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Cunning-Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic
This book contains the first comprehensive examination of popular familiar belief in early modern Britain. It 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. Until recently historians often dismissed these descriptions as elaborate fictions created by judicial interrogators eager to find evidence of stereotypical pacts with the Devil. Although this paradigm is now routinely questioned, and most historians acknowledge that there was a folkloric component to familiar lore in the period, these beliefs, and the
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317 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 27, 2019
Anyone worth their salt in their interest in the subject will be deemed intellectually impotent and not a little academically constipated if they give this a pass.
Wilby goes right for the witchcraft historiography jugular in this excellent attempt to break down the elite-centered focus on folk history. There's a lot covered here, so lemme break down the controversies simply:
a) Witchcraft, sabbaths, and all that shit were largely elite-crafted downwards trickling down into popular beliefs
vs
b) There were shamanistic holdovers from pre-Christian Europe that informed folk belief from below.
Wilby comes down firmly on the side of b) with some caveats that does justice to the obvious existence of a). She does this in a number of ways, the most important of which is the study of the experience of the "familiar" as detailed in interrogations of suspected witches. Through some nifty, but definitely expandable comparisons, Wilby shows that things like the familiars that recruited witches and journeys to fell places and, yes, don't laugh, fairylands, are pretty much the same thing that anthropologists have documented among native peoples in North America and Asia.
Couple all that with long-existing folk beliefs and crafts of the cunning people (basically village healers and general immaterial know-it-alls), and this makes for a welcome and compelling argument.
May 15, 2022
While I agree with many of Wilby's conclusions regarding the titular cunning folk and familiar spirits, her use of Indigenous religious systems from a variety of disparate areas of the world is clumsy at best. Her takes on Indigenous people and their belief systems are so outdated as to be offensive in places. She locates Indigenous peoples and 'shamanism' as features of the past, albeit a recent past, that stand in contrast to global modernity. In doing so, she not only undermines some of her own points, but perpetuates a fiction about present-day modernity as excluding Indigenous peoples and systems of knowledge, along with non-Christian belief systems, and (though she touches on it in the final couple of pages) the 're-enchantment' that the 'West' has been undergoing since the mid-20th Century (ie, the counter-culture-to-mainstream pipeline of interest in astrology, tarot cards, crystals, homeopathy, new religious movements, neo-paganism, etc.). It's a shame because it takes away from her otherwise inspired work reframing English, Scottish, Cornish, and Welsh witch trial records in a sort of third option between Murrayism and post-Murray pathologizing.
June 21, 2015
Many who are involved with Ceremonial Magick would be quite familiar with the concept of the Holy Guardian Angel. Going back a step further one would be quite familiar with Christian Holy men having conversation with various saints and angels. Having spirit friends or mentors is something quite common in all religious traditions. Why even Maggid of Joseph Caro in Safad helped this Jewish Holy Man write a book of law called the Shulchan Aruch.
In this study penned by Emma Wilby, the concept of the Cunningman is discussed along with his/her spiritual familiar. THe Cunning man or woman was sort of like the healer or wizard of the village . They would use magic to heal sickness and track down thieves. They also could protect one from witchcraft.In comparison witches were the old hags that cast mean spells on people and cavorted with demons. All this happened about 400 years ago. It was at a time when rural Britain was rather poor. malnutrition was rampant and plagues were a regular occurrence . Medical care was nowhere near advanced as it is today. Police were not as proficient at tracking down Nieves as they were today either. So teh cunning man or woman played an important role in the village. When the witch trials came about at first they spared but later one they too could be hauled in.
When the inquisition people tortured witches it was often revealed that they had demon familiars who gave them advice regarding magic and differing herbs that could cure illness. Not much was made of having these demon familiars. Many researchers thought that the demons were part of the church or elitist mindset hoisted on the witch trials. In a word the demons were a church invention .
Of course researchers forget the underlying animist faery belief that never die once chrstianity took hold. Often times these testimonial were a blend of church fantasy and the existing peasant belief in Faeries . In fact when comparing cunning folk to witches one sees that they are almost the same exact deal. demons and fae familiars shared a lot in common they both came to the practitioner at a time of need, taught them magic,had very intimate relations, shape shifted and took their charges to sabbats. Cunning folk could both heal and curse so could witches.
