God's Eye Embossed Leather Journal, 5" x 7"

The eye is one of the oldest protective signs people have made. This 5 by 7 inch journal carries an eye motif hand-tooled into the leather cover, with a small stone set into it, and closes with a latch over 200 pages of handmade paper.

It is made to become a Book of Shadows: the working book where a practitioner keeps spells, rituals, correspondences, dreams, and the turning of a practice over the years. The watching eye on the cover marks it as a warded book, a guarded place for private writing.

Key Features

• Protective eye design with inset stone. An eye motif hand-tooled into the leather with a small stone set into the cover. The art is the heart of the book; embossing and the stone vary a little, so each one is its own.
• Leather cover with latch. A leather cover closed by a latch, holding your writing shut and private at home, in circle, or in a bag.
• 200 handmade pages. Unlined sheets with no ruling, room for script, sigils, diagrams, and pressed herbs alike.
• Portable 5 by 7 inch size. One of a family of leather ritual books in the shop, each bearing a different emblem, so you can match the symbol to your practice.

Product Details

• Dimensions: 5" x 7"
• 200 unlined pages of handmade paper
• Hand-tooled leather cover with a protective eye motif and a small inset stone
• Latch closure
• Embossing and the inset stone may vary from book to book
• Sold as a blank book for writing, drawing, and ritual record-keeping

The Spiritual Significance

A Book of Shadows is a witch's working book, and despite the old-world weight of the name it is a fairly modern tradition. Gerald Gardner's mid-twentieth-century Wicca formalized the practice, with each initiate copying rituals and lore by hand into a book of their own. Its ancestors are the older grimoires such as the Key of Solomon, but the idea of a personal, hand-kept book of one's craft belongs to living modern witchcraft.

The eye is a protective emblem found in many forms across many cultures: the wedjat or Eye of Horus in Egypt, the blue nazar set against the evil eye around the Mediterranean and West Asia, the eye in the hand of the hamsa, the all-seeing eye of later Western symbolism. The shared idea is an eye that watches over and guards, turning a hostile gaze back on itself, which is why an eye sometimes goes by the name of a god's eye, the divine kept watching over the work. Embossed on a cover with a small stone set into it, it marks this as a book kept under watch, a warded place for private writing.

How To Use

1. Cleanse it first. Pass the cover through cleansing smoke or leave it in moonlight overnight to clear the handling it has been through before it becomes yours.
2. Dedicate the first page. Write an opening dedication, naming what this book is for and the protection you are calling in.
3. Keep your craft in it. Record spells and their results, ritual outlines, correspondences, dreams, and the questions you are working through. A Book of Shadows is most useful when it is honest.
4. Tend the book. Close the latch to keep it shut, store it away from damp, and condition the leather occasionally so it lasts as long as the practice it holds.

Pairs Well With

• Steampunk Pen and Calligraphy Set: a dip pen for writing entries with more ceremony than a ballpoint allows.
• Dragon's Blood Ink by Espiritu, 1 oz: the traditional red ink for consecrated writing, sigils, and petitions in the book.
• Parchment Paper by Espiritu, 3" x 4": loose petition and spell papers to write and tuck between the pages.
• Sage and Frankincense Smudge Stick: cleansing smoke to consecrate the book before its first use.
• Hamsa Pewter Pocket Stone: the protective eye in the hand, an altar or pocket stone to keep watch beside your book.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes this different from the other leather journals?

This one carries a protective eye motif with a small stone set into the cover, where others in the line carry the pentacle, triquetra, or Tree of Life. The eye and the inset stone make it a warded book for private work, and the stone varies from copy to copy.

Are the pages lined or blank?

The 200 pages are unlined handmade paper, with no ruling. That leaves you free to write in any hand, draw sigils and diagrams, or press herbs and petals flat between the leaves without lines getting in the way.

What size is it?

It measures 5 by 7 inches, a portable size that still gives you room to write a full working on a page. The latch keeps it closed while it travels.

What does the eye mean, and which stone is set in it?

The eye is a protective emblem found across many cultures, an eye that watches over and guards. The small inset stone varies from book to book, so the one you receive may differ from the photograph.

Do I have to use it as a Book of Shadows?

Not at all. It is simply a beautiful blank book. Many keep it as a Book of Shadows or grimoire, but it works just as well as a dream journal, a tarot diary, a sketchbook, or an everyday journal for someone who loves the symbol.