The Discoverie of Witchcraft

There are very few books within the Western Magical Tradition which have had an impact and legacy beyond the tradition itself. In 1584 a book appeared written by a country gentleman that was unlike anything at the time and unlike anything since. Reginald Scot’s The Discoverie of Witchcraft was a massive work which saw Reginald attempt to shine a light on Witchcraft in order to discredit the common belief that Witches and Witchcraft had as much power as people believed it did. In exhaustive detail, Scot put many spells, enchantments and rituals in his book which only saw his work be used for Magic as opposed to against it. Simply put, The Discoverie of Witchcraft is one of the most important books in Magical History. Period.

Care to download Reginald Scot’s The Discoverie of Witchcraft for yourself? Here is the 1665 Third Edition of it, in my opinion the one crammed with plenty of great Magical stuff!

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If you want to dive even deeper on this awesome book and learn more about the reception and uses of it, a complete guided tour of it, as well as some of the spellcraft within it, you absolutely MUST get yourself Dr. Alexander Cummins’ Sourcebook Class on Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft! This class is amazing and filled with so much astounding information! As always, huge thanks to Dr. Cummins for his research!

Show Notes & Book Recommendations

• England’s First Demonologist: Reginald Scot and ‘The Discoverie of Witchcraft’ by Philip C Almond – This is such an excellent book 
• Grimoires: A History of Magic Books by Owen Davies – Yes, you need to own this book
• I talked about Reginald Scot on my Demonology episode
• The Discoverie of Motive: Key Events that Motivated Reginald Scot to Write The Discoverie of Witchcraft by Rebecca Raines – A great article
• Reginald Scot and His “Discoverie of Witchcraft”: Religion and Science in the Opposition to the European Witch Craze by Leland Estes
• On the Demon-Mania of Witches by Jean Bodin – Huge influence on Scot
• The Reception of Reginald Scot’s Discovery of Witchcraft: Witchcraft, Magic, and Radical Religion by S. F. Davies – Great essay
• Popular Magic: Cunning-Folk in English History by Owen Davies
• The Cunning Man’s Handbook: The Practice of English Folk Magic 1550-1900 by Jim Baker – Own this book. You deserve it
• Looking for all of the juicy Magical bits and don’t have the time to sift through the book? Well alright, Joseph H. Peterson has your back at Esoteric Archives
• The Magitians Discovered: The Excluded Chapters from The Discoverie of Witchcraft by John Madziarczyk – Available in Three Volumes and in my Bookshop – Vol I • Vol. II • Vol III
• A review of the volumes of the work above by Dan Harms – Part I • Part II • Part III
• Doubts about ‘Witches’ and ‘Magicians’ in Reginald Scot and Gabriel Naude by Maryanne Horowitz
• Inter-Textual Relations between Reginald Scot’s “The Discoverie of Witchcraft” and Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” by Ani Kojoyan
• Strange, Incredible and Impossible Things: The Early Anthropology of Reginald Scot by Roland Littlewood
• Have a look at a first edition of tDoW!
• An Inventorie of Demons by Jake Stratton Kent – Fully corrected list of infernal spirits from tDoW
• The Discoverie of Witchcraft 1584 edition by Black Letter Press – Very pretty but not the 1665 edition with the juicy bits