The Witches Almanac

Charles Christian

Description

Real Witches. Real Lives. Real Magic. Real History. Take a magical tour through the lives and times of 359 of the most important sorcerers and witches throughout history.

For millennia there’s been a fascination and a fear of people possibly wielding magical powers and a stigma surrounding practitioners of ancient rituals and practices. Yet, in the last 70 years, witchcraft, as well as Wicca, have gone from taboo beliefs pursued by a handful of eccentrics and misfits to major global, spiritual movements. Meet the troublemakers and rebels who pushed for change in The Witches Almanac: Sorcerers, Witches, and Magic from Ancient Rome to the Digital Age. You’ll be introduced to the history, persecutions, conjurings, and magic of some of history’s most consequential witches, sorcerers, wizards, and mavericks, including … 

• Circe, Medea, Hermes Trismegistus, the Chaldean Magi, and other Ancient Roman and Classical Greek witches
• Merlin, Morgana le Fey, Nimue, the 10 Queens of Avalon, and sorcery and witchcraft in the Arthurian legends
• San Cipriano, the obscure 4th century bishop whose influence today still plays an important role in folk magic and Hoodoo practices
• Baba Yaga, Joan of Arc, Gilles de Rais, Alice Kyteller, Lord Soulis, Michael Scott, the Golem of Prague, and medieval witchcraft
• King Henry VI, Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII, Catherine de Medici, John Dee, Queen Elizabeth, and witchcraft in the British royal court
• Isobel Gowdie, illusive Scottish witch whose voluntary confessions provided the template for traditional witchcraft beliefs
• Isaac Newton, Friar Roger Bacon, Nicholas Flamel, Paracelsus, Cornelius Agrippa, Robert Boyle, and other alchemists
• The Burning Times of the late 16th to early 18th centuries
• The Berwick witch trial
• The Salem witch trial
• Aleister Crowley, W. B. Yeats, MacGregor Mathers, Eliphas Levi, the Golden Dawn, Thelema and ritual magic, and the rise of esoteric movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries
• Jack Parsons, described as the “Jet-Propelled Antichrist” whose life of sex, rockets, and magic ended prematurely in a mysterious explosion
• Gerald Gardner, Old Dorothy Clutterbuck, Alex Sanders, Robert Cochrane, Raymond Buckland, Lady Sheba, Marjorie Cameron, and others in the modern Wicca and witchcraft movement
• And much more!!

You’ll get a deeper understanding of the obscure history of witches with this enchanting and bewitching tome! The Witches Almanac brings you their rich histories and extraordinary biographies, plus it includes a helpful bibliography, an extensive index, and numerous photos, adding to its usefulness.

Sujets

• Merlin (Desambiguación)
• Dama del Lago
• Grigori Rasputín
• Ana Bolena
• Magic: el encuentro
• Jack Parsons
• Marjorie Cameron
• Reference
• Alex Sanders
• Sybil Leek
• Body (disambiguation)
• Raven Grimassi
• Leo Martello
• Sorcery
• The Burning Times
• Raymond Buckland
• Aradia
• Montague Summers
• James Price
• Helen Duncan
• Morgan le Fay
• Witchcraft Acts
• Marie Laveau
• Salem witch trials
• Eliphas Levi
• Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
• Lady of the Lake
• Alessandro Cagliostro
• Hermes Trismegistus
• Witch-hunt
• James I of Scotland
• Henry VI of England
• Catherine de' Medici
• Witchcraft
• Mother Shipton
• Spirituality
• Louis XIV of France
• Joan of Arc
• Henry VIII of England
• Grigori Rasputin
• Esotericism
• Circe
• Gilles de Rais
• Sorcery (jeu vidéo)
• Jeanne d'Arc (film, 1948)
• Doreen Valiente
• Isaac Newton
• Baba Yaga
• Queen Elizabeth
• Fée Viviane
• Michael Scott
• Edward Kelley
• Magic
• Henri-Corneille Agrippa de Nettesheim
• Starhawk
• Cagliostro
• John Dee
• Alexander Sanders
• Gerald Gardner
• Merlin
• Paracelsus
• Hermès Trismégiste
• Aleister Crowley
• Wicca
• Medea
• Giordano Bruno
• Robert Boyle
• Anne Boleyn

Informations

• Publié par: Visible Ink Press
• Date de parution: 28 février 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781578598144
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

