Contents: a packet for Ezra Pound; stories of Michael Robartes and his friends: an extract from a record made by his pupils; phases of moon; great wheel; completed symbol; soul in judgment; great year of ancients; dove or swan; all soul's night, an epilogue. With many figures and illustrations.

Non-sensationalist historical account of Nazi occultism Explores both prewar and postwar manifestations of this phenomenon Draws on a global set of examples and case studies

Demonology - the intellectual study of demons and their powers - contributed to the prosecution of thousands of witches. But how exactly did intellectual ideas relate to prosecutions? Recent scholarship has shown that some of the demonologists' concerns remained at an abstract intellectual level, while some of the judges' concerns reflected popular culture. This book brings demonology and witch-hunting back together, while placing both topics in their specific regional cultures. The book's chapters, each written by a leading scholar, cover most regions of Europe, from Scandinavia and Britain through to Germany, France and Switzerland, and Italy and Spain. By focusing on various intellectual levels of demonology, from sophisticated demonological thought to the development of specific demonological ideas and ideas within the witch trial environment, the book offers a thorough examination of the relationship between demonology and witch-hunting. Demonology and Witch-Hunting in Early Modern Europe is essential reading for all students and researchers of the history of demonology, witch-hunting and early modern Europe.

Most studies of witchcraft and magic have been concerned with the era of the witch trials, a period that officially came to an end in Britain with the passing of the Witchcraft Act of 1736. But the majority of people continued to fear witches and put their faith in magic. Owen Davies here traces the history of witchcraft and magic from 1736 to 1951, when the passing of the Fraudulent Mediums Act finally erased the concept of witchcraft from the statute books. This original study examines the extent to which witchcraft, magic and fortune-telling continued to influence the thoughts and actions of the people of England and Wales in a period when the forces of "progress" are often thought to have vanquished such beliefs.

Using south-western England as a focus for considering the continued place of witchcraft and demonology in provincial culture in the period between the English and French revolutions, Barry shows how witch-beliefs were intricately woven into the fabric of daily life, even at a time when they arguably ceased to be of interest to the educated.

Men and masculinities are still inadequately incorporated into the historiography of early modern witch trials, despite the fact that 20-25% of all accused 'witches' were male. This book redresses this imbalance by making men the focus of the gender analysis and also covers the issue of regional variation in the gendering of witch persecution.

This book is about other worlds and the supernatural beings, from angels to fairies, that inhabited them. It is about divination, prophecy, visions and trances. And it is about the cultural, religious, political and social uses to which people in Scotland put these supernatural themes between 1500 and 1800. The supernatural consistently provided Scots with a way of understanding topics such as the natural environment, physical and emotional wellbeing, political events and visions of past and future. In exploring the early modern supernatural, the book has much to reveal about how men and women in this period thought about, debated and experienced the world around them. Comprising twelve chapters by an international range of scholars, The supernatural in early modern Scotland discusses both popular and elite understandings of the supernatural. -- .

“Among all the arts, it is the art of alchemy which most closely imitates nature.� - Albertus Magnus (teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas), ca.1250 Alchemists are notorious for attempting to synthesise gold. Their goals, however, were far more ambitious: to transform and bend nature to the will of an industrious human imagination. For scientists, philosophers, and artists alike, alchemy seemed to hold the key to unlocking the secrets of creation. Alchemists' efforts to discover the way the world is made have had an enduring impact on global artistic practice and expression. Concoctions produced in the world’s alchemy labs include inks, dyes, and oil paints; cements and ceramic glazing; dazzling effects in metalwork and glass - and the modern media which now claim boasting rights as the ultimate chemical mirrors of nature: photography and the liquid crystal displays of the digital world. Alchemy may well be the most important human invention after the harnessing of fire. It was certainly a direct result, with consequences both inspired and dire. The field spurred on advancements in the visual arts and aids to human health. Ancient Chinese alchemists also unleashed the black magic of gunpowder onto the world of warfare. This book is the first to explore how the art of alchemy globally transformed human creative culture from antiquity to the industrial age, and displays the ways its legacy still permeates the world we make today.

