Scan barcode
A review by thepurplebookwyrm
A History of Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult by D.K. Publishing
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.25
Overall, this is a very good, and beautifully illustrated overview of the interrelated topics of magic, witchcraft, and occultism/esotericism – just like it says on the tin!
A few nit-picky drawbacks that prevented this from being a 5 stars book for me:
a) I'm pretty sure I spotted a couple of mistakes, or inaccuracies in the text itself.
b) A geographical, or hybrid, rather than purely chronological, structuring of the material might've been better? The focus here is also clearly on the Western esoteric/magical tradition, which isn't a bad thing as such... I just wish this had been made clearer in the book's titling and introduction – for the sake of intellectual transparency.
c) I really didn't care for the content about stage, or performance magic. I guess it's technically relevant, sure, but at the same time... I mean come on, it's just really not the same thing as spiritual/religious/esoteric magic and/or witchcraft. 😅 It just isn't, and I don't think there needed to be more than one or two pages tops about the 'entertainment stuff'. 🤷♀️
Otherwise, and to reiterate: this is definitely a worthwhile reference book I would confidently recommend to anyone with an interest in the topics at hand.
A few nit-picky drawbacks that prevented this from being a 5 stars book for me:
a) I'm pretty sure I spotted a couple of mistakes, or inaccuracies in the text itself.
b) A geographical, or hybrid, rather than purely chronological, structuring of the material might've been better? The focus here is also clearly on the Western esoteric/magical tradition, which isn't a bad thing as such... I just wish this had been made clearer in the book's titling and introduction – for the sake of intellectual transparency.
c) I really didn't care for the content about stage, or performance magic. I guess it's technically relevant, sure, but at the same time... I mean come on, it's just really not the same thing as spiritual/religious/esoteric magic and/or witchcraft. 😅 It just isn't, and I don't think there needed to be more than one or two pages tops about the 'entertainment stuff'. 🤷♀️
Otherwise, and to reiterate: this is definitely a worthwhile reference book I would confidently recommend to anyone with an interest in the topics at hand.