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Knowledge Through Color #36
Witchcraft and Black Magic
Witchcraft and Black Magic (All Colour Paperbacks) Haining, Peter
- GenresNonfictionHorrorOccult
Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
3 people are currently reading
117 people want to read
About the author
Peter Haining
331 books99 followersPeter Alexander Haining was an English journalist, author and anthologist who lived and worked in Suffolk. Born in Enfield, Middlesex, he began his career as a reporter in Essex and then moved to London where he worked on a trade magazine before joining the publishing house of New English Library.
Haining achieved the position of Editorial Director before becoming a full time writer in the early Seventies. He edited a large number of anthologies, predominantly of horror and fantasy short stories, wrote non-fiction books on a variety of topics from the Channel Tunnel to Sweeney Todd and also used the pen names "Ric Alexander" and "Richard Peyton" on a number of crime story anthologies. In the Seventies he wrote three novels, including The Hero (1973), which was optioned for filming.
In two controversial books, Haining argued that Sweeney Todd was a real historical figure who committed his crimes around 1800, was tried in December 1801, and was hanged in January 1802. However, other researchers who have tried to verify his citations find nothing in these sources to back Haining's claims. A check of the website Old Bailey at for "Associated Records 1674-1834" for an alleged trial in December 1801 and hanging of Sweeney Todd for January 1802 show no reference; in fact the only murder trial for this period is that of a Governor/Lt Col. Joseph Wall who was hanged 28 January 1802 for killing a Benjamin Armstrong 10 July 1782 in "Goree" Africa and the discharge of a Humphrey White in January 1802. Strong reservations have also been expressed regarding the reliability of another of Haining's influential non-fiction works, The Legend and Bizarre Crimes of Spring Heeled Jack.
He wrote several reference books on Doctor Who, including the 20th anniversary special Doctor Who: A Celebration Two Decades Through Time and Space (1983), and also wrote the definitive study of Sherlock Holmes on the screen, The Television Sherlock Holmes (1991) and several other television tie-ins featuring famous literary characters, including Maigret, Poirot and James Bond. Peter Haining's most recent project was a series of World War Two stories based on extensive research and personal interviews: The Jail That Went To Sea (2003), The Mystery of Rommel's Gold (2004), Where The Eagle Landed (2004), The Chianti Raiders (2005) and The Banzai Hunters (2007).
He won the British Fantasy Awards Karl Edward Wagner Award in 2001.
Haining achieved the position of Editorial Director before becoming a full time writer in the early Seventies. He edited a large number of anthologies, predominantly of horror and fantasy short stories, wrote non-fiction books on a variety of topics from the Channel Tunnel to Sweeney Todd and also used the pen names "Ric Alexander" and "Richard Peyton" on a number of crime story anthologies. In the Seventies he wrote three novels, including The Hero (1973), which was optioned for filming.
In two controversial books, Haining argued that Sweeney Todd was a real historical figure who committed his crimes around 1800, was tried in December 1801, and was hanged in January 1802. However, other researchers who have tried to verify his citations find nothing in these sources to back Haining's claims. A check of the website Old Bailey at for "Associated Records 1674-1834" for an alleged trial in December 1801 and hanging of Sweeney Todd for January 1802 show no reference; in fact the only murder trial for this period is that of a Governor/Lt Col. Joseph Wall who was hanged 28 January 1802 for killing a Benjamin Armstrong 10 July 1782 in "Goree" Africa and the discharge of a Humphrey White in January 1802. Strong reservations have also been expressed regarding the reliability of another of Haining's influential non-fiction works, The Legend and Bizarre Crimes of Spring Heeled Jack.
He wrote several reference books on Doctor Who, including the 20th anniversary special Doctor Who: A Celebration Two Decades Through Time and Space (1983), and also wrote the definitive study of Sherlock Holmes on the screen, The Television Sherlock Holmes (1991) and several other television tie-ins featuring famous literary characters, including Maigret, Poirot and James Bond. Peter Haining's most recent project was a series of World War Two stories based on extensive research and personal interviews: The Jail That Went To Sea (2003), The Mystery of Rommel's Gold (2004), Where The Eagle Landed (2004), The Chianti Raiders (2005) and The Banzai Hunters (2007).
