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Celtic Magic: A Practitioner’s Guide
By Brigid Ehrmantraut
Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 978-0-500-02973-2
The Celts, who had lived in northwestern Europe since antiquity, developed a distinctive religious and supernatural worldview. This book explores their beliefs and traces their continuing influence on medieval folklore and magical traditions.
Excerpt:
This is a book in two halves: the first part deals with magic in the ancient Celtic-speaking world, while the second looks at magic from the medieval period in areas where Celtic languages were spoken. Our ancient evidence comes from epigraphy (inscriptions on a hard, durable material such as stone or metal) and from classical Greek and Roman written accounts about their Celtic-speaking neighbours (not all of which are trustworthy). For the Middle Ages, we have longer narratives and historical texts involving magic that survive in manuscripts written in Irish, Welsh and Latin, as well as prayers, charms and medical recipes.
Who is this book for?
About half of this overview of Celtic folklore and magic covers topics that will interest medievalists, with chapters on hagiography, medical cures, and medieval literature. Paired with its sections on ancient history, it serves as a solid introduction to the subject—and, as a bonus, you’ll pick up a few handy curses along the way.
The Author
Brigid Ehrmantraut, an Associate Lecturer at the University of St Andrews, is a philologist and cultural and intellectual historian of medieval Britain and Ireland. She also just published Classical Myth in Medieval Ireland.
You can learn more about this book from the publisher’s website.
You can buy this book on Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk
