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A History of Magic, Witchcraft and the Occult
- Narrated by: Susie Riddell
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
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A History of Magic, Witchcraft and the Occult
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Summary
Discover the beguiling history of witchcraft, magic and superstition through the centuries and across the world in this stunningly audiobook.
A History of Magic, Witchcraft and the Occult charts the extraordinary narrative of one of the most interesting and often controversial subjects in the world - from ancient animal worship and shamanism, through alchemy and divination to modern Wicca and the resurgence of the occult in 21st-century literature, cinema and television.
Providing listeners with a comprehensive, balanced and unbiased account of everything from Japanese folklore and Indian witchcraft to the differences between black and white magic and dispelling myths such as those surrounding the voodoo doll and Ouija, this audiobook explores the common human fear of and fascination with spells, superstition and the supernatural.
The perfect introduction to magic and the occult, it explores forms of divination from astrology and palmistry to the Tarot and runestones, mystical plants and potions such as mandrake, the presence of witchcraft in literature from Shakespeare's Macbeth to the Harry Potter series and the ways in which magic has interacted with religion.
The most comprehensive history of witchcraft available, A History of Magic, Witchcraft and the Occult will enthral and fascinate you with its lavish, accessible entries, whether you are a believer or sceptic.
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What listeners say about A History of Magic, Witchcraft and the Occult
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- plejadevi
- 06-02-24
It has good depth
I liked that it covered many cultures in a detailed manner. It was absolutely easily digestible and interesting.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 26-05-21
A brilliant little mass of information.
It comes hard and fast, with bitesize facts, points, names and dates, perhaps too hard and fast in fact, as more binding language and a slower pace may favour learning. One could just listen twice though. I doubt a better book on the subject matter could exist in the time achieved - a fascinating and impressively comprehensive worldwind of a global history.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Mia Eire
- 13-04-24
lots of interesting information
lots of information, but more like a dictionary than a story. I loved hearing about all the different religions.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 05-10-20
Fantastic
A stunning overview of the history of witchcraft. From hoodoo to Christianity and every practice known to mankind, this book has it all. Thoroughly inspiring. The author (british) has fantastic pronunciation throughout, making it an easy listen. Not at all robotic or monotonous like some audio books. I highly recommend this to anyone that wishes to learn about witch and magical history.
I will definitely be listening to this again.
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14 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 20-11-21
inspirations
I've realised now where all the references from Harry Potter come from. it's interesting to see how Misticism has evolved through time
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Tim J
- 24-03-22
Difficult to follow
I love DK books and read them a lot with my children. Listening to one is challenging however as the reader reads all the captions and (necessarily) jumps from text box to text box. Difficult to follow.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Rosey
- 18-11-23
Fascinating history into magic and witchcraft
An amazing book, I learnt so much. I found it thoroughly informative and well researched.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 14-09-21
Great until the end
The narrator is overall very engaging, though some of her pronunciations are a miss. Otherwise, the history is well researched and clearly presented in what is a short book covering an immensely varied topic of history and sociology.
my main issue is that in the modern section, the author makes the dishearteningly common mistake of thinking all modern magic practices are wiccan when that is simply not true. There is also a clear misunderstanding of what paganism is uniting them under a banner as if they are homogeneous beliefs when they are a loose collection of independent religions and only wiccans follow the wheel of the year, pagans follow the holy calendars of their specific faith.
A good reference book until the chapters starting with Wicca in the final hour-and-a-half.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- J. Smith
- 21-01-22
Deep as a puddle
The problem with going from Mesopotamia to the current day in eight hours is that no topic gets anything like the time it deserves. Alistair Crowley? Covered in less than three minutes.
No sources, no interviews, no original research, this is like an extremely long, C grade high school report.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Frankie
- 14-11-21
Historical Reference Book
An interesting historical reference of witchcraft. The book seems to jump around between topics, with disjointed flow and some repitition. I think it’s the kind of book that you might like to dip in and out of, using the index to look up specific issues. It took me several weeks to get through, although it’s an area that I would otherwise find interesting. It appears that the author has no belief in either magic or religion so I’m surprised that she would choose to write about these subjects.
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1 person found this helpful