Digital Journal and Book of Shadows

I have bad arthritis and carpel tunnel in my hands for various reasons, including age and hypermobility syndrome. That means writing and certain crafts are more difficult for me these days. One of the ways that I have adapted and still am able to journal and keep records is by using digital products and adaptive aids.

One of my favorite ways that I have done this, in the last year, has been Goodnotes. I have a couple of different digital journal products that I use on this platform for various purposes. I even recently upgraded from Goodnotes 5 to Goodnotes 6 to take advantage of some of the changes that the software has made. Though I use it on my iPhone and iPad, Goodnotes 6 is now compatible with Windows as well, which really expands the possibilities. (My laptop is Windows, for example, if I wanted to access the app there).

However, you don’t have to spend any money at all or learn a new app, if you don’t want to. Google Docs is free, readily available and cross-compatible. You can easily organize your files, rituals, and ideas in whatever manner that works best for you. I actually like digital files and digital backups. I have lived at like 20 different addresses in the 23 years that I have been married. It is really easy to lose things between moves and storage. The stuff I tend to still have regular access to are digital files.

You can organize your digital journal and/or digital book of shadows in any way that works for you. Some people even have their digital journals printed at the end of the year, so you could have a hard copy, if you really like to feel the pages in your hands. I tend to think in outlines and folders, so I automatically break information down that way. You could look at the Study Topics for an idea of the information you might have or want to break down and organize.

Personally, I use the following folders/documents/divisions to make my easy for me to access and understand:

1. Intro Topics
2. Energy Work
3. Wiccan Beliefs
4. Gods & Goddesses
5. Sacred Space
6. Elements
7. Sabbats
8. Esbats
9. Other Rituals
10. Spells
11. Colors & Chakras
12. Stones
13. Herbs
14. Divination
15. Runes & Sigils
16. Tarot
17. Astrology
18. Crafts
19. Journal

Feel free to use a similar structure if it works for you, but this is just one of many ways that you can do this. Try it out, and see if you can make a digital journal and book of shadows work for you.