Book picks similar to
America Bewitched: The Story of Witchcraft After Salem by Owen Davies
history
non-fiction
witchcraft
witches
Aradia: Gospel of the Witches
Charles Godfrey Leland - 1899
What is certain is that this 1899 classic has become a foundational document of modern Wicca and neopaganism. Leland claimed his "witch informant," a fortune-teller named Maddalena, supplied him with the secret writings that he translated and combined with his research on Italian pagan tradition to create a gospel of pagan belief and practice. Here, in the story of the goddess Aradia, who came to Earth to champion oppressed peasants in their fight against their feudal overlords and the Catholic Church, are the chants, prayers, spells, and rituals that have become the centerpieces of contemporary pagan faiths. American journalist and folklorist CHARLES GODFREY LELAND (1824-1903) was editor of Continental Monthly during the Civil War and coined the term emancipation as an alternative to abolition, but he is best remembered for his books on ethnography, folklore, and language, including The Gypsies (1882), The Hundred Riddles of the Fairy Bellaria (1892), and Unpublished Legends of Virgil (1899).
Grandmother Moon: Lunar Magic in Our Lives--Spells, Rituals, Goddesses, Legends, and Emotions Under the Moon
Zsuzsanna E. Budapest - 1991
This book introduces the moon as an influence on both evolution and on individual sex lives. The author offers practical advice on how to make it through the moon's phases: waxing, waning and retrograde. The book is organized by the 13 lunations, exploring the moods, goddesses, rituals, and legends that are associated with each cycle.
The Witch's Path: Advancing Your Craft at Every Level
Thorn Mooney - 2021
This book shares specific, hands-on tips for what you can do to move forward spiritually today, no matter what your starting point.Join Thorn Mooney on an exploration of the most common themes practitioners need to look into when they're feeling stagnant or stuck: sacred space, devotion, ritual and magic, personal practice, and community. Every chapter features four separate exercises, designed for four different types of readers, so you can come back to this book as you grow and discover fresh techniques and activities. The Witch's Path helps renew your sense of engagement with the Craft so you can continue evolving your spirit, your practice, and yourself.
Daughters of the Witching Hill
Mary Sharratt - 2010
Bess Southerns, an impoverished widow living in Pendle Forest, is haunted by visions and gains a reputation as a cunning woman. Drawing on the Catholic folk magic of her youth, Bess heals the sick and foretells the future. As she ages, she instructs her granddaughter, Alizon, in her craft, as well as her best friend, who ultimately turns to dark magic. When a peddler suffers a stroke after exchanging harsh words with Alizon, a local magistrate, eager to make his name as a witch finder, plays neighbors and family members against one another until suspicion and paranoia reach frenzied heights. Sharratt interweaves well-researched historical details of the 1612 Pendle witch-hunt with a beautifully imagined story of strong women, family, and betrayal. Daughters of the Witching Hill is a powerful novel of intrigue and revelation.
Real Witches Garden
Kate West - 2004
Whether readers have 20 acres of plants or only a window box, real Witches can cultivate a powerful garden that expands and deepens their magic.
The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft
Rosemary Ellen Guiley - 1989
This encyclopedia aims to dispel such notions, with a comprehensive guide to witchcraft throughout history and around the world.
Witchcraft in Europe, 400-1700: A Documentary History
Alan Charles Kors - 1972
Now greatly expanded, the classic anthology of contemporary texts reexamines the phenomenon of witchcraft, taking into account the remarkable scholarship since the book's publication almost thirty years ago.Spanning the period from 400 to 1700, the second edition of Witchcraft in Europe assembles nearly twice as many primary documents as the first, many newly translated, along with new illustrations that trace the development of witch-beliefs from late Mediterranean antiquity through the Enlightenment. Trial records, inquisitors' reports, eyewitness statements, and witches' confessions, along with striking contemporary illustrations depicting the career of the Devil and his works, testify to the hundreds of years of terror that enslaved an entire continent.Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Thomas Hobbes, and other thinkers are quoted at length in order to determine the intellectual, perceptual, and legal processes by which folklore was transformed into systematic demonology and persecution. Together with explanatory notes, introductory essays--which have been revised to reflect current research--and a new bibliography, the documents gathered in Witchcraft in Europe vividly illumine the dark side of the European mind.
City Magick: Urban Rituals, Spells, and Shamanism
Christopher Penczak - 2001
In this guide, Christopher Penczak guides us through the city's spritual spectrum and show us the live and dynamic forces at work in a metropolitan area, providing a guidebook for magikal urban awareness.