He won the British Fantasy Awards Karl Edward Wagner Award in 2001.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 24, 2024
A WELL-ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT AND RELATED SUBJECTS
The Foreword to this 1971 book by Peter Haining states, “Much of witchcraft’s fascination lies in its sinister association with the death-dealing rites and sexual excesses practiced in the name of Black Magic. But it has always included not only the ‘black’ but also the ‘white.’ Witchcraft dates back to man’s earliest attempts to relate himself to the scheme of his environment. Starting as a nature and fertility religion administered by the matriarchal element in prehistoric societies, witchcraft continued as a powerful fore throughout history and is presently experiencing a real revival. The reader learns about witchcraft’s many facets: charms and potions, divination and clairvoyance, levitation, possession, the coven and the sabbat, familiars, werewolves, vampires and the rites of the Black Mass.”
He explains, “Witchcraft, let it be said immediately, is still alive and flourishing today, despite a terrifying history of bloodshed, persecution and misunderstanding. It is not greatly changed from its earliest beginnings in terms of underlying beliefs. And the rituals are not much changed either… The word ‘witch’ derives from the Anglo-Saxon ‘wicca,’ ‘a magician who weakens the power of evil.’ … The origins of witchcraft are buried in prehistory. Archaeologists tell us that in prehistoric human groups the woman held a position of prominence… She acted as counselor of wisdom and priestess to the gods of nature… From such basic conjecture came religion: a religion shaped and developed by woman who was, naturally, its first priestess. Her knowledge of herbs provided her with the power to heal.” (Pg. 4-8)
Of Roman times, he recounts, “It is not really surprising that the Old Religion---as witchcraft was now being called---should have continued to survive there among the scattered peasantry. Worship of any kind on a national scale was almost impossible with the constant changing of overlords. The Romans noted the existence of the witch-priests and wise men and reported that they could predict the future and cure illness with their spells and incantations.” (Pg. 23)
In the Middle Ages, “Throughout Europe… the battle was being joined against the witches, for no other crime than not being avowedly Christian in their beliefs… The Inquisition, which began in 1233, crystallized the movement. It was established by the Catholic Church to search out and punish ‘false doctrine and heresy,’ including witchcraft.” (Pg. 28) He continues, “The inquisitors’ ‘textbook’ was the ‘Malleus Maleficarum’ (The Hammer of the Witches)… the book clung tenaciously to the principle of Exodus 22:18, that ‘Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.’ … In [this book] they recorded how to seek out suspected witches, how to try them (with… brutal forms of torture) and the required punishment.” (Pg. 30)
Later, “Queen Elizabeth… played an important part in the story of witchcraft: she was responsible for the introduction of the Witchcraft Act of 1563. It prescribed death by hanging … As a result, thousands of old crones were hauled before courts and condemned on the flimsiest evidence.” (Pg. 36) Eventually, “by the time George III became King of Great Britain witchcraft was being dismissed in many quarters as ‘superstitious nonsense.’ In 1736 the Witchcraft Act which James I had introduced was repealed… This effectively ended the treatment of witchcraft as a capital crime… Throughout the rest of Europe, too, the pattern was the same… The reign of terror was over---and… the practice of witchcraft in its ancient form as a fertility religion was to rise again.” (Pg. 44-45)
Of covens, he says, “Scholars have argued at great length… about whether the witches gathered in groups, or covens, to pay homage to the gods… I am … inclined to the view that the genuine believers in the Old Religion did continue to meet together secretly on a regional basis to counsel about the persecution---and that some of these meetings were known to the ordinary people.” (Pg. 54-55)
He recounts, “The witch trial that took place in 1692 at the little settlement of Salem is the most famous in American history… The people of Salem … believed implicitly in the existence of witches and their ability to ‘possess’ souls for the Devil’s cause… The trial was conducted in the European manner… The old women were induced to confess to all manner of dealings in evil and to indict friends and neighbors for similar practices… However, in time people came to see how unfairly their superstitions had been exploited…” (Pg. 104)
