Magic Witchcraft And Ghosts In The Enlightenment

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Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Enlightenment

Michael R. Lynn
Magic Witchcraft and Ghosts in the Enlightenment Book PDF

Author : Michael R. Lynn
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 229 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2022-03-17
Category : History
ISBN : 9781000557459

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Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Enlightenment by Michael R. Lynn Pdf

Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Enlightenment argues for the centrality of magical practices and ideas throughout the long eighteenth century. Although the hunt for witches in Europe declined precipitously after 1650, and the intellectual justification for natural magic came under fire by 1700, belief in magic among the general population did not come to a sudden stop. The philosophes continued to take aim at magical practices, alongside religion, as examples of superstitions that an enlightened age needed to put behind them. In addition to a continuity of beliefs and practices, the eighteenth century also saw improvement and innovation in magical ideas, the understanding of ghosts, and attitudes toward witchcraft. The volume takes a broad geographical approach and includes essays focusing on Great Britain (England and Ireland), France, Germany, and Hungary. It also takes a wide approach to the subject and includes essays on astrology, alchemy, witchcraft, cunning folk, ghosts, treasure hunters, and purveyors of magic. With a broad chronological scope that ranges from the end of the seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century, this volume is useful for undergraduates, postgraduates, scholars, and those with a general interest in magic, witchcraft, and spirits in the Enlightenment.

The Oxford History of Witchcraft and Magic

Owen Davies
The Oxford History of Witchcraft and Magic Book PDF

Author : Owen Davies
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 342 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2023-01-24
Category : History
ISBN : 9780192884077

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The Oxford History of Witchcraft and Magic by Owen Davies Pdf

Histories you can trust. This history provides a readable and fresh approach to the extensive and complex story of witchcraft and magic. Telling the story from the dawn of writing in the ancient world to the globally successful Harry Potter films, the authors explore a wide range of magical beliefs and practices, the rise of the witch trials, and the depiction of the Devil-worshipping witch. The book also focuses on the more recent history of witchcraft and magic, from the Enlightenment to the present, exploring the rise of modern magic, the anthropology of magic around the globe, and finally the cinematic portrayal of witches and magicians, from The Wizard of Oz to Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The Decline of Magic

Michael Hunter
The Decline of Magic Book PDF

Author : Michael Hunter
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 265 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2020-01-07
Category : Enlightenment
ISBN : 9780300243581

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The Decline of Magic by Michael Hunter Pdf

A new history that overturns the received wisdom that science displaced magic in Enlightenment Britain--named a Best Book of 2020 by the Financial Times In early modern Britain, belief in prophecies, omens, ghosts, apparitions and fairies was commonplace. Among both educated and ordinary people the absolute existence of a spiritual world was taken for granted. Yet in the eighteenth century such certainties were swept away. Credit for this great change is usually given to science - and in particular to the scientists of the Royal Society. But is this justified? Michael Hunter argues that those pioneering the change in attitude were not scientists but freethinkers. While some scientists defended the reality of supernatural phenomena, these sceptical humanists drew on ancient authors to mount a critique both of orthodox religion and, by extension, of magic and other forms of superstition. Even if the religious heterodoxy of such men tarnished their reputation and postponed the general acceptance of anti-magical views, slowly change did come about. When it did, this owed less to the testing of magic than to the growth of confidence in a stable world in which magic no longer had a place.

America Bewitched: The Story of Witchcraft After Salem

Owen Davies
America Bewitched The Story of Witchcraft After Salem Book PDF

Author : Owen Davies
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 316 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2013-02-21
Category : History
ISBN : 9780191625145

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America Bewitched: The Story of Witchcraft After Salem by Owen Davies Pdf

America Bewitched is the first major history of witchcraft in America - from the Salem witch trials of 1692 to the present day. The infamous Salem trials are etched into the consciousness of modern America, the human toll a reminder of the dangers of intolerance and persecution. The refrain Remember Salem! was invoked frequently over the ensuing centuries. As time passed, the trials became a milepost measuring the distance America had progressed from its colonial past, its victims now the righteous and their persecutors the shamed. Yet the story of witchcraft did not end as the American Enlightenment dawned - a new,long, and chilling chapter was about to begin.Witchcraft after Salem was not just a story of fire-side tales, legends, and superstitions: it continued to be a matter of life and death, souring the American dream for many. We know of more people killed as witches between 1692 and the 1950s than were executed before it. Witches were part of the story of the decimation of the Native Americans, the experience of slavery and emancipation, and the immigrant experience; they were embedded in the religious and social history of the country. Yetthe history of American witchcraft between the eighteenth and the twentieth century also tells a less traumatic story, one that shows how different cultures interacted and shaped each others languages and beliefs. This is therefore much more than the tale of one persecuted community: it opens a fascinating window on the fears, prejudices, hopes, and dreams of the American people as their country rose from colony to superpower.

Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment

Lizanne Henderson
Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment Book PDF

Author : Lizanne Henderson
Publisher : Springer
Page : 382 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2016-04-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9781137313249

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Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment by Lizanne Henderson Pdf

Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment represents the first in-depth investigation of Scottish witchcraft and witch belief post-1662, the period of supposed decline of such beliefs, an age which has been referred to as the 'long eighteenth century', coinciding with the Scottish Enlightenment. The late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were undoubtedly a period of transition and redefinition of what constituted the supernatural, at the interface between folk belief and the philosophies of the learned. For the latter the eradication of such beliefs equated with progress and civilization but for others, such as the devout, witch belief was a matter of faith, such that fear and dread of witches and their craft lasted well beyond the era of the major witch-hunts. This study seeks to illuminate the distinctiveness of the Scottish experience, to assess the impact of enlightenment thought upon witch belief, and to understand how these beliefs operated across all levels of Scottish society.

Witchcraft, Demonology and Magic

Marina Montesano
Witchcraft Demonology and Magic Book PDF

Author : Marina Montesano
Publisher : MDPI
Page : 160 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2020-05-20
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9783039289592

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Witchcraft, Demonology and Magic by Marina Montesano Pdf

Witchcraft and magic are topics of enduring interest for many reasons. The main one lies in their extraordinary interdisciplinarity: anthropologists, folklorists, historians, and more have contributed to build a body of work of extreme variety and consistence. Of course, this also means that the subjects themselves are not easy to assess. In a very general way, we can define witchcraft as a supernatural means to cause harm, death, or misfortune, while magic also belongs to the field of supernatural, or at least esoteric knowledge, but can be used to less dangerous effects (e.g., divination and astrology). In Western civilization, however, the witch hunt has set a very peculiar perspective in which diabolical witchcraft, the invention of the Sabbat, the persecution of many thousands of (mostly) female and (sometimes) male presumed witches gave way to a phenomenon that is fundamentally different from traditional witchcraft. This Special Issue of Religions dedicated to Witchcraft, Demonology, and Magic features nine articles that deal with four different regions of Europe (England, Germany, Hungary, and Italy) between Late Medieval and Modern times in different contexts and social milieus. Far from pretending to offer a complete picture, they focus on some topics that are central to the research in those fields and fit well in the current “cumulative concept of Western witchcraft” that rules out all mono-causality theories, investigating a plurality of causes.

Magic: A Very Short Introduction

Owen Davies
Magic A Very Short Introduction Book PDF

Author : Owen Davies
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 153 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2012-01-26
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780191623882

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Magic: A Very Short Introduction by Owen Davies Pdf

Defining 'magic' is a maddening task. Over the last century numerous philosophers, anthropologists, historians, and theologians have attempted to pin down its essential meaning, sometimes analysing it in such complex and abstruse depth that it all but loses its sense altogether. For this reason, many people often shy away from providing a detailed definition, assuming it is generally understood as the human control of supernatural forces. 'Magic' continues to pervade the popular imagination and idiom. People feel comfortable with its contemporary multiple meanings, unaware of the controversy, conflict, and debate its definition has caused over two and a half millennia. In common usage today 'magic' is uttered in reference to the supernatural, superstition, illusion, trickery, religious miracles, fantasies, and as a simple superlative. The literary confection known as 'magical realism' has considerable appeal and many modern scientists have ironically incorporated the word into their vocabulary, with their 'magic acid', 'magic bullets' and 'magic angles'. Since the so-called European Enlightenment magic has often been seen as a marker of primitivism, of a benighted earlier stage of human development. Yet across the modern globalized world hundreds of millions continue to resort to magic - and also to fear it. Magic provides explanations and remedies for those living in extreme poverty and without access to alternatives. In the industrial West, with its state welfare systems, religious fundamentalists decry the continued moral threat posed by magic. Under the guise of neo-Paganism, its practice has become a religion in itself. Magic continues to be a truly global issue. This Very Short Introduction does not attempt to provide a concluding definition of magic: it is beyond simple definition. Instead it explores the many ways in which magic, as an idea and a practice, has been understood and employed over the millennia. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds

Daniel Ogden
Magic Witchcraft and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds Book PDF

Author : Daniel Ogden
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 380 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2002
Category : History
ISBN : 0195151232

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Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds by Daniel Ogden Pdf

In a culture where the supernatural possessed an immediacy now strange to us, magic was of great importance both in the literary mythic tradition and in ritual practice. In this book, Daniel Ogden presents 300 texts in new translations, along with brief but explicit commentaries. Authors include the well known (Sophocles, Herodotus, Plato, Aristotle, Virgil, Pliny) and the less familiar, and extend across the whole of Graeco-Roman antiquity.