The author later addresses shamanistic spiritual practices ranging m native American , eskimos, and so Erwin shaman. It can be almost positively stated that there was an underlying shamanistic practice. In pre morn Europe and the faery faith was a hold over or remnant . The final part of the book delves into the spiritual uses for familiars and cunning folk practice, the reality of familiars and what could cause the open mid the ability to perceive these familiars if they are in fact real.
This book puts a lot of magic back into the concept while at the same time digging in depth the concept of familiars and its shamic origin . This book is a must read.
In this study penned by Emma Wilby, the concept of the Cunningman is discussed along with his/her spiritual familiar. THe Cunning man or woman was sort of like the healer or wizard of the village . They would use magic to heal sickness and track down thieves. They also could protect one from witchcraft.In comparison witches were the old hags that cast mean spells on people and cavorted with demons. All this happened about 400 years ago. It was at a time when rural Britain was rather poor. malnutrition was rampant and plagues were a regular occurrence . Medical care was nowhere near advanced as it is today. Police were not as proficient at tracking down Nieves as they were today either. So teh cunning man or woman played an important role in the village. When the witch trials came about at first they spared but later one they too could be hauled in.
When the inquisition people tortured witches it was often revealed that they had demon familiars who gave them advice regarding magic and differing herbs that could cure illness. Not much was made of having these demon familiars. Many researchers thought that the demons were part of the church or elitist mindset hoisted on the witch trials. In a word the demons were a church invention .
Of course researchers forget the underlying animist faery belief that never die once chrstianity took hold. Often times these testimonial were a blend of church fantasy and the existing peasant belief in Faeries . In fact when comparing cunning folk to witches one sees that they are almost the same exact deal. demons and fae familiars shared a lot in common they both came to the practitioner at a time of need, taught them magic,had very intimate relations, shape shifted and took their charges to sabbats. Cunning folk could both heal and curse so could witches.
The author later addresses shamanistic spiritual practices ranging m native American , eskimos, and so Erwin shaman. It can be almost positively stated that there was an underlying shamanistic practice. In pre morn Europe and the faery faith was a hold over or remnant . The final part of the book delves into the spiritual uses for familiars and cunning folk practice, the reality of familiars and what could cause the open mid the ability to perceive these familiars if they are in fact real.
This book puts a lot of magic back into the concept while at the same time digging in depth the concept of familiars and its shamic origin . This book is a must read.
December 30, 2024
One of the most exciting scholarly books I've ever read.
The author draws on various perspectives (historical, anthropological, psychological and comparative religious) to examine popular familiar beliefs in early modern Britain. She then compares the encounter-narratives by early modern cunning folk and witches with the descriptions of encounters with spirits given by shamans from Siberia and the Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her conclusion is that the early modern British encounter-narratives are not just accumulations of folk beliefs, influenced by élite demonology, as it is softened supposed, but visionary experiences rooted in pre-Christian shamanistic beliefs and practices.
Some interesting quotes:
'To the common people in this period, the harsh and unyielding physical world was also an enchanted one.'
'Whatever a prejudiced and manipulative judge chose to do with a witch once they stood at the bar before him, in the majority of cases they stood there because their friends and neighbours had hounded them in.'
'<...> the methods used to conjure spirits did not need to be overt or ritualistic, to be deemed effective.'
' <...> it is also likely that many cunning folk resisted these intrusions, and escaped the law courts with their secrets safely untouched, thus shielding their fairy familiars from the hostile eyes of their early modern persecutors and, by the same token, the fascinated gaze of latter centuries.'
' <...> the question we now face is not whether fairy beliefs contributed to ideas about demon familiars in this period, but how we can assess the extent of this contribution.'
'<...> the shaman, like the cunning woman and the witch, is reluctant to talk about his experiences.'
'<...> a shaman who loses a patient is bound to come under suspicion of witchcraft.'
'<...> the popular magical practitioner was, like the shaman, far more interested in a spirit's usefulness than in its moral disposition.'
'Given the horrors of the British witch-craze: the scapegoating, the intimidation, the humiliating trials, the suffering of both those accused of witchcraft and those who believed themselves to have been the victims of witchcraft, it is redemptive to think that at the core of all this human fear and pain we can find treasures as simple, and yet profound, as 'comfort' and 'joy'.'
