
The Triumph of the Moon
A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft
Ronald Hutton(Author)
Oxford University Press
2nd Edition
Published on 10. October 2019
Book
Hardback
536 pages
978-0-19-882736-8 (ISBN)
Description
This is the second, and extensively revised, edition of the first full-scale scholarly study of what is arguably the only fully-formed religion that England has ever given the world: that of modern pagan witchcraft, which has now spread from English shores across four continents.
Ronald Hutton examines the nature of that religion and its development, and offers a history of attitudes to witchcraft, paganism and magic in British society since 1800. Its pages reveal village cunning folk, Victorian ritual magicians, classicists and archaeologists, leaders of woodcraft and scouting movements, Freemasons, and members of rural secret societies. We also find some of the leading figures of English literature, from the Romantic poets to W. B. Yeats, D. H. Lawrence and Robert Graves, as well as the main personalities who have represented pagan witchcraft to the public world since 1950. Thriller writers like Dennis Wheatley, and films and television programmes, get similar coverage, as does tabloid journalism. The material is by its very nature often sensational, and care is taken throughout to distinguish fact from fantasy, in a manner not hitherto applied to most of the stories involved.
Consistently densely researched, Triumph of the Moon presents an authoritative insight into an aspect of modern cultural history which has attracted sensational publicity but has hitherto been little understood. This edition incorporates all of the new research carried out into the subject by the author, and by others who have often been inspired by this book, during the twenty years since it was first published.
Ronald Hutton examines the nature of that religion and its development, and offers a history of attitudes to witchcraft, paganism and magic in British society since 1800. Its pages reveal village cunning folk, Victorian ritual magicians, classicists and archaeologists, leaders of woodcraft and scouting movements, Freemasons, and members of rural secret societies. We also find some of the leading figures of English literature, from the Romantic poets to W. B. Yeats, D. H. Lawrence and Robert Graves, as well as the main personalities who have represented pagan witchcraft to the public world since 1950. Thriller writers like Dennis Wheatley, and films and television programmes, get similar coverage, as does tabloid journalism. The material is by its very nature often sensational, and care is taken throughout to distinguish fact from fantasy, in a manner not hitherto applied to most of the stories involved.
Consistently densely researched, Triumph of the Moon presents an authoritative insight into an aspect of modern cultural history which has attracted sensational publicity but has hitherto been little understood. This edition incorporates all of the new research carried out into the subject by the author, and by others who have often been inspired by this book, during the twenty years since it was first published.
Reviews / Votes
Hutton's book is a must-read not only for anyone interested in modern Paganism, or the occult, but it also embodies a deep insight into the development of British society and culture. * Pavel Horak, Czech Academy of Sciences, Religious Studies Review *More details
Edition
2nd Revised edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
Revised edition
Illustrations
Black and white images
Dimensions
Height: 242 mm
Width: 167 mm
Thickness: 50 mm
Weight
804 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-882736-8 (9780198827368)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
10/2019
2nd Edition
OUP eBook
€9.49
Available for download

E-Book
10/2019
2nd Edition
OUP eBook
€9.49
Available for download
Person
Ronald Hutton is senior Professor of History at the University of Bristol, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Society of Antiquaries, the Learned Society of Wales, and the British Academy. He is the historian on the board of trustees which runs English Heritage, and chair of the Blue Plaques panel which awards commemorative plaques to historic buildings. He has published sixteen books and eighty essays on a wide range of subjects including British history between 1400 and 1700, ancient and modern paganism in Britain, the British ritual year, and Siberian shamanism. His previous publications include Rise and Fall of Merry England (OUP 1994), Stations of the Sun (OUP 1996; current ed. 2001), and The Witch: A History of Fear from Ancient Times to the Present (Yale University Press 2017)
Content
Preface Acknowledgements Macrocosm 1: Finding a Language 2: Finding a Goddess 3: Finding a God 4: Finding a Structure 5: Finding a High Magic 6: Finding a Low Magic 7: Finding a Folklore 8: Finding a Witchcraft 9: Matrix 10: God (and Goddess) Parents Microcosm 11: Gerald Gardner 12: Gerald's People 13: The Wider Context: Hostility 14: The Wider Context: Reinforcement 15: Old Craft, New Craft 16: The Man in Black 17: Royalty from the North 18: Uncle Sam and the Goddess 19: Coming of Age 20: Grandchildren of the Shadows Notes Index