A Book of Shadows or Book of Illumination (also, called, a Book of Mysteries) -- a collection of a Witch's or Wiccan's spells, dreams, rituals, charms, herbal concoctions, moon phase information, and so on -- is usually written in your own (or a Witch's) handwriting, or hand of writ (the old-fashioned way to say that). Often, that, and all sorts of things, including spells and charms are written in a magickal alphabet, to make it more mysterious, which can help you raise more power and energy, too, from, for one, it's specialness to you, then. Theban, and Passing the River, are examples. Ancient Egyptian heiroglyphics would be another example (also a language to be translated, not only transliterated). Things could be spoken in another language, such as, Latin, or Enochian, as well, or some language that sounds mystical to you. Even like Russian has different letters, not just transliterated (letter-symbols directly into English, for example), so, it could be quote/unquote mysterious, to many people, therefore. Many things are also written in Runes, or the old Runic, Germanic, written language (Runes are also a form of divination, or "fortune-telling"), which are also carved into spell candles, and so forth, too, to direct the magick better. Also, magickal alphabets and languages (some are languages, not just alphabets, as mentioned) keep most people from reading what you've written, and protect your secrets, if any. A warning, though: keeping everything secret tends to make people think you're doing the worst things they can imagine, and it doesn't spread, therefore, more of the knowledge necessary to conquer more of the ignorance out there. Note: you can make up your own magickal alphabet, or even a language, too (just share the translation with your "spirit friends," though, just in case, if you're going to use it in rituals and magick).

Your magickal monogram is a sigil or symbol made from combining the letters from a magickal alphabet that make up your magickal name or Craft name, into one sigil or symbol (fun to work with; looks neat; is meaningful).

An example of a magickal alphabet to English letters; this is something like Modified Phoenician: