A History of Magic and Witchcraft: Sabbats, Satan and Superstitions in the West
Broomsticks and cauldrons, familiars and spells: magic and witchcraft conjures a vivid picture in our modern-day imagination. While much of our understanding is rooted in superstition and myth, the history of magic and witchcraft offers a window into the past. It illuminates the lives of ordinary people in the past and shines a light on the fascinating pop culture of the premodern world.

Blowing away folkloric cobwebs, this enlightening new history dispels many of the misconceptions surrounding witchcraft and magic that we still hold today. From Ancient Greece and Rome through to the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era, historian Frances Timbers shines a light on the impact of Christianity and popular culture in the construction of the figure of the ‘witch’. The development of demonology and ceremonial magic is brought together with the West’s troubled past with magic and witchcraft to chart the birth of modern Wiccan and Neopagan movements in England and North America.

Witchcraft is a metaphor for oppression in an age in which persecution is an everyday occurrence somewhere in the world. Fanaticism, intolerance, prejudice, authoritarianism, and religious and political ideologies are never attractive. Beware the witch hunter!
1130594319
A History of Magic and Witchcraft: Sabbats, Satan and Superstitions in the West
Broomsticks and cauldrons, familiars and spells: magic and witchcraft conjures a vivid picture in our modern-day imagination. While much of our understanding is rooted in superstition and myth, the history of magic and witchcraft offers a window into the past. It illuminates the lives of ordinary people in the past and shines a light on the fascinating pop culture of the premodern world.

Blowing away folkloric cobwebs, this enlightening new history dispels many of the misconceptions surrounding witchcraft and magic that we still hold today. From Ancient Greece and Rome through to the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era, historian Frances Timbers shines a light on the impact of Christianity and popular culture in the construction of the figure of the ‘witch’. The development of demonology and ceremonial magic is brought together with the West’s troubled past with magic and witchcraft to chart the birth of modern Wiccan and Neopagan movements in England and North America.

Witchcraft is a metaphor for oppression in an age in which persecution is an everyday occurrence somewhere in the world. Fanaticism, intolerance, prejudice, authoritarianism, and religious and political ideologies are never attractive. Beware the witch hunter!
32.95 In Stock
A History of Magic and Witchcraft: Sabbats, Satan and Superstitions in the West

A History of Magic and Witchcraft: Sabbats, Satan and Superstitions in the West

by Frances Timbers
A History of Magic and Witchcraft: Sabbats, Satan and Superstitions in the West

A History of Magic and Witchcraft: Sabbats, Satan and Superstitions in the West

by Frances Timbers

Overview

Broomsticks and cauldrons, familiars and spells: magic and witchcraft conjures a vivid picture in our modern-day imagination. While much of our understanding is rooted in superstition and myth, the history of magic and witchcraft offers a window into the past. It illuminates the lives of ordinary people in the past and shines a light on the fascinating pop culture of the premodern world.

Blowing away folkloric cobwebs, this enlightening new history dispels many of the misconceptions surrounding witchcraft and magic that we still hold today. From Ancient Greece and Rome through to the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era, historian Frances Timbers shines a light on the impact of Christianity and popular culture in the construction of the figure of the ‘witch’. The development of demonology and ceremonial magic is brought together with the West’s troubled past with magic and witchcraft to chart the birth of modern Wiccan and Neopagan movements in England and North America.

Witchcraft is a metaphor for oppression in an age in which persecution is an everyday occurrence somewhere in the world. Fanaticism, intolerance, prejudice, authoritarianism, and religious and political ideologies are never attractive. Beware the witch hunter!

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781526731814
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Publication date: 05/23/2019
Pages: 224
Product dimensions: 6.40(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Frances Timbers holds a PhD in British History from the University of Toronto and has published two books on witchcraft and magic: Magic and Masculinity: Ritual Magic and Gender in the Early Modern Era and The Magical Adventures of Mary Parish: The Occult World of Seventeenth-Century London. She has also published a number of peer-reviewed journal articles. She is currently an adjunct professor at Trent University in Canada.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Introduction xi

Chapter 1 By Seed and Root, Classical Beginnings 1

Chapter 2 By Bud and Stem, Medieval Menace 19

Chapter 3 By Branch and Leaf, Demon Logic 37

Chapter 4 By Life and Love, Sexual Sabbats 59

Chapter 5 By Flower and Fruit, Popular Culture 81

Chapter 6 The Circle is Cast, Ceremonial Magic 111

Chapter 7 The Tree of Life and Death, Persecution through Prosecution 133

Chapter 8 By the Light of the Full Moon, Pagan Witchcraft 167

Endnotes 189

Further Reading 195

Index 197

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New Age & Alternative Beliefs
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