This introduction to contemporary witchcraft and neopaganism shows you what witches themselves say they believe, what the Bible says about witchcraft, and philosophical holes in the worldview of witches.

Today people have the freedom to practice their religions, and this has been extended to modern witches, who are free to practice Wicca, which they regard as their religion, without persecution, while television shows, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, have become to be accepted as entertainment, almost without comment. For those who practiced witchcraft in the past, however, it would have meant immediate arrest, torture and trial, followed by a gruesome and agonizing death. Every misfortune visited on humankind was laid at the door of so called witches, and could be a stillborn child, a deformed calf or a failed crop. Many were executed because they fitted the accepted stereotype, or merely because of the presence of a common blemish on their skin. For Christians, witchcraft came to be equated with heresy. It was believed that witches used evil spirits to help them in their service of the Devil, and bizarre tests were devised to ensure that they were identified. Yet witchcraft could be seen merely as vestiges of old pagan religions, by which man once sought to understand and control nature, and which were largely swept aside by the more formal and developed monotheistic religions. But today, elements of paganism have survived by a belief in good and evil magic, fertility rituals, and the efficacy of curses and charms.

Breslaw (history, U. of Tennessee) has created a fascinating reader--for undergraduate classes in history, anthropology, religious studies, or women's studies--surveying the subject of witches, witch hunts, and the larger political context of both. The sections, which cover Christian perspectives, non-Christian beliefs, diabolical possession, issues of gender, and a lengthy section on the Salem witch trials, each include an introduction by Breslaw, primary sources, then secondary commentaries on the sources. The latter are excerpts from books and articles. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

"Dr. Caro Baroja is well known as the author of the ethnography of the Basques, whose activities in witchcraft inspired this book. Beginning with an analysis of the basic aspects of the mentality of those who have believed in magic or practised the magic arts, he launches into a study of witchcraft which upsets many popular theories about the nature and history of the subject."

Introduces the philosophy and practices of old world witchcraft, which relies on plant magic and the use of shadow, dispelling the myths about witches and presenting the tradition's tools, charms, spells, rituals, and correspondences.

Mona Chollet's In Defense of Witches is a “brilliant, well-documented” celebration (Le Monde) by an acclaimed French feminist of the witch as a symbol of female rebellion and independence in the face of misogyny and persecution. Centuries after the infamous witch hunts that swept through Europe and America, witches continue to hold a unique fascination for many: as fairy tale villains, practitioners of pagan religion, as well as feminist icons. Witches are both the ultimate victim and the stubborn, elusive rebel. But who were the women who were accused and often killed for witchcraft? What types of women have centuries of terror censored, eliminated, and repressed? Celebrated feminist writer Mona Chollet explores three types of women who were accused of witchcraft and persecuted: the independent woman, since widows and celibates were particularly targeted; the childless woman, since the time of the hunts marked the end of tolerance for those who claimed to control their fertility; and the elderly woman, who has always been an object of at best, pity, and at worst, horror. Examining modern society, Chollet concludes that these women continue to be harrassed and oppressed. Rather than being a brief moment in history, the persecution of witches is an example of society’s seemingly eternal misogyny, while women today are direct descendants to those who were hunted down and killed for their thoughts and actions. With fiery prose and arguments that range from the scholarly to the cultural, In Defense of Witches seeks to unite the mythic image of the witch with modern women who live their lives on their own terms.