THE CODEX
Essential Occult Wiki & Reference
The reference library your practice draws on.
The Codex is Grimoire's reference library: the knowledge layer that supports every other part of your practice. The Herbology compendium covers 90+ herbs, roots, and botanicals with magical properties, planetary rulerships, and elemental correspondences, all cross-referenced with your Apothecary stock. The Tarot Gallery gives you the full 78-card reference, linked directly to your daily draw in the Daily Pulse.
The Pantheon profiles gods and goddesses across eight traditions, linking to the Deity Journal for practitioners ready to begin devotional work. The Bibliotheca holds the primary sacred texts, cross-referenced with The Atlas and the Lessons section. And The Vault holds the master correspondence tables (crystals, colours, numbers, days, and planetary hours) that power the Spell Builder and Candle Guide.
What's Inside
Arcane Gallery
A curated collection of paintings, drawings, and engravings that map witchcraft, myth, and the mysterious. Pre-Raphaelite, Symbolist, Romantic, and folk works each with prose readings of scene and hidden meaning.
Herbology
A full herb and plant compendium covering magical properties, planetary rulerships, elemental correspondences, and ritual uses. Browse by property or search by name.
Tarot Gallery
The complete 78-card Rider-Waite deck with upright and reversed meanings, elemental associations, astrological correspondences, and guidance for daily draws.
Pantheon
Deity profiles across Celtic, Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Roman, Hindu, Yoruba, and Slavic traditions: domains, symbols, sacred animals, offering suggestions, and lore.
Bibliotheca
A curated library of sacred and esoteric texts available to read in-app: from the Key of Solomon to the Kybalion. No external links. No leaving your practice.
Candle Guide
A complete guide to chromancy: candle magic by colour, day, phase, and intent. Dressing, charging, and reading the burn.
The Vault
Grimoire's master correspondence reference: crystals, colours, numbers, days, planetary hours, and elements. The symbolic language of your practice, fully indexed.
Catalogue
The relational lens onto the correspondence tables: eight filtered views (planets, elements, colours, intent, moon, candles, oils, tarot) each surfacing the herbs and crystals that share their energy.
Sacred Calendar
The temporal layer of the Codex: moon phases, sabbats, planetary hours, and auspicious dates calculated for your location. The full month view that the Daily Pulse summarises into a glance.
The Atlas
A curated world map of fifty sites across six categories: sacred geography, witch trial locations, and cryptid territories together. Stone circles, oracles, holy wells, the named dead, and the unsettled edges of the map.
Spells & Oils
Traditional and craft-tested spell recipes and oil blends, each with full ingredients and magical correspondences. The recipe library for serious practice.
Definition
What is the Codex?
The Codex is Grimoire's reference library: the section of the app where the underlying knowledge of contemporary witchcraft is held in working form. It contains eleven cross-referenced sub-libraries covering plants, tarot, deities, sacred texts, correspondences, sacred and folkloric geography, candle work, and traditional recipes. Each is its own deep reference; together they form the knowledge layer the rest of the app runs on.
The Codex is not designed to be read straight through. It is designed to be opened at the page you need, when you need it, and to surface, on every page you do open, the connections back to the rest of your practice.
The Layers of Reference
Which sub-library do you need?
The Codex divides the field of magical reference into seven natural layers. The table below maps each layer to the moments when you'll need it: a quick way to find the right starting point for the question you have in front of you.
| Layer | Where it lives | When you need it |
|---|---|---|
| The visual layer | Arcane Gallery: masterworks of witchcraft, myth and the mysterious | Reading how the witch has been imagined, sourcing reference for altar or sigil, looking at the tradition through the eyes of its painters |
| The botanical layer | Herbology compendium with planetary and elemental correspondences | Choosing a herb for a working, learning what something does, building an apothecary |
| The divinatory layer | Tarot Gallery, with full 78-card reference and meanings | Reading a card from your daily draw, learning the deck, deepening interpretive skill |
| The devotional layer | Pantheon profiles across multiple traditions | Researching a deity, planning offerings, beginning a relationship with the divine |
| The textual layer | Bibliotheca with primary occult and sacred texts | Reading source material, going deeper than secondary writing, study sessions |
| The correspondence layer | The Vault: colours, numbers, days, planetary hours, elements | Building a working from correspondence up, understanding the system |
| The relational layer | Catalogue: the cross-reference between planets, elements, colours, intent, moon, candles, oils, and tarot | Walking the correspondence tables by association: picking an intent and reading the matching ingredients out |
| The temporal layer | Sacred Calendar: moon phases, sabbats, planetary hours, auspicious dates | Finding the right window for a working, reading the wheel of the year |
| The practical layer | Candle Guide and Spells & Oils: the practical reference for working | Dressing a candle, choosing colour and timing, sourcing a recipe to adapt |
| The geographical layer | The Atlas: sacred sites, witch trial locations, and cryptid territories | Connecting to a place that calls you, learning the lore behind a tradition or a haunting |
Approach
How does Grimoire approach reference material?
