Excellent books on the history of witchcraft

[sara_super_id]

I have been reading a few very excellent books on the history of witchcraft practices. It is very helpful considering how much bad history is passed along in neo-paganism and how much polite disagreement there is among historians as well. I don't want to fall into the trap of reading just one professors or just one school's opinions and getting

Comments

[tryst_inn]

Philip Heselton has written several excellent books on the history of witchcraft and Gerald B. Gardner.

[tryst_inn]

Also "The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic" by Ralph Merrifield.

[sara_super_id]

Oh very good, have not heard of that one, and I adore archeology. Have you read about the http://www.archaeologyonline.org/ saveok water archeology site? Its absolutely amazing and really opens up the field on the archeology of magic!

[tryst_inn]

Its in my bookmarks but I haven't really gotten a chance to go through it, I tend to specialize more in the Paleolithic sites like Catal Huyuk and reading the reports as they are posted specific to the ruins' site. I should spend time on AO, though!

I love that we're finding so many old witchcraft artifacts! We've always had such a rich pagan heritage, its lovely to see our folklore explored in such an academic manner. Sadly, the naysayers won't see this as any precedent of surviving witchcults, perhaps I'm premature in thinking so myself, but I see those threads reaching through time, legend and now science.

[ai731]

I highly recommend the biography of Alistair Crowley, "A Magick Life" by Martin Booth.

[tryst_inn]

The OP was asking about witchcraft, not Ceremonial Magic?

[ai731]

The histories (which is what the OP was asking about) of witchcraft and Ceremonial Magic are intertwined, not totally separate subjects. Crowly researched and practiced a little bit of everything.

[tryst_inn]

I think we're confusing the practice with the history of witchcraft. Insulting High Priestesses doesn't really constitute history-making.

Could you give a few examples of what you are considering intertwining histories here?

[harrietbrown]

For American witchcraft and paganism, there's Margo Adler's "Drawing Down the Moon" (a broad overview) and for more current practices, there's "Her Hidden Children" by Chas Clifton. Those are more contemporary.

[sara_super_id]

A classic, and I actually do need to reread that one, it was so long since I looked at it and I think I will get so much more out of it now that I have a better background in the modern history of the craft.

[harrietbrown]

I don't know how old your edition of "Drawing Down the Moon" is, but I think she edits it and updates fairly regularly, so if your copy is old, you might want to invest in a more updated edition.

[sara_super_id]

I am all about the library! I only buy a few books because my shelves are so full already!

[ai731]

I wasn't impressed with "Her Hidden Children". I found it incredibly Wicca-centric, not terribly well written, and somewhat baised.

[tryst_inn]

I find that an odd statement, given that it was designed to be about the rise of Wicca and Neo-Paganism in America. The Wica refer to themselves as the "Hidden Children", hence the book's title.

[sara_super_id]

Wow! I completely loved this book because if its expansion beyond Wiccan material into the Andersons, Ella Young, NGROOD, Reclaiming, and much much more. Because of this book, I learned of pre-Wiccan traditions in America and it's really really impacted my craft in ways I cannot even begin to explain.

I would agree it was not well written. I found the way it was put together to be somewhat repetitive like Chas had taken articles written at various points and combined them with limited editing for flow, but all was forgiven because of her information on Ella Young and the Andersons.

[brock_tn]

Okay, there's some useful material in Hutton's Stations of the Sun: The Ritual Year in Britain, but you have to winkle the useful bits out of the rest of the text.

Next, there's a six-volume History of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, originally published in Britain by Athlone and reprinted in the US by the University of Pennsylvania Press. Used prices in the US run around $25 per volume.

Then, we have Ankarloo and Henningsen's anthology Early Modern European Witchcraft - Centers and Peripheries, which is a really great book.

Finally, pretty much anything by Brian P. Levack (currently the John E. Green Regents Professor in History at the University of Texas in Austin,) on the subject of witchcraft is going to be useful.

[sara_super_id]

Thank you, I am going to see what I can get through interlibrary loan. ILL has been feeding my need to read lately :)