Ghosts in Enlightenment Scotland

Martha McGill
Ghosts in Enlightenment Scotland Book PDF

Author : Martha McGill
Publisher : Scottish Historical Review Mon
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2018
Category : History
ISBN : 1783273623

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Ghosts in Enlightenment Scotland by Martha McGill Pdf

An examination of how and why Scotland gained its reputation for the supernatural, and how belief continued to flourish in a supposed Age of Enlightenment. SHORTLISTED for the Katharine Briggs Award 2019 Scotland is famed for being a haunted nation, "whare ghaists and houlets nightly cry". Medieval Scots told stories of restless souls and walking corpses, but after the 1560Reformation, witches and demons became the focal point for explorations of the supernatural. Ghosts re-emerged in scholarly discussion in the late seventeenth century, often in the guise of religious propagandists. As time went on, physicians increasingly reframed ghosts as the conjurations of disturbed minds, but gothic and romantic literature revelled in the emotive power of the returning dead; they were placed against a backdrop of ancient monasteries, castles and mouldering ruins, and authors such as Robert Burns, James Hogg and Walter Scott drew on the macabre to colour their depictions of Scottish life. Meanwhile, folk culture used apparitions to talk about morality and mortality. Focusing on the period from 1685 to 1830, this book provides the first academic study of the history of Scottish ghosts. Drawing on a wide range of sources, and examining beliefs across the social spectrum, it shows howghost stories achieved a new prominence in a period that is more usually associated with the rise of rationalism. In exploring perceptions of ghosts, it also reflects on understandings of death and the afterlife; the constructionof national identity; and the impact of the Enlightenment. MARTHA MCGILL completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh.

Raising Spirits

J. Barry
Raising Spirits Book PDF

Author : J. Barry
Publisher : Springer
Page : 146 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2013-11-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9781137378941

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Raising Spirits by J. Barry Pdf

Despite supernatural scepticism, stories about spirits were regularly printed and shared throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. This case-study in the transmission of a single story (of a young gunsmith near Bristol conjuring spirits, leading to his early death) reveals both how and why successive generations found meaning in such accounts.

Beyond the witch trials

Owen Davies,Willem De Blecourt
Beyond the witch trials Book PDF

Author : Owen Davies,Willem De Blecourt
Publisher : Manchester University Press
Page : 220 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2018-07-30
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781526137265

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Beyond the witch trials by Owen Davies,Willem De Blecourt Pdf

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. This book looks at aspects of the continuation of witchcraft and magic in Europe from the last of the secular and ecclesiastical trials during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, through to the nineteenth century. It provides a brief outline of witch trials in late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Finland. By the second half of the seventeenth century, as the witch trials reached their climax in Sweden, belief in the interventionist powers of the Devil had become a major preoccupation of the educated classes. Having acknowledged the slight possibility of real possession by the Devil, Benito Feijoo threw himself wholeheartedly into his real objective: to expose the falseness of the majority of the possessed. The book is concerned with accusations of magic, which were formalised as denunciations heard by the Inquisition of the Archdiocese of Capua, a city twelve miles north of Naples, during the first half of the eighteenth century. One aspect of the study of witchcraft and magic, which has not yet been absorbed into the main stream of literature on the subject, is the archaeological record of the subject. As a part of the increasing interest in 'popular' culture, historians have become more conscious of the presence of witchcraft after the witch trials. The aftermath of the major witch trials in Dalarna, Sweden, demonstrates how the authorities began the awkward process of divorcing themselves from popular concerns and beliefs regarding witchcraft.

