The Astronomer & the Witch

The Astronomer & the Witch PDF Author: Ulinka Rublack
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198736770
Category : Astronomers
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
In The Astronomer and the Witch, Ulinka Rublack pieces together the tale of this extraordinary episode in Kepler's life, one that takes us to the heart of his changing world.

The Astronomer & the Witch

The Astronomer & the Witch PDF Author: Ulinka Rublack
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198736770
Category : Astronomers
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
In The Astronomer and the Witch, Ulinka Rublack pieces together the tale of this extraordinary episode in Kepler's life, one that takes us to the heart of his changing world.

The Astronomer and the Witch

The Astronomer and the Witch PDF Author: Ulinka Rublack
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191056456
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was one of the most admired astronomers who ever lived and a key figure in the scientific revolution. A defender of Copernicus ́s sun-centred universe, he famously discovered that planets move in ellipses, and defined the three laws of planetary motion. Perhaps less well known is that in 1615, when Kepler was at the height of his career, his widowed mother Katharina was accused of witchcraft. The proceedings led to a criminal trial that lasted six years, with Kepler conducting his mother's defence. In The Astronomer and the Witch, Ulinka Rublack pieces together the tale of this extraordinary episode in Kepler's life, one which takes us to the heart of his changing world. First and foremost an intense family drama, the story brings to life the world of a small Lutheran community in the centre of Europe at a time of deep religious and political turmoil - a century after the Reformation, and on the threshold of the Thirty Years' War. Kepler's defence of his mother also offers us a fascinating glimpse into the great astronomer's world view, on the cusp between Reformation and scientific revolution. While advancing rational explanations for the phenomena which his mother's accusers attributed to witchcraft, Kepler nevertheless did not call into question the existence of magic and witches. On the contrary, he clearly believed in them. And, as the story unfolds, it appears that there were moments when even Katharina's children wondered whether their mother really did have nothing to hide...

Kepler's Witch

Kepler's Witch PDF Author: James A. Connor
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061737429
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 582

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Book Description
“A fascinating book, analyzing a pivotal time in western intellectual history.” — John Shelby Spong, author of A New Christianity for a New World “A detailed and fascinating account of the life and times of one of the great founding figures of modern science.” — John Polkinghorne, author of Belief in God in an Age of Science “James Connor narrates the compelling human drama behind significant scientific discoveries of the seventeenth century.” — Eve LaPlante, author of American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied the Puritans “Connor has illuminated the life - and thus also the work - of one of history’s greatest star-gazers.” — David Edmonds and John Eidinow, authors of Wittgenstein's Poker and Bobby Fischer Goes to War “Connor’s skillful narrative brings to life an extraordinary man who wanted to know the mind of God.” — Kenneth Silverman, Pulitzer-Prize winner and author of Lightning Man “Kepler has received less than his due from rationally-minded scholars. This luminous biography will help remedy that injustice.” — Booklist - Starred Review “His biographer depicts him brilliantly . . . healthy, purposeful, and illuminating.” — Kirkus Reviews “...a remarkably human portrait of Kepler. . . . [an] engaging narrative.” — Publishers Weekly “A compelling story of scientific discovery. . . crisply written, meticulously researched and highly recommended.” — Tucson Citizen “Fun to read...” — Los Angeles Times “No other Keplerian biography fleshes out so fully the background against which the astronomer worked.” — Christian Century “Connor delves into Kepler’s life in such a way that the scientist becomes a person of flesh and bone.” — National Catholic Reporter

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch PDF Author: Rivka Galchen
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374711216
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Drawing on real historical documents but infused with the intensity of imagination, sly humor, and intellectual fire for which award-winning author Rivka Galchen’s writing is known, Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch is a tale for our time—the story of how a community becomes implicated in collective aggression and hysterical fear. The year is 1619, in the German duchy of Württemberg. Plague is spreading. The Thirty Years War has begun, and fear and suspicion are in the air throughout the Holy Roman Empire. In the small town of Leonberg, Katherina Kepler is accused of being a witch. An illiterate widow, Katherina is known by her neighbors for her herbal remedies and the success of her children, including her eldest, Johannes, who is the Imperial Mathematician and renowned author of the laws of planetary motion. It’s enough to make anyone jealous, and Katherina has done herself no favors by being out and about and in everyone’s business. So when the deranged and insipid Ursula Reinbold (or as Katherina calls her, the Werewolf) accuses Katherina of offering her a bitter, witchy drink that has made her ill, Katherina is in trouble. Her scientist son must turn his attention from the music of the spheres to the job of defending his mother. Facing the threat of financial ruin, torture, and even execution, Katherina tells her side of the story to her friend and next-door neighbor Simon, a reclusive widower imperiled by his own secrets. Provocative and entertaining, Galchen’s bold new novel touchingly illuminates a society, and a family, undone by superstition, the state, and the mortal convulsions of history.

