Witchcraft in the Western World

Witchcraft in the Western World PDF Author: Georgia Flevotomos
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Witchcraft
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description

Witchcraft in the Western World

Witchcraft in the Western World PDF Author: Georgia Flevotomos
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Witchcraft
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Enemy Within

The Enemy Within PDF Author: John Demos
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780670019991
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
A cultural history of witch-hunting from the ancient world through the McCarthy era traces the factors that contribute to outbreaks of cultural paranoia and how people were able to accept hysteria-based beliefs about unlikely supernatural powers and occult activities. 35,000 first printing.

The Cambridge History of Magic and Witchcraft in the West

The Cambridge History of Magic and Witchcraft in the West PDF Author: David J. Collins, S. J.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316239497
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 897

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Book Description
This book presents twenty chapters by experts in their fields, providing a thorough and interdisciplinary overview of the theory and practice of magic in the West. Its chronological scope extends from the Ancient Near East to twenty-first-century North America; its objects of analysis range from Persian curse tablets to US neo-paganism. For comparative purposes, the volume includes chapters on developments in the Jewish and Muslim worlds, evaluated not simply for what they contributed at various points to European notions of magic, but also as models of alternative development in ancient Mediterranean legacy. Similarly, the volume highlights the transformative and challenging encounters of Europeans with non-Europeans, regarding the practice of magic in both early modern colonization and more recent decolonization.

Witchcraft

Witchcraft PDF Author: Craig Hawkins
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 1441236708
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
This introduction to contemporary witchcraft and neopaganism shows you what witches themselves say they believe, what the Bible says about witchcraft, and philosophical holes in the worldview of witches.

The Witch in the Western Imagination

The Witch in the Western Imagination PDF Author: Lyndal Roper
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
ISBN: 0813933005
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
In an exciting new approach to witchcraft studies, The Witch in the Western Imagination examines the visual representation of witches in early modern Europe. With vibrant and lucid prose, Lyndal Roper moves away from the typical witchcraft studies on trials, beliefs, and communal dynamics and instead considers the witch as a symbolic and malleable figure through a broad sweep of topics and time periods. Employing a wide selection of archival, literary, and visual materials, Roper presents a series of thematic studies that range from the role of emotions in Renaissance culture to demonology as entertainment, and from witchcraft as female embodiment to the clash of cultures on the brink of the Enlightenment. Rather than providing a vast synthesis or survey, this book is questioning and exploratory in nature and illuminates our understanding of the mental and psychic worlds of people in premodern Europe. Roper’s spectrum of theoretical interests will engage readers interested in cultural history, psychoanalytic theory, feminist theory, art history, and early modern European studies. These essays, three of which appear here for the first time in print, are complemented by more than forty images, from iconic paintings to marginal drawings on murals or picture frames. In her unique focus on the imagery of witchcraft, Lyndal Roper has succeeded in adding a compelling new dimension to the study of witchcraft in early modern Europe.

The New Witches of the West

The New Witches of the West PDF Author: Ethan White
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781009472821
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The terms 'witch' and 'witchcraft' have been used to mean many different things over the years. In the twentieth century, some people referred to themselves as witches and espousing esoteric new religions that they called witchcraft. These new religions - most notably Wicca - were forms of modern Paganism, devoted to the veneration of ancient divinities. Others constituted types of Satanism or Luciferianism, embracing the early modern idea of the witch as a Devil worshipper. Recent years have seen growing numbers of Black Americans who practice African diasporic religions adopt the term 'witch' too. This Element explores why the image of the witch so appealing to numerous people living in modern Western countries, examining how witchcraft offers people a connection to the past, a vehicle for liberation, and a means of empowering themselves in an often-troubling world.

Encounters with Witchcraft

Encounters with Witchcraft PDF Author: Norman N. Miller
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438443595
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
Encounters with Witchcraft is a personal story of a young man's fascination with African witchcraft discovered first in a trek across East Africa and the Congo. The story unfolds over four decades during the author's long residence in and many trips to Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. As a field researcher he learns from villagers what it is like to live with witches, and how witches are seen through African eyes. His teachers are healers, cult leaders, witch-hunters and self-proclaimed "witches" as well as policemen, politicians and judges. A key figure is Mohammadi Lupanda, a frail village woman whose only child has died years before. In her dreams, however, she believes the little girl is not dead, but only lost in the fields. Mohammadi is discovered wandering at night, wailing and calling out for the child. Her neighbors are terror-stricken and she is quickly brought to a village trial and banished as a witch. The author is able to watch and listen to the proceedings and later investigate the deeper story. He discovers mysteries about Mohammadi that are only solved when he returns to the village three decades later. Today, witch-hunting and witchcraft-related crimes are found in more than seventy developing countries. Epidemics of violence against alleged witches, mainly women, but including elders of both genders, and even children is on the increase in some parts of the world. Witchcraft beliefs may lie behind vigilante murders, political assassinations, revenge killings and commercial murders for human body parts. Through African voices the author addresses key questions. Do witchcraft powers exist? Why does witchcraft persist? What are its historic roots? Why is witchcraft-based violence so often found within families? Does witchcraft serve as a hidden legal and political system, a mafia-like under-government? The author holds up a mirror for us to think about religious beliefs in our own experience that rely heavily on myth and superstition.

Encyclopedia of Witchcraft [4 volumes]

Encyclopedia of Witchcraft [4 volumes] PDF Author: Richard M. Golden Director, Jewish Studies Program
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1851095128
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1310

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Book Description
The definitive compilation on witchcraft and witch hunting in the early modern era exploring significant people, places, beliefs, and events. Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Western Tradition is the definitive reference on the age of witch hunting (approximately 1430–1750), its origins, expansion, and ultimate decline. Incorporating a wealth of recent scholarship in four richly illustrated, alphabetically organized volumes, it offers historians and general readers alike the opportunity to explore the realities behind the legends of witchcraft and witchcraft trials. Over 170 contributors from 28 nations provide vivid, documented descriptions and analyses of witchcraft trials and locations, folklore and beliefs, magical practices and deities, influential texts, and the full range of players in this extraordinary drama—witchcraft theorists and theologians; historians and authors; judges, clergy, and rulers; the accused; and their persecutors. Concentrating on Europe and the Americas in the early modern era, the work also covers relevant topics from the ancient Near East (including the Hebrew and Christian Bibles), classical antiquity, and the European Middle Ages.

Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction

Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Malcolm Gaskill
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019923695X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 163

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Book Description
Examines the history and origins of witchcraft, from pre-history to the present day, considering why it still features so heavily in our culture

The Witch-cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology

The Witch-cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology PDF Author: Margaret Alice Murray
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
This is a study of witchcraft based on practices in England as the author says records and information were more readily accessible, while practices in much of Western Europe are similar. The book is detailed, giving information on all aspects of the cult, including rites of passage, ceremonies and so on.