The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year
Linda Raedisch - 2013
In The Old Magic of Christmas you'll find a Christmas bestiary and a White Witch's herbal, as well as tips for delving more deeply into your relationship with the unseen. Bring the festivities into your home with cookie recipes and ornament making while brushing elbows with veiled spirits and discovering the true perils of elves. Rife with the more frightful characters from folklore and the season's most petulant ghosts, this book takes you on a spooky sleigh ride from the silvered firs of a winter forest to the mirrored halls of the Snow Queen.
Kitchen Table Tarot: Pull Up a Chair, Shuffle the Cards, and Let's Talk Tarot
Melissa Cynova - 2017
She's heard all the questions and misconceptions that can confuse newcomers (and sometimes more experienced readers, too). Kitchen Table Tarot was written as a guide for anyone looking for no-nonsense lessons with a warm, friendly, and knowledgeable teacher.Join Melissa as she shares straightforward guidance on decks, spreads, card meanings, and symbols. Filled with real-life examples and personal explanations of what it's like to read the cards, this book tells it like it is and provides the information you need to read with confidence.
Rebel Witch
Kelly-Ann Maddox - 2020
It challenges witches to design a nurturing practice that is truly theirs.There's guidance on all the building blocks of the craft, including energy raising, sacred space creation, protection, cleansing, shielding, blessing, consecrating, receiving signs, casting spells, rituals, altars, dream work, deities, astrology, crystal, scrying, potions and much more ... crucially, in each case the topic is discussed from an exciting contemporary perspective. So, when Kelly-Ann talks about sacred texts, she stresses that you can choose the text that resonate with you - so why not Alice in Wonderland or Narnia? Maybe you want to move away from the traditional Wheel of the Year and create your own divisions? Instead of honouring a traditional deity, why not construct your own, choosing elements from rock stars, movie icons or fictional heroes? Or embody magical signs in your clothing and jewellery? Creativity and experimentation are encouraged, with tips to help the reader to be inventive. A curious reader with a desire to create an inspired, deeply personal path and free themselves from conformity will finish the book ready to take action and make magick happen!
Hedge Witch: A Guide to Solitary Witchcraft
Rae Beth - 1989
This book provides spells for all the key festivals of the witch's calendar - describing the therapeutic powers of trancework and herbalism and outlining the Pagan approach to finding a partner. Her lyrical letters, accompanied by pen-and-ink sketches, bring the reader to an understanding of the solitary witch's lifestyle and beliefs.Note: Published in the U.S.A. as The Wiccan Path: A Guide For the Solitary Practioner.
Hedgewitch: Spells, Crafts & Rituals for Natural Magick
Silver RavenWolf - 2008
This guidebook from the immensely popular Silver RavenWolf has everything a new HedgeWitch needs to connect in a personal way with nature's creative, life-affirming energy and use it in magick and spellwork. HedgeWitch features a fourteen-lesson, hands-on guide that you complete at your own pace, interacting with different aspects of nature in simple yet life-changing ways. The fourteen rituals, which can be done alone or with a group, culminate in an inspiring dedication ceremony. Along with a wealth of helpful hints on using HedgeWitch magick for love, health, and beauty, this guide presents tips and recipes for soap making, tea-leaf reading, butterfly garden magick, organically growing your own herbs, and a variety of other ways to use HedgeWitchery in your hearth, home, and garden.Praise for Silver RavenWolf"RavenWolf's prose is delightful and inviting. . . a wonderful guidebook for readers who are serious about beginning a Wiccan spiritual journey." --Publishers Weekly
Ásatrú for Beginners: A Modern Heathen's Guide to the Ancient Northern Way
Mathias Nordvig - 2020
It gained popularity in the 1970s across Europe and North America and is still thriving today, sought out for its non-dogmatic structure and emphasis on individuality, hospitality, and community-based values. Ásatrú for Beginners is a newcomer’s guide to this spirituality. It breaks down everything from the history and traditions to the gods and goddesses, ancient texts, sacred rituals, and the use of runes with simple language anyone can dive into. It’s an inclusive and practical guide that makes it easy to apply Ásatrú in your modern-day life and find greater spiritual satisfaction. Ásatrú for Beginners offers: See yourself more clearly—Ásatrú centers around ideas like friendship, community, and sharing. Discover what’s important to you and how to worship in a way that fits your life. What’s old is new again—Explore the thousand-year-old roots of the original Ásatrú religion and what makes its recent rebirth so powerful. Gods and goddesses—Find wonder, purpose, and inspiration in the stories and poems about gods like Thor, Loki, and Frigg. Enter the world of Ásatrú with a simple guide that puts you on the path to spiritual health.
Scottish Witchcraft: The History and Magick of the Picts
Raymond Buckland - 1991
PectiWita emphasizes living and blending of magick into everyday life. Here, for the first time, are full details of this solitary branch of the Old Ways, their celebrations, talismans, song and dance, herbal lore, runes and glyphs, and recipes.