Belief In Witch

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Piercing the Shroud: Destabilizations of ‘Evil’

Author : Rallie Murray
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004398155
Total Pages : 211 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (43 download)

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Book Synopsis Piercing the Shroud: Destabilizations of ‘Evil’ by : Rallie Murray

Download or read book Piercing the Shroud: Destabilizations of ‘Evil’ written by Rallie Murray and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-06-03 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our world has become inundated with images of a reality in which ‘evil’ thrives, and ‘good’ seems to be a naïve, utopian fantasy. ‘Good’ is reserved for superheroes and children’s stories, while the ‘real world’ is driven by greed, violence, and hatred. If we are so consumed with evil, then is there any point to writing about it? Perhaps the more important question is ‘why should we ever stop writing about it?’. Towards that end, this volume is intended to act as a catalyst to an ongoing destabilization of mental (philosophical) and social (political, historical) regimes of ‘evil’ in thought and practice. It is compiled with the intention of saying something new about a very old topic, as a reminder that this is an unfinished conversation which stretches back millennia and has a deeply tangible impact on the worlds within which we live today. Contributors are Peter Brian Barry, Lima Bhuiyan, Diedra L. Clay, Zachary J. Goldberg, Sophia Kanaouti, Stefanie Schnitzer Mills, Rallie Murray, Asli Tekinay and Claudio Vescia Zanini.

Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction

Author : Malcolm Gaskill
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191613681
Total Pages : 168 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (916 download)

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Book Synopsis Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction by : Malcolm Gaskill

Download or read book Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction written by Malcolm Gaskill and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2010-03-25 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Witchcraft is a subject that fascinates us all, and everyone knows what a witch is - or do they? From childhood most of us develop a sense of the mysterious, malign person, usually an old woman. Historically, too, we recognize witch-hunting as a feature of pre-modern societies. But why do witches still feature so heavily in our cultures and consciousness? From Halloween to superstitions, and literary references such as Faust and even Harry Potter, witches still feature heavily in our society. In this Very Short Introduction Malcolm Gaskill challenges all of this, and argues that what we think we know is, in fact, wrong. Taking a historical perspective from the ancient world to contemporary paganism, Gaskill reveals how witchcraft has meant different things to different people and that in every age it has raised questions about the distinction between fantasy and reality, faith and proof. Telling stories, delving into court records, and challenging myths, Gaskill examines the witch-hunts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and explores the reinvention of witchcraft - as history, religion, fiction, and metaphor. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Wicca

Author : Ethan Doyle White
Publisher : Liverpool University Press
ISBN 13 : 1782842551
Total Pages : 287 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (828 download)

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Book Synopsis Wicca by : Ethan Doyle White

Download or read book Wicca written by Ethan Doyle White and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 2015-10-01 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The past century has born witness to a growing interest in the belief systems of ancient Europe, with an array of contemporary Pagan groups claiming to revive these old ways for the needs of the modern world. By far the largest and best known of these Paganisms has been Wicca, a new religious movement that can now count hundreds of thousands of adherents worldwide. Emerging from the occult milieu of mid twentieth-century Britain, Wicca was first presented as the survival of an ancient pre-Christian Witch-Cult, whose participants assembled in covens to venerate their Horned God and Mother Goddess, to celebrate seasonal festivities, and to cast spells by the light of the full moon. Spreading to North America, where it diversified under the impact of environmentalism, feminism, and the 1960s counter-culture, Wicca came to be presented as a Goddess-centred nature religion, in which form it was popularised by a number of best-selling authors and fictional television shows. Today, Wicca is a maturing religious movement replete with its own distinct world-view, unique culture, and internal divisions. This book represents the first published academic introduction to be exclusively devoted to this fascinating faith, exploring how this Witches' Craft developed, what its participants believe and practice, and what the Wiccan community actually looks like. In doing so it sweeps away widely-held misconceptions and offers a comprehensive overview of this religion in all of its varied forms. Drawing upon the work of historians, anthropologists, sociologists, and scholars of religious studies, as well as the writings of Wiccans themselves, it provides an original synthesis that will be invaluable for anyone seeking to learn about the blossoming religion of modern Pagan Witchcraft.

