Witchcraft / Witches Books
Independently Published The Candle Magic Spell Book: A Beginner's Guide to Spells to Improve Your Life
£12.34
Independently Published Practical Magick AL's Book of Herbs: Using Basic
Book Synopsis
£13.30
Independently Published Hoodoo Spells
£17.77
Forgotten Books AngloSaxonCharms in Speculum Classic Reprint
£19.17
Forgotten Books A History of Magic and Experimental Science Vol 1 During the First Thirteen Centuries of Our Era Classic Reprint
£36.44
Taylor & Francis Ltd Magic and Witchcraft
Book SynopsisMagic and witchcraft have been important components of almost every human culture throughout history, and continue to be so in the present day, both globally and in the West. These topics have attracted an enormous amount of scholarship, but publications are often scattered, and scholars working in one area rarely address research produced in others. These volumes bring together important representative publications spanning antiquity to the present day, and setting Western developments in a global context. Significant attention has been given to the major witch hunts of early modern Europe, because scholarship on early modern witchcraft has often driven the field. But other periods and regions are not neglected. Important theoretical issues are also addressed, such as the conceptual relationship between magic, science, and religion, and the role of gender in the perception (and persecution) of magical practices in many parts of the world.
£270.00
Little, Brown Book Group Kill For It
Book SynopsisA gripping feminist thriller, Dexter with a twist - how far would you go for the thing you want most? Would you Kill For It?Trade ReviewBlackly funny, highly inventive and all-too-relatable - a massively entertaining page turner -- Fiona Leitch
£14.24
Running Press,U.S. Calming Magic
Book SynopsisConjure calm and summon serenity with Calming Magic, a soothing introduction to the healing energy of mystical practices, aromatherapy blends, crystal rituals, and more.Use the power of intention, ritual, and spellwork to craft a more peaceful, connected life with Calming Magic. Harnessing ancient wisdom and profound magic, this enchanted guide pairs mindfulness with mysticism to help readers support the body, mind, and heart in times of stress.Organized into three sections -- Peace, Clarity and Creativity -- Calming Magic offers a pathway to tranquility, from quieting anxious thoughts and focusing the mind to cultivating the imagination. Each section incorporates magical practice that fortify the body (with teas, yoga practices and home remedies), the mind (with meditations, spells and feng shui), and the heart (with crystals, tarot readings and rituals). With primers on the foundations of mystical practices, and creative DIYs to customiz
£13.29
Running Press,U.S. Potions
Book SynopsisFrom Nikki Van De Car, the best-selling author of Practical Magic, comes a fully-illustrated, enchanted introduction to the witch's world of modern potions, including tinctures, infusions, herbal DIYs, and magically-infused craft cocktails.Witchcraft meets cocktail craft in Potions, a contemporary introduction to the world of infusions, tisanes and herbal teas, homemade tinctures, and expertly mixed alcoholic beverages, all imbued with a healthy dose of everyday enchantment. As with all magic, intention is what makes a potion a potion, and author Nikki Van De Car uses her signature blend of holistic remedies, DIY projects, and accessible magical rituals to guide readers through the wide world of potion-making. From homebrewed kombuchas to crystal-charged cocktails, this fully illustrated guide is an essential addition to the arsenal of kitchen witches and enchanted mixologists. Organized around a series of intentions -- including Creativity, Calm, Love, Harmony, and Protection -- the chapters in this book each include teas, cocktails, kombuchas, non-alcoholic beverages, and DIY components like bitters, shrubs, and infusions, that enhance the reader's spellwork. Every recipe will involve a brief ritual of some kind, whether setting an intention, or using a crystal, sun magic, or moon magic, and each recipe will involve some form of herbal magic. Each cocktail is accompanied by a vibrant, full-color illustration, and each chapter includes longer mystical rituals to support the reader’s overall magical practice.
£15.19
Running Press,U.S. Shadow Magic
Book Synopsis'A necessary addition to any collection on magic and witchcraft.' — Publisher's Weekly From the bestselling author of Practical Magic Nikki Van De Car comes Shadow Magic, an expansive, beautiful primer on cultivating your own innate power, magic, and strength through shadow work—the mystical art of engaging with your deepest internal self. Human beings are incredibly complex. We are more than just our happiness or sunny dispositions, and we have much to offer others and ourselves even on our worst days. There is magic and energy and potential in these moments—in the shadow—and we cannot be the fullest expression of ourselves, at our most powerful, unless we embrace and embody all that we are.Shadow Magic is here to assist you in uncovering, understanding, and celebrating your own shadow. Author Nikki Van De Car teaches us to work with the shadow, rather than trying
£17.09
Forgotten Books Three Books of Occult Philosophy or Magic Vol. 1
£21.11
Forgotten Books The Illustrated Key to the Tarot
£19.68
Forgotten Books Del Congresso Notturno Delle Lammie Libri Tre Classic Reprint
£22.98
Simon & Schuster Ltd Witchcraft
Book SynopsisSalem, King James VI, Malleus Maleficarum. The world of witch hunts and witch trials sounds antiquated, relics of an unenlightened and brutal age. However, 'witch hunt' is heard often in the present-day media, and the misogyny it is rooted in is all too familiar today. A woman was prosecuted under the 1735 Witchcraft Act as recently as 1944. This book uses thirteen significant trials to explore the history of witchcraft and witch hunts. As well as investigating some of the most famous trials from the middle ages to the 18th century, it takes us in new and surprising directions. It shows us how witchcraft was decriminalised in the 18th century, only to be reimagined by the 1780s Romantic radicals. We will learn how it evolved from being seen as a threat to Christianity to perceived as gendered persecution, and how trials against chieftains in Africa stoked anger against colonial rule. Significantly, the book tells the stories of the
£13.49
Seal Press Hexing the Patriarchy: 26 Potions, Spells, and
Book SynopsisAs our newsfeeds become more and more glutted by stories of harassment and assault, it's no surprise women are turning to every power in their arsenal to fight back--even the magical ones. As Lindy West put it in her New York Times op-ed, "Yes, this is a witch hunt. I'm a witch, and I'm hunting you."Hexing the Patriarchy: Magical Resistance from A to Z is a book for women for women who want to join the resistance. Upbeat and inviting, without making light of anyone's oppression or spirituality, it offers fed-up women a primer of enchantment in the form of 26 spells for undermining modern-day oppression, all gathered from authentic witches from various magical traditions. Readers will learn how to . . . make salt scrubs to "wash away patriarchal bullshit" place spells on misogynist leadershipmix potions to boost their strength against harassment . . . and more. Individually and cumulatively, the spells are designed to topple the patriarchy with a dangerous, they-never-saw-it-coming power.