Extrait

C ONTENTS
Introduction
Witchcraft and Sorcery in Classical Antiquity
Magic in the Middle Ages
The Renaissance: When Everything Changed
Witchcraft and Sorcery in the Royal Courts of Europe
The Time of the Alchemists
The Burning Times
The Great Witch Trials
Salem and the North American Colonial Experience
Witchraft and Magic: The Empty Years
The Return of the Cunning Folk
The Rebirth of Esotericism and Ceremonial Magic
Aleister Crowley and His Circle
The Birth of Modern Witchcraft or a Revival of a Cult?
The Great British Witchcraft Revolution
Covens Across the Ocean: The American Dimension
Budapest and Starhawk: Feminism and the Craft
Strange Interlude: Witchcraft in Postwar Germany
Witch-Hunts and Black Magic in Modern Times
Witchcraft in the Digital Age: OK, Boomer?
Afterword: The Last Witch Trial?
Further Reading
Index
P HOTO S OURCES
10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei : p. 26 .
William Harrison Aimsworth, The Lancashire Witches : p. 140 .
A.-K.D. (Wikicommons): p. 34 .
Alamy.com : p. 10 (top).
Alison (English Wikipedia): p. 242 .
Animalsmattertogod.files.wordpress.com : p. 227 .
Architect of the Capitol: p. 166 .
Ashmolean Museum: p. 85 (top).
Aziz1005 (Wikicommons): p. 2 .
BEIC Foundation: p. 98 .
Belgian Art Links and Tools: p. 50 .
Beloit College: pp. 297 .
Biblioth que Nationale de France: p. 70 , 75 , 193 .
Bildarchiv Austria, sterreiche Nationalbibliotek: p. 39 .
Bridgeman Images: p. 153 .
British Library: pp. 36 , 64 , 105 .
British Museum: p. 222 .
Brookie (Wikicommons): p. 283 .
Chrkl (Wikicommons): p. 54 (top).
A Chronicle of England: B.C. 55 - A.D. 1485 : p. 31 .
Chroniques de Saint-Denis : p. 27 .
Samuel Adams Dake, History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Estes Lauriat, 1879: p. 167 .
Debvk (Wikicommons): p. 114 .
Dedda71 (Wikicommons): p. 269 .
Graham Demaline: p. 145 .
Diliff (Wikimedia UK): p. 149 .
E-codices-Virtual Manuscript Library of Switzerland: p. 42 (bottom).
Fondo Antiguo de la Biblioteca de la Universidad de Sevilla: p. 83 .
Fromoldbooks.com : p. 159 .
The Gaberlunzie s Wallet, Ballantine (1874): p. 118 .
Galerie Historique des C l brit s Populaires: p. 88 (top).
Gallica Digital Library: p. 45 (top).
Geograph.org.uk : pp. 234 , 247 , 251 , 292 (bottom).
German Federal Archives: p. 276 .
Germanisches Nationalmuseum: p. 155 .
German Wikipedia: p. 15 (top).
Gran Enciclopedia Galega : p. 22 .
Harvard Art Museums: p. 169 .
Heirs of Arnold Birckmann: p. 88 (bottom).
Francis Helminski: p. 179 .
Jahn Henne: p. 199 .
Histoire de Merlin (Robert de Boron): p. 45 (bottom).
Historic UK ( www.historic-uk.com ): p. 62 .
Imperial War Museum, London: p. 274 .
The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, University of Virginia: p. 171 .
Internet Archive Book Images: p. 46 (bottom).
Ipswich Museum and Art Gallery: p. 60 .
JoJoJoe (Wikicommons): p. 16 (bottom).
Kingston Lacy Collection, National Trust Collections: p. 29 .
Heinrich Klaffs: p. 263 .
Rob Koopman: p. 15 (bottom).
Lancelot du Lac (ms 1480): p. 46 (top).
Library of Congress: p. 170 .
Los Angeles Times : p. 224 .
Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans: p. 192 .
Phillip Medhurst: p. 17 .
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City: p. 212 .
Midnightblueowl (Wikicommons): pp. 202 , 232 , 240 , 246 .
John Hamilton Mortimer: p. 13 (top).
Mullica (Wikicommons): p. 137 .
James Murrell: p. 200 .
Mus e des Beaux-Arts des Strasbourg: p. 109 .
Museo L zaro Galdiano: p. 162 .
Museo del Prado: p. 116 .
NASA/Bill Anders: p. 266 .
NASA/JPL: p. 226 .
National Archives and Records Administration: p. 228 .
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.: p. 12 (top).
National Library of Medicine: p. 80 .
National Library of Wales: p. 85 (bottom).
National Portrait Gallery, London, UK: pp. 113 , 120 , 126 .
Richard Nevell: p. 102 .
New York Public Library Archive: p. 211 (bottom).
NumisAntica: p. 157 .
The Nuremberg Chronicle : p. 37 .
Tom Oates: p. 142 .
Davide Papalini: p. 82 .
Peace Palace Library: p. 66 .
Mike Peel: p. 5 .
Phi (Wikicommons): p. 261 .
PIX magazine: p. 223 .
Jason Rose: p. 203 .
Ruhrgr (Wikicommons): p. 244 .
Sailko (Wikicommons): p. 43 .
SalemPuritan (Wikicommons): p. 181 .
Salem State Archives and Special Collections: p. 258 .
Sandoz-Bulletin : p. 94 .
Le Satanisme et la Magie (1903): p. 71 .
Seattle Municipal Archives: p. 288 .
Shutterstock: pp. 78 , 201 , 271 , 280 , 282 , 289 .
Sianna74 (Wikicommons): p. 243 .
Sebastian Sigler: p. 16 (top).
Smithsonian American Art Museum: p. 11 .
Smithsonian Institution: p. 256 .
Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich, Germany: p. 14 (bottom).
The Strange and Wonderful History of Mother Shipton : p. 54 (bottom).
Sunblade1500 (Wikicommons): p. 236 .
Le Temps : p. 217 .
Totnesmartin (Wikicommons): p. 292 (top).