He states, “Several historians have recorded how men and women steeped in Black Magic would attend church, receive sacrament at mass, and then carry it away for defilement and blasphemy at their ceremonies. They have rightly observed that these people never sought to raise the Devil in person---in fact they did not believe in his existence per se---but used him as a personification of the evil they glorified.” (Pg. 115)
He records, “In examining the latter half of the eighteenth century in Europe, we also find the rise of a new kind of underground devil-worshiping cult, the Satanists. They differed only slightly from the black magicians, for although they intended no direct attack on the Church, they were nonetheless equally dedicated to evil and obscenity. Such cults drew their members from all strata of society and visualized Satan as a kind of invisible Grand Master of their order.” (Pg. 120)
He notes, “In the annals of modern Black Magic there has been no more notorious practitioner than the Englishman Aleister Crowley or ‘The Great Beast’ as he called himself. The international press had its own succinct title for him: ‘The Wickedest Man in the World.’… his basic philosophy would be summarized in the single sentence: ‘Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.’ … As the number of his disciples grew, Crowley decided to establish a permanent base … just off the coast of Sicily. There, in a mountainside villa which he called the Abbey of Thelema, he conducted continual Black magic rituals, sacrifices, and orgies---all dedicated to glorifying evil. He wrote extensively, too, describing his satanic rites… [He] died in 1944, his body wasted by drugs and his mind corrupted by the evil he had seen and perpetrated. But… his work had helped reshape Satanism and Black Magic into patterns appropriate for the twentieth century.” (Pg. 127-129)
Of the Nazis, he argues, “Now we know that the Fuehrer and those closest to him were deeply interested in spiritualism and fortune telling (indeed Hitler had his own astrologer). But the claims which certain authorities … have advanced that Nazi leaders actually took part in Black Magic rituals---burning effigies of their opponents and sacrificing animals---are perhaps just a little too outlandish to credit.” (Pg. 130)
He points out, “The twentieth century has seen a radical change in public attitudes toward many previous taboos, but witchcraft has had to wait until the middle of the century---and the permissive society---before finding real understanding among thinking people. Even so, police and newspaper records show that superstitious villagers in many outlying areas in Europe were still brutally attacking those suspected of witchcraft well into the middle years of this century.” (Pg. 140)
Finally, “Following the repeal of the Witchcraft Act in 1951, British witches---and later their brothers and sisters elsewhere---felt an urge to try for the first time to explain their craft to the public and perhaps … gain a measure of understanding. The first step was the interviewing of radio and television of the high priests and priestesses of several covens, who showed themselves… to be ordinary men and women.” (Pg. 142)
He concludes, “While there are obviously still a great many people who treat witchcraft as a huge joke… I know from personal experience that witchcraft is flourishing in the United States. Young people in particular are very eager to join the numerous covens which can be found from New York to Los Angeles…” (Pg. 153) Unquestionably the most extraordinary figure in Satanism today is Anton Szandor LaVey, a former circus artist, who has founded the ‘First Church of Satan’ in San Francisco… His principal aims are to glorify al carnal pleasures… His disciples meet regularly to perform the Black Mass he has devised and take lessons from the master’s work, ‘The Satanic Bible.’… Sinister or a kind of weird ‘black’ joke? … it may not be easy to decide. But in the case of genuine Black Magic… we can have little doubt of its evil influence---or that it is still often practiced in many countries of the world.” (Pg. 154-155)
The color photography included in this book is excellent; it will be of keen interest to those seeking a ‘visual’ overview of the subject.
The Foreword to this 1971 book by Peter Haining states, “Much of witchcraft’s fascination lies in its sinister association with the death-dealing rites and sexual excesses practiced in the name of Black Magic. But it has always included not only the ‘black’ but also the ‘white.’ Witchcraft dates back to man’s earliest attempts to relate himself to the scheme of his environment. Starting as a nature and fertility religion administered by the matriarchal element in prehistoric societies, witchcraft continued as a powerful fore throughout history and is presently experiencing a real revival. The reader learns about witchcraft’s many facets: charms and potions, divination and clairvoyance, levitation, possession, the coven and the sabbat, familiars, werewolves, vampires and the rites of the Black Mass.”