'Although it may seem as if magical beliefs are being re-discovered in response to the decline of Christianity, in reality they have never <...> left us.'
The author draws on various perspectives (historical, anthropological, psychological and comparative religious) to examine popular familiar beliefs in early modern Britain. She then compares the encounter-narratives by early modern cunning folk and witches with the descriptions of encounters with spirits given by shamans from Siberia and the Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her conclusion is that the early modern British encounter-narratives are not just accumulations of folk beliefs, influenced by élite demonology, as it is softened supposed, but visionary experiences rooted in pre-Christian shamanistic beliefs and practices.
Some interesting quotes:
'To the common people in this period, the harsh and unyielding physical world was also an enchanted one.'
'Whatever a prejudiced and manipulative judge chose to do with a witch once they stood at the bar before him, in the majority of cases they stood there because their friends and neighbours had hounded them in.'
'<...> the methods used to conjure spirits did not need to be overt or ritualistic, to be deemed effective.'
' <...> it is also likely that many cunning folk resisted these intrusions, and escaped the law courts with their secrets safely untouched, thus shielding their fairy familiars from the hostile eyes of their early modern persecutors and, by the same token, the fascinated gaze of latter centuries.'
' <...> the question we now face is not whether fairy beliefs contributed to ideas about demon familiars in this period, but how we can assess the extent of this contribution.'
'<...> the shaman, like the cunning woman and the witch, is reluctant to talk about his experiences.'
'<...> a shaman who loses a patient is bound to come under suspicion of witchcraft.'
'<...> the popular magical practitioner was, like the shaman, far more interested in a spirit's usefulness than in its moral disposition.'
'Given the horrors of the British witch-craze: the scapegoating, the intimidation, the humiliating trials, the suffering of both those accused of witchcraft and those who believed themselves to have been the victims of witchcraft, it is redemptive to think that at the core of all this human fear and pain we can find treasures as simple, and yet profound, as 'comfort' and 'joy'.'
'Although it may seem as if magical beliefs are being re-discovered in response to the decline of Christianity, in reality they have never <...> left us.'
March 11, 2016
Imagine a world where the majority of the populace is underfed and overworked to the point of complete exhaustion. Where a modern understanding of medicine and the human body is nonexistent. Where the major preoccupation is the growing of food crops and raising livestock, both dependent on the caprice of a little understood natural world. Where if you were a woman your body was subjected to the trauma of constant childbearing. Where famine, pestilence and war can and did wipe out entire families. Where life expectancy was 35 and you could expect to see half of your offspring die in infancy or childhood. A world where candles were a luxury. Where day and twilight was spent in grudging labor and nights were dark. No television, radio, music recordings, cinema. Where only a few had the luxury of books or theater. Entertainment came in the dark from your own imagination or that of the human next to you. And EVERYONE beyond doubt, from the peasants to the clergy and nobility, believed in spirits, magic and forces beyond the control of humanity. This is the world of the early modern period in England.
Enter Bessie Dunlop a peasant woman who was tried for, convicted and burnt at the stake as a witch in 1576. It all started while driving her cattle to pasture. Crying in anguish over her sick husband and newborn infant. Tired beyond measure and then he turns up. I kindly elderly man by the name of Tom, dressed to the nines, who offers comfort and a prediction: "your infant will sadly die but your man will be as hale and hearty as he ever was." Thus begins a strange friendship. Tom makes promises that she will never want of food or anything else again. He offers guidance and information on how to brew up remedies, where lost items can be found and before long Bessie's fortunes do increase, but not because her livestock miraculously double in number. No, instead the neighbors come calling for her services. "Services" whose true power comes from the friendship of a strange man with no cottage who can jump through key holes. Very soon he tries to get her to renounce her baptism, introduces her to the Queen of Faerie, and attempts to convince her to go with him under the mound into the realm of the dead.
This is the narrative of a cunning woman that Emma Wilby carries throughout her meticulously researched scholarly work on a phenomena common throughout humanity during the early modern period. While cunning folk had their faerie familiars, witches are served by demon familiars, Christian contemplatives are writhing in ecstasy with their angels, and later, New World shamans are attended to by their helper spirits. All occur only under a similar set of societal conditions and share striking parallels.
