Welsh Witches and Wizards

by Michael Howard

Welsh Witches and Wizards is the first in a much-anticipated four-book series on Witchcraft in the British Isles. The front cover bears an image of a seal from a charm written on paper found in a bottle buried near Sarn, Powys, Wales. The widespread belief in witches and wizards in Wales reflects a land steeped in legend and myth since ancient times. The witch’s power to harm people, livestock, and crops was greatly feared; for this reason country people consulted with so-called ‘cunning men’ and ‘wise women’ who had the power to negate their spells with counter-magic. Cunning-folk practitioners were also consulted for love spells, to find lost property or missing persons, exorcise ghosts and banish evil spirits. The figures of both witch and wizard form part of a broader folk-magic continuity in Wales. This popular belief in witchcraft bears little relation to modern neo-pagan Wicca, and there is little evidence of its linkage to a nature religion based on a pre-Christian fertility cult.

This book describes the historically-attested Welsh practitioners of folk magic and witchcraft – the Dark Sisters and the Toadmen, the Druids and Wizards, the Cunning Men and Faery Doctors – and the charms and spells they used. Also examined are surviving pagan beliefs associated with holy wells and the cult of the sacred head, and the mysterious and sometimes sinister ‘creatures of the night’ such as faeries, lake monsters, dragons and Black Dogs. It will be of interest to students of the occult and folklore, as well as those who have followed Mr. Howard's fascinating work of the years.

Genres: Witchcraft, History

182 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Michael Howard (United Kingdom) was the editor of The Cauldron magazine from 1976 to his death in 2015. He has written numerous articles for other occult and neo-pagan magazines and since the 1970s has had over thirty-five books published on the runes, witchcraft, angelic magic, folklore, herbal remedies, and occult parapolitics.

Reviews

[Diane Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a fun read with historical tidbits. I found myself questioning a few of the things written such as the pentagram being referred to as the Star of David... ummm forgive me but it is the hexagram not pentagram that is referred to as the Star of David.