The Witch's Daughter

The Witch's Daughter PDF Author: Paula Brackston
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429989858
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 317

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Book Description
My name is Elizabeth Anne Hawksmith, and my age is three hundred and eighty-four years. Each new settlement asks for a new journal, and so this Book of Shadows begins... In the spring of 1628, the Witchfinder of Wessex finds himself a true Witch. As Bess Hawksmith watches her mother swing from the Hanging Tree she knows that only one man can save her from the same fate at the hands of the panicked mob: the Warlock Gideon Masters, and his Book of Shadows. Secluded at his cottage in the woods, Gideon instructs Bess in the Craft, awakening formidable powers she didn't know she had and making her immortal. She couldn't have foreseen that even now, centuries later, he would be hunting her across time, determined to claim payment for saving her life. In present-day England, Elizabeth has built a quiet life for herself, tending her garden and selling herbs and oils at the local farmers' market. But her solitude abruptly ends when a teenage girl called Tegan starts hanging around. Against her better judgment, Elizabeth begins teaching Tegan the ways of the Hedge Witch, in the process awakening memories--and demons--long thought forgotten. Part historical romance, part modern fantasy, Paula Brackston's New York Times bestseller, The Witch's Daughter, is a fresh, compelling take on the magical, yet dangerous world of Witches. Readers will long remember the fiercely independent heroine who survives plagues, wars, and the heartbreak that comes with immortality to remain true to herself, and protect the protégé she comes to love.

April Witch

April Witch PDF Author: Majgull Axelsson
Publisher: Katha
ISBN: 9788189020170
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 424

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Book Description
Majgull Axelson is the author of four works of non-fiction as well as one previous novel, Far from Nitetheim, for which she was awarded the 1994 Moa Stipend. The 1997 publication of April Witch in Sweden earned her the prestigious August Prize. She is married, has two children and lives in Stockholm.

The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America

The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America PDF Author: Brian P. Levack
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191648833
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 646

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Book Description
The essays in this Handbook, written by leading scholars working in the rapidly developing field of witchcraft studies, explore the historical literature regarding witch beliefs and witch trials in Europe and colonial America between the early fifteenth and early eighteenth centuries. During these years witches were thought to be evil people who used magical power to inflict physical harm or misfortune on their neighbours. Witches were also believed to have made pacts with the devil and sometimes to have worshipped him at nocturnal assemblies known as sabbaths. These beliefs provided the basis for defining witchcraft as a secular and ecclesiastical crime and prosecuting tens of thousands of women and men for this offence. The trials resulted in as many as fifty thousand executions. These essays study the rise and fall of witchcraft prosecutions in the various kingdoms and territories of Europe and in English, Spanish, and Portuguese colonies in the Americas. They also relate these prosecutions to the Catholic and Protestant reformations, the introduction of new forms of criminal procedure, medical and scientific thought, the process of state-building, profound social and economic change, early modern patterns of gender relations, and the wave of demonic possessions that occurred in Europe at the same time. The essays survey the current state of knowledge in the field, explore the academic controversies that have arisen regarding witch beliefs and witch trials, propose new ways of studying the subject, and identify areas for future research.

The Witch Herself

The Witch Herself PDF Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0689853173
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
From the shadows of the pool, Black as midnight, thick as gruel... Is Mrs. Tuggle a witch? Lynn and Mouse are sure she is - how else can you explain the frightening things that have been taking place over the past several months? Now Lynn's mom is planning to move her writing studio into Mrs. Tuggle's house for the winter, and Lynn can't imagine a more dangerous situation. If she and Mouse don't do something, there's no telling what horrifying things may happen. They've got to save lynn's mom before Mrs. Tuggle strikes again -- but how?

Little Witch Goes to School

Little Witch Goes to School PDF Author: Deborah Hautzig
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0679887385
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 50

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Book Description
Little Witch wants to go to school just like her friends, but her mother thinks she should stay home and learn from her witchy aunts. Mother Witch finally agrees to let Little Witch go, but only if she promises to be very, very bad. It's a wild ride on a broomstick that kids won't soon forget! The third book in the popular Little Witch series, Little Witch Goes to School has all the mixed-up magic and quirky humor kids have come to love in the first two books.

Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande

Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande PDF Author: Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198740298
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 301

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Book Description
An abridged version of the 1937 an-thropological study of the Azande of the southern Sudan, the theoretical insights of which have proven increasingly influential among both anthropologists and others