The Next Episode...

So, I'm going to admit that the next two weeks worth of entries are actually backdated, and that I'm composing them all in one sitting on the night of February 25th. In my defense, I had an exceedingly rough last two weeks, but to those who care for such things as punctuality, I offer my sincerest condolences. That said, let's jump in.

This entry pertains to something that I've heard about but never really understood. In this case, I'll use the traditional Book of Shadows as my example, but really, you could use any supposed text that educates or elucidates in the supposed art of spellcraft. For those of you who aren't familiar with them, a Book of Shadows is the common term used to describe a coven of practicing witches' written record, usually including recipes for potions, rituals for any given spell, and general transcriptions of various feats of derring do.

Now, my question may be completely asinine, and if it is, feel free to let me know in the comments below. However, I'm pretty flummoxed by one simple point: WHY WOULD YOU EVER G-DDAMN WRITE STUFF LIKE THIS OUT? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it a bad idea to write anything based on content alone, I think that everyone should have access to (and actively partake in) the means to write whatever they'd like privately. But this is a group-based, group-sourced, group-available text which supposedly gives the users of it a great deal of power that most don't have access to.

Assuming it works/magic is real, my main problems come down to the ability of multiple people to use it. Number one, do you trust all of your co-workers/classmates/fellow religion observers? While they may share the same values as you at a basic level, that in no way means you agree with them a hundred percent. So what's to say they won't use their equally-to-yours granted powers to do things you wouldn't agree with? Or worse yet, to screw you over? Next, would you want anyone to be able to contribute equally? I see Wikipedia written all over this, and trust me, the scenario in my imagination is fairly benign:

"Sister Mary, I'm reading over Sister Gertrude's recipe for a potion of perceptiveness, and it says I need to obtain essence of butfur. What's a butfur?"

"IT'S FER POOPIN', HAW HAW! PWNED."

So yeah, there's that. Also, the unfiltered nature of the contents of the book also seems a little ill-thought out. That is to say, the books supposedly describe everything from the virtually useless minutia of the coven to the incredibly overpowering spells and what-have-you, the contents of the book can be likened to listing the recipe for oatmeal cookies next to that of an atomic bomb. Which is to say, bad news, especially if you're allowing anyone from a day-one initiate to a day-four-million senile to have access to it...

I dunno, I could just be acting obtuse. But am I the only one who's wondered that?