Four Centuries Of Witch Beliefs Rle Witchcraft

Originally published in 1947, it is the essential purpose of this book to investigate attitudes of leading Elizabethan and Stuart statesmen, ask whether witchcraft was of any importance in seventeenth-century English history, or even influenced the Great Rebellion. The reader is placed in possession of the more pertinent passages from the arguments used to support or discredit belief in witchcraft.

Clues to T.C. Lethbridge’s books lie in their subtitles. Witches: Investigating an Ancient Religion is no exception. In his study of the old pagan gods of Britain, Lethbridge believed that witch cults had their roots in prehistory and eventually became a religion of the suppressed classes.Similarities between eastern and ancient western religions provided him with evidence of ancient collusion. He believed Britain’s island status acted as a filter for external inflences and ideas. No belief on the continent ever arrived intact which made the study of British customs so intriguing.His study of Dianic belief and the transmigration of souls led him to believe in a universal, controlling intelligence. He linked the concept of the evolving mind with the Laws of Karma, the Avatars and other religious teachings of the world and concluded that Druidic belief was not a million miles away from modern psychical research.

The definitive compilation on witchcraft and witch hunting in the early modern era exploring significant people, places, beliefs, and events. Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Western Tradition is the definitive reference on the age of witch hunting (approximately 1430–1750), its origins, expansion, and ultimate decline. Incorporating a wealth of recent scholarship in four richly illustrated, alphabetically organized volumes, it offers historians and general readers alike the opportunity to explore the realities behind the legends of witchcraft and witchcraft trials. Over 170 contributors from 28 nations provide vivid, documented descriptions and analyses of witchcraft trials and locations, folklore and beliefs, magical practices and deities, influential texts, and the full range of players in this extraordinary drama—witchcraft theorists and theologians; historians and authors; judges, clergy, and rulers; the accused; and their persecutors. Concentrating on Europe and the Americas in the early modern era, the work also covers relevant topics from the ancient Near East (including the Hebrew and Christian Bibles), classical antiquity, and the European Middle Ages.

A compact survey of the European witch craze of the early modern period—a craze that later spilled over to America.

Clues to T.C. Lethbridgeâe(tm)s books lie in their subtitles. Witches: Investigating an Ancient Religion is no exception. In his study of the old pagan gods of Britain, Lethbridge believed that witch cults had their roots in prehistory and eventually became a religion of the suppressed classes.Similarities between eastern and ancient western religions provided him with evidence of ancient collusion. He believed Britainâe(tm)s island status acted as a filter for external inflences and ideas. No belief on the continent ever arrived intact which made the study of British customs so intriguing.His study of Dianic belief and the transmigration of souls led him to believe in a universal, controlling intelligence. He linked the concept of the evolving mind with the Laws of Karma, the Avatars and other religious teachings of the world and concluded that Druidic belief was not a million miles away from modern psychical research.

The fifteenth to eighteenth centuries was a period of witchcraft prosecutions throughout Europe and modern scholars have now devoted a huge amount of research to these episodes. This volume will attempt to bring this work together by summarising the history of the trials in a new way - according to the types of legal systems involved. Other topics covered will be the continued practical use made of magic, the elaboration of demonological theories about witchcraft and magic, and the further development of scientific interests in natural magic through the 'Neoplatonic' and 'Hermetic' period.Amongst the topics included here are Superstition and Belief in high and popular culture, the place of Medicine, Witchcraft survivals in art and literature, and the survival of Persecution.>