Black Magic Rising

An outcast, wannabe witch. Unlike modern witches’ customs, Willow Wilde doesn’t want to control a warlock… even if her magic hadn’t taken a hike. But after someone plonks an ancient black spell on her, her family’s coven leader assigns the sexiest warlock Willow’s ever met to protect her. An ambitious, magic-hungry warlock. Evan Ravenwood can’t believe his luck… guard Willow Wilde, the one thing he’s craved for months, while he secretly serves two masters. He knows Willow’s not the average witch. Her magic’s ripe for the taking, and a dangerous black warlock also wants her for his own. A black warlock that shouldn’t exist. They got more than they bargained for when Willow’s magic emerges. Willow isn’t prepared for her sinful guard to contradict everything she knows about warlocks. Yet none of it matters if she can’t use her magic, or if that black warlock gets his grimy paws on her. Will Willow earn her place in the coven and in Evan’s heart before everything’s lost?

Historical overview of demonology and the occult defines witchcraft and examines ceremonial practices, the casting of spells and conjuring, celebration of the Black Mass, and much more. A masterfully written, highly readable work.

Fantastic occult fiction, praised by Aleister Crowley. [Cataloguer's note].

Marjorie Bowen (pseudonym of Mrs Gabrielle Margaret V[ere] Long nee Campbell), was a British author who wrote historical romances, supernatural horror stories, popular history and biography. Her total output numbers over 150 volumes with the bulk of her work under the 'Bowen' pseudonym. She also wrote under the names Joseph Shearing, George R. Preedy, John Winch, Robert Paye and Margaret Campbell. As Joseph Shearing, she wrote several sinister gothic romances full of terror and mystery. Several of her books have been adapted as films. She graced the Earth's presence from November 1 1885 to December 23 1952. This title was originally published in 1909."

"Chireau has written a marvelous text on an important dimension of African American religious culture. Expanding beyond the usual focus of scholarship on Christianity, she describes and analyzes the world of magical-medical-religious practice, challenging hallowed distinctions among "religion" and "magic." Anyone interested in African American religion will need to reckon seriously with Chireau's text on conjure."—Albert J. Raboteau, Princeton University "Deprived of their own traditions and defined as chattel, enslaved Africans formed a new orientation in America. Conjuring—operating alongside of and within both the remnants of African culture and the acquired traditions of North America—served as a theoretical and practical mode of deciphering and divining within this, enabling them to create an alternate meaning of life in the New World. Chireau's is the first full-scale treatment of this important dimension of African American culture and religion. A wonderful book!"—Charles H. Long, Professor of History of Religions University of California, Santa Barbara and author of Significations: Signs, Symbols and Images in the Interpretation of Religion

The Meaning of Witchcraft is a non-fiction book written by Gerald Gardner. Gardner, known to many in the modern sense as the "Father of Wicca", based the book around his experiences with the religion of Wicca and the New Forest Coven. He claimed he was allowed to tell more than ever before and cast light on the rituals and beliefs of witches. The book's main message was that neither the practices of witches nor their intents were harmful. The book tells the history of witchcraft in Europe. The author traces back to pre-Christian times, studies the rituals and beliefs of templars, and states that the belief in fairies in ancient, medieval, and early modern Europe was connected with a secretive pygmy race that lived alongside other communities. The preface to this book was Margaret Murray, who stated that witchcraft took its root in the pre-Christian religions and had nothing to do with spell-casting and other evil practices. Instead, Murray proposes to view witchcraft as "the sincere expression of that feeling towards God which is expressed, perhaps more decorously though not more sincerely, by modern Christianity in church services."