Magic in Western Culture

Brian P. Copenhaver
Magic in Western Culture Book PDF

Author : Brian P. Copenhaver
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 615 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2015-09-09
Category : History
ISBN : 9781107070523

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Magic in Western Culture by Brian P. Copenhaver Pdf

The story of the beliefs and practices called 'magic' starts in ancient Iran, Greece, and Rome, before entering its crucial Christian phase in the Middle Ages. Centering on the Renaissance and Marsilio Ficino, this richly illustrated and groundbreaking book treats magic as a classical tradition with foundations that were distinctly philosophical.

Witchcraft and Magic in Europe

Bengt Ankarloo,Stuart Clark
Witchcraft and Magic in Europe Book PDF

Author : Bengt Ankarloo,Stuart Clark
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 360 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : History
ISBN : UOM:39015050147415

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Witchcraft and Magic in Europe by Bengt Ankarloo,Stuart Clark Pdf

The six-volume set Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, of which this volume is the fifth, provides a scholarly survey of the supernatural beliefs of Europeans from ancient times to the present. Contributors combine political, legal, and social historical approaches with a critical synthesis of cultural anthropology, historical psychology, and gender studies. With the end of witch trials in the 18th century, the writers chart the process of and reasons for the decriminalization of witchcraft, but also challenge the widespread assumption that Europe became "disenchanted." Presented here are surveys of the social role of witchcraft, as well as a full treatment Victorian supernaturalism and the continued importance of witchcraft and magic as topics of debate among intellectuals and other writers. Three authors contribute three extensive articles: "The Decline and End of Witchcraft Prosecutions" by Brain P. Levack (U. of Texas); "Witchcraft After the Witch-Trials" by Marijke Gijswijt-Hofstra (U. of Amsterdam); and "Witchcraft and Magic in Enlightenment, Romantic and Liberal Thought" by Roy Porter (Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine). Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Everyday Magic in Early Modern Europe

Kathryn A. Edwards
Everyday Magic in Early Modern Europe Book PDF

Author : Kathryn A. Edwards
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 207 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2016-03-09
Category : History
ISBN : 9781317138334

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Everyday Magic in Early Modern Europe by Kathryn A. Edwards Pdf

While pre-modern Europe is often seen as having an 'enchanted' or 'magical' worldview, the full implications of such labels remain inconsistently explored. Witchcraft, demonology, and debates over pious practices have provided the main avenues for treating those themes, but integrating them with other activities and ideas seen as forming an enchanted Europe has proven to be a much more difficult task. This collection offers one method of demystifying this world of everyday magic. Integrating case studies and more theoretical responses to the magical and preternatural, the authors here demonstrate that what we think of as extraordinary was often accepted as legitimate, if unusual, occurrences or practices. In their treatment of and attitudes towards spirit-assisted treasure-hunting, magical recipes, trials for sanctity, and visits by guardian angels, early modern Europeans showed more acceptance of and comfort with the extraordinary than modern scholars frequently acknowledge. Even witchcraft could be more pervasive and less threatening than many modern interpretations suggest. Magic was both mundane and mysterious in early modern Europe, and the witches who practiced it could in many ways be quite ordinary members of their communities. The vivid cases described in this volume should make the reader question how to distinguish the ordinary and extraordinary and the extent to which those terms need to be redefined for an early modern context. They should also make more immediate a world in which magic was an everyday occurrence.

An Anatomy of Witchcraft

Oscar Di Simplicio,Martina Di Simplicio
An Anatomy of Witchcraft Book PDF

Author : Oscar Di Simplicio,Martina Di Simplicio
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 282 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2023-11-30
Category : History
ISBN : 9781003802402

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An Anatomy of Witchcraft by Oscar Di Simplicio,Martina Di Simplicio Pdf

Much has been written on witchcraft by historians, theologians, philosophers, and anthropologists, but nothing by scientists. This book aims to reappraise witchcraft by applying to it the advances in cognitive sciences. The book is divided into four parts. Part I ("Deep History") deals with human emotions and the drive to represent witches as evil female agents. Part II ("Historical Times") focuses on those rare state and church repressions of malefice, which, surprisingly, did not feature in Islamic lands. Modern urbanization dealt a blow to the rural civilizations where accusations of witchcraft were rife. Part III ("In the Laboratory") applies neuroscience to specific case studies to investigate the personification of misfortune, the millenary stereotype witch = woman, the reality of evil, and the phenomenon of treasure hunting. Part IV ("Millenials") wonders whether intentional malefic hatred in a closed chapter in the history of humanity. An Anatomy of Witchcraft is ideal reading for students and scholars. Given its interdisciplinary nature, the book will be of interest to scholars from many fields including evolutionary psychology, anthropology, women’s history, and cognitive sciences.