£19.80
Seal Press (CA) Wicca: A Modern Guide to Witchcraft and Magick
Book Synopsis
£18.00
Africa World Press Imagining Evil: Witchcraft Beliefs and
Book SynopsisA book on witchcraft written mostly by Africans - scholars, but also human right activists and religious practitioners, discussing witchcraft beliefs and accusatons in sub-Saharan Africa.
£29.71
Microcosm Publishing The Practical Witch's Almanac 2020
Book SynopsisWalking your path.
£11.39
North Atlantic Books,U.S. New Moon Magic: 13 Anti-Capitalist Tools for
Book SynopsisHarness the power of lunar magic with 13 essential practices for the modern witch?one for each New Moon of the yearFresh, fierce, and unapologetically feminist, thisis both guidebook and rallying cry: an intersectional and inclusive magical praxis that resists, disrupts, and opens the door to nourishment, abundance, and transformation?for readers of Psychic Witch and The Spell Book for New WitchesIn New Moon Magic, Missing Witches authors Risa Dickens and Amy Torok offer Witchy practices to change your life and reshape the world, without falling prey to the commercialization that belies the true heart?and power?of magic.Witchcraft is praxis: how we do what we believe, and how we make those beliefs manifest. New Moon Magic is an offering to all witches, honoring the Craft?s roots in centuries of empowerment, survival, and resistance?despite capitalism?s attempts to co-opt and dilute its practice.Here, Dickens and Torok reclaim tools of witchcraft as the ways and means of enchantment, imbued with magic that resists commodification and capitalism. The authors introduce 13 New Moon practices, each paired with a Witch who embodies the Craft:Potions with Cerridwen andSt. Hildegard von BingenDivination with Lozen and Harriet TubmanThe Garden with Mayumi OdaRitual & Ceremony with GenesisP-OrridgeThe Circle with Audre LordeThrough historical research, interviews, and the authors? own raw personal stories, New Moon Magic offers wisdom and guidance from real Witches past and present. It shows you how to take up tools and practices, discover (or rediscover) your own magic, and nurture a Witchcraft that creates instead of consumes.
£15.29
Ulysses Press The Modern Art Of Brujeria: A Beginner's Guide to
Book Synopsis
£15.29
Bookvault Publishing Ancestral Spell Craft by Esme Rose
£21.59
Bookvault Publishing Obscure Spell Craft by Esme Rose
£21.59
BoD - Books on Demand Hexenkalender 2026 Die LightEdition
£12.51
Books on Demand Der alte Pfad und die Rauhnächte
Book Synopsis
£19.90
Althea Press The Door to Witchcraft: A New Witch's Guide to
Book Synopsis
£47.50
The University of Chicago Press The Specter of Salem
Book SynopsisReveals the many ways that the Salem witch trials loomed over the American collective memory from the Revolution to the Civil War and beyond. Shedding new light on the many, varied American invocations of Salem, the author ultimately illuminates the function of collective memories in the life of a nation.Trade Review"Imaginative and thoughtful.... Thought-provoking, informative, and convincingly presented, The Specter of Salem is an often spellbinding mix of politics, cultural history, and public historiography." - New England Quarterly "This well-researched book, forgoing the usual heft of scholarly studies, is not another interpretation of the Salem trials, but an important major work within the scholarly literature on the witch-hunt, linking the hysteria of the period to the evolving history of the American nation. A required acquisition for academic libraries." - Choice, Outstanding Academic Title 2009"
£76.00
The University of Chicago Press The Specter of Salem
Book SynopsisReveals the many ways that the Salem witch trials loomed over the American collective memory from the Revolution to the Civil War and beyond. Shedding new light on the many, varied American invocations of Salem, the author ultimately illuminates the function of collective memories in the life of a nation.Trade Review"Imaginative and thoughtful.... Thought-provoking, informative, and convincingly presented, The Specter of Salem is an often spellbinding mix of politics, cultural history, and public historiography." - New England Quarterly "This well-researched book, forgoing the usual heft of scholarly studies, is not another interpretation of the Salem trials, but an important major work within the scholarly literature on the witch-hunt, linking the hysteria of the period to the evolving history of the American nation. A required acquisition for academic libraries." - Choice, Outstanding Academic Title 2009"
£24.00
The University of Chicago Press Troubling Confessions Speaking Guilt in Law and
Book SynopsisAdam Ashforth, an Australian who has spent many years in Soweto, finds his longtime friend Madumo in dire circumstances: his family has accused him of using witchcraft to kill his mother and has thrown him out on the street. Convinced that his life is cursed, Madumo seeks help among Soweto's bewildering array of healers and prophets.Trade Review"A fascinating page-turner that recounts one man's battle with an eerie symptom of powerlessness: obsession with witchcraft.... Ashforth enfolds his readers in this distressing story... [and] also offers a persuasive analysis of the broader sociological phenomenon that, he argues, Madumo's tribulations exemplify." - Voice Literary Supplement; "Adam Ashforth has spent much of the past decade immersed in a culture in which witchcraft remains as common as air.... A warm, colorful book, a mix of memoir, journalism, and sociology. He has dual roles, as reporter and friend, and manages to describe Madumo's search for relief with both compassion and professional skepticism." - Mark Schone, Salon"
