Between the Living and the Dead
A Perspective on Witches and Seers in the Early Modern
Age
by Éva Pócs
Éva Pócs is associate professor at Janus Pannonius
University, Pécs, Hungary, and also president of the
Folklore Section of the Hungarian Ethnographic Society.
"The first original and significant Central European
contribution to this field of scholarship."
- Gábor Klaniczay, Collegium Budapest
"Fascination with the phenomenon of medieval witchcraft
and witch hunting has produced a plethora of works detailing
new discoveries and theories in a continuing attempt
to understand one of Europe's most enduring historical
legacies. Until recently, however, English-language
works have neglected Southeastern European regions.
This newly translated work by Pócs begins to fill some
gaps while providing valuable insights into parallels
between this region and Western Europe. Pócs argues
that fairies, magicians, seers and witches each played
a dualistic mediatory role in the life of the early
modern Hungarian village. Rather than seeing these systems
of mediation as evolving from benevolent to demonic,
she convincingly shows that they were interactive and
concurrent. Excellent bibliography."
- Choice
In examining the relics of European shamanism in early
modern age sources, the techniques and belief-systems
of mediators found in the records of witch-craft trials
from the 16th-18th centuries, the author's goal was
to explore the kinds of communication systems known
to early modern Hungarians, the role of these systems
in the everyday life of the village, and how they were
connected to contemporary European systems. In addition,
the author investigates the relations and changes of
paradigm of the systems defined. The book represents
a contribution to the most up-to-date international
research into historical anthropology and the study
of religions, drawing on Eastern European material and
literature not previously included. On the basis of
her material and analysis, the author contributes a
number of new details, identifying new types of mediators
and sys-tems which function right up to the twentieth
century.
Ginzburg's well-known theory on the witches' Sabbath
is complemented by the typological description of a
Central and Eastern European dual shamanism and is modified
to a degree by the connections and changes of paradigm
she establishes between the cult of the dead, witchcraft,
shamanism, and Christianity.
Contents
Introduction. Chapter 1: The limitations and
potential of the documentary sources Chapter 2:
General conditions for communication with the supernatural
Chapter 3: The belief figure of the witch Chapter
4: The malefactor witch Chapter 5: The alternative
world of the witches' sabbat Chapter 6: The healing
witch Chapter 7: The enemies of the witch Afterword.
Bibliography
1998
250 pages
ISBN 978-963-9116-18-4 cloth $39.95 / €33.95 /
£27.95
ISBN 978-963-9116-19-1 paperback $21.95 / €18.95
/ £13.95
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