Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft – exposé or grimoire? Despite being written in an effort to discredit belief in magic as merely superstitious, Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft became an incredibly popular text with the very people Scot was trying to warn his readership about: magical practitioners!

The book became a staple in the modest libraries of folk magicians, and recent scholarship has demonstrated that this tome was in fact popularly received as 'a treasure trove of magical information, providing spells, Catholic prayers, exorcisms, charms, talismans, and rituals on how to communicate with angels, demons, and the spirits of the dead'. One historian has even gone so far as to suggest that Scot produced what amounted to the first grimoire printed in the English language, and while he did so to prove the worthlessness of its contents he unwittingly ended up democratizing ritual magic rather than undermining it.' It is for these reasons that Dr. Alexander Cummins takes us through this source of traditional early modern English cunning-craft, tracing those interrelations of text and tradition.

For certainly Scot's Discoverie was used as a spell-book by cunning-folk in England, and made the journey across the ocean to serve the same needs in early British colonies in the Americas. The charms and amulets described in its pages are still found inside walls and under floors of old buildings, highlighting the practical ends to which this tome's contents were put.

In this course we explore some of these operations: from detailed workings to short spoken and written charms, and from treatises on the nature, behaviour and best working practices of spirits - whether ghosts, fairies, angels, elementals, or devils - to conjuration rites of said spirits. It also explores some of the dominant early modern ideas and counter-arguments concerning witches, witchcraft, familiar spirits, sorcery, demonic pacts, and the ministrations and ministers of the Devil himself.

Those interested in the history and practice of "black magic" should consider study of this incredibly influential early modern text crucial: not only for its contents, which detail a variety of rituals for summoning and dispatching the shades of the dead to do one's bidding, but also as itself a nigromantic work which turned many readers into practitioners despite its own warnings and the author's intention.

 The course is supported by close reading of scans of the 1584 and 1665 editions of Scot's Discoverie, along with other contextualising documents - including both historian's accounts and other contemporaneous primary sources – full scans are provided to the inquiring student.

This three-part course series breaks down into the following two-hour-long classes:

Session 1: Reception, Contexts, & Uses
In which we go over fundamental informations concerning the biography of Scot himself, as well as the historical contexts of the Discoverie’s theology, magic, and witchcraft.

Session 2: A Complete Guided Tour
In which we take a detailed roadtrip through the sixteen books of the Discoverie, as well examining the appended Discourse Concerning the Nature & Substance of Devils and Spirits of the 1665 expanded edition of the source text.

Session 3: Spellcraft
In which are discussed the practical materials found in the Discoverie and their applications: from consecrations, to work with wands, dirts, circles, demonology, and some of the more mysterious protocols of spirit conjuration.

By purchasing this class, you agree that you understand that no part of the material dictated or provided throughout the duration of the course may be reproduced, distributed, or used in any other form (neither electronic nor mechanic, including photocopies and recordings), without the direct and written consent of the instructor, Dr Alexander Cummins.