Occultism, exorcism, and demonic entities exist in cultures around the world. Learn what devils and demons are and what you can do to ensure you are never a victim. Study demonic cases and people helped by a demonologist, the history of exorcisms and demonology, and ancient techniques to expel volatile demonic entities. Visit Goffstown, New Hampshire, where a family is tortured by demonic entities and where the high school has been nicknamed "Suicide High." Millions suffer from thoughtform infestation-distinguish between negative thoughtform entities and demons; then protect yourself with proven techniques. Hear about the "Hungry Ghost" who fed off a Vietnamese couple in the States. Find out what can happen if you summon a demon, then change your mind. Discover the truth behind the Ouija BoardTM and its creator. Study the stages of demonic activity, find the best questions to ask when joining a paranormal group, and use the list of resources to learn more. Remember, what you can see in this world can hurt you, but what you can't can kill you.

This study examines the relationship between elite and popular beliefs in witchcraft, magic and superstition in England, analyzing such beliefs against the background of political, religious and social upheaval characteristic of the Civil War, Interregnum and Restoration periods. Belief in witchcraft received new impulses because of the general ferment of religious ideas and the tendency of participants in the Civil Wars to resort to imagery drawn from beliefs about the devil and witches; or to use portents to argue for the wrongs of their opponents. Throughout the work, the author stresses that deeply held superstitions were fundamental to belief in witches, the devil, ghosts, apparitions and supernatural healing. Despite the fact that popular superstitions were often condemned, it was recognized that their propaganda value was too useful to ignore. A host of pamphlets and treatises were published during this period which unashamedly incorporated such beliefs. Valletta here explores the manner in which political and religious authorities somewhat cynically used demonic imagery and language to discredit their opponents and to manipulate popular opinion.

Throughout its long history, Freetown, Massachusetts, has been a hotbed of criminal and supernatural occurrences in the towns State Forest. This is the first account of how its darker side connects hauntings with violent crime and local cults. Native American ghosts roam here and evil lurks, making the forest a haven for nasty creatures (the Pukwudgies). A witch looks for favors from young men, satan cults thrive, and killers kill. Read first-hand accounts from police officials and criminals about the forest. Learn why hauntings continue today. Many come here to enjoy the beauty of Freetown State Forest; these are the stories of those who cannot leave.

The Witchcraft Reader offers a wide range of historical perspectives on the subject of witchcraft in a single, accessible volume, exploring the enduring hold that it has on human imagination. The witch trials of the late Middle Ages and the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have inspired a huge and expanding scholarly literature, as well as an outpouring of popular representations. This fully revised and enlarged third edition brings together many of the best and most important works in the field. It explores the origins of witchcraft prosecutions in learned and popular culture, fears of an imaginary witch cult, the role of religious division and ideas about the Devil, the gendering of suspects, the making of confessions and the decline of witch beliefs. An expanded final section explores the various "revivals" and images of witchcraft that continue to flourish in contemporary Western culture. Equipped with an extensive introduction that foregrounds significant debates and themes in the study of witchcraft, providing the extracts with a critical context, The Witchcraft Reader is essential reading for anyone with an interest in this fascinating subject.

Following the death of the Austrian philosopher and spiritual scientist Rudolf Steiner in 1925, Ita Wegman - one of his closest esoteric pupils - began to publish regular letters to the members of the Anthroposophical Society. In Steiner's tradition, these letters were appended with 'leading thoughts' (or guiding principles). Esoteric Studies collects many of these 'letters to friends', together with various articles, reports and addresses by Ita Wegman on subjects such as the Christmas Foundation Conference, the Goetheanum building and the festival of Michaelmas. Featuring an informative foreword by Crispian Villeneuve and a commemorative study by George Adams, this book provides a fine introduction to the work of Ita Wegman, as well as a rousing call for courage and wakefulness in the spirit of the Archangel Michael!

Spiritual and Mental Health Crisis in Globalizing Senegal explores the history of mental health in Senegal, and how psychological difficulties were expressed in the terms of spiritualism, magic, witchcraft, spirit possession, and ancestor worship. Focused on the effervescent and fruitful early post-colonial years at the Fann Hospital, situated at the famed University of Dakar, Cheikh Anta Diop, this book reveals provocative treatment innovations via case studies of individuals struggling for health and healing, and thus operates as a suspension bridge between scholarship on witchcraft and magic on the one side and the history psychiatry and psychoanalysis on the other. Through these case studies, this book creates a new route of exchange for healing knowledge for a broad array of West African spiritual troubles, mental illness, magic, soul cannibalism, witchcraft, spirit possession, and psychosis.

