EDGE
OF THE CIRCLE BOOKS
PRESENTS
THE FOLLOWING
NEW
TITLES:
WELSH
WITCHES:
Narratives
of Witchcraft and Magic from 16th and 17th Century Wales
By
Richard Suggett
Atramentous
Press, 2018
Standard
Edition: 250 pages, hardcover in buckram cloth, two colour foil block
to front and back, gold foil block to spine, head and tail bands,
natural wibalin endpapers bordering 100gm munken cream paper, ribbon.
Ltd to 777 copies.
List Price
~$81.95
FROM THE
PUBLISHER:
Authentic
accounts of witchcraft accusations in sixteenth- and
seventeenth-century England and Wales are rare. There is of course a
sensational pamphlet literature based on witchcraft trials but this
source can be problematic, especially as the trial documents have
disappeared. However, a rich archive of pre-trial documents relating
to witchcraft accusations has been discovered in the records of the
Court of Great Sessions of Wales. These unique documents are the
complaints of those who believed themselves bewitched, the
depositions of witnesses, and the examinations of suspected witches.
The Court
of Great Sessions had the power of life and death and sent many
convicted felons to the gallows. We know exactly when the first
prosecution for murder by witchcraft took place in Wales. In 1594
Gwen ferch Ellis of Denbighshire was tried for felonious witchcraft,
found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. This case was something of a
cause celebre. Remarkably the record survives of Gwen’s
interrogation by the bishop of St Asaph as well as the depositions of
her accusers.
Written
evidence survives from some 20 cases and these documents are printed
in full for the first time. These texts reveal remarkable details
and personalities that have remained hidden in the documentary record
for over 300 years. In these cases we encounter cursers and healers,
practitioners of image magic and love magic, confidence tricksters
and believers in fairies.
The book
has a comprehensive introduction and detailed commentaries on the
cases. There is a definitive list of prosecutions with abstracts of
indictments. A calendar of slander cases involving accusations of
witchcraft provides a glimpse of witchcraft accusations that never
resulted in prosecution as well as an insight into the vocabulary of
witchcraft. The study makes a vital contribution to the
understanding of witchcraft beliefs in one of the ‘dark corners’
of the British Isles.
Richard
Suggett is a historian, currently senior investigator at the Royal
Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, and
Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh
and Celtic Studies. He is the author of the A History of Magic and
Witchcraft in Wales (2005) as well as studies on the architecture and
social history of medieval and later Wales.
**
MAGISTER
OFFICIORU:
The
ceremony of Solomonic magic
By
Julio Cesar Ody
Scarlet
Imprint, 2018
8vo (225 ×
150 mm), 80 pp.
7 original
pen and ink illustrations by Morgan Singer.
Standard
Edition hardcover: Limited to 900 copies, black cloth stamped with
dagger device, textured red endpapers and black dust jacket. ~ $42.95
Bibliothèque
Rouge Paperback: ~ $21.95
With
“Magister Officiorum,” Ody has produced an essential text for
those who want to practice Solomonic magic. The result of patient and
extensive magical work, this is a record of attainment informed by
the Western magical tradition, Espiritismo and Obeah. The subjects
covered in this study include: the place of evocation, the magical
circle and the book, the ritual tools and regalia, including the
black handled knife, the brazen vessel, robes, and the pentagonal and
hexagonal figures. Also addressed is ritual purity, and the necessity
of authority in the art of commanding spirits.
Ody gives
clear explanations of the process of ritual and the methods by which
to ensure success in evocation – understood as a physical
interaction between magician and spirit. Further, he demonstrates
principles of magical working that are not explicitly given in the
typically terse instructions of the grimoires. Also given is a method
for the obtaining of a key to be used in the eventual binding of a
King; how to bottle spirits; a working with the vessel and skull; and
a rite for obtaining a patron spirit under the auspices of Lucifer.
The rites given are suitable for solo practice and group workings,
notably using the model of the séance (black table spiritism) in
order to establish spirit cults. As a result the text will be of aid
to both novitiates and experienced practitioners alike.
“Magister
Officiorum” gives accounts of spirit workings, including Lucifer,
Buné and Gemon, and includes a suggestive catalogue of spirit
contacts with Acham, Paymon, Astaroth, Frimost and Malphas that
demonstrate the author's aptitude in the work.
Comments