Witchcraft [Paperback]

Charles Williams (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0976402572 | ISBN-13: 978-0976402572 | Publication Date: October 1, 2005

"These pages must stand for what they are-a brief account of the history of that perverted way of the soul which we call magic, and with the reaction against it. No one will derive any knowledge of initiation from this boook. I have not wished to titillate or to thrill; so far as I can manage it, this is history, and accurate history." -adapted from the Preface Charles Williams was one of the finest-not to mention one of the most unusual-theologians of the twentieth century. His mysticism is palpable-the unseen world interpenetrates ours at every point, and spiritual exchange occurs all the time, unseen and largely unlooked for. His novels are legend, and as a member of the Inklings, he contributed to the mythopoetic revival in contemporary culture.

Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: Apocryphile Press (October 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0976402572
• ISBN-13: 978-0976402572
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,251 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All Hallow's Eve, May 1, 2006

By 

Gord Wilson "alivingdog.com" (Bellingham, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Witchcraft (Paperback)

Readers interested in The DaVinci Code and the landslide of conspiracy theories, secret histories and occultic exposes that will inevitably accompany it may want to discover this lost (and recently reprinted) classic. Williams published this the same year as The Descent of the Dove: A History of the Holy Spirit in the Church, and it would seem at first that these books cover two sides of the supernatural, but it's not quite that way.

Williams is unique, among other things, for his skepticism, as summed in the epigram, "Believe and doubt well." His take on witchcraft isn't based on believing or not believing in it but in looking at it in history and in relation to the rest of his ideas. To understand his approach, consider his credentials and the accidents of when he wrote. He was a member of A.E. Waite's Order of the Golden Dawn, a mystical society whose members included Evelyn Underhill, author of Mysticism, and poet W. B. Yeats, known for his poem, "The Second Coming." No doubt he derived much of the local color, as it were, and ideas for his novels from this involvement.

Aleister Crowley, the self-styled "Great Beast" tried to wrest control of the Golden Dawn. Whatever one thinks of "Mr. Crowley" as Ozzy Osbourne sang of him, he seems to be the model for a certain type of magician who appears in Williams' novels. Williams delves briefly into the events surrounding the dark history of the Malleus Mallificarum, the witch trials, the mysteries associated with the Knights Templar, the Illuminati and the "secret histories" which these days are so much in vogue in contemporary fiction.

As in The Descent of the Dove, he often suggests alternate explanations, one being that in eras when the established church seemed to be on the side of the oppressors, by whatever political machinations, people would naturally look for some other power to invoke or side with satan (which means "enemy") whom Milton depicted as warring in heaven 'gainst heaven's matchless king. If the Knights Templar took pot shots at crosses on church steeples, Williams suggests, it might be for no darker device than to improve their skill as archers.

As Williams himself writes, this is not the book for followers of Crowley; it doesn't tell how to conjure the Ape of Thoth or guide the reader through the Necromonicron (a sort of magic in which Williams probably did not believe). As an editor at Oxford University Press, Williams was one of the most widely-read men of his generation (and far more than most in ours). Unlike the recent revisionist "histories" and fictionalized reversions, Williams presents an brief overview of mostly unkown history and as with all his books, his ideas seem increasingly relevant.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars balanced and realistic, February 15, 2010

By 

Edith Bird "ebird" (ozark bioregion) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Witchcraft (Paperback)

This is a balanced and realistic history of witchcraft in western civilization. It shows how infectious is suspicion, the desire for power and envy that it can obliterate Christian principles from the practices of the church and lead to horrifying persecutions of suspected witches within Europe and the U.S. It also acknowledges that these same dark forces of envy, desires for power and vengeance have lead some to seek satisfaction through spiritual practices known through the ages as witchcraft. This book does not take sides for or against the institutional church, but is far more realistic and balanced. There are no easy formulae in this book, nor any niave summations of good versus evil in human institutions. It reminds us that evil forces are often most potent when people think their actions most justifiable and right.