Walter Scott (1779 1858), President and Theological Tutor at Airedale College in Bradford, delivered a series of lectures on the occult at the Congregational Library, London, in 1841. This 1843 volume is a collection of Scott's lectures, in which he employs scriptural and testimonial evidence to support his claim that evil spirits exist. Scott describes the character and behaviour of evil spirits and the methods they employ to contact and influence humans; for example witchcraft, divination, possession and temptation. Scott draws on Jewish and ancient Egyptian literature, as well as accounts of the oracles of classical antiquity to illustrate his thesis, as well as numerous anecdotes from famous cases like the Salem witch trials. A passionate and colourful example of non-conformist Christian thought on the occult, and on the significance of what Scott explains are 'fallen angels who were transformed by their own wilful rebellion and apostasy into demons'.

In 1968 University of California Press published an unusual manuscript by an anthropology student named Carlos Castaneda. The Teachings of Don Juan enthralled a generation of seekers dissatisfied with the limitations of the Western world view. Castaneda's now classic book remains controversial for the alternative way of seeing that it presents and the revolution in cognition it demands. Whether read as ethnographic fact or creative fiction, it is the story of a remarkable journey that has left an indelible impression on the life of more than a million readers around the world.

This book explores a series of powerful artifacts associated with King Solomon via legendary or extracanonical textual sources. Tracing their cultural resonance throughout history, art historian Allegra Iafrate delivers exciting insights into these objects and interrogates the ways in which magic manifests itself at a material level. Each chapter focuses on a different Solomonic object: a ring used to control demons; a mysterious set of bottles that constrain evil forces; an endless knot or seal with similar properties; the shamir, known for its supernatural ability to cut through stone; and a flying carpet that can bring the sitter anywhere he desires. Taken together, these chapters constitute a study on the reception of the figure of Solomon, but they are also cultural biographies of these magical objects and their inherent aesthetic, morphological, and technical qualities. Thought-provoking and engaging, Iafrate's study shows how ancient magic artifacts live on in our imagination, in items such as Sauron's ring of power, Aladdin's lamp, and the magic carpet. It will appeal to historians of art, religion, folklore, and literature.

In 1888 the University of Pennsylvania sponsored the first ever American archaeological expedition to Mesopotamia, to Nippur, about 160 km south of Baghdad. Among the artefacts discovered were the remains of over 100 inscribed bowls from the early centuries CE. Some contain unidentifiable writing, but most carry spiral inscriptions of exorcism texts in one of three Aramaic dialects and scripts: that of the Babylonian Talmud, a Syriac dialect, and Mandaic. This book, first published in 1913, contains transcriptions and annotated translations of texts from forty of the bowls, together with an inscription found on a human skull, and 41 illustrations. A substantial introduction sets the material in the broader context of Hellenistic magic. The author traces the bowl magic back to ancient Babylonian sorcery, and explores its relations with cuneiform religious texts and Greek magical papyri, emphasising its culturally eclectic character and the diversity of its users.

In early modern Europe, ideas about nature, God, demons, and occult forces were inextricably connected and much ink and blood was spilled in arguments over the characteristics and boundaries of nature and the supernatural. Seitz uses records of Inquisition witchcraft trials in Venice to uncover how individuals across society, from servants to aristocrats, understood these two fundamental categories. Others have examined this issue from the points of view of religious history, the history of science and medicine, or the history of witchcraft alone, but this work brings these sub-fields together to illuminate comprehensively the complex forces shaping early modern beliefs.

Joseph Ennemoser (1787 1854) was an Tyrolean doctor and scientist, noted for his use of magnetism and hypnosis. He was a forerunner of Freud in his belief in the connection between the mind and physical health, and his interest in psychology led to investigations into the paranormal. He became well known for his presentations about magic, delusions and apparently supernatural occurrences. He suggested that most of these phenomena appeared miraculous only because of a lack of understanding of the laws of nature. The History of Magic was published in Leipzig in 1844, and translated into English in 1854 by William Howitt, a leading Spiritualist writer. Volume 2 examines Germanic and medieval magic. Ennemoser attempts to show how animal magnetism has been partially understood throughout history, and relates it to scientific knowledge. The editor, Mary Howitt, has added a collection of accounts of supernatural events which illustrate the topics discussed.

First published in 1886, this comprehensive analysis of nineteenth-century spiritual experiments questions our long tradition of encounters with the supernatural, and why it appeared to have declined in influence in the writer's era. Maudsley (1835 1918), a medical psychologist and pioneer psychiatrist, sets out to bring such alleged spiritual phenomena under scientific investigation. Emphasising the natural defects and errors of human observation and reasoning, as well as the prolific activity of the imagination, this inquiry into the causes of belief in the supernatural suggests that much of it can be explained though hallucination, mania, and delusion. The book is divided into three parts: the first section concentrates on the causes of fallacies in the sound mind, while the second considers unsound mental action. The focus of part three is theopneusticism, or the attainment of supernatural knowledge by divine inspiration. This second edition appeared in 1887.

Written by folklorist Andrew Lang (1844 1912), this 1894 publication examines the ambivalent relationship the living have attempted to forge with the dead throughout history. Nicknamed 'the Wizard of St Andrews', this prolific polymath also worked as an anthropologist, classicist, historian, poet, mythologist, essayist and journalist, producing over a hundred publications in his lifetime. Largely ignored by scholarship, this book suggests expanding the study of folklore to include contemporary narratives of supernatural events. Taking its title from the legends of the notorious Cock Lane ghost, the work considers the survival of ancient beliefs such as hauntings, clairvoyance, and other phenomena believed to transcend the laws of nature, and how such beliefs have persisted through great social upheaval and change. It includes chapters on savage and ancient spiritualism, comparative psychical research, haunted houses, second sight, crystal gazing, and Presbyterian ghost hunters, among others.

The Anglican clergyman and founding member of the Society of the Holy Cross, Charles Maurice Davies (1828 1910), published Mystic London in 1875. The work is a collection of Davies' observations and researches into urban spiritualism. It includes descriptions of London mesmerists, mediums and s ances, and discussions of Darwinism, secularism and the non-religious. Davies, who discovered spiritualism in Paris in the mid-1850s, and became a committed spiritualist after the death of his son in 1865, argued in this work that the principles and practices of spiritualism did not pose any threat to Christianity and that the two movements had much in common and could peacefully coexist. The work is an indispensable source on the presence of alternative religion in London and for the beliefs and practices of nineteenth-century spiritualists. It offers a fascinating insight into Victorian experiences and attitudes towards the occult and the supernatural.

This two-volume work, co-authored by Edmund Gurney (1847 1888), Frederic W. H. Myers (1843 1901) and Frank Podmore (1856 1910), all leading members of the Society for Psychical Research, was first published in 1886. It documents over 700 case studies of ghost-seeing, and aimed to revolutionise thinking about ghosts by proposing a theory that explained ghost-seeing through the idea of telepathy. Volume 1 includes an introduction by Myers and an explanation of the analytical methods used in the study. It then focuses on hypnotism, the telepathic transference of ideas, mental pictures and emotional impressions, dreams, and hallucinations, and contains an impressive essay on the history of witchcraft. This pioneering study is an indispensable source for the history of psychical research. It provides detailed insights into the Victorian fascination with the occult and the supernatural, and is still the most extensive collection of ghost-seeing accounts available.

Intended as a supplement to Sir Walter Scott's 1830 Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, this 1832 publication seeks to explain and expose the science behind the alleged 'magic' of spiritualists and conjurors. David Brewster (1781 1868), a Scottish natural philosopher and historian of science, was highly regarded in his lifetime but has since faded into obscurity. Penned at the request of Scott, Brewster's friend and neighbour, this book follows an epistolary structure, consisting of thirteen letters each addressing and exposing different aspects of the alleged supernatural activity, in keeping with the format of Scott's publication. Brewster's subject matter includes optics, magic lanterns, automata, alchemy, fire-breathing, spontaneous combustion, spectral illusions and various other phenomena. In each case he carefully outlines how this 'magic' is created with optical illusion, narcotic drugs, gas inhalation, and chemical tricks. The book offers an intriguing insight into nineteenth-century attitudes towards the supernatural.

Sir Walter Scott (1771 1832) is best known for his poetry and for historical novels such as Ivanhoe and Rob Roy, but he also had a lifelong fascination with witchcraft and the occult. Following a spell of ill-health, Scott was encouraged by his son-in-law, publisher J. G. Lockhart, to put together a volume examining the causes of paranormal phenomena. This collection of letters, first published in 1830, is notable for both its scope (examining social, cultural, medical and psychological factors in peoples' paranormal experiences) and its clear, rational standpoint. Scott explores the influence of Christianity on evolving views of what is classified as 'witchcraft' or 'evil', and he explains the many (often innocuous) meanings of the word 'witch'. Written with palpable enthusiasm and from a strikingly modern perspective, this volume explores a range of topics including fairies, elves and fortune-telling as well as inquisitions and witch trials.

Spectres of the Self is a fascinating study of the rich cultures surrounding the experience of seeing ghosts in England from the Reformation to the twentieth century. Shane McCorristine examines a vast range of primary and secondary sources, showing how ghosts, apparitions, and hallucinations were imagined, experienced, and debated from the pages of fiction to the case reports of the Society for Psychical Research. By analysing a broad range of themes from telepathy and ghost-hunting to the notion of dreaming while awake and the question of why ghosts wore clothes, Dr McCorristine reveals the sheer variety of ideas of ghost seeing in English society and culture. He shows how the issue of ghosts remained dynamic despite the advance of science and secularism and argues that the ghost ultimately represented a spectre of the self, a symbol of the psychological hauntedness of modern experience.

Spectres of the Self is a fascinating study of the rich cultures surrounding the experience of seeing ghosts in England from the Reformation to the twentieth century. Shane McCorristine examines a vast range of primary and secondary sources, showing how ghosts, apparitions, and hallucinations were imagined, experienced, and debated from the pages of fiction to the case reports of the Society for Psychical Research. By analysing a broad range of themes from telepathy and ghost-hunting to the notion of dreaming while awake and the question of why ghosts wore clothes, Dr McCorristine reveals the sheer variety of ideas of ghost seeing in English society and culture. He shows how the issue of ghosts remained dynamic despite the advance of science and secularism and argues that the ghost ultimately represented a spectre of the self, a symbol of the psychological hauntedness of modern experience.

The art of predicting earthly events from the movements of stars and planets has always been a source of fascination. Medieval astrologers, though sometimes feared to be magicians in league with demons, were usually revered scholars whose ideas and practices were widely respected. Politics, medicine, weather forecasting, cosmology and alchemy were all influenced by astrological concepts. Astrology in Medieval Manuscripts explores the dazzling complexity of western medieval astrology and its place in society, as revealed by a wealth of illustrated manuscripts from the British Library's rich medieval collection.

Whether ghosts, astrology or ESP, up to 80 per cent of the population believes in one or more aspects of the paranormal. Such beliefs are entertaining, and it is tempting to think of them as harmless. However, there is mounting evidence that paranormal beliefs can be dangerous - cases of children dying because parents rejected orthodox medicine in favour of alternative remedies, and 'psychics' who trade on the grief of the bereaved for personal profit and gain. Expenditure on the paranormal runs into billions of dollars each year. In Beyond Belief: Skepticism, Science and the Paranormal Martin Bridgstock provides an integrated understanding of what an evidence-based approach to the paranormal - a skeptical approach - involves, and why it is necessary. Bridgstock does not set out to show that all paranormal claims are necessarily false, but he does suggest that we all need the analytical ability and critical thinking skills to seek and assess the evidence for paranormal claims.