It is Wilby's hypothesis the human mind shares a propensity for engaging in visionary experiences of this sort when the body is pushed to its limit, emotions are on a razors edge, imagination is sharpened, the world is perceived as a shadowy place, and belief in spirits is absolute. To be honest she is very convincing.
CUNNING FOLK AND FAMILIAR SPIRITS is a must read for anybody interested in the subject of familiar spirits. There is very little work available on the subject and none that can hold up to scholarly scrutiny like this book. The sheer amount of documented history contained therein is amazing and worth learning whether or not you agree with Emma Wilby's hypothesis.
Unfortunately the book does have one fault (hence the four stars instead of five). The writing style is extremely academic. The author likes to string together long words in complex sentences, which is compounded by the sections from the trial records in Old English. You may have to push yourself to get through more than four pages at a single sitting.
Enter Bessie Dunlop a peasant woman who was tried for, convicted and burnt at the stake as a witch in 1576. It all started while driving her cattle to pasture. Crying in anguish over her sick husband and newborn infant. Tired beyond measure and then he turns up. I kindly elderly man by the name of Tom, dressed to the nines, who offers comfort and a prediction: "your infant will sadly die but your man will be as hale and hearty as he ever was." Thus begins a strange friendship. Tom makes promises that she will never want of food or anything else again. He offers guidance and information on how to brew up remedies, where lost items can be found and before long Bessie's fortunes do increase, but not because her livestock miraculously double in number. No, instead the neighbors come calling for her services. "Services" whose true power comes from the friendship of a strange man with no cottage who can jump through key holes. Very soon he tries to get her to renounce her baptism, introduces her to the Queen of Faerie, and attempts to convince her to go with him under the mound into the realm of the dead.
This is the narrative of a cunning woman that Emma Wilby carries throughout her meticulously researched scholarly work on a phenomena common throughout humanity during the early modern period. While cunning folk had their faerie familiars, witches are served by demon familiars, Christian contemplatives are writhing in ecstasy with their angels, and later, New World shamans are attended to by their helper spirits. All occur only under a similar set of societal conditions and share striking parallels.
It is Wilby's hypothesis the human mind shares a propensity for engaging in visionary experiences of this sort when the body is pushed to its limit, emotions are on a razors edge, imagination is sharpened, the world is perceived as a shadowy place, and belief in spirits is absolute. To be honest she is very convincing.
CUNNING FOLK AND FAMILIAR SPIRITS is a must read for anybody interested in the subject of familiar spirits. There is very little work available on the subject and none that can hold up to scholarly scrutiny like this book. The sheer amount of documented history contained therein is amazing and worth learning whether or not you agree with Emma Wilby's hypothesis.
Unfortunately the book does have one fault (hence the four stars instead of five). The writing style is extremely academic. The author likes to string together long words in complex sentences, which is compounded by the sections from the trial records in Old English. You may have to push yourself to get through more than four pages at a single sitting.
November 29, 2021
A really interesting history/anthropological thesis on cunning women - and men (witches, folk healers) and their transactions with their "familiar" spirits. The accounts of their odd amoral familiars are just so fascinating, by turns strange, amusing, and disturbing. Sometimes their are accounts of the familliars having sexual congress, with a magical practitioner or sucking their blood, but most often the relationship is practical - to help the practioner earn a living by curing ills, finding lost things, telling the future, which made them prized for their services in their community. Often but not always accessing this power, meant renouncing God in favour of the Fairie Queen, , the Devil or sometimes just a weird talking toad. There’s some really compelling accounts of "Elfland" or the Otherworld, and the otherworld of the Sabbath described by witches.
The work draws out the parallels to animism and shamanism experience from other parts of the world, rather than dismissing it all as imagination, or the lies of the persecuting authorities. The general idea is that spirit contacts described had a “real” basis in the subjective experience of the magic user, and represented a contact modality with spirits arising from an animistic religion predating Christianity.
The work draws out the parallels to animism and shamanism experience from other parts of the world, rather than dismissing it all as imagination, or the lies of the persecuting authorities. The general idea is that spirit contacts described had a “real” basis in the subjective experience of the magic user, and represented a contact modality with spirits arising from an animistic religion predating Christianity.
