Witchcraft Out of the Shadows: A Complete History

by Leo Ruickbie

This complete history of witchcraft from Ancient Greece to the present day charts the rise and development of witchcraft and the modern witchcraft religion of Wicca. This in-depth investigation discovers how the ideas we have about witchcraft took shape thousands of years ago in the myths and religions of the ancient world. It looks at why these ideas were expressed so violently during the era of the witch trials, and reveals how witchcraft has been transformed into one of the most radical and fastest growing religions of our age—a religion of equality and compassion that still has the power to unsettle even the bravest amongst us. With fresh insights and previously unpublished material drawn from the author's doctoral research into the mysticism, magic, and social meaning of Wicca, this is the first book to bring witchcraft fully out of the shadows.

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction

271 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2004

About the author

Dr Leo Ruickbie is a sociologist and historian specialising in the field of witchcraft, Wicca, magic and the occult. He hold a PhD from King's College, London, for his work on modern witchcraft, and is the author of several books including Witchcraft Out of the Shadows and Faustus: The Life and Times of a Renaissance Magician. In 2008 and 2009 he exhibited on the subject of witchcraft in France. As well as giving public talks and writing articles for Pagan Dawn, Watkins Review and ASANAS, he also runs the WICA (witchology.com) website.

Reviews

[Jody Mena]

Excellent reading! This book is rather unique amongst the books on Witchcraft that I have read. It is not a Grimoire or a Book of Shadows, nor does it take a position for or against Witchcraft. Instead it is very structured and organized, and written from a relatively objective, nearly scientific point of view, as from the position of an historian, anthropologist or a sociologist. The first part of the book is an in depth history of Witchcraft, and it is useful in that it presents multiple perspectives on Witchcraft throughout the ages and gives the subject a thorough treatment. It also helpfully cites sources. The second part details more recent history, the founding of modern Witchcraft, as well as the beliefs, practices and demographics of Witches today. In this section, my only criticism is that the author was I think overly-critical of Gerald Gardener in his aim to make clear that modern Witchcraft is a new religion rather than a continuation of the Old Religion. It was written like a scientific or sociological study review - which is indeed what was conducted to gather the information. Towards the end, the reading does get a little dry, but in spite of this I think the information in this book serves a critical function in legitimizing Witchcraft as a culture and religion in the eyes of outsiders, for the very fact that it goes into such thorough, sometimes almost excruciating detail. This book would make excellent reference material for anyone doing a research study or writing a paper, it is full of statistics and graphs and useful social information relative to modern social studies. This book does exactly what the title promises, it brings Witchcraft out of the shadows and gives it a thorough examination - then sends it drifting back into the mysterious darkness, ensuring that we all know that Witches walk amongst us, not as warty hags, bogeymen or devil worshipers, but as everyday people,but people who see the world in a different, less linear and more enchanted way.

[Jack Mckeever · Rating 2 out of 5]

Life's too short to read books you're not enjoying, and thus I've given up on this just over halfway through. I'm interested in the history of witchcraft and specifically during the early Stuart period in England and across Europe. But Ruickbie's book clocks in at just over 200 pages long, a framework within which he attempts to track the history and study of witchcraft from ancient Greece to the 21st century. Unfortunately, given his minute foundations, the constant stream of names and dates starts to feel like a barrage, draining any creativity or engagement right out of large parts of the book, for me anyway.

[Leo Ruickbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reasons for writing Witchcraft Out of the Shadows

My PhD work at King's College, London, took modern witchcraft as a test case for analysing Max Weber's sociological theory of disenchantment and developing a counter theory of re-enchantment. My findings on the nature of magic, mystical experience, ritual activity, conceptualisation of deity and the demographics of those involved refuted many of the existing stereotypes and provided new insights into scientifically uncharted areas. It was these important findings that I wanted to take from the narrow academic world to a wider audience, to share what I had found.

But this was only part of the story. The history and sociology of witchcraft has tended to concentrate on the late Medieval and Early Modern period, the so-called Witch-Craze — the age of burnings, hangings, trials and torture. It is an important period, but this over-emphasis has produced a distorted picture of the phenomenon of witchcraft.

With Witchcraft Out of the Shadows I have re-analysed and re-interpreted the history of witchcraft, recovering long ignored material from Ancient Greece and Northern Europe, and placing my PhD work in a broader historical context.

[Bode Cauthon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love history. It’s such an expansive subject that cover so much in the way of culture, geography, language ect that it’s impossible to read one book without picking up another. While I thoroughly enjoyed the peek into the past and how it covered different peoples and their pantheons I felt that still so much was missing.
When talking about the Druids where were all the men? The author continuously referred to women as those that were “gifted” but men too were magicians were they not?
What I wanted to know about what the people. Yes of course what they believed but also WHY. And I felt that was missing. Religions are formed from a need but what was that need?
I’m aware of how little information remains from so early in world history so of course I understand that inferences will need to be made by any reader, but surely the authors has some theories to share.

[Lisa Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to witchcraft. There are so many varying opinions and differences in the practice of it, and this book helped to explain why. Fundamentally it's all the same, but witchcraft has a such a long, mysterious history it's definitely open to some interpretation. I liked that the author put neither a good or bad spin on it, but simply told the facts as we know them, and made it clear that is by no means (by most, haha) intended as an evil practice. It was interesting to read where it all began and how it became what it is today. Not the most exciting read, but very informative!

[Kaylei]

How do you even start reading the book I can't figure it out :(