Encounters with Witchcraft

Author : Norman N. Miller
Publisher : State University of New York Press
ISBN 13 : 1438443595
Total Pages : 243 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (384 download)

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Book Synopsis Encounters with Witchcraft by : Norman N. Miller

Download or read book Encounters with Witchcraft written by Norman N. Miller and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-04-26 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Scepticism and Belief in English Witchcraft Drama, 1538-1681

Author : Eric Pudney
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9789198376876
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (768 download)

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Book Synopsis Scepticism and Belief in English Witchcraft Drama, 1538-1681 by : Eric Pudney

Download or read book Scepticism and Belief in English Witchcraft Drama, 1538-1681 written by Eric Pudney and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book situates witchcraft drama within its cultural and intellectual context, highlighting the centrality of scepticism and belief in witchcraft to the genre. It is argued that these categories are most fruitfully understood not as static and mutually exclusive positions within the debate around witchcraft, but as rhetorical tools used within it. In drama, too, scepticism and belief are vital issues. The psychology of the witch character is characterised by a combination of impious scepticism towards God and credulous belief in the tricks of the witch's master, the devil. Plays which present plausible depictions of witches typically use scepticism as a support: the witch's power is subject to important limitations which make it easier to believe. Plays that take witchcraft less seriously present witches with unrestrained power, an excess of belief which ultimately induces scepticism. But scepticism towards witchcraft can become a veneer of rationality concealing other beliefs that pass without sceptical examination. The theatrical representation of witchcraft powerfully demonstrates its uncertain status as a historical and intellectual phenomenon; belief and scepticism in witchcraft drama are always found together, in creative tension with one another.

Premodern Beliefs and Witch Trials in a Swedish Province, 1669-1672

Author : Göran Malmstedt
Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 9783030761226
Total Pages : 229 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (612 download)

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Book Synopsis Premodern Beliefs and Witch Trials in a Swedish Province, 1669-1672 by : Göran Malmstedt

Download or read book Premodern Beliefs and Witch Trials in a Swedish Province, 1669-1672 written by Göran Malmstedt and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2022-07-30 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the worldview and perceptions of reality that formed the setting for the witch trials held in the Swedish province of Bohuslän in 1669-1672. The first part of the book explores the conduct of the trials and provides, among other things, an analysis of the defendants and of the various accusations from neighbours and the court. The following parts analyse the perceptions of reality found in the statements made in court by witnesses and the accused. The topics addressed include the relationship between dreams and reality, belief in shape-shifting, the power of words, emotions, and magically charged matters, as well as perceptions of God and the Devil. The beliefs that surfaced during the trials were part of a general mentality that characterised people’s perception of the world, both before and after the trials. As the records from the prolonged cross-examinations of the accused are unusually detailed, the defendant’s statements, together with accusations, testimonies, and the courts’ questions, provides a unique insight into premodern worldviews.

Witchcraft in Early North America

Author : Alison Games
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1442203595
Total Pages : 233 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (422 download)

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Book Synopsis Witchcraft in Early North America by : Alison Games

Download or read book Witchcraft in Early North America written by Alison Games and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2010-10-16 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Witchcraft in Early North America investigates European, African, and Indian witchcraft beliefs and their expression in colonial America. Alison Games's engaging book takes us beyond the infamous outbreak at Salem, Massachusetts, to look at how witchcraft was a central feature of colonial societies in North America. Her substantial and lively introduction orients readers to the subject and to the rich selection of documents that follows. The documents begin with first encounters between European missionaries and Native Americans in New France and New Mexico, and they conclude with witch hunts among Native Americans in the years of the early American republic. The documents—some of which have never been published previously—include excerpts from trials in Virginia, New Mexico, and Massachusetts; accounts of outbreaks in Salem, Abiquiu (New Mexico), and among the Delaware Indians; descriptions of possession; legal codes; and allegations of poisoning by slaves. The documents raise issues central to legal, cultural, social, religious, and gender history. This fascinating topic and the book’s broad geographic and chronological coverage make this book ideally suited for readers interested in new approaches to colonial history and the history of witchcraft.

Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe

Author : Jonathan Barry
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521638753
Total Pages : 392 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (387 download)

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Book Synopsis Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe by : Jonathan Barry

Download or read book Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe written by Jonathan Barry and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998-03-12 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This important collection brings together both established figures and new researchers to offer fresh perspectives on the ever-controversial subject of the history of witchcraft. Using Keith Thomas's Religion and the Decline of Magic as a starting point, the contributors explore the changes of the last twenty-five years in the understanding of early modern witchcraft, and suggest new approaches, especially concerning the cultural dimensions of the subject. Witchcraft cases must be understood as power struggles, over gender and ideology as well as social relationships, with a crucial role played by alternative representations. Witchcraft was always a contested idea, never fully established in early modern culture but much harder to dislodge than has usually been assumed. The essays are European in scope, with examples from Germany, France, and the Spanish expansion into the New World, as well as a strong core of English material.

America Bewitched

Author : Owen Davies
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0199578710
Total Pages : 316 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (995 download)

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Book Synopsis America Bewitched by : Owen Davies

Download or read book America Bewitched written by Owen Davies and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2013-02-21 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first major history of witchcraft in America - from the Salem witch trials of 1692 to the present day.

Knowledge, Belief & Witchcraft

Author : B. Hallen
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 152 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (321 download)

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Book Synopsis Knowledge, Belief & Witchcraft by : B. Hallen

Download or read book Knowledge, Belief & Witchcraft written by B. Hallen and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the only analysis of indigenous discourse about an African belief system undertaken within the framework of Anglo-American analytical philosophy.

Werewolves, Witches, and Wandering Spirits

Author : Kathryn A. Edwards
Publisher : Penn State Press
ISBN 13 : 0271091096
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (71 download)

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Book Synopsis Werewolves, Witches, and Wandering Spirits by : Kathryn A. Edwards

Download or read book Werewolves, Witches, and Wandering Spirits written by Kathryn A. Edwards and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2002-10-25 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing together scholars from Europe, America, and Australia, this volume explores the more fantastic elements of popular religious belief: ghosts, werewolves, spiritualism, animism, and of course, witchcraft. These traditional religious beliefs and practices are frequently treated as marginal in more synthetic studies of witchcraft and popular religion, yet Protestants and Catholics alike saw ghosts, imps, werewolves, and other supernatural entities as populating their world. Embedded within notarial and trial records are accounts that reveal the integration of folkloric and theological elements in early modern spirituality. Drawing from extensive archival research, the contributors argue for the integration of such beliefs into our understanding of late medieval and early modern Europe.

Demon Lovers

Author : Walter Stephens
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 9780226772622
Total Pages : 472 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (726 download)

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Book Synopsis Demon Lovers by : Walter Stephens

Download or read book Demon Lovers written by Walter Stephens and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2003-08-15 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On September 20, 1587, Walpurga Hausmännin of Dillingen in southern Germany was burned at the stake as a witch. Although she had confessed to committing a long list of maleficia (deeds of harmful magic), including killing forty—one infants and two mothers in labor, her evil career allegedly began with just one heinous act—sex with a demon. Fornication with demons was a major theme of her trial record, which detailed an almost continuous orgy of sexual excess with her diabolical paramour Federlin "in many divers places, . . . even in the street by night." As Walter Stephens demonstrates in Demon Lovers, it was not Hausmännin or other so-called witches who were obsessive about sex with demons—instead, a number of devout Christians, including trained theologians, displayed an uncanny preoccupation with the topic during the centuries of the "witch craze." Why? To find out, Stephens conducts a detailed investigation of the first and most influential treatises on witchcraft (written between 1430 and 1530), including the infamous Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches). Far from being credulous fools or mindless misogynists, early writers on witchcraft emerge in Stephens's account as rational but reluctant skeptics, trying desperately to resolve contradictions in Christian thought on God, spirits, and sacraments that had bedeviled theologians for centuries. Proof of the physical existence of demons—for instance, through evidence of their intercourse with mortal witches—would provide strong evidence for the reality of the supernatural, the truth of the Bible, and the existence of God. Early modern witchcraft theory reflected a crisis of belief—a crisis that continues to be expressed today in popular debates over angels, Satanic ritual child abuse, and alien abduction.

