Review; Greenmantle (Samhain 2018)
Witchcraft and the Scots
By Arnold Crowther
(Centre For Pagan Studies ISBN-13: 978-1999639600 Price .
£10.99)
As a brief overview or
introduction to the Scottish witch trials, this is an admirable little book.
Found among his papers after his death in 1974, it sits well alongside the
other witchcraft books by Arnold Crowther, one of the early figures of Wicca.
After putting Scottish witch
law into European context, he gives examples of the full range of victims executed
there: innocent political pawns, beneficial cunning folk, the probably mentally
ill - and in at least one case, the Aberdeen witches, a possible instance of
genuine folk celebrants, whose major crime seems to have been dancing around a
standing stone on Halloween. He also includes a now-quaint chapter on the
coven-leading “Devil” as he was understood by Wiccans of the mid-twentieth
century.
Crowther pulls no punches in
his reporting, and thus I might disagree with Leslie-Anne Brewster’s
description of the book as “enjoyable”; otherwise, however, her Foreword very
accurately sums it up: “An interesting and enjoyable read for anybody curious
about Scottish witches. . . . [And] what gives this book a significance beyond
its content, is how much it confides of the thinking and theorizing of the
well-read occultist and witch who wrote it.”
As usual, the production by
the Doreen Valiente Foundation makes for a pleasant volume, full of Crowther’s
own charming sketches illustrating the text. Another worthwhile lost classic
brought to light by this dedicated organization. –
TH
We thank Greenmantle for this review, and you can purchase your copy of this special book direct from us here. http://www.shop.doreenvaliente.org/witchcraft-and-the-scots