Virgo Productions: p. 220 .
Wellcome Collection: pp. 12 (bottom), 69 , 90 (top), 96 , 129 , 147 , 154 , 188 , 277 .
Welsh Wikipedia: p. 32 .
Ethan Doyle White: pp. 198 , 218 .
Witchcraft, Murder, Sorcery, c: The Wonderful Life and Remarkable Trial of Mary Bateman of Leeds, in Yorkshire , London, J. Dean (1809): p. 189 .
www.antiqbook.com : p. 161 .
www.fathom.com : p. 124 .
www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/the-1643-murder-of-newburys-surfing-witch : p. 119 .
www.k-istine.ru : p. 19 .
www.openlibrary.org : p. 173 .
www.sacred-texts.com : p. 47 .
www.thebookofdays.com : p. 103 .
Michael Zawadzki: p. 204 .
Public domain: pp. 4 , 7 , 10 (middle and bottom), 13 (bottom), 14 (top), 18 , 23 , 35 , 38 , 40 , 41 (top and bottom), 42 (top), 52 , 61 , 63 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 80 , 81 , 84 , 87 , 88 (middle), 89 , 90 (bottom), 91 , 99 , 101 , 107 , 128 , 132 , 134 , 148 , 151 , 175 , 177 , 182 , 190 , 191 , 194 , 195 , 208 (top and bottom), 210 (top and bottom), 211 (top), 216 , 229 , 237 , 241 , 264 , 268 , 294 , 295 .
I NTRODUCTION
The Witches Almanac: Sorcerers, Witches and Magic from Ancient Rome to the Digital Age is, as the subtitle explains, an almanac of witches and sorcerers, a biographical dictionary of the best-known practitioners and exponents of magic from the earliest times through until the present day, as well as a collection of essays. Sadly, when it comes to the mass persecutions and witch trials of the Burning Times, this definition includes a lot of innocent women and men-mainly women-who had nothing whatsoever to do with witchcraft and sorcery but still went to their graves accused of being witches, so they also earned a place in this book.
This is primarily a book about people, but instead of the traditional approach of a biographical dictionary with all entries in strictly alphabetical order, I ve opted to split the text into separate chapters, each dealing with a particular theme or chronological era containing a brief explanatory narrative discussing the historical context and issues of that theme/era followed by the relevant biographical entries.
That said, this book is not a history of witchcraft. There are plenty of other titles that cover that territory. Similarly, this is not another guide to witchcraft as a magical, occult, spiritual or religious, practice. Nor will you find in it any spells for hexing your enemies or handy practical tips for creating love potions and similar witches brews.
I use the words witches and sorcerers because I wanted a definition that included not just older witchcraft and more recent Wicca folk but all practitioners of magic, whether high ritual magic or low folk magic, and ditto whether black or white magic. I also wanted to get away from the are witches always female and male witches warlocks? thing, as well as avoiding the word wizard, which these days is a bit too Harry Potter .
Basically, I am looking at all practitioners of magick with a k, as Aleister Crowley preferred, to distinguish them from stage magicians. Contrarily, I am sticking to the conventional spelling of magic rather than magick, which can come across as a distracting affectation when used excessively.
I m also primarily focussing on the Western/English-speaking world s tradition of magic, so the United Kingdom and North America are em phasized, with some Continental European content added when relevant, but I will not be looking at the local indigenous witchcraft traditions of Africa, Native Americans, Central Asia, the Far East, Australia, and Oceania. To do so would take us into the realms of comparative anthropology: is it witchcraft, healing (the witch doctors you read about in older history books), shamanism, folklore, magic, or religion? Where do the boundaries between the different elements begin and end? I m not an anthropologist, and for me to comment on this would be taking me well outside my comfort zone and area of expertise.
All the characters mentioned in this book are real people in that they appear in the historical record or in legends stretching back, in some instances, thousands of years. What you will not find here are purely fictional characters of relatively recent invention. So, sorry, there are no entries for Prue, Piper, Phoebe, Paige or any other Halliwell sisters from the television series Charmed , nor do I include Willow and Tara from Buffy the Vampire Slayer . Also absent are Sabrina and Samantha, and definitely nobody from the Harry Potter books and movie franchise are to be found.
Having said all that, once you go back to the Dark Ages (more correctly termed the Early Medieval period/Early Middle Ages) and beyond, the sources become unreliable, and we encounter what can best be termed semi-legendary people. These are people who are hard to verify in terms of historicity-or historical accuracy and actuality. These are the individuals occupying the borderlines of history, myth, legend, and fiction.
These are people who may have been real or else are based upon real people but with their identities changed. They may be the models or prototypes for types of witches a