Witches of America

Author : Alex Mar
Publisher : Sarah Crichton Books
ISBN 13 : 0374709114
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (747 download)

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Book Synopsis Witches of America by : Alex Mar

Download or read book Witches of America written by Alex Mar and published by Sarah Crichton Books. This book was released on 2015-10-20 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Witches are gathering." When most people hear the word "witches," they think of horror films and Halloween, but to the nearly one million Americans who practice Paganism today, witchcraft is a nature-worshipping, polytheistic, and very real religion. So Alex Mar discovers when she sets out to film a documentary and finds herself drawn deep into the world of present-day magic. Witches of America follows Mar on her immersive five-year trip into the occult, charting modern Paganism from its roots in 1950s England to its current American mecca in the San Francisco Bay Area; from a gathering of more than a thousand witches in the Illinois woods to the New Orleans branch of one of the world's most influential magical societies. Along the way she takes part in dozens of rituals and becomes involved with a wild array of characters: a government employee who founds a California priesthood dedicated to a Celtic goddess of war; American disciples of Aleister Crowley, whose elaborate ceremonies turn the Catholic mass on its head; second-wave feminist Wiccans who practice a radical separatist witchcraft; a growing "mystery cult" whose initiates trace their rites back to a blind shaman in rural Oregon. This sprawling magical community compels Mar to confront what she believes is possible-or hopes might be. With keen intelligence and wit, Mar illuminates the world of witchcraft while grappling in fresh and unexpected ways with the question underlying every faith: Why do we choose to believe in anything at all? Whether evangelical Christian, Pagan priestess, or atheist, each of us craves a system of meaning to give structure to our lives. Sometimes we just find it in unexpected places.

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

Author : Brian P. Levack
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191648833
Total Pages : 645 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (916 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America by : Brian P. Levack

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America written by Brian P. Levack and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2013-03-28 with total page 645 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Magic, Science, and Religion in Early Modern Europe

Author : Mark A. Waddell
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108591167
Total Pages : 231 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (85 download)

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Book Synopsis Magic, Science, and Religion in Early Modern Europe by : Mark A. Waddell

Download or read book Magic, Science, and Religion in Early Modern Europe written by Mark A. Waddell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-01-28 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the recovery of ancient ritual magic at the height of the Renaissance to the ignominious demise of alchemy at the dawn of the Enlightenment, Mark A. Waddell explores the rich and complex ways that premodern people made sense of their world. He describes a time when witches flew through the dark of night to feast on the flesh of unbaptized infants, magicians conversed with angels or struck pacts with demons, and astrologers cast the horoscopes of royalty. Ground-breaking discoveries changed the way that people understood the universe while, in laboratories and coffee houses, philosophers discussed how to reconcile the scientific method with the veneration of God. This engaging, illustrated new study introduces readers to the vibrant history behind the emergence of the modern world.

Origins of Modern Witchcraft

Author : Aoumiel
Publisher : Llewellyn Worldwide
ISBN 13 : 9781567186482
Total Pages : 316 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (864 download)

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Book Synopsis Origins of Modern Witchcraft by : Aoumiel

Download or read book Origins of Modern Witchcraft written by Aoumiel and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2000 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book sheds new light on the ancient origins of religion to give Wiccans, Witches, and the Neo-Pagans a sense of where they belong in history.

Witchcraft, Witches, and Violence in Ghana

Author : Mensah Adinkrah
Publisher : Berghahn Books
ISBN 13 : 1782385614
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (823 download)

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Book Synopsis Witchcraft, Witches, and Violence in Ghana by : Mensah Adinkrah

Download or read book Witchcraft, Witches, and Violence in Ghana written by Mensah Adinkrah and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2015-08-01 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Witchcraft violence is a feature of many contemporary African societies. In Ghana, belief in witchcraft and the malignant activities of putative witches is prevalent. Purported witches are blamed for all manner of adversities including inexplicable illnesses and untimely deaths. As in other historical periods and other societies, in contemporary Ghana, alleged witches are typically female, elderly, poor, and marginalized. Childhood socialization in homes and schools, exposure to mass media, and other institutional mechanisms ensure that witchcraft beliefs are transmitted across generations and entrenched over time. This book provides a detailed account of Ghanaian witchcraft beliefs and practices and their role in fueling violent attacks on alleged witches by aggrieved individuals and vigilante groups.