Cassell S Dictionary Of Witchcraft

This dictionary is a guide to the subject of witchcraft which has exerted its influence on the popular imagination for centuries. It looks at the history of witchcraft, traces its development in countries such as Britain, Germany and the US, and explains the rituals and objects associated with it, from black sabbaths to covens, and from hands of glory to pentagrams. In addition, it provides biographies of key figures, such as the 17th-century Witch-Finder General, Matthew Hopkins, and the Great Beast Aleister Crowley and gives detailed accounts of notorious witch trials, drawing on contemporary documents and eye-witness views.

The original and authoritative A-to-Z reference guide to witchcraft, paganism, and magic, compiled by the famed nineteenth-century French occultist. Following its original publication in 1818, Collin de Plancy’s Dictionnaire Infernal became a landmark study of witchcraft, pagan religions, and the occult. The first reference work to seriously document manifestations, magic, and superstitions, this historical dictionary details beings, characters, books, deeds, and causes that pertain to the manifestations and magic of trafficking with Hell, as well as divinations, occult sciences, grimoires, marvels, errors, prejudices, traditions, folktales, the various superstitions, and all manner of marvelous, surprising, mysterious, and supernatural beliefs. A significant influence on the Romantic literary movement and notably consulted by author Victor Hugo, it remains an essential text for any student of the dark arts or demonology.

A fascinating and comprehensive A-Z guide to the world of superstitions, which reveals among other things: * Why the oak tree is associated with supernatural powers * How mirrors came be used to detect witches * Which days of the week are popularly regarded as lucky * When cobwebs were first utilised in folk medicine * Who the Seven Whistlers were Entries are arranged alphabetically by subject and vary from brief accounts of the superstitions related to specific daily tasks, medical ailments, plants and animals to expansive discussions on wider topics, such as the weather, aphrodisiacs, childbirth and death.

Presents a collection of five thousand proverbs from a variety of cultures throughout history.

Witchcraft has proven an important, if difficult, historical subject to investigate and interpret over the last four decades or so. Modern historical research into witchcraft began as an attempt to tease out the worldview of ordinary people in 16th- and 17th-century England, but it quickly expanded to encompass the history of witchcraft in most cultures and societies that have existed with scholarly studies now extending back to the time of earliest law code that punished sorcery, the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C.E.), and forward to the last witchcraft cases in England, those of Helen Duncan and Jane Yorke, tried in 1944. There has also been a significant amount of interest in the development of the modern religion of witchcraft, or Wicca, as various forms of neo-paganism continue to attract adherents. The second edition of Historical Dictionary of Witchcraft covers the history of the Witchcraft from 1750 B.C.E. though the modern day. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on witch hunts, witchcraft trials, and related practices around the world. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the history of witchcraft.

Alphabetically arranged entries provide coverage of a wide range of ancient and modern fears, beliefs, and taboos, explaining the rituals, charms, and talismans invoked by the superstitions.

This acclaimed 180,000-word A-Z dictionary is a comprehensive and highly readable guide to witchcraft, revealing the historical reality beneath the popular stereotypes of old hags, broomsticks, and black cats. Complete with biographies of notorious witches and descriptions of their covens, familiars, spells and practices, it also contains colourful accounts of infamous trials and all the associated paraphernalia of witch-hunting, torture and persecution across Europe and colonial America. A first-class source book for the historian, folklorist and casual reader alike, it shows in vivid and bloody detail how witchcraft hysteria swept the western world in the post-medieval period and has continued to resurface into modern times.