November 21, 2023
As compelling the second time through as it was the first.
Read
April 6, 2016Well worth a read, although I think Wilby's ideas are more fully developed in her later book, 'The Visions of Isobel Gowdie'. In this one, particularly in Part I, she sets up an arbitrary distinction between 'good' cunning folk and 'bad' witches, despite later admitting that the cunning folk were often, if not typically, morally ambivalent. I felt like her case could've been better argued if she didn't set up this false cunning folk/witch dichotomy.
The only other problem I had with this is a criticism of her argument in both this book and Visions, which only occurred to me as I was reading the excellent section in Part II of this book on different shamanic traditions. Wilby argues that it is possible for the witches of early modern Britain to have slipped into visionary trance states without any of the outward signs associated with shamanism, such as catalepsy, due to a heightened emotional state, the toil and drudgery of their daily work, and malnourishment. Although she cites cases where shamans can slip into a trance state to communicate with spirits with ease, Wilby also admits that this is normally after years of training; and the use of singing, drumming, and psychoactive substances were more common ways of inducing shamanic trance states. Focusing on the issue of the training, if we call the singing, drumming etc 'training wheels' for the shaman, how then were British witches and cunning folk able to slip into a trance state without using first these training wheels?
Beyond that, I'd really recommend reading this insightful book, especially if you also plan on reading Visions.
The only other problem I had with this is a criticism of her argument in both this book and Visions, which only occurred to me as I was reading the excellent section in Part II of this book on different shamanic traditions. Wilby argues that it is possible for the witches of early modern Britain to have slipped into visionary trance states without any of the outward signs associated with shamanism, such as catalepsy, due to a heightened emotional state, the toil and drudgery of their daily work, and malnourishment. Although she cites cases where shamans can slip into a trance state to communicate with spirits with ease, Wilby also admits that this is normally after years of training; and the use of singing, drumming, and psychoactive substances were more common ways of inducing shamanic trance states. Focusing on the issue of the training, if we call the singing, drumming etc 'training wheels' for the shaman, how then were British witches and cunning folk able to slip into a trance state without using first these training wheels?
Beyond that, I'd really recommend reading this insightful book, especially if you also plan on reading Visions.
October 31, 2016
Emma Wilby argues that the testimonies of prosecuted witches in 16th- and 17th-century England and Scotland reflect not merely demonological fantasies projected upon them by their inquisitors, nor simply the idiosyncratic products of individual psychoses, but rather express defendants' real experiences of their own supernatural agency. This phenomenology had its genesis in the popular folklore of interaction with spirit-beings then circulating in Britain, which, Wilby suggests, derives from an indigenous pre-historic shamanic tradition. While the proscribed status of any such practices under Christian hegemony, as well as their primarily oral transmission in a largely illiterate society, force this purported tradition to remain hypothetical, Wilby does demonstrate systematic parallels between the experiences described by individuals under interrogation for witchcraft and those of Native American and Eurasian shamans, as well as Christian mystics. Although some of these analogies, such as that of an explicitly contractual relationship between magical practitioner and spirit in narratives relating to shamanic spirit-aids and British fairies as well as diabolic familiars, sometimes strain the available evidence, similarities in the overall structure of recurring contact, expectations of reciprocity, mortal risk and moral ambivalence are striking.
August 31, 2016
Highly recommended for understanding magical culture in Early Modern Britain, and also how it stays as it goes, meaning we are always dragging history and habit behind us and it takes a long time for a group of people to change habits. A very long time. Like hundreds and hundreds of years.
July 30, 2025
Emma Wilby continues to prove herself a radically empathetic and intuitive historian and author. While her approach remains entirely academic, she at no moment hides behind the dismissiveness of belief in magic nor the oversimplified condemnation of those who feared it. Wilby uses anecdotal narrative and intelligent analysis to ground her argument in the reality of magical practice and those who practiced or benefited from it. Through the framing of spirit guides Wilby is able to draw coherent distinctions between Christian cunning folk and folkloric witchcraft, low and high magic, and the reality vs the hysteria which plagued the countryside. Wilby is amongst the most eloquent and understanding of modern historians looking at the much discussed topics of historic witchcraft and witch trials.