£23.00
The University of Chicago Press The Nature of Diversity An Evolutionary Voyage of
Book SynopsisHow does democracy fare when the people governed insist they live in a world with witches? If the government of a people afflicted by witchcraft refuses to punish witches, how does it avoid becoming alienated from the perceived needs of its people or, worse, seen as being in league with witches? In Soweto, South Africa, the constant threat of violent crime, the increase in black socio-economic inequality, the AIDS pandemic, and a widespread fear of witchcraft have converged to create a pervasive sense of insecurity among citizens and a unique public policy problem for government. In Witchcraft, Violence, and Democracy in South Africa, Adam Ashforth examines how people in Soweto and other parts of post-apartheid South Africa manage their fear of 'evil forces' such as witchcraft. Ashforth examines the dynamics of insecurity in the everyday life of Soweto at the turn of the twenty-first century. He develops a new framework for understanding occult violence as a form of spiritual insecurity and documents new patterns of interpretation attributing agency to evil forces. Finally, he analyzes the response of post-apartheid governments to issues of spiritual insecurity and suggests how these matters pose severe long-term challenges to the legitimacy of the democratic state.
£30.00
The University of Chicago Press Island Possessed
Book SynopsisIn this book, Dunham reveals how her anthropological research, her work in dance, and her fascination for the people and cults of Haiti worked their spell, catapulting her into experiences that she was often lucky to survive.
£28.00
The University of Chicago Press The Feast of the Sorcerer Practices of
Book SynopsisSorcery has long been associated with the dark side of human development, along with magic and witchcraft. This text argues, however, that sorcery practices reveal critical insights into how consciousness is formed, and how human beings constitute their social and political realities.
£42.75
The University of Chicago Press Sorcery in the Black Atlantic
Book SynopsisTaking a longer historical and broader geographical perspective, this book contends that sorcery is best understood as an Atlantic phenomenon that has significant connections to modernity and globalization. It features a group of contributors who examine sorcery in Brazil, Cuba, South Africa, Cameroon, and Angola.
£28.00
The University of Chicago Press Net of Magic Wonders and Deceptions in India
Book SynopsisScholar and magician, Siegel uncovers the age-old practices of magic in sacred rites and rituals and unveils the contemporary world of Indian magic of street and stage entertainers. Siegel's journeys take him from ancient Sanskrit texts to the slums of New Dehli as he explores India's remarkable magical tradition.
£35.15
The University of Chicago Press Bewitching Development
Book SynopsisPresents an account of how people in the Taita Hills of Kenya have appropriated and made sense of development thought and practice, focusing on the complex ways that development connects with changing understandings of witchcraft.Trade Review"Bewitching Development offers a challenging approach to the issue of development and its intertwinement with witchcraft. Skillfully grounded in rich ethnographic data, Smith's innovative interpretations of these urgent issues are highly convincing and will have a profound influence on ongoing debates." - Peter Geschiere, University of Amsterdam"
£24.00
John Wiley & Sons Witch Hunts From Salem to Guantanamo Bay
Book SynopsisWitch hunts are the products of intense fear and paranoia and the results are often terrible. This book analyzes witch hunts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and finds many of the same elements repeated in various miscarriages of justice. It cites that Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, the prisons created for 'witches' (terrorists) since Salem.Trade Review"This book is the most sustained effort so far to explore witch-hunts in two very different historical periods - a subject of great interest in a world preoccupied with criminal trials of every conceivable variety." Brian Levack, University of Austin Texas
£29.45
Cornell University Press Desperate Magic
Book SynopsisKivelson places Russian witchcraft trials of the seventeenth century in the legal, social, and religious context of early modern Russia—and in comparison with witch hunts of Western Europe and elsewhere.Trade Review"Desperate Magic is a triumphant crowning of years of careful work and wide-ranging inquiry. It is a milestone in the study of witchcraft in the European eastand it will certainly give those who work on the "centers" much to ponder."