In this enlightening book, Streeter unravels the myth surrounding witchcraft. He delves into its origins, spanning thousands of years, from ancient civilisations to the present day. The reader will discover the true essence of witchcraft, beyond the clichés of broomstick-riding hags. Streeter sheds light on Wicca, the religion of witchcraft, emphasizing its benevolent nature and reverence for nature.

This book is an interesting and balanced study of the history of witchcraft. Illustrations are nice and helpful though much of the information provided is well documented.

Witchcraft; A Secret History by Michael Streeter looks at witcraft through the ages, from the ancient world, medieval world to modern day.  It has illustrations from throughout history of witches and witchcraft, and looks at myths in relation to witches as well.

If you'd like some more context for witches, then this is a good book for you to read.  This is well researched and interesting to read but it looks mostly at witches of Europe.

 Witchcraft; A Secret History  was published on 3 March 2020 and is available from  Amazon ,  Waterstones  and  Bookshop.org, .

I'm afraid I couldn't find a link for where you could follow Michael Streeter.

I was given access to this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to  Quarto .

As a quick introduction to witchcraft, Streeter has created an interesting book. I enjoyed the way he went through the chronology of witchcraft history and I was impressed with the number of images he included. The depth of research is clearly evident.

I love this modern take on witchcraft. This book successfully updates the idea and practice of witchcraft to a more modern stage, making it accessible and useable for women and men or witches in general, today. I also loved the use of the color pink throughout, calling upon that traditional link to women and "girly colors" such as pink. This is a great resources for beginners and experienced witches alike.

An interesting history of witchcraft, from its beginnings to modern day Wicca. The information is easy to understand, and broken down into bite-sized chunks. While this isn't an in-depth text, it'll give readers who don't know much about the subject a good introduction.

#Witchcraft #NetGalley

Fantastic addition to my library. Going to get a hard copy as I love the weird, wonderful and supernatural!

I thought this had interesting views on witchcraft through out history. I thought this seemed well researched and loved how the whole book is written. I requested this book because I find witchcraft and people's view on it interesting and I have this curiosity to learn a little bit more.

I’ve always had a fascination with the supernatural, having lived in a number of places which can only be called ‘haunted’ and had numerous events in my life which I genuinely have no explanation for other than being ‘other-worldly’ it’s something that has been a constant companion throughout my life, which is one reason I picked up Witchcraft: A Secret History by freelance writer and journalist, Michael Streeter.

Witchcraft: A Secret History takes the reader not only through the history of Witchcraft but also dispels some of the myths surrounding it, in particular those surrounding the self-styled “Wickedest Man In The World”, Aleister Crowley, who is given only the briefest of mentions. The book's timeline takes us back through the earliest days of history to Sumer and a winged demon called Lilitu who came to be known as Lillith in the Hebrew texts through to the pantheon of Egyptian gods and goddesses and how these earliest figures became incorporated within the Greek and Roman pantheons and their various mythologies, at the same time looking over to Western Europe and the Norse and ancient gods of the Druids, of which some of these beliefs still survive today. One of the main aspects throughout the book was the focus on the goddess aspect and its influence on the rise of feminism throughout the ages.

Broken down into 3 parts ranging from the earliest days to the modern world Witchcraft: A Secret History presents the history of the subject in small easily digestible parts, which makes the book easily accessible to anyone even mildly interested and for those with a deeper interest looking for something more referable. The earliest looks at the ancient through the early days of Christianity and the medieval period which saw the growth of Christianity and its effects upon Witchcraft and pagan religions. The second part focuses predominantly on the rise of Christianity and the tragedy which encapsulated the witch trials of that era, also known as The Burning Times, which have been highlighted through the acts of the self-styled ‘Witchfinder General’ Mathew Hopkins who saw to the deaths of numerous so-called witches in the mid-seventeenth century and culminating with the tragedy of Salem, which in many ways saw the beginning of the end of witch trials, not only to avert from such a thing happening again but as science sought more natural answers. The third part good at witchcraft in the modern world and the Wicca religion which has grown since the mid-twentieth century.

Witchcraft: A Secret History is a highly enjoyable book which treats the subject with the respect it deserves. While it is useful to remind ourselves that men were also persecuted through its history it is women who suffered far worse, mainly due to the misguided patriarchy which deemed them in league with the devil in the early ages. Streeter acknowledges this and gives due homage to those women who not only suffered but also spearheaded the movement in many ways to become the primary leaders within witchcraft and the Wicca religion. who without the goddesses, such as Isis and Diana would likely not have achieved to survive and give strength to both women and men to the modern-day.

A good and easy to understand introduction to the history of witchcraft. Ideal as a springboard to explore the topic more.

Definitely a quick introduction into the history of witchcraft. It is really easy to understand and it seems to go through all the relevant periods of witchcraft, from the origins to the Salem trials to how Wicca is seen or understood in the modern day.

I really enjoyed this book and I think I am a bit fascinated by witchcraft now. My favourite chapters were the ones about the different deities from Ancient Greece to Ancient Egypt to the Celtic ones - especially this since I did not know much about them. I have a passion for deities since I was a little kid and this, combined with my new fascination for wicca is about to open a new hobby: researching everything about witchcraft.

An interesting and well researched history of witchcraft. It's informative and I liked the style of writing.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for giving me an ARC of this! <3

Overall very average and I wasn't blown away by anything that was presented. It would be great if you know nothing about the history of witchcraft and need a primer. I already knew a lot of this, thus it was a lot of repeated information for me.

If you are interested in the topic however, and know nothing about it, then this would be a great place to start learning about witchcraft!

Although it was interesting to know in detail the evolution of witchcraft, this is an Eurocentric book with popular knowledge that's available in other texts. There were some episodes that I did not know, but beyond having a light and simple language account of the history of witchcraft in Europe and its arrival to America, I found nothing "secret" as the title and synopsis promised. Perhaps it was intended for young readers, although the cover would't be the best option in that case. I liked the illustrations, though.

A great reference for anyone researching Witchcraft. A detailed account of the history of Witchcraft that also offers a modern day how to for those who are so inclined to try out some spells. A great combo of reference and practical magic. A great read for a wide variety of occult fans.

Witchcraft: A Secret History is a brilliant read, giving detailed accounts into the origins of witchcraft, and detailing three distinctive times.
Ancient witchcraft, medieval witchcraft and modern witchcraft. It was fascinating to read through all the different times and get to understand the explanations.
Witchcraft has become very popular through media, but to get to know the true history and where this was actually born from, was really interesting. Read book in one sitting and absolutely enjoyed it, found the information here wonderful.

This book was not available as a Kindle book. I found it very difficult to navigate with the app I had to use to read it, thus have not finished it yet. I appreciated the illustrations, it was good for this visual person to see what the ancient communities felt their gods looked like. The information I read was consistent with other witchcraft histories I have read. Footnotes would be nice in order to do more research on the various topics.

A number of topics, events, and people introduced. The latter half, to me, is more of a Wicca influence of information and history.

What is the secret of Witchcraft?

Book Review: Witchcraft: A Secret History by Michael Streeter
Genre: Non-Fiction, History, Spirituality
Publisher: Quatro Publish Group/ White Lion Publishing
Release Date: 3rd March, 2020

As a history of Witchcraft this book covers a lot. From the middle ages, ancient Egypt, Rome and Greece, the Celtic and Germanic origins, the effect of Christianity on Witches, the infamous Salem witch trials, all the way up to modern Wicca of the 1950's, links to feminism and its continuation today. Like I said...a lot!

However, as someone who has already read vast amounts about the history of witchcraft, who studied Literature at University, and has been intrigued by all things Witchcraft, since reading The Crucible for drama class, this book adds nothing new to the Witchcraft story. Therefore, I didn't understand the title of 'Secret History', as there is nothing in this book that has been hidden, or kept secret. I consider it to be more of a concise and detailed history of Witchcraft.

Saying that, I did enjoy it. Throughout the book there are images of paintings from across the time periods covered. Some of the images will be familiar, others I had not seen before and they helped illustrate the book well. As I read an e-arc the images were not clear, but I feel like the pictorial representations will add a lot to the completed book. Furthermore, the author has referenced a range of texts written on the topic of witches and witchcraft throughout its history. I now have a list of more books to read!

I would consider it suitable, not only for modern witches, but for anyone who has an interest in Witchcraft and history. As well as being concise it is very well organised; split in to clear chapters and within those, headings and subheadings. It appeals greatly to my brains need to organise, and allows you to dip into specific sections quite easily.

At this point it is important to note something the author mentions in the introduction. When defining modern Witchcraft he refers to it as Wicca. I know a lot of people, myself included, who see Wicca and Witchcraft (whether modern or not) as two separate things; they are different practices. Following on from that, the blurb is slightly misleading: "Discover the significance of [witches] sabbats and covens, their chalices and wands, their robes and their religion." These ideas are shoe-horned in randomly between the other chapters and don't really suit the purpose of the book. It just felt like an odd after-thought to add a few pages about the sabbats and magickal tools.

Towards the end of the book, the author looks at the future of Witchcraft. (I didn't realise that it was only in the 1950's that the last anti-witchcraft legislation was repealed in America.) He thoughtfully considers the role feminism has played in a modern Witchcraft resurgence. However, there is still a lot of prejudice and stigma surrounding Wicca and Witchcraft.

So what does the future of Witchcraft look like? Personally, I can appreciate the role the internet (particularly instagram) has played in my own Witchy practice. The internet has aided in the growth of Wicca and Witchcraft, as it allows free flowing discussion without fear of judgement. The community I have found online is a very positive one. However, even though I feel able to post about Wicca and Witchcraft on instagram, YouTube and this blog, it is still not something I freely discuss in 'real' life. I am still fearful of judgement, even from family and friends.

That is the 'secret' of Witchcraft.

Most of us still keep our Craft a secret. How do we come out of the broom closet and nurture the amazing community in the real world? How do we make it more accepted in society, rather than just an 'online' culture? That's the big secret...

Thank you to Netgalley and White Lion Publishing for allowing me to read and review this e-erc.

"Witchcraft" gives an overview of the development of witchcraft through the ages. Unfortunately, it mashes together a variety of religious groups and historical events which are not necessarily connected or even on the same wavelength.