An insider's guide for beginner mystics, How to Study Magic is your ultimate introduction to the main areas of magic-from witchcraft to grimoires-what it means to practice them, and, most of all, how to get started.Have you ever wanted to dive into the world of magic, but weren't sure where to begin? You're not alone! Knowing where to start can be mystifying, but it doesn't have to be. In How to Study Magic, author, educator, and seasoned witch Sarah Lyons guides you through an introductory course of study, and an enchanted entry point to the wide world of magical paths.Drawing on Sarah's own experience practicing and teaching magic for more than a decade, this interactive exploration takes novice witches through basic tools they can use in their studies-from divination and meditation to cleansing and protection-before diving into the history, lore, and modern incarnations of a wide range of magical practices. With chapters on Witchcraft, Chaos Magic, Spellbooks and Grimoires, Gods and Goddesses, and more, this dynamic guide gives readers an insider's perspective on how to craft their own, personalized practice. Each chapter also contains interactive activities, journal prompts, and suggestions for further reading, allowing baby witches to chart their own paths and explore their own power. For anyone who knows they want to study magic, but has no idea where to begin, How to Study Magic is the answer you've been waiting for.

After discussing the terminology of talismanic magic (or necromancy) and its position in divisions of science in the Middle Ages, this book traces the history of talismanic texts from the Classical period through the Arabic world to the Latin Middle Ages. The principal authorities are Hermes and Aristotle, and the search for the 'secret knowledge' of these ancient sages is shown to have been a catalyst for the translating activity from Arabic into Latin in 12th-century Spain. The second half of the volume is devoted to examples of the kinds of divination prevalent in Arabic and Latin-reading societies: chiromancy, onomancy, scapulimancy, geomancy and fortune-telling. The book ends with advice on when to practice alchemy and a prophetic letter of supposed Arabic provenance, warning of the coming of the Mongols. Several editions of previously unedited texts are included, with translations.

A presentation of seven essential texts, central to the Hermetic Tradition, never before published together * Includes Theogony, The Homeric Hymn to Hermes, The Poem of Parmenides, The Poimandres, The Chaldean Oracles, Hymn to Isis, and On Divine Virtue, each translated from the original Greek or Latin * Presents interpretive commentary for each text to progressively weave them together historically, poetically, hermeneutically, and magically Linked to both the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth, Hermes Trismegistus is credited, through legend, with thousands of mystical and philosophical writings of high standing, each reputed to be of immense antiquity. During the Renaissance, a collection of such writings known as the Corpus Hermeticum greatly inspired the thought of philosophers, alchemists, artists, poets, and even theologians. Offering new translations of seven essential Hermetic texts from their earliest source languages, Charles Stein presents them alongside introductions and interpretive commentary, revealing their hidden gems of insight, suggesting directions for practice, and progressively weaving the texts together historically, poetically, hermeneutically, and magically. The book includes translations of Hesiod's Theogony, the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, the "Poem of Parmenides," the Poimandres from the Corpus Hermeticum, the Chaldean Oracles, "The Vision of Isis" from Apuleius's Metamorphoses, and "On Divine Virtue" by Zosimos of Panopolis. Through his introductions and commentaries, Stein explains how the many traditions that use Hermes's name harbor a coherent spirit whose relevance and efficacy promise to carry Hermes forward into the future. Revealing Hermes as the very principle of Mind in all its possibilities, from intellectual brilliance to the workings of the cognitive life of everyone, the author shows how these seven texts are central to a still-evolving Western tradition in which the principle of spiritual awakening is allied with the creative. Never before published together, these texts present a new vehicle for transmission of the Hermetic Genius in modern times.

Witches are on the go! If we are not living out our day-to-day lives, balancing home life and work, we're organizing rituals and keeping track of spells. The Hectic Witch's Planner is a journal-style planner that not only helps you keep track of appointments and important dates but encourages you to plan out your long-term goals, your rituals and even helps you pause and reflect with journal prompts. This is a planner for witches built by some of the busiest witches around.

This 280-page 12 month weekly-planner is filled with journal prompts, planting guides, holiday information, moon phases, along with monthly suggestions to help you try new witchy things! Full-color with bound pages, you can keep this book in your bag or tote without worrying about pages loosening and falling out like in classic spiral-bound planners. We do not have time for pages falling out. We weren't kidding when we said this is for busy witches!

No industry has been as influential at shaping the popular notion of what it means to be a witch quite as much as Hollywood. This book traces the fascinating history of witchcraft and witches in American film and television. From Joan the Woman and The Wizard of Oz to Carrie and Charmed, author and film scholar Heather Greene explores how these films helped influence the public image of the witch and profoundly influenced how women negotiate their power in a patriarchal society. Lights, Camera, Witchcraft uncovers fascinating insights into the intersection of entertainment, critical theory, gender studies, and spirituality.

From Nikki Van De Car, the best-selling author of Practical Magic, comes a fully-illustrated, enchanted introduction to the witch's world of modern potions, including tinctures, infusions, herbal DIYs, and magically-infused craft cocktails. Witchcraft meets cocktail craft in Potions, a contemporary introduction to the world of infusions, tisanes and herbal teas, homemade tinctures, and expertly mixed alcoholic beverages, all imbued with a healthy dose of everyday enchantment. As with all magic, intention is what makes a potion a potion, and author Nikki Van De Car uses her signature blend of holistic remedies, DIY projects, and accessible magical rituals to guide readers through the wide world of potion-making. From homebrewed kombuchas to crystal-charged cocktails, this fully illustrated guide is an essential addition to the arsenal of kitchen witches and enchanted mixologists. Organized around a series of intentions -- including Creativity, Calm, Love, Harmony, and Protection -- the chapters in this book each include teas, cocktails, kombuchas, non-alcoholic beverages, and DIY components like bitters, shrubs, and infusions, that enhance the reader's spellwork. Every recipe will involve a brief ritual of some kind, whether setting an intention, or using a crystal, sun magic, or moon magic, and each recipe will involve some form of herbal magic. Each cocktail is accompanied by a vibrant, full-color illustration, and each chapter includes longer mystical rituals to support the reader's overall magical practice.

Finalist, 2021 Bram Stoker Awards (Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction) The first collection of essays to address Satan's ubiquitous and popular appearances in film Lucifer and cinema have been intertwined since the origins of the medium. As humankind's greatest antagonist and the incarnation of pure evil, the cinematic devil embodies our own culturally specific anxieties and desires, reflecting moviegoers' collective conceptions of good and evil, right and wrong, sin and salvation. Giving the Devil His Due is the first book of its kind to examine the history and significance of Satan onscreen. This collection explores how the devil is not just one monster among many, nor is he the "prince of darkness" merely because he has repeatedly flickered across cinema screens in darkened rooms since the origins of the medium. Satan is instead a force active in our lives. Films featuring the devil, therefore, are not just flights of fancy but narratives, sometimes reinforcing, sometimes calling into question, a familiar belief system. From the inception of motion pictures in the 1890s and continuing into the twenty-first century, these essays examine what cinematic representations tell us about the art of filmmaking, the desires of the film-going public, what the cultural moments of the films reflect, and the reciprocal influence they exert. Loosely organized chronologically by film, though some chapters address more than one film, this collection studies such classic movies as Faust, Rosemary's Baby, The Omen, Angel Heart, The Witch, and The Last Temptation of Christ, as well as the appearance of the Devil in Disney animation. Guiding the contributions to this volume is the overarching idea that cinematic representations of Satan reflect not only the hypnotic powers of cinema to explore and depict the fantastic but also shifting social anxieties and desires that concern human morality and our place in the universe. Contributors: Simon Bacon, Katherine A. Fowkes, Regina Hansen, David Hauka, Russ Hunter, Barry C. Knowlton, Eloise R. Knowlton, Murray Leeder, Catherine O'Brien, R. Barton Palmer, Carl H. Sederholm, David Sterritt, J. P. Telotte, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock

The etiology of the Wimbum people in the Western Grassfields of Cameroon is described through an examination of the way in which the meanings of key concepts, used to interpret and explain illness and other forms of misfortune, are continually being produced and reproduced in the praxis of everyday communication. During the course of numerous dialogues, witchcraft, a highly ambivalent force, gradually emerges as the prime mover. As destructive cannibals or respectable elders the witches are the ultimate cause of all significant illness, misfortune and death, and as diviners they are also the ultimate judges who apportion moral responsibility. Even the ancestors and the traditional gods turn out to be fronts behind which the witches hide their activities.The study is on three levels: a medical anthropological exploration of explanations of illness and misfortune; a detailed ethnography of traditional African cosmology and witchcraft; and an examination of recent theoretical issues in anthropology such as the nature of ethnographic fieldwork and the possibility of dialogical or postmodern ethnography.

The Parlement of Paris was the largest secular court in Christendom. Although its criminal archives have been preserved virtually intact, historians of the period of the great witch trials, as well as scholars of the Ancien Regime in general, have been discouraged by the notorious difficulties of research into them, and have effectively avoided these records. Alfred Soman was the first historian to have undertaken the task. In the fifteen articles republished here, which include both detailed investigations of particular cases and broad-ranging overviews, he contends that criminal justice in the 16th- and 17th-century France was far more humane and less severe than traditional assumptions would suggest. As early as 1588, the High Court began to take steps to restrain indiscriminate witch hunting, particularly in the eastern provinces where prosecutions were instigated not in conformity with, but in defiance of, the highest judicial authority in the land. Le Parlement de Paris, la plus grande cour de justice de l'Occident, nous a legue ses archives criminelles quasiment intactes. Pourtant les historiens des proces de sorcellerie, ainsi que les specialistes des aspects institutionnels et sociaux de l'Ancien Regime, decourages par les difficultes notoires de la recherche, ont evite l'exploitation de ces documents. Alfred Soman est le premier chercheur A en avoir releve de defi. Dans cette serie de quinze articles, qui comprennent des enquAtes detailles, ainsi que des essais de synthese, il soutient que l'ancienne justice a ete beaucoup plus clemente et moins 'injuste' que de vieilles idees reAues ne le pretendent. Des 1588, la Haute Cour commenAa A reprimer les nombreuses poursuites pour faits de sorcellerie, plus particulierement dans l'Est du royaume, oA(1) certains sieges subalternes entamaient des actions criminelles intempestatives, prenant le contre-pied de la politique mise en place par le Pouvoir judiciaire central.

Throughout history, magic has been as widely and passionately practiced as religion. But while religion continues to flourish, magic stumbles towards extinction. What is magic? What does it do? Why do people believe in magic? Ariel Glucklich finds the answers to these questions in the streets of Banaras, India's most sacred city, where hundreds of magicians still practice ancient traditions, treating thousands of Hindu and Muslim patients of every caste and sect. Through study and interpretation of the Banarsi magical rites and those who partake in them, the author presents fascinating living examples of magical practice, and contrasts his findings with the major theories that have explained (or explained away) magic over the last century. These theories, he argues, ignore an essential sensory phenomenon which he calls "magical experience": an extraordinary, though perfectly natural, state of awareness through which magicians and their clients perceive the effects of magic rituals.

This book is the first major study of England's biggest and best-known witch trial which took place in 1612, when ten witches were arraigned and hung in the village of Pendle in Lancashire. The book has equal appeal across the disciplines of both History and English Literature/Renaissance Studies, with essays by the leading experts in both fields. Includes helpful summaries to explain the key points of each essay. Brings the subject up-to-date with a study of modern Wicca and paganism, including present-day Lancashire witches. Quite simply, this is the most comprehensive study of any English witch trial. -- .

Welcome to the world of witchcraft! Create 22 easy-to-make tools you'll turn to again and again from magic candles and fumigation sticks to runes and oracles and much more.

Connect with Mother Earth's love and discover the healing wisdom of nature through the unique spells, rituals and beautiful, diverse illustrations in this sacred 44-card oracle deck. Mother Earth is our sacred home. We rely on her for everything from the air we breathe to the water we drink. She gives us so much and yet we can sometimes take her magic for granted. But it is not too late. We may have stopped listening, but she has not stopped communicating. Each card message in this deck is an invitation to listen to Mother Earth's guidance; each spell, ritual or invocation an opportunity to bring these lessons off the pages and into your daily practice; and each illustration a reminder that we are part of nature, not outside of it. With bodies of every shape, size, skin tone and hair texture represented, this deck affirms we are all Mother Earth's children.

The author of The Green Witch, shows you how you can create your own green witch grimoire to record your favourite spells, recipes, rituals, and more. A grimoire is essential for any witch wanting to capture and record spells, rituals, and secret ingredients. And for a green witch, a perfect place to reflect upon the power of nature, and document the stones, plants, flowers, oils, and herbs used in her practice. The Green Witch's Grimoire finally is a place for all your prized knowledge. Experienced witch Arin Murphy-Hiscock guides you on your path to creating your own personal book of your most cherished magic. Continue to hone your craft and grow into the green witch you've always dreamed of as you personalize your own Green Witch's Grimoire.