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.

The Charmed Ones' ancestor Melinda Warren began the Book of Shadows in the late 17th century.

Penny Halliwell brags in the season five episode, "Happily Ever After", that she created most of the good potion recipes in it.

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.

[15] The Grimoire is a large brown book with an unknown demonic symbol of an upside down pentagram and skull on the cover.

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.

[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.

[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.

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.

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.

Like the famed book of the series, the replica versions continued to grow as fans created more and more pages.

[citation needed] After Charmed ended its run, the one prop from the series that everyone wanted was the Book of Shadows.

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.