 1998 to 2006. The character was created by executive producer Brad Kern and was portrayed by Kaley Cuoco. Billie was developed in response to The WB's request for a new character, and was intended to expand the show in a new direction for a possible ninth season or a spin-off series, leading to mixed opinions of media outlets.
Christy Jenkins is a fictional character from the American television supernatural drama Charmed, which aired on The WB Television Network from 1998 to 2006. The character was created by executive producer Brad Kern and was portrayed by actress Marnette Patterson. Developed in response to the WB's request for a new character, Christy was originally planned to expand the show in a new direction for a possible ninth season or spin-off. It was later confirmed that all future plans for the show were cancelled following the WB's closure to launch The CW.
The history of Wicca documents the rise of the Neopagan religion of Wicca and related witchcraft-based Neopagan religions. Wicca originated in the early 20th century, when it developed amongst secretive covens in England who were basing their religious beliefs and practices upon what they read of the historical witch-cult in the works of such writers as Margaret Murray. It was subsequently founded in the 1950s by Gardner, who claimed to have been initiated into the Craft – as Wicca is often known – by the New Forest coven in 1939. Gardner's form of Wicca, the Gardnerian tradition, was spread by both him and his followers like the High Priestesses Doreen Valiente, Patricia Crowther and Eleanor Bone into other parts of the British Isles, and also into other, predominantly English-speaking, countries across the world. In the 1960s, new figures arose in Britain who popularized their own forms of the religion, including Robert Cochrane, Sybil Leek and Alex Sanders, and organizations began to be formed to propagate it, such as the Witchcraft Research Association. It was during this decade that the faith was transported to the United States, where it was further adapted into new traditions such as Feri, 1734 and Dianic Wicca in the ensuing decades, and where organizations such as the Covenant of the Goddess were formed.
In the neopagan religion of Wicca a range of magical tools are used in ritual practice. Each of these tools has different uses and associations and are commonly used at an altar, inside a magic circle.
The term "Power of Three" in the original Charmed television series (1998–2006) and its reboot series of the same name (2018–2022), refers to the bond and connection between three sisters, known as The Charmed Ones, who are said to be the most powerful trio of witches. The term is represented by the triquetra symbol, which is placed on the cover of the sisters' Book of Shadows in both shows. Each sister has individual magical powers, which is noticeably stronger when they are combined as the "Power of Three". The sisters use their powers to protect innocent lives and vanquish demons and warlocks, often invoking their joint "Power of Three" to defeat their enemies.
Charmed: Season 9 is a comic book series that was published monthly between June 2010 and October 2012 by Zenescope Entertainment, which owns the publishing rights to the Charmed comic book series. Written by Paul Ruditis and Raven Gregory, the series is an officially licensed continuation of the popular television series of the same name, which ended its eight-year run in 2006. Charmed: Season 9 is set eighteen months after the events of the television show's final episode. The first issue was released on July 21, 2010, and made its premiere at San Diego Comic-Con. The series concluded with the season finale issue, "The Power of 300", and was succeeded by the novel The War on Witches (2015), also written by Ruditis, and Season 10 (2014–2016).