"A fascinating theory about the origins of the witch hunt that is sure to influence future historians. . . . a valuable probe of how myths can feed hysteria." --The Washington Post Book World "An imaginative reconstruction of what might have been Tituba's past." --Times Literary Supplement "A fine example of readable scholarship." --Baltimore Sun In this important book, Elaine Breslaw claims to have rediscovered Tituba, the elusive, mysterious, and often mythologized Indian woman accused of witchcraft in Salem in 1692 and immortalized in Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Reconstructing the life of the slave woman at the center of the notorious Salem witch trials, the book follows Tituba from her likely origins in South America to Barbados, forcefully dispelling the commonly-held belief that Tituba was African. The uniquely multicultural nature of life on a seventeenth- century Barbadan sugar plantation--defined by a mixture of English, American Indian, and African ways and folklore--indelibly shaped the young Tituba's world and the mental images she brought with her to Massachusetts. Breslaw divides Tituba's story into two parts. The first focuses on Tituba's roots in Barbados, the second on her life in the New World. The author emphasizes the inextricably linked worlds of the Caribbean and the North American colonies, illustrating how the Puritan worldview was influenced by its perception of possessed Indians. Breslaw argues that Tituba's confession to practicing witchcraft clearly reveals her savvy and determined efforts to protect herself by actively manipulating Puritan fears. This confession, perceived as evidence of a diabolical conspiracy, was the central agent in the cataclysmic series of events that saw 19 people executed and over 150 imprisoned, including a young girl of 5. A landmark contribution to women's history and early American history, Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem sheds new light on one of the most painful episodes in American history, through the eyes of its most crucial participant. Elaine G. Breslaw is Adjunct Professor of History at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and author of the acclaimed Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies (also available from NYU Press).

Not only does this book give a well-researched account of the politicization of Haitian Voodoo and the Voodooization of Haitian politics, it also lays the ground for the development of creative policies by the state vis-a-vis the cult. It is an indispensable research tool for the students of Afro-American, Caribbean and African societies in particular, and for religionists and political scientists in general.

Fascinating and highly informative, The Appearance of Witchcraft explores how visual representations of witchcraft contributed to the widespread acceptance of witch beliefs in sixteenth-century Europe and helped establish the preconditions for the widespread persecution of witches.

Focusing on the visual contraction, or figure of the witch, and the activity of witchcraft, Zika places the study in the context of sixteenth-century withcraft and demonological theory, and in the turbulent social and religious changes of the period.

Zika argues that artists and printers used images to relate witchcraft theories, developed by theologians and legitimated by secular authorities, to a whole range of contemporary discourses on women and gender roles, sexuality, peasant beliefs and medical theories of the body. He also examines the role of artist as mediators between the ideas of the elite and the ordinary people.

For students of medieval history or anyone interested in the appearance of witchcraft, this will be an enthralling and invaluable read.

There have been many grimoires attributed to St Cyprian of Antioch due to his reputation as a consummate magician before his conversion to Christianity, but perhaps none so intriguing as the present manuscript. This unique manuscript (unlike the more rustic examples attributed to St Cyprian called the Black Books of Wittenburg, as found in Scandinavia, or the texts disseminated under his name in Spain and Portugal) is directly in line with the Solomonic tradition, and therefore relevant to our present series of Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic. It is unique in that instead of being weighed down with many prayers and conjurations it addresses the summoning and use of both the four Archangels, Michael, Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel as well as their opposite numbers, the four Demon Kings, Paymon, Maimon, Egyn and Oriens. The later are shown in their animal and human forms along with their sigils, a resource unique amongst grimoires. The text is in a mixture of three magical scripts, Greek, Hebrew, cipher, Latin, (and reversed Latin) with many contractions and short forms, but expanded and made plain by the editors. The title literally means 'The Key of Hell with white and black magic as proven by Metatron'.

Historians as well as anthropologists have contributed to this volume of studies on aspects of witchcraft in a variety of cultures and periods from Tudor England to twentieth-century Africa and New Guinea. Contributors include: Mary Douglas, Norman Cohn, Peter Brown, Keith Thomas, Alan Macfarlane, Alison Redmayne, R.G. Willis, Edwin Ardener, Robert Brain, Julian Pitt-Rivers, Esther Goody, Peter Riviere, Anthony Forge, Godfrey Lienhardt, I.M. Lewis, Brian Spooner, G.I. Jones, Malcolm Ruel and T.O. Beidelman. First published in 1970.

Containing ten essays by anthropologists on the beliefs and practices associated with witches and sorcerers in Eastern Africa, the chapters in this book are all based on field research and new information which is studied within its wider social context. First published in 1963.

Katharine Briggs enjoys an unchallenged reputation in the world of folklore studies. The theme of this volume, the witch figure as a malevolent intermediary in folk belief, was chosen to reflect that aspect of Briggs's scholarship exemplified in her study of witchcraft, Pale Hecate's Team. The contributors draw on the disciplines of archaeology, comparative religion, sociology and literature and include: Carmen Blacker, H.R. Ellis Davidson, Margaret Dean-Smith, L.V. Grinsell, Christina Hole, Venetia Newall, Geoffrey Parrinder, Anne Ross, Jacqueline Simpson, Beatrice White, John Widdowson. Originally published in 1973.