Pagan Bookworm

Carr-Gomm, Philip, and Richard Heygate (2010).  The Book of English Magic. Overlook, New York.

If you have spent much time studying occult literature, you know that Great Britain is rife with magical lore: fairies, Arthurian legends, druidry, cunning folk, etc. There have been many who have attempted to collect that literature and lore over the years, but few or none that spring to mind as compendiums of British magical lore. In The Book of English Magic, Philip Carr-Gomm and Richard Heygate make the not-too-audacious claim that Britain’s magical history is one of the richest—perhaps the richest—in the world. They approach their subject by examining a mix of history, folklore, and modern practices to attempt to piece together a portrait of Britain as an enchanted isle. While I think that they succeed in presenting a magical portrait of a magical land, I also think that the authors are by turns too broad and too narrow.

The book is divided into a number of sections, mostly grouped around a specific branch of magical study: alchemy, dowsing, druidry, etc. Each chapter provides historical references to primary material—when available—as well as a little editorial writing on the people, places, and practices associated with the branch being discussed. In some cases they excel—their chapters on alchemy and dowsing being some of the best introductory material I’ve seen on the subject—and in some cases they seem to lose their steam a bit. The section on druidry is definitely overlong considering the sparse source material they have available compared to other sections, but as the subject is one of Carr-Gomm’s primary fields of interest—he is also the author of Druid Mysteries, the Druid Plant Oracle, and the Druid Animal Oracle—this does make some sense. While some chapters seem tight and focused, others seem only loosely woven together. They hardly plumb the depths of what is called Traditional Witchcraft, providing very little in terms of source material or practical work. Cunning folk are given surprisingly short shrift considering how close to contemporary some of that material is, much of it printed in the twentieth century.

Another element that sets this book apart is the inclusion of practical exercises at the end of each section. This gives the text a slightly ‘workbook’ feel at times, which deflates the momentum of the book in some places, but really does seem to serve the overall work. The real challenge here is that the broad range of systems they are trying to cover sometimes do not have much in common and so the exercises lack cohesiveness, but in truth that is not the fault of the authors so much as the nature of the beast they are trying to tame. With all of that being said, if one were looking for a good coffee-table introduction to the myriad magical traditions available to the student of British history, this would be an excellent starting point, though a deeper exploration is certainly waiting in the wings for the reader after finishing this book.

[Full Disclosure Note:  I received this book for free as review copy. I have not been paid or otherwise coerced by the publisher to write this review. No good or bad review was expected by the publisher, and an honest review has been given by the reviewer.]

Filed under: Books - Non Fiction Tagged: | 101-202 Level, alchemy, dowsing, Druidry, folk magic, folklore, herbalism, history, magic, philip carr-gomm, richard heygate, the book of english magic, witchcraft