Has anyone read Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling by Charles Godfrey Leland?

chaosbloom

I just found this title, circulating freely as the copyright has expired. I vaguely remember the author from his other book, Aradia or the Gospel of Witches, which I haven't read either but I remember it being used as a source by the Gardner crew as evidence of the survival of pagan witchcraft in the modern era.

Has anyone read this one? Is the author considered reliable? His source for Aradia, (Maddalena) was supposedly a cartomancer besides her other occupations. There might be useful information regarding different, popular forms of Tarot and cartomancy in his books as opposed to the GD-influenced current.
 

Aunty Anthea

I just found this title, circulating freely as the copyright has expired. I vaguely remember the author from his other book, Aradia or the Gospel of Witches, which I haven't read either but I remember it being used as a source by the Gardner crew as evidence of the survival of pagan witchcraft in the modern era.

Has anyone read this one? Is the author considered reliable? His source for Aradia, (Maddalena) was supposedly a cartomancer besides her other occupations. There might be useful information regarding different, popular forms of Tarot and cartomancy in his books as opposed to the GD-influenced current.

Sadly I had not even heard of this book until I read your post :(

'Witchcraft in the modern era,' are there such things as witches nowadays ;)

Anyway, I looked around and have decided to buy myself a copy especially after reading the following:

About this book: In this fascinating collection, noted author and folklorist, Charles Godfrey Leland presents his vision of 'the world's earliest religion', namely the beliefs and magical practices of the gypsies.

The work presents a wealth of gypsy folklore including incantations, charms, beliefs, anecdotes and tales, rhymes, proverbs, cures and curses collected from a variety of sources, but mainly from gypsies themselves. As well as presenting a wide range of traditional gypsy lore, the book is a revealing record of the mind that compiled it.

As president of the Gypsy Lore Society, Leland knew many of the informants personally. He draws on his wide acquaintance with classical and contemporary folklore to illustrate his material, and his collecting methods are a mixture of romance and ethnology which searches for mysticism at the core of the everyday experiences of a people whom he revered.


http://www.alibris.com/Gypsy-Sorcer...Professor-Charles-Godfrey-Leland/book/2769774
 

chaosbloom

'Witchcraft in the modern era,' are there such things as witches nowadays ;)

Heh, I actually come from a small corner of the world where folk magic was very much alive until very recently. Mostly black magic though with plenty of binding and unbinding love spells but all of that in a Christian framework very much like hoodoo.

Anyway, I looked around and have decided to buy myself a copy especially after reading the following:

About this book: In this fascinating collection, noted author and folklorist, Charles Godfrey Leland presents his vision of 'the world's earliest religion', namely the beliefs and magical practices of the gypsies.

The work presents a wealth of gypsy folklore including incantations, charms, beliefs, anecdotes and tales, rhymes, proverbs, cures and curses collected from a variety of sources, but mainly from gypsies themselves. As well as presenting a wide range of traditional gypsy lore, the book is a revealing record of the mind that compiled it.

As president of the Gypsy Lore Society, Leland knew many of the informants personally. He draws on his wide acquaintance with classical and contemporary folklore to illustrate his material, and his collecting methods are a mixture of romance and ethnology which searches for mysticism at the core of the everyday experiences of a people whom he revered.


http://www.alibris.com/Gypsy-Sorcer...Professor-Charles-Godfrey-Leland/book/2769774

Woah, those prices are pretty steep for a copyright-expired book. There are free ebooks of it floating around, http://www.globalgrey.co.uk/Pages/gypsy-sorcery-and-fortune-telling.html and Aradia if you're interested http://www.globalgrey.co.uk/Pages/aradia-or-the-gospel-of-the-witches.html

Please write up something when you read it. It's near the bottom of my reading list for now but I'll bump it up if it's worth it.
 

Aunty Anthea

Heh, I actually come from a small corner of the world where folk magic was very much alive until very recently. Mostly black magic though with plenty of binding and unbinding love spells but all of that in a Christian framework very much like hoodoo.

Did you not notice the wink I put at the end of 'Witchcraft in the modern era,' are there such things as witches nowadays ;) Most of my ancestors, including both my maternal and paternal grandmothers were witches and seers, both my parents were seers and into some very strange things, my daughter is a powerful seer. Guess what that makes me :joke:

Woah, those prices are pretty steep for a copyright-expired book. There are free ebooks of it floating around, http://www.globalgrey.co.uk/Pages/gypsy-sorcery-and-fortune-telling.html and Aradia if you're interested http://www.globalgrey.co.uk/Pages/aradia-or-the-gospel-of-the-witches.html

Please write up something when you read it. It's near the bottom of my reading list for now but I'll bump it up if it's worth it.

Thank you for the links :thumbsup:
 

chaosbloom

Did you not notice the wink I put at the end of 'Witchcraft in the modern era,' are there such things as witches nowadays ;) Most of my ancestors, including both my maternal and paternal grandmothers were witches and seers, both my parents were seers and into some very strange things, my daughter is a powerful seer. Guess what that makes me :joke:

Why yes of course! But my reply came out dryer than I wanted to. It was more like "oh sure, and it survived in more places than one". Kinda hard to avoid misunderstandings like these in text sometimes.

Thank you for the links :thumbsup:

Glad to spread book wealth!