—David Frick * Slavic Review *Desperate Magic is a good value, reasonably priced considering the fact that it has color plates. It has a good bibliography and index and would be an excellent choice for a graduate seminar on the cross-cultural analysis of witchcraft and witch-hunting. -- William E. Burns * Sixteenth Century Journal *Early modern Russia shared with its European neighbors an intense fear of witches. Yet the characteristics of witches and witchcraft in Russia sharply diverged from those most frequently identified in the West...In articles over the past twenty years Valerie Kivelson has developed new approaches to this topic. In this long-awaited monograph, Kivelson goes further, enunciating an original and compelling thesis about the occurrence of witchcraft in early modern Russia. -- Eve Levin * Nova Religio *Full of material that illuminates fascinating corners and major issues in late-Muscovite Russiathe author's latest book is the definitive source for information on witchcraft and witch trials in the seventeenth century.... Kivelson makes the reader think more about how hierarchy and protection worked in Muscovy and when and how they failed to keep social order. -- Robert W. Thurston * The Historian *In her new monograph, Valerie Kivelson fulfils the promise of her earlierarticles on Russian witchcraft by producing an impressive study of the subject.Kivelson's work is grounded in the analysis of two hundred and thirty trialsinvolving about five hundred people—the most exhaustive list of seventeenth-centurycases yet compiled. Though the examination of the cases themselveswould be a considerable contribution to the field, the book also serves as aninsightful investigation into the nature of Russia’s social fabric in one of its most pivotal centuries.... [Desperate Magic] is exhaustive in its breadth, informative in its erudition,and inspiring in its ability to raise new questions about Russian history.Both scholars of witchcraft and of early modern Russia have much tolearn from her work. -- Matthew Romaniello * English Historical Review *Valerie Kivelson has provided the goods splendidly here, filling out another corner of our picture of Europe's witch hunts with a fine study which is the more important for the manner in which so many of its features run counter to the continental norm. -- Ronald Hutton * Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies *Kivelson has produced a thorough study of witchcraft trials in 17th-century Russia that draws on over 200 court cases and a wealth of scholarship unavailable in English. She employs the concept of 'moral economy' to emphasize the function of witchcraft in early modern Russia's social hierarchy with accusations erupting at points of tension and trials serving to police and preserve a rigid sense of order that proceeded from God to czar to subjects. The author examines prescriptive religious and political documents, trial procedure and the use of torture, and various gender and class dynamics at play in the extant records. Kivelson carefully considers the broader literature on early modern witch-hunts, demonstrating that the Russian cases defy patterns observed in western Europe. She highlights contrasts between Latin and Orthodox intellectual frameworks, finding Russians far less interested than their western counterparts in sorting out theological inconsistencies. Broadly suggestive regarding the relationships among religion, law, political culture, and social relations, the book will be valuable for a variety of specialists. Summing Up: Recommended. * Choice *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Abbreviations Note on Names and Transliteration Maps Introduction: The Moral Economy of Desperation in Seventeenth-Century Russia 1. Witchcraft Historiography: Russia's Divergence 2. "Report on This Matter to Us in Moscow, Fully and in Truth": Documentation and Procedure 3. Muscovite Prosaic Magic and the Devil’s Pale Shadow 4. Love, Sex, and Hierarchy: The Role of Gender in Witchcraft Accusations 5. Undivided Spheres: Gender and Idioms of Magic 6. "To Treat Me Kindly": Negotiating Excess in Muscovite Hierarchical Relations 7. Trials, Justice, and the Logic of Torture 8. Witchcraft, Heresy, Treason, Rebellion: Defining Muscovy’s Most Heinous Crimes The Aftermath: Peter the Great and the Age of Enlightenment Appendix A. List of Witchcraft Trials Appendix B. List of Laws and Decrees against Witchcraft and Magic Notes Bibliography Index
£97.20
Stanford University Press Naming the Witch
Book SynopsisNaming the Witch explores the recent series of witchcraft accusations and killings in East Java, which spread as the Suharto regime slipped into crisis and then fell.Trade Review"...this monograph [is] a major contribution and should help to put the purportedly old-fashioned topic of witches and witchcraft accusations back into the centre of anthropological study of Asia."—Religion"This is an exceptionally rich book that deserves careful study."—Pacific AffairsTable of Contents@fmct:Contents @toc4:Introduction iii @toc1:Part One: The Magic Word @toc2:1 The Truth of Sorcery 000 2 Voodoo Death 000 3 Institutionalizing Witchcraft 000 Part Two: Witches Resurrected 4 Suharto, Witches 5 Menace from all Directions 6 Naming the Witch Epilogue: Magic out of Place: Singularity and Convention 000 @toc4:Acknowledgements 000 Notes 000
£20.89
MP-VIR Uni of Virginia The Modernity of Witchcraft
Book SynopsisThis study suggests that the balance in Africa, between the prevalence of witchcraft and the forces of modernity, stems both from obsession with power and from the increasing feeling of powerlessness among the people. It also gives a parallel with aspects of politics in Western democracies.
£23.70
University of Virginia Press Cautio Criminalis or a Book on Witch Trials
Book SynopsisIn 1631, at the epicentre of the worst excesses of the European witch-hunts, Friedrich Spee, a Jesuit priest, published the ""Cautio Criminalis"", a book speaking out against the trials that were sending thousands of innocent people to gruesome deaths.
£46.80
MP-VIR Uni of Virginia Cautio Criminalis or a Book on Witch Trials
Book SynopsisIn 1631, at the epicentre of the worst excesses of the European witch-hunts, Friedrich Spee, a Jesuit priest, published the ""Cautio Criminalis"", a book speaking out against the trials that were sending thousands of innocent people to gruesome deaths.
