Persuasions of the Witch's Craft: Ritual Magic in Contemporary England

by T. M. Luhrmann

Overview

To find out why reasonable people are drawn to the seemingly bizarre practices of magic and witchcraft, Tanya Luhrmann immersed herself in the secret lives of Londoners who call themselves magicians. She came to know them as friends and equals and was initiated into various covens and magical groups. She explains the process through which once-skeptical individuals—educated, middle-class people, frequently of high intelligence—become committed to the ideas behind witchcraft and find magical ritual so compellingly persuasive. This intriguing book draws some disturbing conclusions about the ambivalence of belief within modern urban society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674255500
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	03/01/1991
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	396
Sales rank:	809,490
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Tanya M. Luhrmann is Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

PART 1: SPEAKING WITH A DIFFERENT RHYTHM: MAGICIANS IN THE MODREN WORLD

1. What makes Magic Reasonable?

2. Initiation Ritual: My Introduction to the Field

3. Journey to Aquarius: the Sociological Context of Magical Groups

4. The Goat and the Gazelle: Witchcraft

5. Meditations on the Tree of Life: the Western Mysteries

6. Space between the Worlds: ad hoc Ritual Magic

7. The Old Ways: Non-Initiated Paganism

8. The 'child within': a Portrait of the Practitioners

PART 2: LISTENING TO THE GODDESS: NEW WAYS TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE WORLD

9. Introduction: the Magician's Changing Intellectual Habits

10. Drinking from Cerridwen's Cauldron: Learning to See the Evidence

11. Astrology and the Tarot: Acquiring Common Knowledge

12. Seeing Patterns in the Jumbled Whole: Becoming Comfortable with New Assumptions

PART 3: SUMMONING THE POWERS: THE EXPERIENCE OF INVOLVEMENT

13. Introduction: Working Intuitively

14. New Experiences: Meditation and Visualization

15. 'Knowing of': Language and Imaginative Involvement

16. Ritual: Techniques for Altering the Everyday

17. The Varied Uses of Symbolism

PART 4: JUSTIFYING TO THE SCEPTICS

18. Introduction: Coping with the Dissonance

19. The Magical Plane: The Emergence of a Protective Metaphor

20. In Defence of Magic: Philosophical and Theological Rationalization

PART 5: BELIEF AND ACTION

21. Interpretice Drift: The Slow Shift Towards Belief

22. Serious Play: The Fantasy of Truth

23. Final Thoughts

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

An ethnographic description of practices, beliefs, and individuals in middle-class covens in the London area. Nothing here is dangerous or titillating, not even the nude photograph required by the genre, which was very popular a decade ago. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

A groundbreaking study that nimbly interweaves Ms. Luhrmann’s own magical adventures with anthropological shoptalk, offering a systematic classification and analysis of modern magic, as well as judicious observations on the nature of belief… A formidable challenge that T. M. Luhrmann’s book implicitly poses [is] a rigorous examination of the tenets of our own faith, ideas, dearest intellectual castles, to find just where the foundations lie. To accomplish that would be magic enough for anyone.

Philip Zaleski

This brilliant work provides the most wide-ranging sociological or anthropological investigation to date of the interrelated witchcraft, ceremonial magic, and neo-pagan movements that are becoming increasingly important in both Britain and the United States… No one interested in contemporary spirituality or the social scientific study of religion can afford to miss this book.

Robert S. Ellwood

Such is the strength of Tanya Luhrmann’s narrative that, by the end of the book, magic becomes a normal and almost routine activity—just another way of channeling that desire for worship and that appetite for symbolic ritual that human beings seem to possess. Since this is an anthropological study the author has many serious points to make about the relationship between practice and theory.

The Times - Peter Ackroyd

Raises questions about the way we think, believe, imagine, know, in a most fascinating way.

New York Review of Books - Rosemary Dinnage

Luhrmann’s dual role as witch and scientist enabled her to open a window into the arcane world of modern magic and to make that world intelligible.

Women’s Review of Books - Diana Blackwell

Anyone who likes to speculate about the nature of belief and the organization of belief systems, to learn about the development and meanings of ritual, and to explore efforts toward creative self-realization will be intrigued with the results of Luhrmann’s immersion in the several strains of modern British magic.

