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Pages are clean with normal wear. May have limited markings & or highlighting within pages & or cover. Includes dustjacket if applicable. May have some wear & creases on the cover. The spine may also have minor wear. Does not come with CD DVD if applicable. Access code has been used if applicable. Does not come with any supplementary materials. Pages are clean with normal wear. May have limited markings & or highlighting within pages & or cover. Includes dustjacket if applicable. May have some wear & creases on the cover. The spine may also have minor wear. Does not come with CD DVD if applicable. Access code has been used if applicable. Does not come with any supplementary materials. See less
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T. M. Luhrmann
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Persuasions of the Witch’s Craft: Ritual Magic in Contemporary England Paperback – March 1, 1989

by T. M. Luhrmann (Author)
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To find out why reasonable people are drawn to the seemingly bizarre practices of magic and witchcraft, Luhrmann immersed herself in the arcane world of Londoners who call themselves magicians. Her report is as fascinating as the esoteric world itself.
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  1. Print length
    410 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    March 1, 1989
  4. Dimensions
    6.14 x 1.03 x 9.25 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0674663241
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0674663244
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

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“A groundbreaking study that nimbly interweaves Ms. Luhrmann’s own magical adventures with anthropological shoptalk, offering a systematic classification and analysis of modern magic, as well as judicious observations on the nature of belief… A formidable challenge that T. M. Luhrmann’s book implicitly poses [is] a rigorous examination of the tenets of our own faith, ideas, dearest intellectual castles, to find just where the foundations lie. To accomplish that would be magic enough for anyone.”―Philip Zaleski, New York Times Book Review

“Raises questions about the way we think, believe, imagine, know, in a most fascinating way.”―Rosemary Dinnage, New York Review of Books

“Anyone who likes to speculate about the nature of belief and the organization of belief systems, to learn about the development and meanings of ritual, and to explore efforts toward creative self-realization will be intrigued with the results of Luhrmann’s immersion in the several strains of modern British magic.”―Michele Slung, Washington Post Book World

“Such is the strength of Tanya Luhrmann’s narrative that, by the end of the book, magic becomes a normal and almost routine activity―just another way of channeling that desire for worship and that appetite for symbolic ritual that human beings seem to possess. Since this is an anthropological study the author has many serious points to make about the relationship between practice and theory.”―Peter Ackroyd, The Times

“Luhrmann has made a major contribution to the study of magic, new religions, and the development of the irrational within a culture that prides itself on rationality.”―Helen A. Berger, Contemporary Sociology

“This brilliant work provides the most wide-ranging sociological or anthropological investigation to date of the interrelated witchcraft, ceremonial magic, and neo-pagan movements that are becoming increasingly important in both Britain and the United States… No one interested in contemporary spirituality or the social scientific study of religion can afford to miss this book.”―Robert S. Ellwood, Religious Studies Review

“Luhrmann’s dual role as witch and scientist enabled her to open a window into the arcane world of modern magic and to make that world intelligible.”―Diana Blackwell, Women’s Review of Books

About the Author

Tanya M. Luhrmann is Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard University Press (March 1, 1989)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 410 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674663241
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674663244
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.14 x 1.03 x 9.25 inches

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T. M. Luhrmann

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4.5 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

  • C. G. Sanders
    5.0 out of 5 stars Caused Me to Rethink What Religion Is
    Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2018
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    This book is amazing fair handed from someone who doesn't believe in magic. The author is sympathetic and observes the witchcraft participants as they are, as people, as subjects, and does an amazing job delving into their inner subjectivity. This book taught me to respect religion again. Coming to it as someone who was in an "evangelical atheist" phase of life, I found Lurhmann as representing the symbols and rituals of witchcraft as meaningful and symbolic, in their own right, and in that sense powerful to those who look at them creatively. This book caused me to pause and reflect on religion, and indeed on human spirituality, in a whole new light. Love. Love. Love. Cannot recommend enough.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Chesterfield
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Anthropology
    Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2014
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    This is, I believe, the first book Dr. Luhrmann published. She brings in theory from psychology, sociology, and anthropology to simultaneously explain the WHY religious practitioners experience what they do, while still providing the reader with an immersive and qualitative description. In particularly, this volume focuses on contemporary Wiccans.

    Dr. Luhrmann's subsequent publications transplant this same basic methodology into the studies of other current day popular religions. By contextualizing her research and comparing/contrasting her different published volumes, she provides some revelatory and enlightening knowledge on the religious experience. Furthermore, she is among the very few researchers who are able to successfully describe the practices and experiences in ways which satisfy both subscribers to the religions she studies, and social scientists who do not share the beliefs of her informants.

    I would consider Dr. Luhrmann's books a must for any student or researcher in religious studies or anthropology.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • S. Cranow
    4.0 out of 5 stars Persuasion of the Witches Craft
    Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2014
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    It was back in the 1980’s that Ph.D candidate Tanya Luhrman left her home in the United States and went to Great Britain in order to study up close the magical communities of England. She lived and practiced magic immersing herself into the environment of the magician. She told them what she was up to and she was accepted although she only rarely brought in a tape recorder, often times jotting down notes after the ritual or mediation or teaching. Among the orders or covens that she was with were Marian Green’s “Green Circle”, the Hornsby Group, Gareth Knight’s group and the Glittering sword.

    While she herself did not believe in magic she did have healthy dose of respect for those who did. She went in as an anthropologist seeking to live the life of the community. Her study does not cover paganism per se or devil worship just magic. I am glad that she kept that line very clear. There are some magicians who work with Aruthurian mythos, others with angels and some with planetary powers.

