30.11.2020

“Crafting the Witch: Gendering Magic in Medieval and Early Modern England” by Heidi Breuer

Magick Matters
"Crafting the Witch: Gendering Magic in Medieval and Early Modern England" by Heidi Breuer
"This book analyzes the gendered transformation of magical figures occurring in Arthurian romance in England from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. In the earlier texts, magic is predominantly a masculine pursuit, garnering its user prestige and power, but in the later texts, magic becomes a primarily feminine activity, one that marks its user as wicked and heretical. This project explores both the literary and the social motivations for this transformation, seeking an answer to the question, 'why did the witch become wicked?' Heidi Breuer traverses both the medieval and early modern periods and considers the way in which the representation of literary witches interacted with the culture at large, ultimately arguing that a series of...>>
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30.11.2020

“Fire of the Goddess: Nine Paths to Ignite the Sacred Feminine” by Katalin Koda

Magick Matters
"Fire of the Goddess: Nine Paths to Ignite the Sacred Feminine" by Katalin Koda
"You are a creator, lover, priestess, and healer―a multifaceted goddess with confidence, spiritual wisdom, and the power to reinvent yourself. Based on a lifetime of deep spiritual study and her firsthand experiences around the world, Katalin Koda offers an innovative way for you to bring the sacred feminine into your everyday life. Fire of the Goddess presents nine goddess archetypes that correspond with every woman's inherent gifts and the most important facets of her life: firebearer, initiate, warrioress, healer, consort, bodhisattva, priestess, weaver, and crone. For each archetype, you'll connect with its associated goddess―Pele, Artemis, Quan Yin, Isis, and others―through inspiring exercises, the power of myth, and a sacred ceremony. Form a...>>
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30.11.2020

“How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England: A Guide for Knaves, Fools, Harlots, Cuckolds, Drunkards, Liars, Thieves, and Braggarts” by Ruth Goodman

Magick Matters
"How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England: A Guide for Knaves, Fools, Harlots, Cuckolds, Drunkards, Liars, Thieves, and Braggarts" by Ruth Goodman
"Every age and social strata has its bad eggs, rule-breakers, and nose-thumbers. As acclaimed popular historian and author of How to Be a Victorian Ruth Goodman shows in her madcap chronicle, Elizabethan England was particularly rank with troublemakers, from snooty needlers who took aim with a cutting “thee,” to lowbrow drunkards with revolting table manners. Goodman draws on advice manuals, court cases, and sermons to offer this colorfully crude portrait of offenses most foul. Mischievous readers will delight in learning how to time your impressions for the biggest laugh, why quoting Shakespeare was poor form, and why curses hurled at women were almost always about sex (and why we shouldn’t be surprised). Bringing her...>>
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30.11.2020

“God’s Traitors: Terror and Faith in Elizabethan England” by Jessie Childs

Magick Matters
"God’s Traitors: Terror and Faith in Elizabethan England" by Jessie Childs
"A woman awakes in a prison cell. She has been on the run but the authorities have tracked her down and taken her to the Tower of London - where she is interrogated about the Gunpowder Plot. The woman is Anne Vaux - one of the ardent, brave and exasperating members of the aristocratic Vauxes of Harrowden Hall. Through the eyes of this remarkable family, award-winning author Jessie Childs explores the Catholic predicament in Elizabethan England - an age in which their faith was criminalised and almost two hundred Catholics were executed. From dawn raids to daring escapes, stately homes to torture chambers, God's Traitors exposes the tensions masked by the cult of Gloriana - and is a...>>
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