The Bathhouse at Midnight: An Historical Survey of Magic and Divination in Russia

Magic in History

by W.F. Ryan

The title of this book refers to the classic time and place for magic, witchcraft, and divination in Russia. The Bathhouse at Midnight , by one of the world's foremost experts on the subject, surveys all forms of magic, both learned and popular, in Russia from the fifth to the eighteenth century. While no book on the subject could be exhaustive, The Bathhouse at Midnight does describe and assess all the literary sources of magic, witchcraft, astrology, alchemy, and divination from Kiev Rus and Imperial Russia, and to some extent Ukraine and Belorussia. Where possible, Ryan identifies the sources of the texts (usually Greek, Arabic, or West European) and makes parallels to other cultures, ranging from classical antiquity to Finnic. He finds that Russia shares most of its magic and divination with the rest of Europe. Subjects covered include the Evil Eye, the Number of the Beast, omens, dreams, talismans and amulets, plants, gemstones, and other materials thought to possess magic properties. The first chapter gives a historical overview, and the final chapter summarizes the political, religious, and legal aspects of the history of magic in Russia. The author also provides translations of some key texts. The Bathhouse at Midnight will be invaluable for anyone―student, teacher, or general reader―with an interest in Russia, magic, or the occult. It is unique in its field and is set to become the definitive study of Russian magic.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Witchcraft, Russia, Religion, Folklore, Magic

512 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Professor Will F. Ryan is an Emeritus Professor and Honorary Fellow of the Warburg Institute, University of London.

MA DPhil FBA, FSA, Dr hon. causa, Russian Academy of Sciences

He has written and researched extensively on the history of the Russian language, the history of Russian science and magic to 1800, and the history of navigation and scientific instruments.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Encyclopedic is probably the best word for this book. It is laid out as a reference book, though readable enough for a dedicated (or obsessive) person to read cover-to-cover. Ryan's goal is to provide a survey of Russian magic for the non-Slavophone specialist, and he succeeds in his goal. Each chapter covers a different aspect of Russian magic (types of magicians, spells, amulets, etc.) from Kievan Rus' to the present. Ryan has divided each chapter into sections and sub-sections and makes frequent reference to other parts of the book, as the categories overlap considerably. The nature of the evidence, however, makes this a book mainly about the early modern period (when written evidence becomes abundant but before outside influences become near-overwhelming). In this course of his survey he tries with limited success to disentangle indigenous Russian beliefs from outside importatations; since Russia has never been culturally isolated, however, by the time written evidence becomes available for many beliefs and practices, there's no easy way to do this. The greatest influences were for many years the Byzantine Greeks, but Judaism and western Christianity strongly influenced certain areas, as did Turkic, Mongol, and other central Eurasian cultures, and pagan Scandinavian beliefs. He is able to find strong continuity into the twentieth century in many instances, and even a revival of some practices that had been repressed under the Soviets.

While the material is potentially interesting to the non-specialist, several editorial decisions have made this work more accessible to the specialist. Ryan frequently includes long lists terms in Russian, Ukranian, and other east Slavic languages(transliterated into the Roman alphabet where necessary). He also gives all Latin quotations in the original, usually without translation (though Russian is usually translated); likewise short phrases in Greek (again, transliterated, though longer passages are generally given in translation).

Documentation is thorough, and Ryan has been at pains to consider current and older scholarship and give detailed summaries of unpublished primary source texts. He also often points out scholarly debate on various issues, though there is undoubtedly more debate than he was able to summarize, even in such a substantial tome as this.

Overall, this is a worthwhile work for a specialist wanting a single-volume reference work, and will potentially find favor with those amateurs who are not easily put off by the languages required or technical terms.

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty much the bee's knees on the subject simply because there isn't much else in long form. This is about as comprehensive as you can get. A warning, though: this is not a linear historical survey; instead, it has a few introductory chapters and a closing one, but the meat of the book is encyclopedia, broken down by topic (spells, charms, amulets, divination, etc) but it is not simply entry-driven. There are long, I guess what you'd call "narrative" sections, so it doesn't read like an encyclopedia at all.
This is a wonderful filling-in of a gap in greater European historiography on magic and witchcraft since in many of those Russia tends to get shunted to the side.

[Patricia Woodruff · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book out there on the topic!

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whether I appropriately tagged this "nonfiction" is left as an exercise for the reader.

The Bathhouse at Midnight I think was recommended on a podcast, and I had to have a friend track it down because it's an academic reference work, not really a book for light reading. It's organized into different sections relating to different magical practices--books, amulets, astrology, and so on--and collects hundreds of specific textual references and stories. It's incredibly dense, not something you can read through in a single sitting, and not really what I expected at all.

But I loved it. Modern American culture is mostly anti-ritual except for a few small remnants like knocking on wood and saying "bless you!" after sneezing, but there's a lot more in here. The ritual significance of wearing belts and the extreme distrust for anyone who doesn't. The admonitions to Orthodox priests not to allow the serfs to leave any items on the church altar for six weeks in the hopes that it would gain protective or magical powers, under pain of condemnation. The bewildering variety of magical divinations relating to one's future spouse and similar practices of making sure a spouse remained faithful, my favorite of which involves stealing a piece of the husband's clothes, burning them, and mixing the ashes into food while saying "As the clothes are on the man, so may the husband be on the wife." The way diseases are often personified as "The daughters of Herod" with specific rituals to keep them away. And of course, the repeated reference to the bathhouse, a liminal place so dangerous that women were not supposed to go there alone and no one was supposed to go after dark.

Magic was often thought to be demonic, or at least ungodly, and a lot of rituals recorded here require that the user take off their cross (and sometimes even step on it), or turn their icons to face the wall, or symbolically leave civilizations and go out into the forest--my favorite version of this requires that the user throw an axe handle over their shoulder, symbolically discarding their ability to bring order to the wilderness. Despite that, historically the condemnation of magic from the government was primarily due to political concerns--magical power was a threat the throne that allowed even lower-ranking peasants to strike at the tsar. It was often conflated with poison, and there are many examples of attendants being arrested for treason and conspiracy with magic as the means.

There's far more than I can include here and if you're interested in folk culture, this book is a treasure trove.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book on several magical topics and their history throughout Russia. Isn't severely in depth which is a shame in areas like herbs and stones but otherwise a good place to start and work from the author's cited texts. Also doesn't mention a lot about pagan gods and their use in terms of magic within Russia and their influence on the Slavs. Most of this book relates to post-Christian influences only.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Immediately obvious that passion made this book happen. So interesting to learn about all the folk magic traditions, divination practices, etc. Similar in many ways to western Europe's religious denunciation of the magic that much of its population practiced (including clergy). Ryan's academic side shines in the increeeeeedible amount of research, but that can also bog things down for a layman like me. The target audience will love the linguistic details etc.

[Kimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more like an encyclopedia or an academic text, so I did not read the whole thing. Basically I used this to research a niche topic. That being said, it was wonderful and very thorough.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensively thorough yet surprisingly accessible read about all sorts of magic and divination in folk belief among Russians through the centuries. If it's not in here, it's likely not available in English anywhere else.

[Aleta]

So far it's really interesting!!