First, it is brutally Eurocentric. Almost all discussion of non-Western magic is restricted to the opening chapter on ancient magic, with a few asides on the Aztecs, Voodoo, and European reactions to magical traditions the "discovered." I know enough about East Asian religion to feel that this seriously neglects the ongoing development of ritual and folk magic in China, Korea, and Japan in favor of focusing heavily on European witch trials and hermetic traditions. I find those things interesting too, but there is much more to the world of magic.

There is no counsel for the defence. If you are found guilty, you could become one of the 30,000–60,000 people who were executed for witchcraft in the early modern era. The 11th century saw the arrival of Scholasticism. Scholastic philosophy meant that all of created nature became an object of scrutiny from which scholastics could create a model that applied to everything. The inquisitorial eye began to fix itself on aspects of folklore that had been smiled away or incorporated into Christian worship in earlier periods.

Please remember, this is my list, I’m not claiming that it’s anything other than that. Disagree? Great! Articles like this are designed to start conversations, not end them! Most people think that witches are a Christian invention. But the idea of the witch who flies in the night and draws power from dark cosmic forces to work her ill will on others pre-dates Christianity, probably by many centuries. A satirical article (supposedly written by Benjamin Franklin) about a witch trial in New Jersey was published in 1730 in the Pennsylvania Gazette. It brought to light the ridiculousness of some witchcraft accusations. It wasn’t long before witch mania died down in the New World and laws were passed to help protect people from being wrongly accused and convicted. Book of Shadows The court decided to use a controversial water test to determine her guilt or innocence. Sherwood’s arms and legs were bound and she was thrown into a body of water. It was thought if she sank, she was innocent; if she floated, she was guilty. Sherwood didn’t sink and was convicted of being a witch. She wasn’t killed but put in prison and for eight years. While the entire physical Witchcraft Collection is available for in-person research in Cornell Library’s Rare and Manuscript Division, 104 English language books from the collection can be read online in the Digital Witchcraft Collection. These titles were digitally scanned from microfilm by Primary Source Media in 1998. The resulting full text scans were later made available to Cornell University Library to enable free public access.

This was a fascinating listen that included information from the far reaches of history all the way to present day. Touching upon many different aspects from religions long ago, the witch trials, history of Tarot, and so much more. The Podcast 'Stuff You Missed in History Class' had an episode regarding the history of Tarot in October of 2020 and 'Bones and Bobbins' another podcast has been focusing quite a bit about Witchcraft, since the hosts are Witches. That brought about an interest in me, I found it interesting to listen to this overview of the history of Witchcraft. If you have a specific interest, Witch Bottles (Bones and Bobbins), or Tarot you would be better off listening to the podcasts. There are several interesting books that cover the Salem Witch Trials, the ones that I have listened to are very good at covering and explaining the Witchfinder General. In Virginia, people were less frantic about witches. In fact, in Lower Norfolk County in 1655, a law was passed making it a crime to falsely accuse someone of witchcraft. Still, witchcraft was a concern. About two-dozen witch trials (mostly of women) took place in Virginia between 1626 and 1730. None of the accused were executed. Are Witches Real? I also know that there is a discussion of other cultures. However, the Western idea of magic doesn’t exist in a lot of different cultures and representing it in a Magic book would be disrespectful of these cultures, and not respectful. A história da bruxaria" é um livro que aborda historicamente as diversas concepções de bruxaria ao longo da história: a feitiçaria, a bruxaria diabólica (desenvolvida durante o período denominado de caça as bruxas) e o neopaganismo. O texto descreve a época histórica em que tais fenômenos ocorreram, analisando criticamente cada um deles e tecendo comentários acerca das concepções presentes de bruxaria nesses períodos. Devido a isso, muitas pré concepções minhas foram desmistificadas. But witches—whether actual or accused—still face persecution and death. Several men and women suspected of using witchcraft have been beaten and killed in Papua New Guinea since 2010, including a young mother who was burned alive. Similar episodes of violence against people accused of being witches have occurred in Africa, South America, the Middle East and in immigrant communities in Europe and the United States. SourcesApesar de conhecer de maneira isolada parte dos fatos que eles apresentam, vê-los lado a lado no livro abriu muito meus olhos. Nunca tinha me tocado que, por exemplo, a feitiçaria tem um conjunto de práticas muito similar entre culturas e sociedades extremamente distintas. Observar os movimentos neopaganistas em uma linha do tempo também ajudou a esclarecer algumas dúvidas (por que eu odeio tanto o gardner? por que eu amo tanto a z. budapest?) In Homer’s Odyssey ( c.800 BC), Circe – who turns men into animals – is described as a witch, and Plutarch refers to witchcraft in his treatise On Superstition ( c.AD 100). Illicit magic features heavily in Roman law statutes, some of which are passed down to the Christian world. However, many of those early laws were really laws against sorcery, which unlike witchcraft can be beneficial, and which requires special skills, tools and words. Part of Cornell University Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell’s Witchcraft Collection contains over 3,000 titles documenting the history of the Inquisition and the persecution of witchcraft, primarily in Europe. There are a lot of excellent photographs and good use is made of box text diving into specific practices and practitioners that needed a bit more coverage.

It’s unclear exactly when witches came on the historical scene, but one of the earliest records of a witch is in the Bible in the book of 1 Samuel, thought be written between 931 B.C. and 721 B.C. It tells the story of when King Saul sought the Witch of Endor to summon the dead prophet Samuel’s spirit to help him defeat the Philistine army. Marco Frenschkowski: Witchcraft, Magic and Demonology in the Bible, Ancient Judaism and Earliest Christianity One of the great things about Huson’s book is that it appeals to a broad audience. Don’t like Wicca? Well there’s a lot in here that’s very much un-Wiccan. Looking to start a Wiccan-style coven? Well, the entire last chapter of the book is dedicated to just that. I remain amazed and awed by the longevity of this book and how important it is to various Witch communities.The Lesser Key of Solomon. The False Monarchy of Demons. De praestigiis daemonum. Life and Death of Doctor Faustus. A lavishly illustrated history of witchcraft, magic, and the occult, from Paleolithic cave rituals to Wicca and modern paganism. Massachusetts wasn’t the first of the 13 colonies to obsess about witches, though. In Windsor, Connecticut in 1647, Alse Young was the first person in America executed for witchcraft. Before Connecticut’s final witch trial took place in 1697, forty-six people were accused of witchcraft in that state and 11 were put to death for the crime. Professor Gibson also tells the stories of the ‘witches’ – mostly women like Helena Scheuberin, Anny Sampson and Joan Wright, whose stories have too often been overshadowed by those of the powerful men, such as King James I and ‘Witchfinder General’ Matthew Hopkins, who hounded them.

Many modern-day witches still perform witchcraft, but there’s seldom anything sinister about it. Their spells and incantations are often derived from their Book of Shadows, a 20th-century collection of wisdom and witchcraft, and can be compared to the act of prayer in other religions. A modern-day witchcraft potion is more likely to be an herbal remedy for the flu instead of a hex to harm someone.

The Routledge History of Witchcraft is a comprehensive and interdisciplinary study of the belief in witches from antiquity to the present day, providing both an introduction to the subject of witchcraft and an overview of the on-going debates. In later centuries, constant attempts to defeat heresy brought to light a number of figures who were difficult to reconcile with Christianity. Such figures were typically created without reference to witchcraft at all, but led to the creation of the figure of the heretic witch.