Hello everyone, I really don't like asking for it, but it's undeniable that me and my housemates could use some help. We live in a very conservative area, and all of us are visibly queer. We're trying to raise funds to move somewhere safer, but the only way I can earn income safely is through art, as I've been threatened or put in harm's way due to my apparent trans-ness at every place I've worked at. My roommates face similar tribulations, living in the public eye here is simply unsustainable. There's more info on the going-ons of our situation in the gofundme, but if you can't afford to donate, sharing this post, my commission post, or the gofundme on my other social medias does so much in the way of getting us out of here.

if you'd rather donate directly, my paypal and kofi.

We are extremely appreciative of any help we can get, shares makes a huge difference.

AND, for your time, an image of our cat, Mr Mayor, who you would also be benefiting.

Thank you.

I won't lie. It's actually kind of weird how much emphasis is still placed on "keeping your Book of Shadows a secret" in today's day and age. Especially when the vast majority of the information we often put in them is nearly all from the public record now anyways, and we all know that the entire set of rhetoric surrounding it being "necessary to keep it safe" from "ye olde burning times" is an entirely fabricated myth to begin with.

It's always wild to me, too, seeing people throw full out fits or be snobby about how "they're not Wiccan", when large portions of their practices are wholesale ripped off from (often outdated) Wicca- frequently especially the rhetoric they use in the first place, lol. Like, can we please talk about the massive lack of self awareness in Paganism or not, y'all.

All but one of the 6 books of my BOS have been public from the beginning for this reason. Especially as a Traditional NeoWiccan who doesn't actually have any oaths of silence that necessitate keeping my information private, and who is working from public access records published from Traditional Wiccans to begin with; I've never hid anything I've put in mine except my private divinations and journaling after the beginning, because there's no reason for me to.

The Spirits directing you to keep specific information to yourself- or an individual Tradition dictating that speaking of it destroys your power, or that the information is oathbound, etc- isn't even remotely the same thing. These are very different circumstances than the generalized belief that if you practice the Craft, you must not speak of it to others or share your information from your BOS specifically.

And that's kind of ultimately a part of the point: Public access information is so easy to access these days- whether through the library, or through sailing (which I wholesale recommend since so much public information is bad to begin with), or just easy and cheap and readily available to buy. And we're nearly all working from the exact same public access information.

Frankly the vast majority of us aren't actually doing anything that's special or unique or needs to be secretive to begin with. And none of us are living in an era where we need to be secretive about it for our safety, either; and co-opting the (often racial) violence inflicted on others doesn't actually make you a victim or prove any point.

Neither is being one of the legitimate few who do live in a conservative enough family or area where being secretive is legitimately necessary for their safety until they're finally free of that environment; I have actually known a handful of them. They are real and do deserve protection ... But the Lord knows they're far more rare than the constant community fearmongering makes them out to be- and even Scott Cunningham made note of that all the way back in the 90's. And it hasn't actually gotten any worse for us since then.

"I know the value of my words" is all fine and dandy if it's a personal preference ... But unless you're blatantly going against the established code of a tradition you actively belong to? There ultimately is no "right" or "wrong" way to make a BOS in the end- including whether or not yours is "generic", or you want to share it with others.

You do you, babe. But, like, it's always smart to consider why you're really doing it in the end; is it actually for you? Or is it because that's just the myth that Witchcraft, Paganism, and the Occult has created, and you've uncritically accepted it? And with a lot of the old Witchcraft facts- especially surrounding things like the Book of Shadows- that does deserve, even actively needs, to actually be critically examined.

What else is needed, ultimately, is for people to shut their mouths and stop shaming others who aren't even a part of their traditions anyways, for choosing not to do things however they incorrectly think is "the right way". Because it's just as obnoxious as all the various facets of Wiccan Supremacy that people complain about. And it doesn't get any less obnoxious- or wrong- just because it's not Wiccans doing it to people anymore these days (though it rarely ever actually was in the first place; Eclectic NeoPagans aren't and never were Wiccans- and they were the ones most often pulling that nonsense to begin with).