Witchcraft and magic in Europe Vol. 6, The twentieth century / Willem de Blécourt, Ronald Hutton, Jean La Fontaine

Witchcraft continues to play a role in the modern European imagination and in its cultures. This book brings together studies of its most important modern manifestations. The volume includes a major new history of the origins and development of English 'Wicca', an account of satanic abuse mythology in the Twentieth Century and a survey of the continued existence of traditional witchcraft. Contents 6 Introduction 8 PART 1: MODERN PAGAN WITCHCRAFT 14 Section 1: The Background to Pagan Witchcraft 16 Secret Societies and Ritual Magic 16 Popular Witchcraft and Magic 26 The Thought-World of Modern Paganism 30 The Goddess and God of Modern Paganism 33 Romantic Folklore 39 The Myth of Pagan Witchcraft 44 Forerunners 49 Section 2: The History of Pagan Witchcraft 56 Gerald Gardner 56 The Gardnerians 65 Other Traditions 68 American Feminist Witchcraft 73 A Coming of Age 78 The Nature of Modern Pagan Witchcraft 84 PART 2: SATANISM AND SATANIC MYTHOLOGY 94 Section 1: The History of the Idea of Satan and Satanism 96 The Servants of Satan 98 Modern Ideas of Satanism 99 Satanism and the Occult 101 Section 2: Satanism and Pseudo-Satanist Groups 107 The Church of Satan 109 The Temple of Set 114 The Process-Church of the Final Judgement 118 Other Satanist Groups 120 Numbers of Satanists 120 Section 3: Heathenism/Odinism 123 Section 4: Satanic Abuse Mythology 128 The Social Context of the Myth 129 A History of Accusations of Satanism 132 The Components of Satanic Abuse Mythology 137 Sources of Allegations 139 The Spread of the Satanic Abuse Mythology 142 Sources of Allegations 145 PART 3: THE WITCH, HER VICTIM, THE UNWITCHER AND THE RESEARCHER: THE CONTINUED EXISTENCE OF TRADITIONAL WITCHCRAFT 154 Traces of Bewitchment 156 Studies of Witchcraft 159 Types of Witchcraft 163 The Researcher's Position 167 Journalists and Folklorists 171 Sliedrecht, 1926 175 Folklore Indexes 178 Legend Repertoires 181 Gendered Legends 185 Witchcraft in Court 189 Sarzbüttel, 1954 193 The Power of the Unwitcher 196 Active Bewitchments 201 The Evil Eye 205 Mayenne, 1970 210 Spatial Dimensions 215 Cultures of Witchcraft 218 Witchcraft Conflicts 221 The End of Witchcraft? 225 Future Research 229 Bibliography 233 Index 249 A 249 B 249 C 250 D 251 E 251 F 251 G 252 H 252 I 253 J 253 K 253 L 253 M 253 N 254 O 254 P 255 Q 255 R 255 S 256 T 256 U 257 V 257 W 257 Y 257 Z 257 Introduction / Bengt Ankarloo And Stuart Clark -- The Decline And End Of Witchcraft Prosecutions / Brian P. Levack -- Witchcraft After The Witch- Trials / Marijke Gijswijt-hofstra -- Witchcraft And Magic In Enlightenment, Romantic, And Liberal Thought / Roy Porter. Marijke Gijswijt-hofstra, Brian P. Levack, Roy Porter. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [283]-323) And Index. Part 1 Modern Pagan witchcraft, Ronald Hutton. Part 2 Satanism and satanic abuse mythology, Jean La Fontaine. Part 3 The witch, her victim, the unwitcher and the researcher - the continued existence of traditional witchcraft, Willem de Blecourt. Witchcraft continues to play a role in the modern European imagination and in its cultures. This book brings together studies of its most important modern manifestations, including a new history of English Wicca, and satanic abuse mythology. The end of the 18th century saw the end of witch trials. This volume charts the processes and reasons for decriminalizing witchcraft. It also surveys the social role of witchcraft in European communities to the end of the 19th century.