This Element argues that Ireland did not experience a disenchanted modernity, nor a decline in magic. It suggests that beliefs, practices and traditions concerning witchcraft and magic developed and adapted to modernity to retain cultural currency until the end of the twentieth century. This analysis provides the backdrop for the first systematic exploration of how historic Irish trials of witches and cunning-folk were represented by historians, antiquarians, journalists, dramatists, poets, and novelists in Ireland between the late eighteenth and late twentieth century. It is demonstrated that this work created an accepted narrative of Irish witchcraft and magic which glossed over, ignored, or obscured the depth of belief in witchcraft, both in the past and in contemporary society. Collectively, their work gendered Irish witchcraft, created a myth of a disenchanted, modern Ireland, and reinforced competing views of Irishness and Irish identity. These long-held stereotypes were only challenged in the late twentieth-century.

This volume offers a range of sociological, political, and historical perspectives on religion in Ireland from 1800 to the present. Going beyond the usual Catholicism-Protestantism dichotomy and adopting an all-island approach, the book's contributors address religion's interaction with several contemporary themes and debates in modern Ireland.

Updated and Revised 2nd Edition! Irish Witchcraft from an Irish Witch is a delightful mixture of academia and accessibility; a book that explores Witchcraft in Ireland: how it was, is, and will be. It succeeds where many books have failed - fulfilling the longing for real Irish Witchcraft, while crafting the delicate balance between learning from the past and weaving a modern system based on truth and respect. Lora O'Brien is an Irish Draoí (user of magic) working closely with her heritage and her native land, providing a contemporary guide to genuine practice. Irish Witchcraft from an Irish Witch explores the past: -- Providing an investigation of the Witches' place in Irish mythology. -- Looking at Witchcraft and magic by examining the customs connected with the Sidhe (the Irish Fairies). -- Examining historical evidence of the Witch trials that swept across the island of Ireland through the ages. And the present and beyond by: -- Working with Irish Gods and Goddesses, landscapes, and energies. -- Examining the wheel of the year, with its festivals, cycles, and seasons of Irish culture. -- Looking at ritual progression through a Witch's life: magical training, physical growth. -- Providing alternatives to the traditional stages of a child's life in modern Irish culture. When it was released in 2004, this was the first traditionally published Pagan book ever written by an Irish author. It was the book that this author had sought, for over a decade previously... The 2nd edition of this book continues to do now what it did for so many on first publication - it bridges the gap between 'Celtic' NeoPagan nonsense, and authentic Irish Pagan Practice.

This is the first academic overview of witchcraft and popular magic in Ireland and spans the medieval to the modern period. Based on a wide range of un-used and under-used primary source material, and taking account of denominational difference between Catholic and Protestant, it provides a detailed account of witchcraft trials and accusation.

Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Enlightenment argues for the centrality of magical practices and ideas throughout the long eighteenth century. Although the hunt for witches in Europe declined precipitously after 1650, and the intellectual justification for natural magic came under fire by 1700, belief in magic among the general population did not come to a sudden stop. The philosophes continued to take aim at magical practices, alongside religion, as examples of superstitions that an enlightened age needed to put behind them. In addition to a continuity of beliefs and practices, the eighteenth century also saw improvement and innovation in magical ideas, the understanding of ghosts, and attitudes toward witchcraft. The volume takes a broad geographical approach and includes essays focusing on Great Britain (England and Ireland), France, Germany, and Hungary. It also takes a wide approach to the subject and includes essays on astrology, alchemy, witchcraft, cunning folk, ghosts, treasure hunters, and purveyors of magic. With a broad chronological scope that ranges from the end of the seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century, this volume is useful for undergraduates, postgraduates, scholars, and those with a general interest in magic, witchcraft, and spirits in the Enlightenment.

This important collection brings together both established figures and new researchers to offer fresh perspectives on the ever-controversial subject of the history of witchcraft. Using Keith Thomas's Religion and the Decline of Magic as a starting point, the contributors explore the changes of the last twenty-five years in the understanding of early modern witchcraft, and suggest new approaches, especially concerning the cultural dimensions of the subject. Witchcraft cases must be understood as power struggles, over gender and ideology as well as social relationships, with a crucial role played by alternative representations. Witchcraft was always a contested idea, never fully established in early modern culture but much harder to dislodge than has usually been assumed. The essays are European in scope, with examples from Germany, France, and the Spanish expansion into the New World, as well as a strong core of English material.

This book marks twenty years since the publication of Professor Ronald Hutton’s The Triumph of the Moon, a major contribution to the historical study of Wicca. Building on and celebrating Hutton’s pioneering work, the chapters in this volume explore a range of modern magical, occult, and Pagan groups active in Western nations. Each contributor is a specialist in the study of modern Paganism and occultism, although differ in their embrace of historical, anthropological, and psychological perspectives. Chapters examine not only the history of Wicca, the largest and best-known form of modern Paganism, but also modern Pagan environmentalist and anti-nuclear activism, the Pagan interpretation of fairy folklore, and the contemporary ‘Traditional Witchcraft’ phenomenon.