£18.95
MP-NMX Uni of New Mexico The Witches of Abiquiu The Governor the Priest
Book SynopsisThe Witchcraft Outbreak at Abiquiu, New Mexico, occurred between 1756 and 1766, five decades after the witchcraft trials at Salem, Massachusetts. The Genizaro (hispanicized Indian) land grant of Abiquiu was the crown jewel of Governor Velez Cachupin's plan to achieve peace for the benefit of the early New Mexican colonists.
£19.76
Cornell University Press Possessed
Book SynopsisThis work examines the phenomenon of demon possession in rural Russia. Drawing from a range of sources - religious, psychiatric, ethnographic and literary - Worobec looks at "klikushestuo" over a broad span of time but focuses mainly on the 19th and early-20th centuries.Trade Review"Exceptionally well-researched and exhaustive." -Association for Women in Slavic Studies "Worobec is at her best as a storyteller.... Her scholarship is marked by a meticulous reading of sources and a sensitivity to and respect for the people she studies."—Russian ReviewTable of ContentsTable of Contents Confronting Klikushestvo: An Introduction 1. State and Church Perceptions The Legal Case Orthodoxy's Triumph over the Devil Scientific Rationalism and the Miraculous Conclusion 2. Peasant Views Popular Orthodoxy Witchcraft 3. Literary and Ethnographic Portrayals Romantic Images Images of Serfdome An Ethnographic-Historical Account Feodor Dostoevsky Leo Tolstoy The Dark Side of Peasant Beliefs Conclusion 4. Psychiatric Diagnoses The Search for Klikushi Scientific Rationalism versus. Popular Practices Hysteria versus. Somnambulism Mass Psychology Conclusion 5. Sorting through Multiple Realities Appendix 1: Database of Klikushi/klikuny Appendix 2: Database of Witchcraft Cases Notes Bibliography Index
£29.70
Boydell & Brewer Ltd Scottish Witchcraft Narratives and Tracts
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£36.00
New York University Press Vexed with Devils
Book SynopsisStories of witchcraft and demonic possession from early modern England through the last official trials in colonial New EnglandThose possessed by the devil in early modern England usually exhibited a common set of symptoms: fits, vomiting, visions, contortions, speaking in tongues, and an antipathy to prayer. However, it was a matter of interpretation, and sometimes public opinion, if these symptoms were visited upon the victim, or if they came from within. Both early modern England and colonial New England had cases that blurred the line between witchcraft and demonic possession, most famously, the Salem witch trials. While historians acknowledge some similarities in witch trials between the two regions, such as the fact that an overwhelming majority of witches were women, the histories of these cases primarily focus on local contexts and specifics. In so doing, they overlook the ways in which manhood factored into possession and witchcraft cases. Vexed with DTrade ReviewGassers reading of these texts is close, careful, and extensiveGassers contribution to this scholarship is noteworthy. She provides a corrective to the direction that many previous studies took investigating mostly women, perhaps even women only- and failing to appreciate the attitudes about manhood that affected the outcomes of so many witchcraft cases. * Nova Religio *Vexed with Devils brings together a number of key attributes: an important topic approached through excellent research involving a broad range of early modern texts and secondary historical scholarship. Erika Gasser is to be congratulated on a broad and detailed survey of material, which is well-expressed and interesting to read. -- Marion Gibson,Professor of Renaissance and Magical Literatures, University of Exeter, Penryn CampusWriting a few years ago, Alison Rowlands urged scholars to do more research into the 'extent to which the prosecution of witches was imagined, carried out, and justified as an expression of godly, dutiful, patriarchal manhood.' Gasser's book is a necessary response: a convincing treatment. * Times Literary Supplement *While much attention has focused on the place of women in the witch trials, in Vexed with Devils, Erika Gasser...shifts focus to look at the lesser studied place of men in these incidents...[Her discussions]add additional depth to our comprehension of how issues of gender impacted not just the trials themselves, but also the broader societal discussion regarding the presence of witchcraft and possession in early modern society. * Reading Religion *Gasser argues that demonic and witchcraft possession cases throughout the Anglo-American world functioned as a form of social policing during the early modern period...Anyone seeking a fresh perspective on, and deeper understanding of, such possession accounts will not be disappointed. * Publishers Weekly *
£22.79
Cornell University Press Witchcraft in Russia and Ukraine 10001900
