Treasury of Witchcraft

by Harry E. Wedeck

This is a must-have book for the Traditional Witch. It contains tid-bits of interesting lore from all different areas of history. I suggest this book wholeheartedly for those who have a desire to read about the wondrous history of Witchcraft through the ages.

Genres: Witchcraft, Occult, Nonfiction, History, Folklore, Magic

271 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Harry Ezekiel Wedeck was a linguist and classical scholar who served as chairman of the department of classical languages at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn from 1935 to 1950 and then taught the classics at Brooklyn College until 1968. Afterward he lectured on medieval studies at the New School for Social Research, until 1974.

Reviews

[Makaia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really odd book that I found at a rare bookseller called 'Read Books'. It was the red lacquer painted door that attracted me into the store after I got the pun, har-dee-har-har. I wandered into the occult section and eyed this book thinking it'd be silly. Someone had written on its first page - "Dear Barbara, I threw a pebble in the air which, for my misfortune, turned out to be the Lapis Judaicus. Damn! To summon me while in Iowa, carefully read aloud 'Key' found on pg 99 of the present edition." Bookworm that I am, I realized this book was a first edition and the Lapis Judaicus passage was handwritten by the author himself who was a lecturer at Boston College. So ... I couldn't resist starting to read it nor resist turning to page 99. It's a spell entitled "To Summon Demons". I had to take this book home.

It's filled with illustrations and photos of ancient monuments and sacred places. It also is full of very strange spells, most of them demonic ... or they're simply poems, such as "Raising the Devil: A Legend of Cornelius Agrippa" on page 111. With numerous Renaissance references, Shakespeare references, William Blake, Hieronymus Bosch, Albrecht Durer, Dante's Inferno, etc it actually is a veritable treasure trove of information for an author writing fantasy, and thus lives up to its name. So yes, I snapped it up. It is quite strange, but never fails to entertain.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first obtained this book, I initially added it to the to-sell pile based on the tweet-length entries and my quick assessment of it as a dated, shallow and probably uninteresting pop occult encyclopedia. Then, I decided to look a little closer and it was drawn in from the initial epigram from "Song: Go and catch a falling star" by John Donne. Then, what I thought was an unsorted collection of entries came to be seen as topically related quotes and facts drawns from varied cultures and times, if all goetic. (There is a rich lexicon of witchy words here.) Also, there are many interesting, full-page B&W illustrations; woodcuts, Goya, etc. One thing that really spoke to me is the translations of ancient tablets from Assyria, Egypt, etc. where average people called out for magical assistance. Indeed, isn't magic a desperate attempt to actualize human will in a misunderstood and cruel world? Witches chants and incantations of nonsense alliteration and recipes for love philtres, etc. This can be dipped into anywhere and is a fascinating collection of arcane curiosa. Despite great breadth, the focus is on 14th - 16th Century Europe and magick varieties through the lens of Christianity.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative but at times flakey, which is pretty much how these things go.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Undoubtedly an interesting read, but I didn’t care for the style of organization. Still, I’d recommend for the information, lore, and illustrations.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of weird and interesting information in this book. However, I did not really like the organization of it all.