At the Borders of the Wondrous and Magical: Nature Spirits, Shapeshifters, and the Undead in the Never-Ending Middle Ages

by Claude Lecouteux, Florence Bayard (Foreword by), Astrid Guillaume (Foreword by)

Overview

• Examines the esoteric side of texts and tales from the Middle Ages, including the enduring presence of haunted areas and power places and the roles of witches, house spirits, rune priests, shapeshifters, and the undead

• Discusses the dividing line between magic and deviltry, as well as the significance of grimoires, bells, blacksmiths, storm callers, and more

• Serves as a guide to a still-present magical and imaginal realm, pointing readers to the borderlands and liminal thresholds that enable access to the other world

In this new collection of his writings, scholar and Sorbonne professor Claude Lecouteux reveals that the magical world of the distant past is real and still very present—if you know where to look. Explaining how he makes the texts he studies reveal their hidden teachings, Lecouteux directly explores the esoteric side of medieval myths and tales, peeling back the Christian veneer to show the enduring presence of haunted areas and power places, witches, house spirits, rune carvers, vampires, shapeshifters, and the undead.

In tales originating from Greenland and Iceland to Saxony, Romania, and beyond, the author discusses the dividing line between magic and diablerie as well as the significance of grimoires, bells, blacksmiths, and other magical objects and characters. He explores magic in the elements of nature and as illustrated by the art of witches and magicians specializing in weather magic—storm callers and storm dispellers. He examines the medieval mythology surrounding clouds and the mythic significance of mountains in the haunted world of our ancestors, which is still as close to us today as it was to them in the past. Looking at borderlands and liminal thresholds that can serve as gateways to other worlds, the author also discusses land spirits and the rituals needed to engage with them, recognizing how their ownership of the land can never fully be usurped.

Through these writings Lecouteux acts as a ferryman, transporting readers into the realms of the wondrous and magical. He enables us to see how the haunted magic of the Middle Ages never ended and how the imaginal realm, standing just beyond the borders of our own, is as vividly real as the material world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781644119945
Publisher:	Inner Traditions/Bear & Company
Publication date:	01/07/2025
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Claude Lecouteux is a professor emeritus of medieval literature and civilization at the Sorbonne. He is the author of numerous books on medieval beliefs and magic, including Tales of Witchcraft and Wonder, The Tradition of Household Spirits, Demons and Spirits of the Land, and Encyclopedia of Norse and Germanic Folklore, Mythology, and Magic. He lives in Paris.
Claude Lecouteux is a former professor of medieval literature and civilization at the Sorbonne. He is the author of numerous books on medieval and pagan afterlife beliefs and magic, including The Book of Grimoires, Dictionary of Ancient Magic Words and Spells, and The Tradition of Household Spirits. He lives in Paris.

Table of Contents

Foreword: Claude Lecouteux, A Ferryman Who
Smuggles History through Stories
Florence Bayard and Astrid Guillaume

Introduction
Florence Bayard and Astrid Guillaume

PART I

FROM DOCUMENT TO IDEA

Making Texts Speak

1 The Ramsund Stone
The Mindset behind the Runic Inscription

2 Eyrbyggja Saga
The Saga of Snorri Goði

3 The Hidden Face of Tales and Legends

4 Fantasy and the Middle Ages

PART I I

BETWEEN MAGIC AND DIABLERIE

Ambiguous Objects and Beings

5 A Typology of Several Kinds of Evil Dead

6 Grimoires and Their Ancestors

7 Big Bells and Little Bells
Beliefs and Magic

8 Weyland the Smith

PART I I I

NATURE AND THE ELEMENTS

Between Awe and Terror

9 The Magnetic Mountain

10 The Raft of the Winds
Toward a Mythology of Clouds in the Middle Ages

11 The Masters of Weather
Tempestarii, Coercers, Defenders, and Others

12 Mythical Aspects of the Mountain in the Middle Ages

PART I V

BORDERS AT THE MARGINS
OF THE KNOWN WORLD

13 The Sea and Its Isles during the Middle Ages
A Journey into the Marvelous

14 The Backdrop of the Adventure Sites in
Medieval Romances

15 The Taming of the Land
Reflections on Human Beings and Their Environment

16 Borderlands of the Otherworld

17 The Spirits of Nature and of Humans in
the Middle Ages
Aspects of Their Relationship

Notes

Index

Editorial Reviews

This very interesting and erudite collection of wide-ranging articles is rich with a mix of historical and esoteric subjects. Anyone wishing to widen their knowledge and horizons on the ‘wondrous and magical’ should dive full depth into this book. I did and have benefited greatly.

author of The Miracle Tree and The Underworld Init R. J. Stewart

Claude Lecouteux’s work is highly respected for its meticulous scholarship in elucidating connections deeply embedded in ancient literature, folklore, and beliefs. This book delves into many unseen aspects of Eldritch existence hidden in plain sight. It is a splendid addition to his fine corpus of work.

author of Fortuna and Celtic Tree Alphabets Nigel Pennick

As we’ve come to expect from Claude Lecouteux, At the Borders of the Wondrous and Magical is a meticulously researched and compelling work. The legends and folk beliefs he has gathered together give us a window into the ontology of the medieval mind and its understanding of the human place in the natural world. This standpoint invites us to re-examine our own relationship with the wondrous and haunted world, leading us to the foothills of the imaginal.

author of Song of the Dark Man Darragh Mason

Overall, Lecouteux’s At the Borders of the Wonderous and Magical is a deep dive into the stories of the medieval mindset, as well as the exploration and fears of wondrous, magical, and fantastical entities and tropes. If you enjoy the history of literature, literature analysis, and learning about the tropes and archetypes of historical fiction, this book would be a solid addition to your library. Additionally, I was happy to learn that Lecouteux has many, many books for further reading.

Musing Mystical Effie Fox

This book brings together a rich collection of essays by Claude Lecouteux about borders and thresholds—between night and day, land and sea, illusion and reality, the sacred and the profane, the worlds of the living and the dead—and the numerous beings that frequent them, including ghosts, demons, dragons, fairies, totem animals, and nature spirits. This is a book about enchantment that is itself an enchanting read.

author of Occult Germany and Occult Russia Christopher McIntosh

This book retraces the quintessential work of Claude Lecouteux, focusing on long-neglected subjects like monsters, fabulous creatures, and mysterious forces that we never know whether they are natural or magical. He has opened up a fertile breach, now being taken up by new generations of researchers, for whom Lecouteux represents not just a pioneer but a model to follow, including from a methodological point of view—starting from words, starting from texts.

Karin Ueltschi

A fascinating, exciting, and original collection of different aspectsm of the enchanted medieval worldview by a long-established master of the subject.

professor at the University of Bristol and author Ronald Hutton

At the Borders of the Wondrous and Magical is not just an academic text; it is a captivating journey into the heart of medieval beliefs that continue to shape our understanding of the world around us.

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