Margaret Alice Murray's acclaimed history of European witchcraft is accompanied by descriptions of the rituals performed and concoctions made by witches centuries ago. The author's burgeoning knowledge is a service to the subject; what might otherwise be overly dry or arcane is revealed in a manner both exciting and thought-provoking. We are offered historical observations of the witchcraft tradition, with the life and times of the women accused of its practice examined in the context of the era. Readers will be left in no doubt about the traditions, ceremonies and magical rites practiced by witches. Although Murray was later found to be overstating the influence and magnitude of the witchcraft tradition - she considered it to be a popular successor to paganism - she explains its origins, growth and persecution of witches with astute narration. Murray posits that witches were thought to be worshiping the devil; a grave crime in the fervently Christian Europe of yore.

Murray's Witch Cult in Western Europe 1921, written during a period she was unable to do field work in Egypt, laid out the essential elements of her thesis that a common pattern of underground pagan resistance to the Christian Church existed across Europe. The pagans organized in covens of thirteen worshippers, dedicated to a male god and held ritual sabbaths. Murray maintained that pagan beliefs and religion dating from the neolithic through the medieval period, secretly practiced human sacrifice until exposed by the witchhunt starting around 1450.

Margaret Alice Murray's acclaimed history of European witchcraft is accompanied by descriptions of the rituals performed and concoctions made by witches centuries ago. The author's burgeoning knowledge is a service to the subject; what might otherwise be overly dry or arcane is revealed in a manner both exciting and thought-provoking. We are offered historical observations of the witchcraft tradition, with the life and times of the women accused of its practice examined in the context of the era. Readers will be left in no doubt about the traditions, ceremonies and magical rites practiced by witches. Although Murray was later found to be overstating the influence and magnitude of the witchcraft tradition - she considered it to be a popular successor to paganism - she explains its origins, growth and persecution of witches with astute narration. Murray posits that witches were thought to be worshiping the devil; a grave crime in the fervently Christian Europe of yore.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1921 Edition.

Margaret Murray was an anthropologist who upset the comfortable consensus of her day with the idea that Western Europe did not convert 'en masse' to Christianity. Using contemporary accounts she was able to show that, while European rulers and nobles were successfully targeted by Christian missionaries, the majority of the population held tenaciously to the Old Religion. These far older beliefs centred upon the worship of Cernunnos, the figure of a male, horned god. The result was centuries of conflict between Christianity and 'Paganism' in which the adherents of the Cross gradually gained the ascendant. And following the general principle that 'the God of the old religion becomes the Devil of the new', the Christian 'Evil One' was given the characteristics of the pagan deity - horns and all. Those who stubbornly held to the Old Ways were seen as devil-worshippers, witches, followers of the left-hand path who fully deserved the stake and death by purging fire. Margaret Murray gives a convincing account of this God of the witches, and shows how many famous characters in European history - among them William Rufus, Joan of Arc and Thomas a Beckett - must be counted as members of The Old Religion. A book for all those interested in the roots of Wicca and neo-paganism.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1921 Edition.