The Penguin Book of Witches by Katherine Howe - Book Review
The Penguin Book of Witches presents a comprehensive overview of the persecution of witches. It explores how the concept of witchcraft shaped the cultural, theological, legal and political landscape of the western world from 14th through the 18th centuries.
The editor, Katherine Howe, a direct descendant of 3 women accused of witchcraft at Salem, has assembled a massive number of detailed real life reports of witch trials and witch hunts that took place in colonial America and Europe. In some ways The Book of Witches reminds me of the accounts of the Holocaust during the Nazi era which resulted in the murder of over 6 million Jews and a million and a half Romani. Millions were murdered as witches during the era covered by this book..
The weight of so much testimony spanning centuries and various communities and cultures makes the reader aware of the reality of a holocaust that has been largely overlooked by the majority of history books. This ugly part of our past is often trivialized and if addressed at all is confined to the one outbreak of mania that occurred during the time of the Salem witch trials. It is as if Cotton Mather and Increase Mather, (the infamous witch hunters during the Salem witch trials), were responsible for all the horrors of the Inquisition onward. This false impression is cleared up by accounts such as the newspaper coverage of a woman accused of witchcraft who was stoned to death on the streets of Philadelphia while the Continental Congress met. How was this possible? Ms. Howe addresses the treatment of the “other”, the person or persons who didn’t quite fit, the nonconformist, as useful in becoming scapegoats for all the ills that befell a community or individual. The Black Plague decimates your town? It must be because that odd elderly lady with a bowed back and a limp is in league with Satan. A devout farmer has bad crop, his daughter suddenly becomes ill and his horse turns up lame? Well God wouldn’t have done that to him now would He? It must be someone with the evil eye that cursed him. The search for the guilty party begins. While the first to be singled out may be the old and powerless, it rarely stopped there. No woman was safe and after awhile no man was either. Once the ball got rolling it was clear you could only survive by “repenting ” and at the same time accusing someone else. By accusing another you still might die but perhaps your death might not be as gruesome and your property might pass to family rather that the witch hunter. Not so long ago accused women were bound and thrown into water to determine if they were witches. If they floated they were convicted of being witches and were burned or stoned to death. If they sank, they drowned. Perfect for the witch hunters, not so good if you were the accused.
There were also a courageous few that tried to swim against the tide, to tell those involved that they showed a remarkable lack of faith if they thought God allowed Satan’s minions to rule over the faithful. They called upon people to demonstrate their faith by turning to God in prayer rather than searching for someone to blame. Needless to say they also were often persecuted and silenced.
Bobbing for apples, carving Jack O’Lanterns, trick or treaters dressed in costumes are cute traditions for modern day societies. In a way they hide the ugly things that were done by putting on a show, making it all like a child’s story, a fairytale.
What this book is not about is new age religion or Wicca. The Sabbats that were spoken and written about during that very dark era has nothing in common with modern day pagans or ancient Druidic religion or fantasy literature. Do not expect to find the sister of “Charmed” consulting the Book of Shadows.
This is neither a light or easy book as the accounts are written in language that is less accessible to the average reader of the Huffington Post or the Daily Mail but Ms. Howe has attached a glossary of terms to help assist the modern reader. This is a book that is interesting for the insights into our origins and serves as an excellent reference guide to those studying the subject.
Reviewed by June K. Williams
Buy The Penguin Book of Witches
Always a Science Fiction fan and dabbler in writing she had thought herself too practical to pursue a career in the field. Before coming to Buzzy she spent over 30 years in the travel industry, then one day decided it was time to spread her wings and plunge into publishing. Everyone she knew thought she had gone slightly daft but as this was not the first time they had expressed that opinion she took the red pill anyway and now spends all of her time putting together projects that make each day a pleasure.
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