Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath [Paperback]

Carlo Ginzburg (Author), Raymond Rosenthal (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226296938 | ISBN-13: 978-0226296937 | Publication Date: June 14, 2004 | Edition: 1

Weaving early accounts of witchcraft—trial records, ecclesiastical tracts, folklore, and popular iconography—into new and startling patterns, Carlo Ginzburg presents in Ecstasies compelling evidence of a hidden shamanistic culture that flourished across Europe and in England for thousands of years.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Emerging from testimonies during witchcraft trials in Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries are consistent descriptions of the Witches' Sabbath: night flying, ritual cannibalism, etc. Most scholars dismiss these descriptions as torture-induced gibberish. Ginzburg (history, Univ. of California at Los Angeles) proves that these descriptions are bastardized accounts of ecstatic experiences practiced by a shamanic culture. In addition, he links the persecution of the witches with that of other social outcasts (lepers, Jews, and Muslims). Europeans thought that these groups conspired against society, which led to their wholesale slaughter. Very interesting and very convincing. For collections serving upper-level undergraduates and graduate students.
- Gail Wood, Montgomery Coll. Lib., Germantown, Md.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Ginzburg''s learning is prodigious and his journey through two thousand years of Eurasian folkore a tour de force."--Keith Thomas, The Observer

(Keith Thomas The Observer )

"Ecstasies is a work of uncompromising scholarship and erudition, but it is not intended for the scholar alone. It is also a rich tapestry of anecdote and incident, a chamber of horrors, curiosity shop, and medieval bestiary all in one."—Guardian

(The Guardian )

"Ecstasies manages, with extraordinary candor, clarity, grace, and erudition, to steer between lurid sensationalism and dry-as-dust academic drivel, and between purely localized historiography and universalism. This is a big, bold, brilliant book."—Wendy Doniger, New York Times Book Review

(New York Times Book Review )

"Ginzburg here partially rehabilitates an older point of view, that the witch-cult represented a survival of ancient mysteries, the practice of shamanistic ceremonies forbidden by official Catholicism. Ecstasies offers the result of Ginzburg''s researches, in chapters as replete with odd learning and lore as Robert Graves''s White Goddess."

(Washington Post )

"By any standards, Ecstasies is a bravura performance. It is difficult to think of any other historian who combines such polymathic cultural erudition, grasp of textual and visual detail, and high theoretical aim-not to mention literary skill."

(London Review of Books )

"[Ginzburg] charms by mixing the historic with the horrific, with writing in a way that creates page-turners out of scholars and general readers alike. Ginzburg . . . is a kind of necromancer, calling up the spirits of the dead to thrill us and to speak to us of marvels."

(Bibliotheque d'Humanisme et Renaissance )

"At times, Ecstacies can be demanding. . . . But persist, and you will be rewarded with truly haunting stories and speculations."

(Michael Dirda Barnesandnoblereview.com )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (June 14, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226296938
• ISBN-13: 978-0226296937
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #826,505 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shamanism In Europe, October 14, 2002

By 

Zekeriyah (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath (Paperback)

Yes, Ginzburg actually contends that the so-called "witches" of old Europe were in fact remanents of the old Shamanic cultures of Europe, and he does make an excellent arguement for it. I will admit, I do agree with him on some points. Shamanism is a universal phenomena, and yet (with the notable exception of the Lapps in Scandinavia and a few scattered myths and legends like Orpheus and Odin) Shamanism seems to have all but been absent in Europe, and this has always puzzled me. Certainly, had Shamanism been widespread in Europe, it probably would have survived well into the Christian era, just as it has in other parts of the world. As such, Ginzburg may be right on the money about the witch hunts and such. Regardless of your thoughts on the subject, this remains an excellent book. And if you like it, he has another book, entitled "Night Battles" about a community of Shaman in northern Italy.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Post-modern analysis of the Witchcraze of the Middle Ages, August 11, 2001

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Tribe (Toledo, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath (Paperback)

Ginzburg is one of the first historians who has come forward with a convincing theory that there may well have been pagan sects during the Middle Ages that were the focus of persecutions and regionalized hunts and crazes. This is a fascinating analysis of the legendary Witchs' Sabbath and its mythical foundations, as well as a convincing theory of what led localities to persecute those suspected of being witches.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Missing Link, January 4, 2007

By 

Aziliz (Victoria, Australia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath (Paperback)

It is easy to be acquainted with the mainstream Greek, Roman, Norse and Egyptian mythologies that are so easily acquired from any mythology shelf in library or bookstore but the mainstream doesn't talk about the deities and their mythologies discussed in Carlo Ginzburg's books although his research shows they were obviously widely worshipped just didn't make it into the 'official' pantheons of Rome.

It is also easy to pick up a book on modern paganism/shamanism or on pagan/shamanic religions of exotic cultures--far harder to find anything on European shamanic roots.

Research in many books also too often divorce the mythology from religion; rituals, customs and practices from their adherents and their geographical locations; and don't quote their original sources. Carlo Ginzburg puts this all together and the depth and breadth of the research in this book is fabulous.

The book is a feast for anyone interested in mythology, folklore, old religions, the history of witchcraft, werewolves, history of shamanism or medieval history.