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Amazon.co.uk
Resources
and Links
Emma
Wilby, Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions
in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic (2005)
This book provides an in-depth analysis of the correlation between early
modern British magic and tribal shamanism, examines the experiential dimension
of popular magic and witchcraft in early modern Britain, and explores
the links between British fairy beliefs and witch beliefs. In the hundreds
of confessions relating to witchcraft and sorcery trials in early modern
Britain there are detailed descriptions of intimate working relationships
between popular magical practitioners and familiar spirits of either human
or animal form.
Jason Semmens, The Witch of the West: Or,
the Strange and Wonderful History of Thomasine Blight (2004)
Thomasine Blight, the celebrated ‘Witch of the West,’ was
the greatest of the Cornish cunning-folk of the nineteenth century. Belief
in witchcraft and ill-wishing was once widespread in Cornwall, and occult
practitioners called cunning-folk, or conjurors, were turned to by those
who thought themselves bewitched. Conjurors supplied charms and cures
to break the power of witchcraft, and offered other services of theft
detection, love magic and fortune telling besides.
Ronald Hutton, The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft (Oxford University Press 1999). Professor Hutton is the foremost scholar on the history of pagan religions in Britain, and in this important book he devotes a lot of attention to examining the relationship between eighteenth- and nineteenth century-witchcraft and cunning-folk, and the modern tradition of pagan witchcraft. An essential read.
James Sharpe, Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in England 1550-1750 (London, 1996). An excellent survey of witchcraft in early modern England, and the conclusion briefly adventures into the modern period.
Jonathan Barry,
Marianne Hester, and Gareth Roberts (eds.), Witchcraft in Early Modern
Europe (London, 1996). This contains two valuable essays concerning
the modern period. Ian Bostridge examines the political debates surrounding
the repeal of the Witchcraft Act, while the Dutch historian, Willem de
Blécourt, who has produced a seminal book on witchcraft in one Dutch province,
presents a critique of Keith Thomas, as well as a call for more research
on the continuation of witchcraft.
Bob Bushaway, "'Tacit, Unsuspected, but still Implicit Faith':
Alternative Belief in Nineteenth-Century Rural England", in Tim Harris
(ed), Popular Culture in England, c.1500-1850 (London, 1995). This article
provides a good survey of the cultures in which the belief in witchcraft
and magic continued.
Ralph Merrifield, The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic (London, 1987). Chapters 6 and 7 contain valuable information on the archaeological evidence for the continued belief in witchcraft and magic, and include an excellent collection of photographs.
NB: In Europe some
important work has already been done but there remains much to do. Unfortunately,
little has been done on witchcraft and magical beliefs in eighteenth-
and nineteenth-century America and Australia. Anyone interested in doing
research in those countries should find much valuable material in the
newspapers of the time. A good starting point for any American researcher
is the index of the New York Times (see for example, "a bewitched blacksmith",
1 October 1869). I can supply further details of publications and researchers.
Amazon.co.uk
Links:
Apotropaios
- Brian Hoggard’s very informative website on the material culture
of magical practices.
Witchcraft
Bibliography Project maintained by Dr Jonathan Durrant
The Cornell University Library Witchcraft Collection - free access to numerous rare books and tracts.
@ Owen Davies 2008