A Defence of Witchcraft Belief – Book Review

Last updated on: January 28, 2024 at 10:30 pm By Ian Chambers

A Defence of Witchcraft Belief: A Sixteenth-century Response to Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft, Edited by Eric Pudney, Manchester University Press 2023 In 1584, the would-be know-all, university dropout and so-called authority on the subject of early modern witchcraft, Reginald Scot published his now famous book The Discoverie of Witchcraft. This tome was dedicated to the intellectual, reasoned pursuit of the Protestant view of early modern witchcraft as naught but a relic of superstition and was contemporaneous with other less... Read more

Father Time: Ring out, wild bells…

Last updated on: December 20, 2023 at 11:45 am By Ian Chambers

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veritas filia temporis The Midwinter, especially around the solstitial event of the sun’s apparent stasis (around the 21st/22nd December), has long held significance for mankind. As humanity developed narrative to bring order and meaning to life’s ever turning wheel, so myth developed around this dark time of the year — winter in the northern hemisphere. It is, therefore, little coincidence that codified within our current apprehension of custom and tradition at this time is a dark robed figure, with sickle... Read more

Midwinter Traditions – From Wild Hunt to Festive Spirit

Last updated on: December 9, 2023 at 10:03 am By Ian Chambers

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There has been much made in recent decades about the pagan origins of Christmas customs. It is important to note that this idea is not, strictly speaking, an accurate portrayal and is symptomatic of unhelpful reductionism. It does form, however, a broader sentiment in modern Neopaganism to reject anything that smacks of Christianity, and this often throws the baby out with the bathwater. Life, belief, perspective, traditions, customs and accompanying lore form a part of an unfolding spectrum and history... Read more

Book Review: Making Magic in Elizabethan England

Last updated on: November 30, 2023 at 8:29 pm By Ian Chambers

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A long time ago, in my early teens, I had a secret and insatiable thirst for knowledge of the magical arts. Growing up in Aleister Crowley’s hometown, the Beast’s shadow loomed over the cultural landscape of the town. However, I instead used the cover of studying magic in Shakespeare’s play The Tempest to learn about renaissance sorcery. Of course, Elizabethan astrologer and polymath John Dee provided an evident influence for the play’s central character of Prospero, who banishes witches, works with... Read more

We need to talk about the Witchcraft Act 1735…

Last updated on: October 6, 2023 at 10:04 pm By Ian Chambers

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If you have been a student of witchcraft and Wicca for any length of time, by now you’ve heard a timeworn and banal tale that goes something like this: Witchcraft was illegal in Britain until 1951, when the Witchcraft Act of 1735 was repealed and replaced by the Fraudulent Mediums Act. This lifting of the law enabled Gerald Gardner and others –but mainly him — to be more open and birth modern pagan witchcraft into the public awareness. All of... Read more

Ladywell and the Godhelm Ingas

Last updated on: January 17, 2025 at 8:14 am By Ian Chambers

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Exploring local folklore and landscape can reveal many things, not least of which is an adventure into the enchantment of the world, touching history and local tradition. Often, we allow our everyday lives to govern our actions and thoughts and we become creatures of habit, following the same routes and patterns of behaviour. This inevitably means that we can move about our days and miss those opportunities for entering the mythic and enchanted world that lies just within a breath... Read more

Book Review: Magic in the Modern World, Edited by Edward Bever & Randall Styers

Last updated on: October 5, 2023 at 10:00 pm By Ian Chambers

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Magic in the Modern World: Strategies of Repression and Legitimization, edited by Edward Bever and Randall Styers Magic in the Modern World is a collection of essays from leading figures and experts in the field of academic and practical study of magic, both its history and with particular reference to modernity. Brilliantly edited and collated by Edward Bever, Professor of History (State University of New York) and Randall Styers, Associated Professor of Religious Studies (University of North Carolina), these two... Read more

Book Review: By Moonlight and Spirit Flight, by Michael Howard

Last updated on: August 30, 2023 at 8:48 pm By Ian Chambers

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First published in 2013, By Moonlight and Spirit Flight: The Praxis of the Otherworldly Journey to the Witches’ Sabbath was written by the traditional witch Michael Howard, forming a part of publisher Three Hands Press‘ ‘Occult Monograph’ series. The 2019 publication is, therefore, a second edition of this compact and thorough exposition of the witches’ sabbath. The design of the book is of a standard one would expect from Three Hands Press, with good quality paper of a nice thickness, while featuring superb and... Read more

The Witch Can’t Be Identified

Last updated on: July 12, 2023 at 2:18 pm By Ian Chambers

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Recently, I made a blog post that gained some traction on social media, got seen by John Beckett who wrote an original piece and things took on a life of their own after that. Within the Traditional Witchcraft and broader Witchcraft communities, the pieces were both well received. Jason Miller wrote a rebuttal of John’s article, whilst BJ Swain took a more measured approach in his considered and well presented piece, and things escalated as the poison chalice that is social media... Read more

Innocent Pope Drinks Children’s Blood?

Last updated on: July 7, 2023 at 9:39 pm By Ian Chambers

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Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal bull in 1484, entitled ‘Summis desiderantes affectibus’ (desiring with supreme ardour). In this bull, the pope responded to Heinrich Kramer – a deranged misogynist who would soon be expelled from Innsbrook by Bishop Golser for his distasteful behaviour in persecuting women. The bull acknowledges the existence of witchcraft, and authorises inquisition in northern Germany which allows Kramer to pursue his madness with fervour. Golser ordered Kramer out of the diocese on 1486, prompting the... Read more