He explains, “Witchcraft, let it be said immediately, is still alive and flourishing today, despite a terrifying history of bloodshed, persecution and misunderstanding. It is not greatly changed from its earliest beginnings in terms of underlying beliefs. And the rituals are not much changed either… The word ‘witch’ derives from the Anglo-Saxon ‘wicca,’ ‘a magician who weakens the power of evil.’ … The origins of witchcraft are buried in prehistory. Archaeologists tell us that in prehistoric human groups the woman held a position of prominence… She acted as counselor of wisdom and priestess to the gods of nature… From such basic conjecture came religion: a religion shaped and developed by woman who was, naturally, its first priestess. Her knowledge of herbs provided her with the power to heal.” (Pg. 4-8)
Of Roman times, he recounts, “It is not really surprising that the Old Religion---as witchcraft was now being called---should have continued to survive there among the scattered peasantry. Worship of any kind on a national scale was almost impossible with the constant changing of overlords. The Romans noted the existence of the witch-priests and wise men and reported that they could predict the future and cure illness with their spells and incantations.” (Pg. 23)
In the Middle Ages, “Throughout Europe… the battle was being joined against the witches, for no other crime than not being avowedly Christian in their beliefs… The Inquisition, which began in 1233, crystallized the movement. It was established by the Catholic Church to search out and punish ‘false doctrine and heresy,’ including witchcraft.” (Pg. 28) He continues, “The inquisitors’ ‘textbook’ was the ‘Malleus Maleficarum’ (The Hammer of the Witches)… the book clung tenaciously to the principle of Exodus 22:18, that ‘Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.’ … In [this book] they recorded how to seek out suspected witches, how to try them (with… brutal forms of torture) and the required punishment.” (Pg. 30)
Later, “Queen Elizabeth… played an important part in the story of witchcraft: she was responsible for the introduction of the Witchcraft Act of 1563. It prescribed death by hanging … As a result, thousands of old crones were hauled before courts and condemned on the flimsiest evidence.” (Pg. 36) Eventually, “by the time George III became King of Great Britain witchcraft was being dismissed in many quarters as ‘superstitious nonsense.’ In 1736 the Witchcraft Act which James I had introduced was repealed… This effectively ended the treatment of witchcraft as a capital crime… Throughout the rest of Europe, too, the pattern was the same… The reign of terror was over---and… the practice of witchcraft in its ancient form as a fertility religion was to rise again.” (Pg. 44-45)
Of covens, he says, “Scholars have argued at great length… about whether the witches gathered in groups, or covens, to pay homage to the gods… I am … inclined to the view that the genuine believers in the Old Religion did continue to meet together secretly on a regional basis to counsel about the persecution---and that some of these meetings were known to the ordinary people.” (Pg. 54-55)
He recounts, “The witch trial that took place in 1692 at the little settlement of Salem is the most famous in American history… The people of Salem … believed implicitly in the existence of witches and their ability to ‘possess’ souls for the Devil’s cause… The trial was conducted in the European manner… The old women were induced to confess to all manner of dealings in evil and to indict friends and neighbors for similar practices… However, in time people came to see how unfairly their superstitions had been exploited…” (Pg. 104)
He states, “Several historians have recorded how men and women steeped in Black Magic would attend church, receive sacrament at mass, and then carry it away for defilement and blasphemy at their ceremonies. They have rightly observed that these people never sought to raise the Devil in person---in fact they did not believe in his existence per se---but used him as a personification of the evil they glorified.” (Pg. 115)
He records, “In examining the latter half of the eighteenth century in Europe, we also find the rise of a new kind of underground devil-worshiping cult, the Satanists. They differed only slightly from the black magicians, for although they intended no direct attack on the Church, they were nonetheless equally dedicated to evil and obscenity. Such cults drew their members from all strata of society and visualized Satan as a kind of invisible Grand Master of their order.” (Pg. 120)