I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the study or practice of magic of any variety, as well as those interested in cutting edge historiography.
I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the study or practice of magic of any variety, as well as those interested in cutting edge historiography.
September 26, 2017
This was a truly enjoyable book. Most historical discussions of witchcraft like to act as if any practitioners (accused, admitted, or any other type) didn't truly believe -- had no real experiences, but instead just defrauded their clients, or that their attested experience was instead made up by interrogators. Wilby takes the frankly obvious stance that they did have an experience -- not necessarily the stance that spirits exist, but that these people did believe that they were talking to spirits and performing witchcraft. It's a compelling narrative, and one that makes much more sense and is easier to swallow than the usual narrative about medieval and early modern magical practitioners. Wilby's also a decent writer -- not extraordinarily polished, but she presents her facts pretty well and makes a good amount of coherent argument.
Read
January 18, 2023Lots to noodle on. A well-researched and fascinating exploration of primitive pre-Christian religious beliefs, witchcraft & magic. I was intrigued by the parallels between cunning folk, witches, shamanism, and Christian contemplatives. The former beliefs were shaped by the innate human condition to make sense of the natural world while Christianity was molded by elitists to subjugate the masses in an eternal cycle of fear while maintaining similar pagan ideations and traditions.
May 19, 2021
Loved reading the witch trials, confessions, and reasons for being burned. I loved learning what the times were like, how the culture shaped their magic, how common witchcraft was before Christianity stepped in, how shamans around the world have similar practices and views, etc. I highly recommend this for anyone interested in the history of European witchtrials particularly in the British region.
August 31, 2018
Despite being predicated on a lot of 'not much evidence for X but let's assume X anyway', there's some good stuff here on familiars/fairies, especially the non-binary nature of good vs. bad and the human/fairy relationship (and the reasons for such a relationship).
January 3, 2025
I would give it six stars if possible. Wilby’s book is rigorously academic but at the same time refreshing and accessible. Anyone who is even tangentially involved with the subject matter needs to read it. After finishing the book, I wholeheartedly agree with her theses.
July 5, 2018
A major academic work and my number two on the subject of the Cunning Folk. I may just agree more with Emma than Owen Davies.
December 9, 2018
Will write a review shortly.
November 4, 2019
Engaging, interesting, and entirely what I wanted.
March 23, 2017
This a wonderful book, focusing primarily on the relationship between Witches, Cunning Folk and their faerie/demonic familiar spirits- exploring both early modern Witch Trials and their contexts as well as Animistic cultures and folklore from which these traditions may have been derived. This is a significant text and frankly an important one for the scholars among us. Wilby sheds light on incredibly fascinating viewpoints, and through reading this book, I have better come to understand my own relationships with my familiars and how they came about, and how they developed- while having some light shed on how I was personally called to this path as a witch in my early childhood.
October 7, 2008
Wilby's Masters Thesis. She wades through witchcraft trial records for the REAL witches that the English Church and state were pretty good at catching. Her thesis is that cunningfolk were a leftover idea from a previous shamanistic religion. Maybe, not sure if she proved it as well as her predecessor Carlos Ginzburg did, but she was dealing with England, he, Eastern Europe and Italy. Very interesting and obviously accounts by witches who just didn't lie while being tortured, but true accounts.
June 24, 2020
Oh I thought this was really good! Yay for deconstructing academic bias within an academic setting! Yay for respecting animism! Yay for interesting comparison. The only thing I struggled with was reading the old English quotes. I'm really glad she's used them, but I wish I could also have had a modernization of them to make sure I was getting the whole thing. It's different enough that it's hard to read for me. Still, it's a real gem and makes me more convinced than ever that an animistic worldview is powerful, pervasive, and rooted in English culture.
August 15, 2013
The first third is a bit dry, with lots of quotes in archaic English and Scots, but the author has definitely done her homework. Things pick up with the cross-cultural comparison with shamanism. This is an important work and a fascinating perspective on early modern British history. And the bibliography is excellent.
February 7, 2015
Very interesting book! I totally recommend reading if you want to know more about witchcraft and what's more to it. Found a lot of great info for my research paper! Hard book to find and expensive though.
June 20, 2016
This is not an easy book, but its well worth it to get the information inside. I found myself facinated the whole way through. :D
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