Book SynopsisFor any serious scholar of Russian and Ukrainian witchcraft and magic, this volume is a ''must read.''... Scholars of folklore and popular culture also will find much of value.? FolkloricaThis sourcebook provides the first systematic overview of witchcraft laws and trials in Russia and Ukraine from medieval times to the late nineteenth century. Witchcraft in Russia and Ukraine, 1000–1900 weaves scholarly commentary with never-before-published primary source materials translated from Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian. These sources include the earliest references to witchcraft and sorcery, secular and religious laws regarding witchcraft and possession, full trial transcripts, and a wealth of magical spells. The documents present a rich panorama of daily life and reveal the extraordinary power of magical words.Editors Valerie A. Kivelson and Christine D. Worobec present new analyses of the workings and evolution of legal systems, Trade ReviewThis substantial volume by two leading scholars in the field is a major contribution to the study of witchcraft in Russia and Ukraine and to the study of witchcraft in general, which often omits these regions. Overall, this is a tremendously useful book for students of witchcraft history, especially non-Slavists, and all historians of Russian and Ukrainian culture would do well to have it on their bookshelves. * Russian Review *[This book] allows us to see dozens of examples[,] each presented in English translation with extensive coverage that provides a great introduction to the topic, even for a person unfamiliar with the subject. [This] is an extremely important and well-made sourcebook that should be read not only by religion and history scholars studying witch trials, but also by a wide range of historians studying the medieval, early modern, and modern ages in general. * Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft *For any serious scholar of Russian and Ukrainian witchcraft and magic, this volume is a 'must read.'... Scholars of folklore and popular culture also will find much of value. * Folklorica *Valerie Kivelson and Christine Worobec number among the leading scholars who study the history of witchcraft in Russia and Ukraine. Scholars of witchcraft outside the area of Russian and Ukrainian studies can use this volume as an entrée into that milieu. * Folklorica *Kivelson and Christine Worobec have succeeded in editing a similarly impressive broad collection of documents that spans nine centuries related to witchcraft in Russia and Ukraine.Kivelson and Worobec have put together a truly astounding piece of scholarship that will be of great service to scholars and students throughout the world wishing to know more about the prevalence and special characteristics of witchcraft in the Eastern Slavic realms of Russia and Ukraine.Witchcraft in Russia and Ukraine is an essential work for specialists in many fields of the cultural and social history of Russia and Ukraine since 1000. * Slavonic and East European Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I: HISTORICAL EVOLUTION, LAW, AND PROSECUTION 1. Early Accounts of Witchcraft, Sorcery, and Magic in Medieval Rus 1.1. Pagan Soothsayers and Magicians in the Primary Chronicle 1.2. "Maybe, but God Knows": Sorcery in the Novgorodian Chronicle (1227) 1.3. Bishop Serapion of Vladimir Condemns Belief in Witchcraft (1274) 1.4. St. Alimpii and the Leper Who Consulted Magicians (Kyivan Patericon) 2. Witchcraft and Politics in Muscovy and the Hetmanate 2.1. The Death of Maria of Tver, Ivan III's First Wife, by Witchcraft (1467) 2.2. Witchcraft Accusations against Grand Princess Sofia Paleologue (1497) 2.3. Witchcraft Accusations against Grand Princess Solomonia Saburova (1525) 2.4. Trials of Maksim the Greek for Treason, Heresy, and Sorcery (1525 & 1531) 2.5. The Great Moscow Fire and the Sprinkling of Human Hearts by the Tsar's Grandmother, Anna Glinskaia (1547) 2.6. Ivan Peresvetov's 1549 Tale about Sorcery at Court in the Final Days of the Byzantine Empire (Excerpts from the "Greater Petition") 2.7. Jerome Horsey on Witchcraft at the Court of Ivan IV (the Terrible) 2.8. The Vicious Sorcerer Eleazar Bomelius Described in a Russian Chronicle 2.9. Sorcery Allegations from Ivan the Terrible's Correspondence with Prince Kurbskii and Kurbskii's History of the Grand Prince of Moscow 2.10. Loyalty Oaths 2.11. Grigorii Kotoshikhin and Samuel Collins on the Alleged Poisoning or Bewitchment of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich's First Betrothed, and on Bewitchment at Weddings (1647) 2.12. Hetman Ivan Briukhovetskii's Burning of Witches (1666) 2.13. Political Sorcery against the Prussian King (1760) 3. Laws and Guidelines concerning the Prosecution of Witchcraft, Late Twelfth Century to 1885 3.1. Byzantine Church Law and Its Echoes in Russia Kormchaia kniga, 1653 Excerpt from a court case from the late 1660s containing a fragment of the Kormchaia Church Statute of Iaroslav the Wise (late twelfth/early thirteenth century) Russian Orthodox penitential listings involving sorcery and magic (fourteenth—early nineteenth centuries) The Domostroi: A household handbook of the mid-sixteenth century 3.2. Excerpts from Charles V's 1532 Constitutio Criminalis Carolina and the 1559 Polish Version 3.3. Procedures for the Courts and Affairs of Towns under Magdeburg Law under the Polish Crown (1559) 3.4. Questions and Answers from the Moscow Church Council (Stoglav) of 1551 3.5. Ivan IV's 1552 Law on Witchcraft 3.6. 1589 Law on the Honor of Witches 3.7. 