Women's History Resource Site

King's College History Department

Book Review

Leonard R.N. Ashley. The Complete Book of Magic and Witchcraft.  New York: Barricade Books, 1986.

Leonard R.N. Ashley, a professor of English at Brooklyn College, produces all of the knowledge he has gathered in his many years of studying magic and witchcraft in this lengthy volume. The book contains elements of every type of magical happening known to human kind. Contained in its passages are brief, to the point explanations of the different types of magic and witchcraft that are said to have existed through the ages. It contains everything from common folk magic to sorcery to the witchcraft that exists today, examining closely all of it. The book takes a rather skeptical look at magic, summed up in one particular line "Whether what is subjectively produced [magic] has also an objective reality, the true believer cannot tell"(pg. 10). In other words, if someone believes it is real, then in that person’s mind it is, but there is no evidence that magic exists in any form of testable, reliable, reality. The author’s goal is presenting evidence and allowing the reader to draw his or her own conclusions about magic and witchcraft, but it is hard to deny the skepticism that is written between the lines throughout the book. 

In this book, Ashley presents evidence but offers few conclusions. It was written in the form that one could read either for information or just for enjoyment. However, its layout is rather bland and straightforward, much like that of a textbook. He offers much in the way of detailed information about all types of magic and witchcraft from around the world. He does not simply put focus on one particular area of magic and give all the evidence; he jumps around, which adds to the work, because it presents comprehensive information. It also detracts, however, because he never focuses on one area long enough for the reader to grasp a full understanding of it. He limits the information he gives to one or two small paragraphs each, which is very insufficient in any case. However, he claims that he did this because it would be impossible to include all of the information in one book, and he only wanted to give a layout, not a complete guide. Throughout the book, he uses illustrations of different "magic circles" and "daemons" but uses no maps to show where these events transpired, therefore assuming the readers’ knowledge of geography.

He gives little to the person studying the witch-hunts, as he dedicates only one chapter to the subject. Included in this chapter are some of the reasons for the hunt, including Pope Innocent VIII issuing the papal bull Summis desiderantes, which led to the publication of the Malleus Maleficarum, Hammer of the Witches. Included elsewhere in that chapter are some specific instances of trials and the evidence that was used to condemn people of their supposed witchcraft. It is in this chapter of the book where the author gives his only conclusion: "Some witches were indeed lawbreakers, and some were just kind older women who knew how to make ‘healing recipes.’ In either case, their treatment by the law was barbaric"(pg. 90).

The main strength of the book is it presents all the information as detailed passages. Although brief, Ashley illustrates many points, such as the story of Margaret Rule:

Margaret Rule was prosecuted as a witch in Boston, 1693. She reported that the Devil forced her to swear fealty on a big red book, by which she must have meant the lettering. It was not uncommon for grimoires to be printed in red-they were said to burn the eyes if gazed at too long-but they were always bound in black (pg. 157).

He summarizes everything and paraphrases to ensure understanding, yet without beating a subject to death. He differentiates types of magic, from low to high, from common folk magic to sorcery and includes the type of people known to work each. He spans the globe from Europe, to Asia, to Jamaica and the United States. He basically explains what is believed to occur to persons who encounter magic, or dabble in the occult. All of this is done professionally throughout the book.

However, this strength could also be viewed as a weakness. I say this because he spreads himself all over the globe, and in a number of different types of magical workings that he can never give the reader an actual comprehension of the things that are going on. For example, a passage entitled "Magic Stone" is just two lines long and reads "Considered ‘the food of the immortals,’ green jade is also said to be good for you, if you powder it and eat it" (pg. 141). 

Also, the events that are written about in the book are scattered throughout its entirety, therefore it follows no set pattern, or chronological order. This can be confusing, and causes the book to lose the attention of the reader at times. For example, in one area of the book, he explains that Satanists are not committing sacrilege, goes on to talk about using names in witchcraft, lists a Scottish spell for banishing witches, only to come back to the topic of Satanists again. This choppiness makes it difficult to actually take in any information that the book provides, because that information is fairly unorganized throughout. 

This book, compared with others concerning witchcraft is a fairly poor one, because, as I have illustrated above it contains too much, yet too little at the same time. It incorporates many viewpoints at the same time, which you cannot deny, however, it never seems to take one viewpoint as the master viewpoint, and therefore makes the book almost not worth reading, as the person doing the reading can become quite confused as to what exactly the point to all of it is. 

The Complete Book of Magic and Witchcraft is a tedious book to read, at best, and I would strongly recommend that people go elsewhere in finding a book that deals with the aspects of witchcraft, whether that person is a practicing witch, or a fanatical skeptic. If, however, you are interested in those books that fill your head with all sorts of interesting, mostly useless facts, then this is the book for you. I conclude that he presents a great amount of information in a tiny area the best that anyone could have done, however, trying to fill a book with all of the aspects and happenings of witchcraft throughout the ages perhaps is something that should not be attempted, unless of course it were to be done in a series of volumes, as there is indeed so much information available out there in this world. 

URL: http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/wrevleonard.html Written by Brian Hazlak Last Revision: 12 November 2001 Copyright © MM Prof. Pavlac's Women's History Site