Michele Slung Book World

Luhrmann has made a major contribution to the study of magic, new religions, and the development of the irrational within a culture that prides itself on rationality.

Contemporary Sociology - Helen A. Berger

A groundbreaking study that nimbly interweaves Ms. Luhrmann's own magical adventures with anthropological shoptalk, offering a systematic classification and analysis of modern magic, as well as judicious observations on the nature of belief... A formidable challenge that T. M. Luhrmann's book implicitly poses [is] a rigorous examination of the tenets of our own faith, ideas, dearest intellectual castles, to find just where the foundations lie. To accomplish that would be magic enough for anyone.--Philip Zaleski "New York Times Book Review"

Anyone who likes to speculate about the nature of belief and the organization of belief systems, to learn about the development and meanings of ritual, and to explore efforts toward creative self-realization will be intrigued with the results of Luhrmann's immersion in the several strains of modern British magic.--Michele Slung "Washington Post Book World"

Luhrmann has made a major contribution to the study of magic, new religions, and the development of the irrational within a culture that prides itself on rationality.--Helen A. Berger "Contemporary Sociology"

Luhrmann's dual role as witch and scientist enabled her to open a window into the arcane world of modern magic and to make that world intelligible.--Diana Blackwell "Women's Review of Books"

Raises questions about the way we think, believe, imagine, know, in a most fascinating way.--Rosemary Dinnage "New York Review of Books"

Such is the strength of Tanya Luhrmann's narrative that, by the end of the book, magic becomes a normal and almost routine activity--just another way of channeling that desire for worship and that appetite for symbolic ritual that human beings seem to possess. Since this is an anthropological study the author has many serious points to make about the relationship between practice and theory.--Peter Ackroyd "The Times"

This brilliant work provides the most wide-ranging sociological or anthropological investigation to date of the interrelated witchcraft, ceremonial magic, and neo-pagan movements that are becoming increasingly important in both Britain and the United States... No one interested in contemporary spirituality or the social scientific study of religion can afford to miss this book.--Robert S. Ellwood "Religious Studies Review"

From the Publisher

Anyone who likes to speculate about the nature of belief and the organization of belief systems, to learn about the development and meanings of ritual, and to explore efforts toward creative self-realization will be intrigued with the results of Luhrmann’s immersion in the several strains of modern British magic.

Washington Post Book World - Michele Slung

This brilliant work provides the most wide-ranging sociological or anthropological investigation to date of the interrelated witchcraft, ceremonial magic, and neo-pagan movements that are becoming increasingly important in both Britain and the United States...No one interested in contemporary spirituality or the social scientific study of religion can afford to miss this book.
— Robert S. Ellwood

Religious Studies Review

Such is the strength of Tanya Luhrmann's narrative that, by the end of the book, magic becomes a normal and almost routine activity—just another way of channeling that desire for worship and that appetite for symbolic ritual that human beings seem to possess. Since this is an anthropological study the author has many serious points to make about the relationship between practice and theory.
— Peter Ackroyd

London Times

Luhrmann has made a major contribution to the study of magic, new religions, and the development of the irrational within a culture that prides itself on rationality.
— Helen A. Berger

Contemporary Sociology

Anyone who likes to speculate about the nature of belief and the organization of belief systems, to learn about the development and meanings of ritual, and to explore efforts toward creative self-realization will be intrigued with the results of Luhrmann's immersion in the several strains of modern British magic.
— Michele Slung

Washington Post Book World

Raises questions about the way we think, believe, imagine, know, in a most fascinating way.
— Rosemary Dinnage

New York Review of Books

A groundbreaking study that nimbly interweaves Ms. Luhrmann's own magical adventures with anthropological shoptalk, offering a systematic classification and analysis of modern magic, as well as judicious observations on the nature of belief...A formidable challenge that T. M. Luhrmann's book implicitly poses [is] a rigorous examination of the tenets of our own faith, ideas, dearest intellectual castles, to find just where the foundations lie. To accomplish that would be magic enough for anyone.
— Philip Zaleski

New York Times Book Review