Embracing the Darkness: A Cultural History of Witchcraft

by John Callow

As dusk fell on a misty evening in 1521, Martin Luther - hiding from his enemies at Wartburg Castle - found himself seemingly tormented by demons hurling walnuts at his bedroom window. In a fit of rage, the great reformer threw at the Devil the inkwell from which he was preparing his colossal translation of the Bible. A belief - like Luther's - in the supernatural, and in black magic, has been central to European cultural life for 3000 years. From the Salem witch trials to the macabre novels of Dennis Wheatley; from the sadistic persecution of eccentric village women to the seductive sorceresses of TV's Charmed; and from Derek Jarman's punk film Jubilee to Ken Russell's The Devils, John Callow brings the twilight world of the witch, mage and necromancer to vivid and fascinating life. He takes us into a shadowy landscape where, in an age before modern drugs, the onset of sudden illness was readily explained by malevolent spellcasting. And where dark, winding country lanes could terrify by night, as the hoot of an owl or shriek of a fox became the desolate cries of unseen spirits.Witchcraft has profoundly shaped the western imagination, and endures in the forms of modern-day Wicca and paganism.
Embracing the Darkness is an enthralling account of this fascinating aspect of the western cultural experience.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Witchcraft, Anthropology, Paganism, Research

288 pages, Hardcover

First published May 20, 2008

About the author

John Callow gained a First Class BA Honours degree from Lancaster University, an MA with distinction from Durham. and holds a Doctorate from Lancaster University, that was funded by the British Academy.

Reviews

[Gabriel Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining and sweeping mix of art history and cultural studies. Perhaps a little compact (I’d love to see what he could do with the Moomins) but impeccably researched and balanced. Yes, it’s a humanist polemic but it’s also a polemic that can’t stay away from the evidence. Recommended.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got bored during his diversions into movies, TV and books (etc.). It seemed less a history of witchcraft at times than a history of uses of the idea of witchcraft in culture. He also jumped from time to time--moving from a historical account to a more contemporary cultural instance.

[Sam Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly readable examination of the cultural development of the image/understanding of the witch. Particularly enjoyed seeing Herne the Hunter develop from a bit part in Shakespearean farce to full blown pagan god.

[Joseph Circus James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to highlight the important and interesting passages in this book, so now I have a mostly-highlighted books and three fewer highlighters.

[Maguire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, but forced to stop halfway through. Callow’s misattribution of “A Clockwork Orange” to Coppola instead of Kubrick makes me question the veracity of the more obscure sources and his analysis of them, and I did not want to further imbibe information (about a topic I know nothing about) that may or not be accurate.