1648 Decree against Devilish Conduct 3.8. Sobornoe ulozhenie: The Conciliar Law Code of 1649 3.9. Aleksei Mikhailovich's Decree Prohibiting Witchcraft and Activities Repellent to God (1653) 3.10. "Newly Established Articles on Robbery, Brigandage, and Murder" (1669) 3.11. Grigorii Kotoshikhin on Muscovite Judicial Process, Torture, and Execution (1660s) 3.12. Peter I's 1715 Decree against Shriekers (the Demonically Possessed) 3.13. Peter I's 1716 Military Statute and Suggested Revisions to Its Religious Articles (1725) 3.14. Excerpts from the Spiritual Regulation (1721) 3.15. Holy Synod's Decree against the Swimming of Individuals (1721) 3.16. Empress Anna Ioannovna's Decree against Wizardry (1731) 3.17. Catherine II's 1767 Instructions to the Legislative Commission and the Holy Synod's Response 3.18. Senate's Ruling Admonishing Judges (1770) 3.19. Catherine II's Decrees (1775 and 1782) 3.20. Excerpts from the Criminal Laws: 1842, 1845, and 1885 editions 4. Witchcraft Trials' Processes (Charges and Countercharges) and Extralegal Prosecution of Witchcraft: Complete Records A: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (PLC) and The Hetmanate 4.1. Andrei Kurbskii's Sorcery Allegations against His Wife, Marina Andreevna Golshanskaia, in Divorce Proceedings (1578) 4.2. False Accusation of Witchcraft against Siemionowa Pauciutina, a Cossack Woman (1634) 4.3. Swimming of Witches in Podillia (1711) 4.4. Witchcraft and Infanticide (1753) B: Muscovy and Imperial Russia 4.5. The Trial of the Old Peasant Woman Baba Daritsa and Others (1647) 4.6. A Case of Suspicious Roots: Rogataia Baba and the Use of Torture (1647–48) 4.7. A Mass Outbreak of Possession in the Town of Lukh (1656–60) 4.8. The 1758 Trial of Chamberlain Petr Vasilevich Saltykov 4.9. The 1764–65 Case against the Peasant Ekaterina Ivanova for Dabbling in Witchcraft 4.10. An Epidemic of Demonic Possession in a Urals Foundry Town (1839–40) 4.11. The 1853 Case against the Serf Gerasim Fedotov for Witchcraft 4.12. The Mob Murder of Agrafena Dmitrievna Chindiaikina, a Suspected Witch (1880) 4.13. A Woman Accused of Sorcery Has Her Day in Court (Early 1900s) Part II: MAGICAL PRACTICES, EVERYDAY MATTERS,AND THE POWER OF WORDS: TRIAL EXCERPTS 5. Healing and Harming 5.1. Consultation with the Doctors of the Apothecary Chancellery (1628) 5.2. A Case of Enchanted Brew (1653) 5.3. Healing or Cursing? Mysterious Ingredients Raise Suspicion (1658) 5.4. The Bewitchment of Priest David and His Family by Their Domestic Workers (1676) 5.5. Witchcraft Suspected as the Cause of a Child's Death (PLC, 1732) 5.6. A Case of Milk Magic: Borrowed Pots and Bewitched Cows (PLC, 1728–31) 5.7. An Alleged Murder by Way of Witchcraft (1844–45) 5.8. No Place Is Safe from This Witch: The Case against Agafia Poliarpova (1848–49) 6. Sex/Love/Anti-Love Magic 6.1. A Case of Peasant Women's Love Magic and Vengeance, Shatsk (1647) 6.2. Bewitchment at Weddings (1648) 6.3. Iatsykha Polyveichykha Seeks to Bewitch her Husband's Lover (Hetmanate, 1675) 6.4. A Case of Rape and Spells to Inflame Desire (Semen Aigustov, Borovsk, 1689) 6.5. A Wife Suspected of Witchcraft: The Case of Anna Grekowiczewa (PLC, 1717) 6.6. Seeking a Witch or Sorcerer to Kill a Husband? (PLC, 1742) 7. Power Relations and Hierarchy 7.1. "Making My Master and All Women Bend to My Will": A Case of Subversive Spells (1648) 7.2. The Serf Woman Onuitka Avenges Ill-Treatment by the Estate Bailiff (1658) 7.3. The Servant Motruna Perysta Accused of Bewitching Her Master's Family (PLC, 1730) 7.4. How to Make All Authorities Subservient: The Magical Notebooks of Defrocked Priest Petr Osipov (1732) 7.5. A Matter of a Love Potion and Sexual Pursuit of a Menial by His Mistress, Lady Ruszkowska (PLC, 1749) 7.6. "So His Master Would Treat Him Well": The Peasant Grigorii Shilin's Ritual Use of Roots and Wax (1762) 7.7. Securing Patronage: A Spell in the Hands of Ivan Sokolov, A Highly Ranked Officer and Nobleman (1774) 7.8. Controlling a Master's Will: Divination and Enchanted Wax (1840) 8. Possession 8.1. Bewitchment at a Communal Banquet: The Petition of Ivan Shenin (1611) 8.2. Testimony of the Bewitched from the Possession Outbreak in Lukh (1656–58) 8.3. A Healer Accused of Dabbling in Witchcraft and Exorcising Demons (PLC, 1710) 8.4. An Epidemic of Shrieking and Writhing in a Village Destabilized by Manumission (1833) 8.5. Fits of Hiccuping (1833) 9. Satanic Pacts/Diabolism 9.1. "I Swear Allegiance to Satan": A Satanic Pact in the Seventeenth Century (1663–64) 9.2. "My Father Satan": Spells, Possession, and Fraternal Rivalry (1672) 9.3. A Case of Satanic Love Magic (Avdotia Borisova, 1733) 9.4. A Pact with the Dark-Visaged Master of the Hellish Abyss and His Servant Demons (Hetmanate, 1749) 9.5. The Priest Makarii Ivanov and Others Are Charged in 1753 with Possessing Booklets about Sorcery: A Demonic Incantation for Lust 9.6. God-renouncing Letters (1751): Perdun 9.7. Case of the Soldier Semen Popov, Who Renounced God and Gave His Soul to the Devil (1759) 10. Orality/Literacy 10.1. Case of the Siberian Trapper Found Carrying Spells (1652) 10.2. A Theological Defense of Herbal Healing: Petition of Ivan Ivanov, Priest of the Church of the Nativity in Komersk District, to Simon, Archbishop of Vologda and Belozersk (1679–80) 10.3. A Hegumen's Possession of Magical and Fortune-telling Texts (1720) 10.4. Transcription of an Offensive Note by a Noble Architectural Journeyman, Aleksei Petrovich Evlashev (1731) 10.5. An Incriminating Notebook of Incantations and Spells (1737) 11. Specialists in Magic 11.1. Specialists in Plants and Roots: Poisoning and Healing in Consultation with a Professional Herbalist (1692) 11.2. Spoiling a Harvest by Means of Witchcraft: Knotted Grain Stalks— a Reluctant Specialist (Hetmanate, 1765) 11.3. Case against a Fourteen-Year-Old Boy for Fraudulent Divination (Russian Ukraine, 1839)
£97.20
Cornell University Press Detestable and Wicked Arts