As a working library, not a museum. The aim of the Codex is not to demonstrate the breadth of magical knowledge; it is to keep the specific pieces a witch actually uses close to hand, accurate, and connected to one another. Every entry is selected for practical relevance. Every cross-reference is drawn for working use, not for completeness.
The Codex also notes uncertainty where it exists. Where traditions disagree on the correspondence of a herb, the meaning of a card, the offerings due to a deity, the Codex notes the variants rather than picking one as canonical. A working witch reads across the disagreements and chooses what resonates with her own practice. The aim is fluency, not orthodoxy.
The Bibliotheca and the Pantheon are the two sections I find myself in most. The texts are not there for prestige; they are there because you cannot understand the history of the craft from secondary sources alone. And the Pantheon matters because working with a deity without knowing their lore is like beginning a conversation before you have found the words.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions.
What is the Codex?
The Codex is the reference section of Grimoire: eleven cross-referenced sub-libraries covering the full range of magical reference: herbs and botanicals, tarot, deity profiles, sacred texts, correspondences, sacred sites, candle magic, traditional recipes, arcane art, sacred geography, and the Catalogue. Unlike most magical reference tools, the Codex is cross-referenced throughout: a herb entry links to your Apothecary stock; a deity profile links to your Deity Journal; a tarot card links to your daily draw. The Codex is the library; the rest of the app is how you put it to use.
What's in the Codex?
The Codex contains eleven sub-libraries: the Arcane Gallery (curated masterworks of witchcraft and myth), the Herbology compendium (plants, resins, and botanical correspondences), the Tarot Gallery (the full 78-card Rider-Waite deck with meanings), the Pantheon (deity profiles across traditions), the Bibliotheca (primary occult and sacred texts), the Candle Guide (chromancy and candle magic), The Vault (master correspondence tables for crystals, colours, numbers, days, and planetary hours), the Catalogue (the cross-reference that walks those tables by association), the Sacred Calendar (moon phases, sabbats, and planetary hours), The Atlas (sacred sites, witch trial locations, and cryptid territories), and Spells & Oils (traditional ritual recipes). Each sub-library has its own reference page accessible from the Codex grid.
How is the Codex different from Practice?
The Codex is for knowing; Practice is for doing. The Codex holds reference material: what a herb is for, what a card means, what a deity governs, what a colour signifies, when the next sabbat falls. Practice holds the working tools (the Spell Builder, the Apothecary, the Deity Journal, Dream Weaver) that put that knowledge to use. The two are designed to be used together: research a herb in the Codex, add it to your Apothecary in Practice, choose it for a working in the Spell Builder. The Codex is the library; Practice is the workbench.
How is the Codex different from Discovery?
Discovery turns the lens inward (natal chart, witch path, patron deities, numerology) building a picture of who you are as a practitioner. The Codex turns the lens outward: toward the herbs, the deities, the texts, the places, the symbols. Both are reference libraries in a sense, but Discovery is reference about the self, and the Codex is reference about the world. A typical session in Grimoire moves between them: a witch reading her natal chart in Discovery checks the planetary correspondences in The Vault, the patron deity profile in the Pantheon, the relevant sacred texts in the Bibliotheca.
Where should I start in the Codex?
Start with whatever your current practice is asking for. If you're learning tarot, the Tarot Gallery and the corresponding Lessons course are the entry point. If you're starting deity work, the Pantheon paired with the Patron Deities quiz in Discovery is where to begin. If you're building an apothecary, the Herbology compendium is the foundation. The Codex is not designed to be read straight through; it's designed to be opened at the page you need, when you need it. Most witches end up returning to two or three sub-libraries regularly and dipping into the others as questions arise.
Is everything in the Codex free to access?
Some of it, yes. The Tarot Gallery, Herbology compendium, The Vault, and beginner Lessons are included in the free tier: no subscription required. The Bibliotheca, The Atlas, Spells & Oils, and the Candle Guide are Premium features, unlocked with a Grimoire Premium subscription ($4.99/month or $39.99/year). All new accounts receive a 14-day free trial so you can explore the full Codex before deciding. See the pricing page for the full breakdown.
How does the Codex connect to the rest of Grimoire?
The Codex is the knowledge layer that the rest of the app draws on. The Spell Builder pulls correspondences from The Vault and herbs from Herbology when you compose a working. The Daily Pulse links every drawn card to its full Tarot Gallery entry. The Patron Deities quiz lands on Pantheon profiles. The Apothecary cross-references Herbology so every item in your pantry has its full magical context. Working in the rest of Grimoire is working with the Codex whether you visit it directly or not.
What you'll find inside
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