Shaman of Oberstdorf
Shaman of Oberstdorf

Author: Wolfgang Behringer

Publisher: University of Virginia Press

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9780813918532

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"Shaman of Oberstdorf tells the fascinating story of a sixteenth-century mountain village caught in a panic of its own making. Four hundred years ago the Bavarian alpine town of Oberstdorf, surrounded by the towering peaks of the Vorarlberg, was awash in legends and rumors of prophets and healers, of spirits and specters, of witches and soothsayers. The book focuses on the life of a horse wrangler named Chonrad Stoeckhlin [1549-1587], whose extraordinary visions of the afterlife and enthusiastic practice of the occult eventually led to his death-and to the death of a number of village women-for crimes of witchcraft. Wolfgang Behringer is one of the premier historians of German witchcraft, not only because of his mastery of the subject at the regional level, but because he also writes movingly, forcefully, and with an eye for the telling anecdote."--Amazon.ca.

Shamanism
Shamanism

Author: Andrei A. Znamenski

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2004-03-11

Total Pages: 406

ISBN-13: 9780415311922

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Mircea Eliade descibed shamanism as the primal religion of humanity, the 'archaic technique of ecstasy'. The books of best-selling author Carlos Castaneda made it part of popular culture. Since the 1960s shamanism has continued to attract the attention of scholars, artists, writers and the general public. The most intriguing aspect of this religion is the ability of shamans to enter into contact with spirits on behalf of their communities. The first eighteenth-century explorers of Siberia dubbed shamanism a blatant fraud. Later, academic observers stamped it as 'neurotic delusion'. In the 1960s shamans were recast as 'wounded healers', who sacrifice their lives for the spiritual well being of their communities. Many current writers and scholars treat shamanism as ancient wisdom that has much to teach us about true spirituality. This anthology tells the story of shamanism in Eurasia, North and South America, Africa and Australia. It brings together for the first time fifty-six articles and book excerpts by anthropologists, psychologists, religious scholars and historians, illustrating the variety of views on this subject.

Encyclopedia of Witchcraft [4 volumes]
Encyclopedia of Witchcraft [4 volumes]

Author: Richard M. Golden Director, Jewish Studies Program

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2006-01-30

Total Pages: 1310

ISBN-13: 1851095128

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The definitive compilation on witchcraft and witch hunting in the early modern era exploring significant people, places, beliefs, and events. Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Western Tradition is the definitive reference on the age of witch hunting (approximately 1430–1750), its origins, expansion, and ultimate decline. Incorporating a wealth of recent scholarship in four richly illustrated, alphabetically organized volumes, it offers historians and general readers alike the opportunity to explore the realities behind the legends of witchcraft and witchcraft trials. Over 170 contributors from 28 nations provide vivid, documented descriptions and analyses of witchcraft trials and locations, folklore and beliefs, magical practices and deities, influential texts, and the full range of players in this extraordinary drama—witchcraft theorists and theologians; historians and authors; judges, clergy, and rulers; the accused; and their persecutors. Concentrating on Europe and the Americas in the early modern era, the work also covers relevant topics from the ancient Near East (including the Hebrew and Christian Bibles), classical antiquity, and the European Middle Ages.

Sisters
Sisters

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2014-08-28

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 9004275029

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Harlot, pious martyr, marriage breaker, obedient sister, prophetess, literate woman, agent of the devil, hypocrite. These are some qualifications of the image of Anabaptist/Mennonite women, from a wide array of perspectives. Over the ages they became both negative and positive stereotypes, created by either opponents or sympathizers, as a means of demonizing or promoting the dissident, radical free church movement. This volume explores the characteristics, backgrounds and effects of the collective perceptions of Anabaptist/Mennonite women, as well as their self-understanding, from the sixteenth into the nineteenth centuries, in a variety of case studies. This is not a gender study in the traditional sense. The theory of imagology sets the stage for the interpretation of the image of the European Mennonite sisters, acting within their religious, moral, cultural and social landscapes of Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, and the Ukraine (tsarist Russia).

Witchcraft and belief in Early Modern Scotland
Witchcraft and belief in Early Modern Scotland

Author: J. Goodare

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2007-12-04

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 023059140X

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This pioneering collection concentrates on witchcraft beliefs rather than witch-hunting. It ranges widely across areas of popular belief, culture and ritual practice, as well as dealing with intellectual life and incorporating regional and comparative elements.

Palgrave Advances in Witchcraft Historiography
Palgrave Advances in Witchcraft Historiography

Author: J. Barry

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2007-05-09

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 0230593488

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This is the first book to offer a detailed modern survey of Witchcraft historiography. By using a broad chronological structure, from contemporary responses through to modern day, the book draws on contributions from a range of leading experts in the field to provide a much-needed overview of the area.

Magic and Impotence in the Middle Ages
Magic and Impotence in the Middle Ages

Author: Catherine Rider

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2006-01-26

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 0199282226

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Magic and Impotence in the Middle Ages investigates the widely held medieval belief that magic could cause sexual dysfunction. It focuses mainly on the period 1150-1450, and compares sources from four genres: confessors' manuals, medical compendia, canon law commentaries, and commentaries on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. This comparison shows that ideas about the definition and legitimacy of magic were surprisingly varied, and also reveals much new informationabout popular magical practices.

Between the Devil and the Host
Between the Devil and the Host

Author: Michael Ostling

Publisher: Past & Present Book

Published: 2011-11-03

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 0199587906

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For the first time in English, Michael Ostling tells the story of the imagined Polish witches, showing how ordinary peasant-women got caught in webs of suspicion and accusation, finally confessing under torture to the most heinous of crimes.

Witch Hunts in Europe and America
Witch Hunts in Europe and America

Author: William E. Burns

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2003-10-30

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 0313093822

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From early sorcery trials of the 14th century—associated primarily with French and Papal courts—to the witch executions of the late 18th century, this book's entries cover witch-hunting in individual countries, major witch trials from Chelmsford, England, to Salem, Massachusetts, and significant individuals from famous witches to the devout persecutors. Entries such as the evil eye, familiars, and witch-finders cover specific aspects of the witch-hunting process, while entries on writers and modern interpretations provide insight into the current thinking on early modern witch hunts. From the wicked witch of children's stories to Halloween and present-day Wiccan groups, witches and witchcraft still fascinate observers of Western culture. Witches were believed to affect climatological catastrophes, put spells on their neighbors, and cavort with the devil. In early modern Europe and the Americas, witches and witch-hunting were an integral part of everyday life, touching major events such as the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution, as well as politics, law, medicine, and culture.