He notes, “In the annals of modern Black Magic there has been no more notorious practitioner than the Englishman Aleister Crowley or ‘The Great Beast’ as he called himself. The international press had its own succinct title for him: ‘The Wickedest Man in the World.’… his basic philosophy would be summarized in the single sentence: ‘Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.’ … As the number of his disciples grew, Crowley decided to establish a permanent base … just off the coast of Sicily. There, in a mountainside villa which he called the Abbey of Thelema, he conducted continual Black magic rituals, sacrifices, and orgies---all dedicated to glorifying evil. He wrote extensively, too, describing his satanic rites… [He] died in 1944, his body wasted by drugs and his mind corrupted by the evil he had seen and perpetrated. But… his work had helped reshape Satanism and Black Magic into patterns appropriate for the twentieth century.” (Pg. 127-129)
Of the Nazis, he argues, “Now we know that the Fuehrer and those closest to him were deeply interested in spiritualism and fortune telling (indeed Hitler had his own astrologer). But the claims which certain authorities … have advanced that Nazi leaders actually took part in Black Magic rituals---burning effigies of their opponents and sacrificing animals---are perhaps just a little too outlandish to credit.” (Pg. 130)
He points out, “The twentieth century has seen a radical change in public attitudes toward many previous taboos, but witchcraft has had to wait until the middle of the century---and the permissive society---before finding real understanding among thinking people. Even so, police and newspaper records show that superstitious villagers in many outlying areas in Europe were still brutally attacking those suspected of witchcraft well into the middle years of this century.” (Pg. 140)
Finally, “Following the repeal of the Witchcraft Act in 1951, British witches---and later their brothers and sisters elsewhere---felt an urge to try for the first time to explain their craft to the public and perhaps … gain a measure of understanding. The first step was the interviewing of radio and television of the high priests and priestesses of several covens, who showed themselves… to be ordinary men and women.” (Pg. 142)
He concludes, “While there are obviously still a great many people who treat witchcraft as a huge joke… I know from personal experience that witchcraft is flourishing in the United States. Young people in particular are very eager to join the numerous covens which can be found from New York to Los Angeles…” (Pg. 153) Unquestionably the most extraordinary figure in Satanism today is Anton Szandor LaVey, a former circus artist, who has founded the ‘First Church of Satan’ in San Francisco… His principal aims are to glorify al carnal pleasures… His disciples meet regularly to perform the Black Mass he has devised and take lessons from the master’s work, ‘The Satanic Bible.’… Sinister or a kind of weird ‘black’ joke? … it may not be easy to decide. But in the case of genuine Black Magic… we can have little doubt of its evil influence---or that it is still often practiced in many countries of the world.” (Pg. 154-155)
The color photography included in this book is excellent; it will be of keen interest to those seeking a ‘visual’ overview of the subject.
June 1, 2024
« ...a salutary indication of the extremes to which bigotry can drive us. »
Cleanly written and to the point, a historical approach rich with superficial but telling examples of the topic it maps out, from pagan origins to modern society. A solid introductory read, informative for the uninitiated and enjoyable for the more advanced.
Cleanly written and to the point, a historical approach rich with superficial but telling examples of the topic it maps out, from pagan origins to modern society. A solid introductory read, informative for the uninitiated and enjoyable for the more advanced.
January 4, 2018
If you can find this book, prepare to be submerged in delicious seventies occultism with long-haired witches obsessed by anything horny fly over clouds of suspicious smoke to ride your broomstick.
Jan Parker's custom illustrations of demons, peasants, nobles, goats, priests, ghosts, werewolves, ... are mini works of occult art to be admired on every page.
Jan Parker's custom illustrations of demons, peasants, nobles, goats, priests, ghosts, werewolves, ... are mini works of occult art to be admired on every page.
October 31, 2011
I read this book because it is the Halloween season, and I wanted to read some of my "scarier" fare from my novelty section.
Do you have a novelty section on your book shelf? Y'know, the shelf where you put the books with the funny names, or the ones you bought when the library was closing and they let you walk out with a bag of books for 99 cents? I have one, anyway. On that shelf you will find the Les Schwab Autobiography, Books about how Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth, Conspiracy Theories, and "True" accounts of paranormal encounters.
It is a good shelf.
This book sat on that shelf for almost four years before I decided to give it a try. It was every bit as sensational and "schlock-tastic" as I had hoped. And then some!
Calling itself "A Popular History of Witch Craft Through The Ages" it covers in brief paragraphs everything from witch burnings, Salem, Anton LaVey, Crystal Balls, Torture, The Sabbat, and Hitler's fixation with all things cult related.
And it has pictures!
The tone was confusing, at times criticizing those who tortured and killed witches, and at other times hinting that the accusations were true, and that witchcraft and sorcery are not only real threats, but they may very well be creeping up on you right now in the dark!
The author also has the somewhat irritating habit of inserting himself suddenly into the stories, talking about his neighbors, what he thinks about Modern England, and how he is friends with many witches an they are REAL damn it!
I really liked it, but I must warn you, it is not for everyone. If you actually believe in witch craft and sorcery, then you will probably not like the brief explanations that sort of brush off witches as "harmless crones".
If you are one of those religious people who truly believes in the dangers of Witch Craft, then you will find plenty here to fuel your fearful delirium.
If, however, you are like me, and you want something that will teach you just a little more than you probably already know about a subject that shouldn't be handled by an author who requires an illustrator to prove his point, then I recommend you give this one a try. I think you can get it for, like, three bucks on amazon.
I am pretty sure I paid twice that at Goodwill.
Do you have a novelty section on your book shelf? Y'know, the shelf where you put the books with the funny names, or the ones you bought when the library was closing and they let you walk out with a bag of books for 99 cents? I have one, anyway. On that shelf you will find the Les Schwab Autobiography, Books about how Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth, Conspiracy Theories, and "True" accounts of paranormal encounters.
It is a good shelf.
This book sat on that shelf for almost four years before I decided to give it a try. It was every bit as sensational and "schlock-tastic" as I had hoped. And then some!
Calling itself "A Popular History of Witch Craft Through The Ages" it covers in brief paragraphs everything from witch burnings, Salem, Anton LaVey, Crystal Balls, Torture, The Sabbat, and Hitler's fixation with all things cult related.
And it has pictures!
The tone was confusing, at times criticizing those who tortured and killed witches, and at other times hinting that the accusations were true, and that witchcraft and sorcery are not only real threats, but they may very well be creeping up on you right now in the dark!
The author also has the somewhat irritating habit of inserting himself suddenly into the stories, talking about his neighbors, what he thinks about Modern England, and how he is friends with many witches an they are REAL damn it!
I really liked it, but I must warn you, it is not for everyone. If you actually believe in witch craft and sorcery, then you will probably not like the brief explanations that sort of brush off witches as "harmless crones".
If you are one of those religious people who truly believes in the dangers of Witch Craft, then you will find plenty here to fuel your fearful delirium.
If, however, you are like me, and you want something that will teach you just a little more than you probably already know about a subject that shouldn't be handled by an author who requires an illustrator to prove his point, then I recommend you give this one a try. I think you can get it for, like, three bucks on amazon.
I am pretty sure I paid twice that at Goodwill.
February 18, 2021
Essentially a beginner's guide with a distinctly 1970s-retro-witchy feel to it (to give you a taster: "...and the men would join with the women in adoration of the Great Mother - concluding festivities with a sexual ritual which had the by-product of ensuring the continuation of the tribe!"). Hardly assiduous scholarship - Haining draws uncritically from secondary sources and the now largely discredited work of Margaret Murray. Having said that, his intentions are sound, seeking to highlight the extent of the horrors of witch persecution and redress the enduring and insidious stereotype of the witch as an embittered old evil-doer. In fact, he goes to such lengths to build a sympathetic portrait of the so-called 'Old Religion' that he overdoes his attack on what was then the relatively recent ideology of Satanism, launching what comes across as a snarling morality crusade against the likes of Aleister Crowley (erroneously identified as a Satanist) and Anton LaVey ("... in the case of genuine Black Magic... we can have little doubt of its evil influence.") To be fair to Haining, he was writing from personal experience, having had first-hand experience of the aftermath of anti-Christian desecration attacks on churches, so his concern is understandable. But I didn't warm to this book because of the writing. It was Jan Parker's illustrations that did it for me. They are gorgeously grotesque and entirely in a world of their own.
May 5, 2013
Wow, this was quite a book, part of quite a fine, accessible series. So odd.
April 28, 2017
Stumbled on this book while looking for some serious psychoanalysis and these illustrations along with the fictitious facts simply tell you that for centuries we ached for hope.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews