In Dante's Inferno, the lowest circle of Hell is reserved for traitors, those who betrayed their closest companions. In a wide range of literatures and mythologies such intimate aggression is a source of ultimate terror, and in Witchcraft, Intimacy, and Trust, Peter Geschiere sketches it as a central ember at the core of human relationships, one brutally revealed in the practice of witchcraft. Examining witchcraft in its variety of forms throughout the globe, he shows how this often misunderstood practice is deeply structured by intimacy and the powers it affords. In doing so, he offers not only a comprehensive look at contemporary witchcraft but also a fresh - if troubling - new way to think about intimacy itself. Geschiere begins in the forests of southeast Cameroon with the Maka, who fear "witchcraft of the house" above all else. Drawing a variety of local conceptions of intimacy into a global arc, he tracks notions of the home and family - and witchcraft's transgression of them - throughout Africa, Europe, Brazil, and Oceania, showing that witchcraft provides powerful ways of addressing issues that are crucial to social relationships. Indeed, by uncovering the link between intimacy and witchcraft in so many parts of the world, he paints a provocative picture of human sociality that scrutinizes some of the most prevalent views held by contemporary social science. One of the few books to situate witchcraft in a global context, Witchcraft, Intimacy, and Trust is at once a theoretical tour de force and an empirically rich and lucid take on a difficult-to-understand spiritual practice and the private spaces it so greatly affects.

America Bewitched is the first major history of witchcraft in America - from the Salem witch trials of 1692 to the present day. The infamous Salem trials are etched into the consciousness of modern America, the human toll a reminder of the dangers of intolerance and persecution. The refrain 'Remember Salem!' was invoked frequently over the ensuing centuries. As time passed, the trials became a milepost measuring the distance America had progressed from its colonial past, its victims now the righteous and their persecutors the shamed. Yet the story of witchcraft did not end as the American Enlightenment dawned - a new, long, and chilling chapter was about to begin. Witchcraft after Salem was not just a story of fire-side tales, legends, and superstitions: it continued to be a matter of life and death, souring the American dream for many. We know of more people killed as witches between 1692 and the 1950s than were executed before it. Witches were part of the story of the decimation of the Native Americans, the experience of slavery and emancipation, and the immigrant experience; they were embedded in the religious and social history of the country. Yet the history of American witchcraft between the eighteenth and the twentieth century also tells a less traumatic story, one that shows how different cultures interacted and shaped each other's languages and beliefs. This is therefore much more than the tale of one persecuted community: it opens a fascinating window on the fears, prejudices, hopes, and dreams of the American people as their country rose from colony to superpower.

Discover the art of spell casting to add some magick to your daily life. Whatever your hopes and dreams, learn how to successfully set your intentions, raise and direct energy, and manifest your desires with 150 simple rituals. From protection and banishment spells, to empowering incantations and folk charms for good fortune - each page offers steps to enhance a different aspect of your life, allowing you to take the practice into your own hands and connect to the magick within. Each spell is set out in simple, easy-to-follow steps, ideal for those beginning their witchcraft journey. Beautifully illustrated throughout, this book includes an introduction into witchcraft, the tools you may want to include, and an extensive correspondence of herbs and crystals, as well as a simple guide to create your own unique spells and rituals. Dive straight in to discover: -150 different spells, recipes, and practices to create change, connect with, and call magick into your life -Powerful rituals inspired by folk magick and contemporary witchcraft, including meditations, rune and sigil crafting, protection and banishment, and more -Structured into sections, making it easy to find the best magical solution for every modern-world situation or problem The Book of Spells is fully illustrated in colour. The striking illustration style and special finishes make it a perfect high-end gift purchase for the wonderful witch-lover in your life!

At the center of this remarkable 1621 play is the story of Elizabeth Sawyer, the titular "Witch of Edmonton," a woman who had in fact been executed for the crime of witchcraft mere months before the play's first performance. Yet hers is only one of several plots that animate The Witch of Edmonton. Blending sensational drama with domestic tragedy and comic farce, this complex and multi-layered play by Dekker, Ford, and Rowley emphasizes the mundane realities and interpersonal conflicts that are so often at the heart of sensational occurrences. This edition of their work offers a compelling and informative introduction, thorough annotation, and a selection of contextual materials that helps set the play in the context of the "witch-craze" of Jacobean England.

Undeniably, evil exists in our world; we ourselves commit evil acts. How can one account for evil's ageless presence, its attraction, and its fruits? The question is one that Jeffrey Burton Russell addresses in his history of the concept of the Devil—the personification of evil itself. In the predecessor to this book, The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity, Russell traced the idea of the Devil in comparative religions and examined its development in Western thought through ancient Hebrew religion and the New Testament. This volume follows its course over the first five centuries of the Christian era. Like most theological problems, the question of evil was largely ignored by the primitive Christian community. The later Christian thinkers who wrestled with it for many centuries were faced with a seemingly irreconcilable paradox: if God is benevolent and omnipotent, why does He permit evil? How, on the other hand, can God be all-powerful if one adopts a dualist stance, and posits two divine forces, one good and one evil? Drawing upon a rich variety of literary sources as well as upon the visual arts, Russell discusses the apostolic fathers, the apologetic fathers, and the Gnostics. He goes on to treat the thought of Irenaeus and Tertullian, and to describe the diabology of the Alexandrian fathers, Clement and Origen, as well as the dualist tendencies in Lactantius and in the monastic fathers. Finally he addresses the syntheses of the fifth century, especially that of Augustine, whose view of the Devil has been widely accepted in the entire Christian community ever since. Satan is both a revealing study of the compelling figure of the Devil and an imaginative and persuasive inquiry into the forces that shape a concept and ensure its survival.

A fascinating examination of alleged demon possession and witchcraft in a seventeenth-century convent in Carpi, Italy. In 1636, residents at the convent of Santa Chiara in Carpi in northern Italy were struck by an extraordinary illness that provoked bizarre behavior. Eventually numbering fourteen, the afflicted nuns were subject to screaming fits,throwing themselves on the floor, and falling abruptly into a deep sleep. When medical experts' cures proved ineffective, exorcists ministered to the women and concluded that they were possessed by demons and the victims of witchcraft. Catering to women from elite families, the nunnery suffered much turmoil for three years and, remarkably, three of the victims died from their ills. A maverick nun and a former confessor were widely suspected to be responsible, through witchcraft, for these woes. Based primarily on the exhaustive investigation by the Inquisition of Modena, The Scourge of Demons examines this fascinating case in its historical context. The travails of Santa Chiara occurred at a time when Europe witnessed peaks in both witch-hunting and in the numbers of people reputedly possessed by demons. Female religious figures appeared particularly prone to demonic attacks, and Counter-Reformation Church authorities were especially interested in imposing stricter discipline on convents. Watt carefully considers how the nuns of Santa Chiara understood and experienced alleged possession and witchcraft, concluding that Santa Chiara's diabolical troubles and their denouement -- involving the actions of nuns, confessors, inquisitorial authorities, and exorcists -- were profoundly shaped by the unique confluence of religious, cultural, judicial, andintellectual trends that flourished in the 1630s. Jeffrey R. Watt is professor of history at the University of Mississippi.