    Most of those involved in magical groups tend to be middle class or upper middle class and have a great deal of education under their belt. They are usually employed in the computer industry where creativity and deciphering things can be of use. Some are teachers and others are therapist. What leads them to magic is often a search for more control in their life or some deeper spirituality without joining a new religion or a cult. Many people are led to the magical path after reading fantasy book written by JRR. Tolkien, CS Lewis, Ursula Leguine, and Marion Zimmer Bradley. Need I forget to mention that many computer geeks and magi are involved in the role playing game Dungeons and Dragons?

    Of course doing a ritual or spell or any other act of magic for that matter puts one in a different world or a different plane of reality. Entering different realities oft times involves spiritual practices like pathworking, mediation and certain breathing exercises. But also included in the techniques are using different names and casting a circle.

    While for witches the purpose of magic maybe to alter reality according to their will. Ceremonial magicians are using magic to help evolve humanity. Since the Ceremonial outlook is judeo Christian there is an emphasis on ritual and moral purity. The practitioner should be sinless. In witchcraft no such moral compasses are present.

    How to tell if your ritual or spell was effective? That is a good question that often times involve adjusting how you view reality. You can alter your view of reality to make magic look like it worked. This view is very subjective of course. To feel if a ritual is working you might feel your body temperature rise or fall, time might stand still and the watch your are wearing might speed up and tell the wrong time. Sometimes you might see series of coincidences as meaning that your ritual was only partially effective. If your ritual did not work then usually it meant that you did not do something right not that the ritual did not work
    Let me finish off by saying that this book though meant to be a study on magic helped clarify where I stood on the issue. It opened my eyes to be aware of self deception and know what magic is really being used for these days. It seems that one viewpoint of magic is that it is supposed to change you not your situation. Of course the only way to change your situation is to change yourself. Perhaps I need to change my self but any non-magical spirituality can do that as well as any self help program. Finding out what is most powerful for me seems to be drawing the power from within like witches do yet the keys to that power lie with the Egyptian deities and Kabballah. I plan on practicing magic for the near future. But now I know the path upon which I must tread.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Art Dingley
    5.0 out of 5 stars Modern magic explored
    Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2022
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    This is a deep dive into the most common domains of magical practice and belief (or knowledge). Lurhmann's anthropological skill gives structure to this massive collection of data and provides us a way of understanding what seems to the uninitiated to be mere silliness.
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  • A. Stover
    5.0 out of 5 stars Reading for university anthropology class. Luhrmann is an anthropologist ...
    Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2017
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    Reading for university anthropology class. Luhrmann is an anthropologist that delves into the world of witchcraft to understand why people get into it. Unlike many ethnographic studies, a non anthropologist will not be over inundated with anthropological terminology.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Steven Loaiza
    5.0 out of 5 stars great book
    Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2015
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    Awesome, book, very interesting subject
    One person found this helpful
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  • Courtney
    4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2015
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    It had way too much previous highlighting and notes jotted down then I had expected.
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Sceptical Sorcerer
    5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book - a MUST read for anyone interested in magic
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 18, 2013
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    I would rate this excellent book as a MUST read on any booklist about the practice of magic. The main title is a little misleading, as one reviewer has already noted, the book being a study of the perceptions, 'mentality' and emotional motivations of practitioners of magic generally. But all the more excellent for it. It is based on research mostly into the London and SE England 'magical scene' back in the 1980s, which happens to be the same time as I was initially involved. In my view, it captures extremely well the diverse plethora of what was going on at the time, and I do know of some of the characters the author alludes to, careful though she is most of the time to use pseudonyms. So I can tell you from reliable experience that this is a very accurate representation of many people involved in magic at that time.

    Unlike the other reviews I read, I feel that Luhrmann was very sensitive in her approach, and the accusation that she did not engage emotionally with the whole 'project' is utter rubbish - clearly these reviewers were subject to some of the very 'delusions in perception' alluded to by Luhrmann in the book (though not called this by her) - I can only assume they did not read the book in the most objective fashion, paying attention, interpreting and comprehending selectively, as we all do to substantiate our belief systems. My only criticism perhaps is that Luhrmann would not be drawn on whether or not she believed the practice of magic achieved any tangible, reliable and measurable results in the 'real' world. Though I interpret this partly as out of respect for the practitioners she worked with, which was most evident throughout the book. What she did note though was many 'observers' would say that practical magic doesn't work, or at least not in any supernatural way.

    What I think Luhrmann does show is that practicing magic for many people is not only about trying to 'make things happen' in the everyday 'material' world sense, but is as much or more to do with expressing and nurturing the fundamental needs for meaning, purpose, significance and sense of belonging via their religio-magical beliefs, and their personal and 'spiritual' growth - whatever you interpret 'spiritual' to mean - and being part of a 'magical' community.

    Most importantly to me is that this book offers a well-researched and compelling analysis of the motivations, beliefs and actions of people who practice magic, and how they perceive and interpret their world in keeping with their particular belief systems. As it happens, I would say that this book is extremely useful as a practical manual for anyone studying magic and would give insights, for those with 'the eyes to see', on how to actually be more effective in one's chosen path.

    I came across this book in another excellent and so highly recommended book called 'HALLUCINATIONS' by Oliver Sachs. Another MUST read by all would-be witches, wizards and magicians!
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  • alf
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 20, 2016
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    great book
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