Michael Constantine Psellus (1018-1178 C.E) was one of the most notable writers and philosophers of the Byzantine era. The Byzantine domain was effectively the eastern Greek speaking part of the Roman Empire centred on Byzantium (Constantinople, modern Istanbul) which split off from the Latin West in 364 C.E. Its intellectual legacies helped lay the foundations for the Italian Renaissance. It was the fall of Constantinople in 1453 that released a tide of Greek reading scholars into Western Europe, particularly Venice. With them came much of the magical and Hermetic knowledge which the Greeks in their turn had inherited from the Egyptians. "The Key of Solomon" was one such text. It is therefore essential to the understanding of such magical texts that one understands exactly how the Byzantines understood the nature of daemons. Psellus forms the bridge between the ancient world, Byzantine Greek, and the grimoire conception of the nature of daemons. Hailing from Constantinople, Psellus' career was an illustrious and practical one, serving as a political advisor to a succession of emperors, playing a decisive role in the transition of power between various monarchs. He became the leading professor at the newly founded University of Constantinople, bearing the honorary title, 'Consul of the Philosophers'. He was the driving force behind the university curriculum reform designed to emphasise the Greek classics, especially Homeric literature. Psellus is credited with the shift from Aristotelian thought to the Platonist tradition, and was adept in politics, astronomy, medicine, music, theology, jurisprudence, physics, grammar and history.

It was not so long ago that the belief in witchcraft was shared by members of all levels of society. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, diseases were feared by all, the infant mortality rate was high, and around one in six harvests was likely to fail. In the small rural communities in which most people lived, affection and enmity could build over long periods. When misfortune befell a family, they looked to their neighbours for support - and for the cause. During the sixteenth century, Europe was subject to a fevered and pious wave of witch hunts and trials. As the bodies of accused women burnt right across the Continent, the flames of a nationwide witch hunt were kindled in England. In 1612 nine women were hanged in the Pendle witch trials, the prosecution of the Chelmsford witches in 1645 resulted in the biggest mass execution in England, and in the mid-1640s the Witch finder General instigated a reign of terror in the Puritan counties of East Anglia. Hundreds of women were accused and hanged. It wasn't until the latter half of the seventeenth century that witch-hunting went into decline.In this book, Andrew and David Pickering present a comprehensive catalogue of witch hunts, arranged chronologically within geographical regions. The tales of persecution within these pages are testimony to the horror of witch-hunting that occurred throughout England in the hundred years after the passing of the Elizabethan Witchcraft Act of 1563.

This book represents the first comprehensive record of all legal documents pertaining to the Salem witch trials, in chronological order. Numerous newly discovered manuscripts, as well as records published in earlier books that were overlooked in other editions, offer a comprehensive narrative account of the events of 1692-93, with supplementary materials stretching as far as the mid - 18th century. The book may be used as a reference book or read as an unfolding narrative. All legal records are newly transcribed, and errors in previous editions have been corrected. Included in this edition is a historical introduction, a legal introduction, and a linguistic introduction. Manuscripts are accompanied by notes that, in many cases, identify the person who wrote the record. This has never been attempted, and much is revealed by seeing who wrote what, when.
Publication made possible with generous support by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
http: //www.archives.gov/nhprc/index.html

It is 1889 and George Jacob Schweinfurth sets himself up as a new Messiah-Jesus reborn. He is adept at persuading people, especially young women, to join him in "heaven." Schweinfurth's "angels," soon find themselves pregnant, giving birth to children supposedly conceived "without sin."Six Years in Heaven" is a cautionary tale of the effects of religious fundamentalism and the power of cults. The book is interwoven with a romance, telling the story of Clara and the attempts of her beau, Arthur, to save her from Schweinfurth. However, the true purpose of the novel is most likely to have been to expose the real-life scandalous goings-on within the Church Triumphant.