This richly illustrated history provides a readable and fresh approach to the extensive and complex story of witchcraft and magic. Telling the story from the dawn of writing in the ancient world to the globally successful Harry Potter films, the authors explore a wide range of magical beliefs and practices, the rise of the witch trials, and the depiction of the Devil-worshipping witch. The book also focuses on the more recent history of witchcraft and magic, from the Enlightenment to the present, exploring the rise of modern magic, the anthropology of magic around the globe, and finally the cinematic portrayal of witches and magicians, from The Wizard of Oz to Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Defining 'magic' is a maddening task. Over the last century numerous philosophers, anthropologists, historians, and theologians have attempted to pin down its essential meaning, sometimes analysing it in such complex and abstruse depth that it all but loses its sense altogether. For this reason, many people often shy away from providing a detailed definition, assuming it is generally understood as the human control of supernatural forces. 'Magic' continues to pervade the popular imagination and idiom. People feel comfortable with its contemporary multiple meanings, unaware of the controversy, conflict, and debate its definition has caused over two and a half millennia. In common usage today 'magic' is uttered in reference to the supernatural, superstition, illusion, trickery, religious miracles, fantasies, and as a simple superlative. The literary confection known as 'magical realism' has considerable appeal and many modern scientists have ironically incorporated the word into their vocabulary, with their 'magic acid', 'magic bullets' and 'magic angles'. Since the so-called European Enlightenment magic has often been seen as a marker of primitivism, of a benighted earlier stage of human development. Yet across the modern globalized world hundreds of millions continue to resort to magic - and also to fear it. Magic provides explanations and remedies for those living in extreme poverty and without access to alternatives. In the industrial West, with its state welfare systems, religious fundamentalists decry the continued moral threat posed by magic. Under the guise of neo-Paganism, its practice has become a religion in itself. Magic continues to be a truly global issue. This Very Short Introduction does not attempt to provide a concluding definition of magic: it is beyond simple definition. Instead it explores the many ways in which magic, as an idea and a practice, has been understood and employed over the millennia. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

In this sensitive and personal investigation into Benin's occult world, Douglas J. Falen wrestles with the challenges of encountering a reality in which magic, science, and the Vodun religion converge into a single universal force. He takes seriously his Beninese interlocutors' insistence that the indigenous phenomenon known as aze ("witchcraft") is an African science, credited with fantastic and productive deeds, such as teleportation and supernatural healing. Although the Beninese understanding of aze reflects positive scientific properties in its use of specialized knowledge to harness nature's energy and realize economic success, its boundless power is inherently ambivalent because it can corrupt its users, who dispense death and destruction. Witches and healers are equivalent to supervillains and superheroes, locked in epic battles over malevolent and benevolent human desires. Beninese people's discourse about such mystical confrontations expresses a philosophy of moral duality and cosmic balance. Falen demonstrates how a deep engagement with another lived reality opens our minds and contributes to understanding across cultural difference.

From 1563 to 1736 Scotland put thousands of women to death for witchcraft. Their supposed crimes have much to tell us about attitudes to women in the past, and in the present day. This book introduces sixteen women who lost their lives or lived in the long shadow of the persecutions. 'Witches' who, like MARGARET AITKEN, confessed, implicated others, even aided the hunters before they were burned. Nonconforming women like MARY MACLEOD, who saw their reputations tarnished when they did not bend to society's expectations. Creatures of the imagination, like Robert Burns's NANNY, who embody deep-seated associations between womanhood and the occult. Weaving fiction with the facts where these are known, We Are All Witches invites the reader to explore the forces at work in one of the darkest episodes of Scotland's history and consider their echoes in the present day.

Witchcraft and a Life in the New South Africa reconstructs the biography of an ordinary South African, Jimmy Mohale. Born in 1964, Jimmy came of age in rural South Africa during apartheid, then studied at university and worked as a teacher during the anti-apartheid struggle. In 2005, Jimmy died from an undiagnosed sickness, probably related to AIDS. Jimmy gradually came to see the unanticipated misfortune he experienced as a result of his father's witchcraft and sought remedies from diviners rather than from biomedical doctors. This study casts new light on scholarly understandings of the connections between South African politics, witchcraft and the AIDS pandemic.

While the evolution of contemporary Witchcraft has produced many powerful variations, traditional Wicca can offer unique experiences for spiritual seekers. This book explores structured, coven-based styles of Wicca, in which the practitioners typically trace initiatory lineages back to Wicca s early founders. Exploring covens, initiations, lineages, practices, ethics, and more, Traditional Wicca shares tips and ideas on how to get the most from this profound approach to Witchcraft. Discover how to recognize healthy, reputable covens. Learn how to navigate the process of asking for training and succeeding in an outer court. This book also includes contributions from several practitioners, providing first-person perspectives on what it s like to be on the traditional Wiccan path.

On September 20, 1587, Walpurga Hausmannin of Dillingen in southern Germany was burned at the stake as a witch. Although she had confessed to committing a long list of "maleficia" (deeds of harmful magic), including killing forty--one infants and two mothers in labor, her evil career allegedly began with just one heinous act--sex with a demon. Fornication with demons was a major theme of her trial record, which detailed an almost continuous orgy of sexual excess with her diabolical paramour Federlin "in many divers places, . . . even in the street by night."
As Walter Stephens demonstrates in "Demon Lovers," it was not Hausmannin or other so-called witches who were obsessive about sex with demons--instead, a number of devout Christians, including trained theologians, displayed an uncanny preoccupation with the topic during the centuries of the "witch craze." Why? To find out, Stephens conducts a detailed investigation of the first and most influential treatises on witchcraft (written between 1430 and 1530), including the infamous "Malleus Maleficarum" ("Hammer of Witches").
Far from being credulous fools or mindless misogynists, early writers on witchcraft emerge in Stephens's account as rational but reluctant skeptics, trying desperately to resolve contradictions in Christian thought on God, spirits, and sacraments that had bedeviled theologians for centuries. Proof of the physical existence of demons--for instance, through evidence of their intercourse with mortal witches--would provide strong evidence for the reality of the supernatural, the truth of the Bible, and the existence of God. Early modern witchcraft theory reflected a crisis of belief--a crisis that continues tobe expressed today in popular debates over angels, Satanic ritual child abuse, and alien abduction.

Now available with an updated cover, The Truth About Witchcraft provides a wonderful introduction to Witchcraft and Wicca for those new to the craft. Exploring the history of folk magic and the contemporary practices of Witchcraft and Wicca, this highly accessible book shares simple rituals for love, prosperity, raising energy, and more. You will also discover helpful tips and techniques for utilizing crystals, herbs, candles, cauldrons, and wands. Dispelling the many myths and misunderstandings that surround Witchcraft, this convenient guide shows how to work with timeless rituals and natural energies in order to create positive changes in your life. Whether you want to learn about the Goddess and the God or the special holidays known as sabbats and esbats, you will discover the answers you seek.

An array of original stories from around the world bring a new and exciting twist to one of the most beloved figures in fiction: witches. Witches! Whether you know them from Shakespeare or from WICKED, there is no staple more beloved in folklore, fairy tale, or fantasy than these magical beings. Witches are everywhere, and at the heart of stories that resonate with many people around the world. This dazzling, otherworldly collection gathers new stories of witches from all walks of life. Whether they be maiden, mother, crone, or other; funny, fierce, light and airy, or dark and disturbing; witches are a vital part of some of the greatest stories we have, and new ones start here! Bringing together twenty-nine stories and poems from some of the greatest science fiction and fantasy writers working today, including three tales from a BIPOC-only open submission period, THE BOOK OF WITCHES features Linda Addison, C.L. Clark, P Djeli Clark, Indrapramit Das, Amal El Mohtar, Andrea Hairston, Millie Ho, Saad Hossain, Kathleen Jennings, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Cassandra Khaw, Fonda Lee, Darcie Little Badger, Ken Liu, Usman T. Malik, Maureen F. McHugh, Premee Mohammed, Garth Nix, Tobi Ogundiran, Tochi Onyebuchi, Miyuki Jane Pinckard, Kelly Robson, Angela Slatter, Andrea Stewart, Emily Teng, Sheree Renée Thomas, Tade Thompson, and E. Lily Yu—and contains illustrations from three-time Hugo award-nominated artist Alyssa Winans throughout. This extraordinary anthology vividly breathes life into one of the most captivating and feared magical sorceresses and will become a treasured keepsake for fans of fantasy, science fiction, and fairy tales everywhere.