Book SynopsisIn Detestable and Wicked Arts, Paul B. Moyer places early New England''s battle against black magic in a transatlantic perspective. Moyer provides an accessible and comprehensive examination of witch prosecutions in the Puritan colonies that discusses how their English inhabitants understood the crime of witchcraft, why some people ran a greater risk of being accused of occult misdeeds, and how gender intersected with witch-hunting. Focusing on witchcraft cases in New England between roughly 1640 and 1670, Detestable and Wicked Arts highlights ties between witch-hunting in the New and Old Worlds. Informed by studies on witchcraft in early modern Europe, Moyer presents a useful synthesis of scholarship on occult crime in New England and makes new and valuable contributions to the field.Trade ReviewDeeply researched, crisply composed, and highly engaging, this is arguably the best introductory survey available on witchcraft in the early modern English Atlantic. A work of synthesis and innovative scholarship, it will be of interest to neophytes and experts alike. * Choice *The virtue of Paul Moyer's book is that it presents in most readable form the basics of a dense and complex subject: witchcraft beliefs and practices in New England and early modern Europe in the period between 1640 and 1670. A transatlantic analysis of witchcraft activity in this period is essential because New England thinkers were reading and assimilating European ideas and seeing themselves in that light, especially in terms of English cases. Moyer's book is rich in material and well nuanced. The subject as a whole, including all the relevant cases and a variety of interpretive perspectives, has rarely been brought together in a single volume. * Early American Literature *Detestable and Wicked Arts is an important and needed contribution to the study of New England witchcraft, as well as to the field of Atlantic studies Moyer's accessible, jargon-free writing style and sophisticated handling of an extraordinary number of primary sources and case studies makes Detestable and Wicked Arts especially suitable for undergraduate and graduate students and nonspecialists * Journal of American History *Moyer's study is an extremely well-researched, fully considered, well-structured study of events that are, by their very nature, incoherent and messy. * The Seventeenth Century *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Devil in New England 1. "Hanged for a Witch": Witch-Hunting in New England before 1670 2. "Being Instigated by the Devil": The Crime of Witchcraft 3. "A Forward, Discontented Frame of Spirit": The New England Witch 4. "The More Women, the More Witches": Gender and Witchcraft 5. "There Was Some Mischief in It": The Social Context of Witchcraft 6. "Very Awful and Amazing": Witch Panics and the Bewitched 7. "According to God's Law": Witch-Hunting as a Judicial Process Conclusion: The Case of Ann Burt and Witch-Hunting in the English Atlantic
£97.20
Cornell University Press Detestable and Wicked Arts
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewDeeply researched, crisply composed, and highly engaging, this is arguably the best introductory survey available on witchcraft in the early modern English Atlantic. A work of synthesis and innovative scholarship, it will be of interest to neophytes and experts alike. * Choice *The virtue of Paul Moyer's book is that it presents in most readable form the basics of a dense and complex subject: witchcraft beliefs and practices in New England and early modern Europe in the period between 1640 and 1670. A transatlantic analysis of witchcraft activity in this period is essential because New England thinkers were reading and assimilating European ideas and seeing themselves in that light, especially in terms of English cases. Moyer's book is rich in material and well nuanced. The subject as a whole, including all the relevant cases and a variety of interpretive perspectives, has rarely been brought together in a single volume. * Early American Literature *Detestable and Wicked Arts is an important and needed contribution to the study of New England witchcraft, as well as to the field of Atlantic studies Moyer's accessible, jargon-free writing style and sophisticated handling of an extraordinary number of primary sources and case studies makes Detestable and Wicked Arts especially suitable for undergraduate and graduate students and nonspecialists * Journal of American History *Moyer's study is an extremely well-researched, fully considered, well-structured study of events that are, by their very nature, incoherent and messy. * The Seventeenth Century *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Devil in New England 1. "Hanged for a Witch": Witch-Hunting in New England before 1670 2. "Being Instigated by the Devil": The Crime of Witchcraft 3. "A Forward, Discontented Frame of Spirit": The New England Witch 4. "The More Women, the More Witches": Gender and Witchcraft 5. "There Was Some Mischief in It": The Social Context of Witchcraft 6. "Very Awful and Amazing": Witch Panics and the Bewitched 7. "According to God's Law": Witch-Hunting as a Judicial Process Conclusion: The Case of Ann Burt and Witch-Hunting in the English Atlantic
£24.69
Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd Bewitching Consumer Culture
Book SynopsisThe witch figure has long inspired fear and fascination, and the witch-hunts and widespread persecution of women over time have made the witch a powerful figure for feminism. This book explores the growing interest in witchcraft in the marketplace, revealing how the witch has evolved into a feminist heroine for our times.
£75.00
