While the perception of magic as harmful is age-old, the notion of witches gathering together in large numbers, overtly worshiping demons, and receiving instruction in how to work harmful magic as part of a conspiratorial plot against Christian society was an innovation of the early fifteenth century. The sources collected in this book reveal this concept in its formative stages.The idea that witches were members of organized heretical sects or part of a vast diabolical conspiracy ...

Superstitions are commonplace in the modern world. Mostly, however, they evoke innocuous images of people reading their horoscopes or avoiding black cats. Certain religious practices might also come to mind—praying to St. Christopher or lighting candles for the dead. Benign as they might seem today, such practices were not always perceived that way. In medieval Europe superstitions were considered serious offenses, violations of essential precepts of Christian doctrine or ...

Magic: The Basics is a concise and engaging introduction to magic in world history and contemporary societies. Presenting magic as a global phenomenon which has manifested in all human cultures, this book takes a thematic approach which explores the historical, social, and cultural aspects of magic.Key features include:attempts to define magic either in universal or more particular terms, and to contrast it with other broad and potentially fluid cat...

The only comprehensive, single-volume survey of magic available, this compelling book traces the history of magic, witchcraft, and superstitious practices such as popular spells or charms from antiquity to the present day. Focusing especially on Europe in the medieval and early modern eras, Michael Bailey also explores the ancient Near East, classical Greece and Rome, and the spread of magical systems_particularly modern witchcraft or Wicca_from Europe to the United States. He examines how...

A great deal has been written about the history of witchcraft, but much of what has been written is unreliable, exaggerated, or inaccurate. This problem is especially acute in regard to modern witchcraft, or Wicca, and its supposed connections to historical witchcraft in medieval and early modern Europe. The A to Z of Witchcraft provides a reliable reference source for both academics and general readers interested in the actual historical development of witchcraft in the western w...

Witchcraft has proven an important, if difficult, historical subject to investigate and interpret over the last four decades or so. Modern historical research into witchcraft began as an attempt to tease out the worldview of ordinary people in 16th- and 17th-century England, but it quickly expanded to encompass the history of witchcraft in most cultures and societies that have existed with scholarly studies now extending back to the time of earliest law code that punished sorcery, the Baby...

In this rich collection of essays, editors Dale McConkey and Peter Augustine Lawler explore the contributions that religious faith and morality can make to a civil society. Though the level of religious expression has remained high in the United States, the shift from traditional religious beliefs to a far more individualized style of faith has led many to contend that no faith commitment, collective or personal, should contribute to the vibrancy of a civil democratic society. Challenging ...

YOUR CALL TO CTHULHU IS IMPORTANT TO US. PLEASE HOLD.Red tape. Catch-22s. Circular chains of command. Whether you're a customer or co-worker, bureaucracies drive us all insane. Even management is just a cog in a vast machine. Information, items, and even people get lost in the system, never gone but never found. No one seems to notice the insanity surrounding them... or if they do, they keep it to themselves. After all, those who notice and call attention to it ten...

Knee arthritis exercises can help you relieve knee pains, if you have knee problems, you can as well enhance your range of movement by engaging in these exercises. Engaging in some of these knee exercises will help you to move and feel better during your daily activities. Low-impact exercises for knee arthritis can help to relieve knee pains and also improve knee flexibility. If you are experiencing knee osteoarthritis, these exercises can also enhance your mobility as well as range of mot...

Use the power of behavioral finance to make smarter, better-informed decisions through every step of the investing processIn an economy where markets are more unpredictable than ever, emotions can derail the efforts of even the most experienced investors and wreak havoc on portfolio returns.Applying powerful behavioral finance concepts, Stop. Think. Invest. provides a framework for identifying personal biases and avoiding mistakes that can cost big...

In an economy that's more unpredictable than ever—the proven method for avoiding emotional mistakes that can wreak havoc on your portfolio returnsApplying powerful behavioral finance concepts, Stop. Think. Invest. provides a framework for identifying personal biases and avoiding mistakes that can cost them big profits.Based on the author's extensive research and 100 key behavioral finance concepts, this guide provides a winning twelve-step process ...

Awarded 2013 PROSE Honorable Mention in Media & Cultural StudiesWith the resurgent interest in his work today, this is a timely reevaluation of this foundational figure in Cultural Studies, a critical but friendly review of both Hoggart's work and reputation.Re-examines the reputation of one of the ‘inventors’ of Cultural StudiesUses new archival sources to critically evaluate Hoggart's contribution and influence, set his work in context, and determ...