A complete introduction to modern magic and witchcraft with spells and incantations for love, happiness, and success. The Practical Witch's Spell Book is an enchanting handbook for anyone with a penchant for the magical and who wants to add joy to their daily life. To practice witchcraft is to be purposeful whether it's to help heal, bring about prosperity, imbue your home with positivity, or even to fall in love. To be a practical witch is to tap into an inner place of intention, energy, and magic to bring about positive change in your life and those of your loved ones. With life's increasingly frenetic pace, a magical approach to living is more important now than ever. In this must-have guide for spell-casters of all levels you will find hundreds of spells, blessings, and incantations for love and romance, contentment and happiness, success and prosperity, health and healing, work and vocation, and money and wealth, all to enrich your mind and spirit, and to improve your life and the world around you. Also included are ritual resources, magical correspondences, lucky colors and numbers, moon spells, and all the essential tools you need for making magic.

Magic, which is probably as old as humanity, is a way of achieving goals through supernatural means, either benevolent (white magic) or harmful (black magic). Magic has been used in Britain since at least the Iron Age (800 BC- AD 43) - amulets made from human bone have been found on Iron Age sites in southern England. Britain was part of the Roman Empire from AD 43 to 410, and it is then we see the first written magic, in the form of curse tablets. A good deal of magic involves steps to prevent the restless dead from returning to haunt the living, and this may lie behind the decapitated and prone (face down) burials of Roman Britain. The Anglo-Saxons who settled in England in the 5th and 6th century were strong believers in magic: they used ritual curses in Anglo-Saxon documents, they wrote spells and charms, and some of the women buried in pagan cemeteries were likely practitioners of magic (wicca, or witches). The Anglo-Saxons became Christians in the 7th century, and the new "magicians" were the saints, who with the help of God, were able to perform miracles. In 1066, William of Normandy became king of England, and for a time there was a resurgence of belief in magic. The medieval church was able to keep the fear of magic under control, but after the Reformation in the mid 16th century, this fear returned, with numerous witchcraft trials in the late 16th and 17th centuries.

Power over Satan Can Be Yours...This book is written for all those children of God who hunger and thirst after a close personal relationship with Him. It is for those who long to hear His voice in their innermost being, who will not be satisfied with anything less than the experience of His presence and glory. It is for those who value such a relationship with our wonderful Creator enough to be willing to pay the price in their own lives to achieve it--the pain of daily carrying the cross. This book is for those who are willing to strive for holiness in obedience to our beloved Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.The purpose of this book is to help you understand the rapidly expanding world of the occult so that you can not only cleanse yourself from any involvement in it, but also so that you can avoid its traps.--Rebecca BrownSubjects include: * The key to spiritual power--personal holiness* The armor of God--how to use it effectively* The sin nature--how to understand it and control it* Defilement of God's temple--how to avoid it* The Holy Spirit vs. demon guides--knowing the difference* Deliverance--case studies and guidelinesThis book contains secret satanic war plans previously not found in print. It reveals how the followers of Satan are openly confronting the followers of Jesus Christ. You must learn the key to spiritual power before you need it!A must for every child of God!

Now you can find love faster than ever with this complete guide to magical matchmaking! The Witch's Book of Love has all the spells and solutions to help you on your quest for love-and shows you how to make your relationship grow and prosper into the love you've always dreamed of! The Witch's Book of Love has all you need to know about attracting the perfect partner with everything from spells and palmistry to astrology and numerology. Check your compatibility and seal your new relationship with charms and other magical mojo so you can make your love last a lifetime.

Magic: The Basics is a concise and engaging introduction to magic in world history and contemporary societies. Presenting magic as a global phenomenon which has manifested in all human cultures, this book takes a thematic approach which explores the historical, social, and cultural aspects of magic.

Key features include:

attempts to define magic either in universal or more particular terms, and to contrast it with other broad and potentially fluid categories such as religion and science;

an examination of different forms of magical practice and the purposes for which magic has been used;

debates about magic’s effectiveness, its reality, and its morality;

an exploration of magic’s association with certain social factors, such as gender, ethnicity and education, among others.

Offering a global perspective of magic from antiquity through to the modern era and including a glossary of key terms, suggestions for further reading and case studies throughout, Magic: The Basics is essential reading for anyone seeking to learn more about the academic study of magic.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction: A Magical World

Chapter 1: The Meanings of Magic

Chapter 2: Magical Acts

Chapter 3: Magic Contested and Condemned

Chapter 4: Magical Identities

Chapter 5: The Reality of Magic

Chapter 6: Magic in the Modern World

Glossary

Further Reading

'The fables of witchcraft have taken so fast hold and deepe root in the heart of man, that few or none can indure with patience the hand and correction of God.' Reginald Scot, whose words these are, published his remarkable book The Discoverie of Witchcraft in 1584. England's first major work of demonology, witchcraft and the occult, the book was unashamedly sceptical. It is said that so outraged was King James VI of Scotland by the disbelieving nature of Scot's work that, on James' accession to the English throne in 1603, he ordered every copy to be destroyed. Yet for all the anger directed at Scot, and his scorn for Stuart orthodoxy about wiches, the paradox was that his detailed account of sorcery helped strengthen the hold of European demonologies in England while also inspiring the distinctively English tradition of secular magic and conjuring. Scot's influence was considerable. Shakespeare drew on The Discoverie of Witchcraft for his depiction of the witches in Macbeth. So too did fellow-playwright Thomas Middleton in his tragi-comedy The Witch. Recognising Scot's central importance in the history of ideas, Philip Almond places his subject in the febrile context of his age, examines the chief themes of his work and shows why his writings became a sourcebook for aspiring magicians and conjurors for several hundred years. England's First Demonologist makes a notable contribution to a fascinating but unjustly neglected topic in the study of Early Modern England and European intellectual history.

In contradistinction to the many monographs and edited volumes devoted to historical, cultural, or theological treatments of demonology, this collection features newly written papers by philosophers and other scholars engaged specifically in philosophical argument, debate, and dialogue involving ideas and topics in demonology. The contributors to the volume approach the subject from the perspective of the broadest areas of Western philosophy, namely metaphysics, epistemology, logic, and moral philosophy. The collection also features a plurality of religious, cultural, and theological views on the nature of demons from both Eastern and Western thought, in addition to views that may diverge from these traditional roots. Philosophical Approaches to Demonology will be of interest to philosophers of religion, theologians, and scholars working in philosophical theology and demonology, as well as historians, cultural anthropologists, and sociologists interested more broadly in the concept of demons.

Arthur Edward Waite (1857 1942), mystic and historian, was an influential figure in the occult revival of the nineteenth century. Brought up a devout Catholic, he became increasingly involved in spiritualism in his late teens following the death of his sister. Choosing not to enter the priesthood, he pursued instead his interests in occult philosophy. A translator and editor of several alchemical texts in the 1890s, Waite also wrote several histories of magic in his later years. First published in 1902, the present work establishes Kabbalah's significant influence on nineteenth-century occultism. The book chronicles the history of Kabbalist practice from its ancient Hebrew origins to its effect on other branches of the occult, including Rosicrucianism, freemasonry, hermeticism and tarot. Waite also connects noted occultists to Kabbalah, including Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus and Eliphas Levi.

A beautiful and inspirational guide to colour and its magic. Magic can take many forms, whether it be a desire, a wish, or a spell. It can even be a simple act of kindness for friends and family, and importantly for yourself too - like a lovingly hand-made object, a comforting meal or a home-cooked gift. Many people are turning to alternative ways to find connection and meaning. Something as simple as, 'Are you ok?' has great strength, power and empathy. Thoughtfulness is key and this book has kindness at the heart of its magic to create a more forgiving and considerate community. Curated into colour chapters, Sam takes a look at each colour and what it represents. The book brims full of magical spells, poems, charms, rituals, recipes, makes and wishes to create a helpful guide - a comfort, a tonic - something that is available to everyone, whether you feel like you are a witch or not. Chapters are: White, Yellow & Orange, Red, Pink, Violet, Blue, Green, Brown, Black & Grey, Silver & Gold Projects include: Orange blossom spell, Clay incense holder, Lucky red wrist ribbon, Hanging crystal grotto, Witch's knots, Friendship jar spell, Crescent moon and amethyst make, Making a wand, Secret message jewellery, Moon biscuits.

Born Alphonse Louis Constant, French magician Eliphas Levi (1810-75) wrote prolifically on the occult sciences. His Histoire de la magie was first published in 1860. In it, Levi recounts the history of the occult in Western thought, encompassing its biblical, Zoroastrian and ancient Greek origins, various magical practices of the medieval and early modern periods - including hermeticism, alchemy and necromancy - and the role of magic in the French Revolution. The last section of the book describes nineteenth-century magical practices and includes details of Levi's own occult experiences. Prepared by Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942), this English translation was first published in 1913. An editor and translator of numerous magical texts, Waite includes here a preface comprising an eloquent defense of Levi and intellectual magic. The original French edition is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.

Born Alphonse Louis Constant, French magician Eliphas Levi (1810-75) wrote prolifically on the occult sciences. His hugely popular Dogme et rituel de la haute magie, published in French in 1854, was translated into English by Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942) in 1896. In the present work, Waite condenses Levi's two volumes into one. The first part outlines Levi's theory of the doctrine of transcendent magic and discusses a wide range of magical phenomena, including bewitchment, Kabbalah and alchemy. The second part focuses on the practical aspects of ritual and ceremony in Western occult philosophy. Waite, a mystic and occult historian, edited several alchemical and magical texts for publication in the wake of the mid-nineteenth century occult revival. His translation is accompanied by a preface outlining Levi's colourful career. The original two-volume French edition is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.

Strange Histories is an exploration of some of the most extraordinary beliefs that existed in the late Middle Ages through to the end of the seventeenth century. Presenting serious accounts of the appearance of angels and demons, sea monsters and dragons within European and North American history, this book moves away from "present-centred thinking" and instead places such events firmly within their social and cultural context. By doing so, it offers a new way of understanding the world in which dragons and witches were fact rather than fiction, and presents these riveting phenomena as part of an entirely rational thought process for the time in which they existed. This new edition has been fully updated in light of recent research. It contains a new guide to further reading as well as a selection of pictures that bring its themes to life. From ghosts to witches, to pigs on trial for murder, the book uses a range of different case studies to provide fascinating insights into the world-view of a vanished age. It is essential reading for all students of early modern history. .

In the middle of the fourteenth century, the Franciscan friar John of Rupescissa sent a dramatic warning to his followers: the last days were coming; the apocalypse was near. Deemed insane by the Christian church, Rupescissa had spent more than a decade confined to prisons--in one case wrapped in chains and locked under a staircase--yet ill treatment could not silence the friar's apocalyptic message. Religious figures who preached the end times were hardly rare in the late Middle Ages, but Rupescissa's teachings were unique. He claimed that knowledge of the natural world, and alchemy in particular, could act as a defense against the plagues and wars of the last days. His melding of apocalyptic prophecy and quasi-scientific inquiry gave rise to a new genre of alchemical writing and a novel cosmology of heaven and earth. Most important, the friar's research represented a remarkable convergence between science and religion. In order to understand scientific knowledge today, Leah DeVun asks that we revisit Rupescissa's life and the critical events of his age--the Black Death, the Hundred Years' War, the Avignon Papacy--through his eyes. Rupescissa treated alchemy as medicine (his work was the conceptual forerunner of pharmacology) and represented the emerging technologies and views that sought to combat famine, plague, religious persecution, and war. The advances he pioneered, along with the exciting strides made by his contemporaries, shed critical light on later developments in medicine, pharmacology, and chemistry.

"The Secret Life of a Satanist" steps behind the curtain with the founder and High Priest of the Church of Satan.

What is contemporary Satanism, and why would one start a church dedicated to the Dark One? It wasn't a rebellion against an oppressive religious upbringing; it was Anton Szandor LaVey's disgust with most of humanity. Drawing from Jack London, H.L. Mencken, Friedrich Nietzsche, Marquis de Sade, George Bernard Shaw, John Milton, Benjamin Franklin, and a host of reprobates, with a large dose of alchemy and black magic, LaVey formulated a philosophy that deeply resonated with him.

LaVey did not worship Satan; he paid homage to the rebellious spirit of innovation, defiance, and self-reliance that the archetype embodied. His background as a musician, circus lion trainer, hypnotist, and police photographer is covered here. The author, who later became his paramour and mother to his only son, was allowed extraordinary access to documents concerning his life, testimonies from people who had known him for years, and, most importantly, anecdotes and fond memories from a man living out of his time.

After the original publication of this biography in 1990, LaVey and Blanche Barton fought through the Satanic Panic together, and guided the Church for another seven years. This revised edition adds a dozen new and never-before-seen images.

This is the final book written by the seventeenth-century occultist and alchemist, Thomas Vaughan (1621 66). Originally published under Vaughan's penname, Eugenius Philalethes, in 1655, the work found a new audience in the Rosicrucian circles of the nineteenth century, when William Wynn Westcott, Supreme Magus of the Society, republished the volume in 1896 with a commentary by an associate, S. S. D. D. 'I have read many Alchemical Treatises', its annotator comments, 'but never one of less use to the practical Alchemist than this.' For its later readers, however, the value of the text lay in its insights into the history of hermetic thought rather than its alchemical advice. An important work of occultist philosophy in both its seventeenth- and nineteenth-century contexts, it purports to reveal nothing less than the origin of all life. The paragraph-by-paragraph commentary in turn demonstrates the history of its reception and interpretation.

After the execution of the Samuels family - known as the Witches of Warboys - on charges of witchcraft in 1593, Sir Henry Cromwell (grandfather of Oliver Cromwell) used their confiscated property to fund an annual sermon against witchcraft to be given in Huntingdon (Cambridgeshire) by a divinity scholar from Queens' College, Cambridge. Although beliefs about witchery had changed by the eighteenth century, the tradition persisted. Martin J. Naylor (c.1762-1843), a Fellow of Queens' College and the holder of incumbencies in Yorkshire, gave four of the sermons, on 25 March each year from 1792 to 1795. Although he called the subject 'antiquated', he hoped his 'feeble effort, levelled against the gloomy gothic mansion of superstition, may not be entirely without a beneficial effect'. This collection of the four sermons was published in 1795, and appended with an account of the original events in Warboys.

Physician, astrologer and occult philosopher, Ebenezer Sibly (1751 99) wrote popular works of medical theory and advice, including Culpeper's English Physician (1789) and this companion volume of 1795. A synthesis of theology, natural philosophy and medical science, the book argues for a microcosmic understanding of the human body as a composite of the four essential elements. An ambitious work, it bears witness to an important era in the development of modern medicine, as Sibly looks to combine an older hermetic tradition with new Enlightenment-era insights into the physical universe. In the final section of the work, Sibly touts his remedies, Lunar Tincture and Solar Tincture, developed to act upon female and male ailments, respectively. Composed from the 'pabulum of the universe', these medicines, Sibly claims, cure everything from gunshot wounds to dog bites.

This book, translated and edited by the occultist Samuel Liddell Mathers (1854-1918) and published in 1889, introduced to Victorian England an important work of Renaissance esoterica. Purportedly the deathbed testament of King Solomon to his son, distilling all the angelic wisdom he received in his lifetime, it provided its readers with detailed instructions in conjuring, divining and summoning God's power to work 'experiments', or spells. For Mathers, it represented 'the fountain-head and storehouse of Qabalistical Magic' and formed a central part of his efforts to lend scholarly respectability to occult research. Mathers edited the text using available manuscripts at the British Museum, and it continues to offer authoritative and fascinating insight into both Renaissance occultism and its Victorian revival. Features of this edition include introductions from three distinct manuscripts, a table of the planetary hours and their magical names, and spells for producing invisibility, creating magic carpets and identifying thieves.

This examination of the connection between the belief in miracles and religious practices in ancient times was originally written by French politician and polymath Anne-Joseph-Eus be Baconni re de Salverte (1771 1839) and published in 1829. In 1846, it was translated into English by a Scottish physician and writer, Anthony Todd Thomson (1778 1849), and published in two volumes. Thomson explains that Salverte's work was an important study of miracles and the power of priests, and he had 'performed a beneficial service in throwing open the gates of ancient sanctuaries'. However, Thomson also states that he differed from Salverte over the idea of the miraculous, and that he had expunged or heavily edited any passages relating to Christianity, even changing 'miracles' in the original subtitle to 'apparent miracles'. Volume 1 begins with a consideration of human credulity before discussing magic in the ancient world, and offering explanations for supernatural phenomena.

This examination of the connection between the belief in miracles and religious practices in ancient times was originally written by French politician and polymath Anne-Joseph-Eus be Baconni re de Salverte (1771 1839) and published in 1829. In 1846, it was translated into English by a Scottish physician and writer, Anthony Todd Thomson (1778 1849), and published in two volumes. Thomson explains that Salverte's work was an important study of miracles and the power of priests, and he had 'performed a beneficial service in throwing open the gates of ancient sanctuaries'. However, Thomson also states that he differed from Salverte over the idea of the miraculous, and that he had expunged or heavily edited any passages relating to Christianity, even changing 'miracles' in the original subtitle to 'apparent miracles'. Volume 2 discusses the role of drugs and poison in magic, as well as the influence of weather on miraculous events.

Uncertainty is an everyday aspect of existence for the Maasai of East Africa. They take ritual precautions against mystical misfortune in their small and dispersed villages, and place community life in the hands of elders whose collective wisdom is underpinned by a belief in a moral, supreme and unknowably provident god. This stability is, however, edged with concern for secret malcontents who might seek to create havoc through sorcery and whose elusive magic lies outside the elders' power. "Time, Space and the Unknown" follows on from "The Maasai of Matapato and The Samburu" to show how uncertainty and misfortune influence the social life of the Maasai.

Academics tend to look on 'esoteric', 'occult' or 'magical' beliefs with contempt, but are usually ignorant about the religious and philosophical traditions to which these terms refer, or their relevance to intellectual history. Wouter Hanegraaff tells the neglected story of how intellectuals since the Renaissance have tried to come to terms with a cluster of 'pagan' ideas from late antiquity that challenged the foundations of biblical religion and Greek rationality. Expelled from the academy on the basis of Protestant and Enlightenment polemics, these traditions have come to be perceived as the Other by which academics define their identity to the present day. Hanegraaff grounds his discussion in a meticulous study of primary and secondary sources, taking the reader on an exciting intellectual voyage from the fifteenth century to the present day and asking what implications the forgotten history of exclusion has for established textbook narratives of religion, philosophy and science.