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This celebrated study of witchcraft in Europe traces the worship of the pre-Christian and prehistoric Horned God from paleolithic times to the medieval period. Murray, the first to turn a scholarly eye on the mysteries of witchcraft, enables us to see its existence in the Middle Ages not asan isolated and terrifying phenomenon, but as the survival of a religion nearly as old as humankind itself, whose devotees held passionately to a view of life threatened by an alien creed. The findings she sets forth, once thought of as provocative and implausible, are now regarded as irrefutableby folklorists and scholars in related fields. Exploring the rites and ceremonies associated with witchcraft, Murray establishes the concept of the "dying god"--the priest-king who was ritually killed to ensure the country and its people a continuity of fertility and strength. In this light, sheconsiders such figures as Thomas a Becket, Joan of Arc, and Gilles de Rais as spiritual leaders whose deaths were ritually imposed. Truly a classic work of anthropology, and written in a clear, accessible style that anyone can enjoy, The God of the Witches forces us to reevaluate our thoughts about an ancient and vital religion.… (more)
User reviews
Murray published The Witch-Cult in Western Europe ten years before she published The God of the Witches, which was intended as a more popular presentation of her basic thesis that witches were underground adherents of a nature religion that originated in the Paleolithic.
I've had this book since college and upon giving it a recent skim, I decided to place it on the discard pile. I've given it two stars, not because I think it has something worthwhile to say, but because it's fun in its loopy way and is probably of value to people who are interested in the development of matriarchy theories and neopaganism.