From astrology to necromancy and back again, the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century British colonies seemed awash with sorcery. This is a lecture module about the ideas of magic which early modern English colonists brought with them to the Americas: from their preconceptions about Native ritual and “heathenry”, to almanacs of star-lore and prognostication, and from common forms of folk magic and divination to high-brow treatises on alchemy and handbooks based on medieval spirit conjuration.

This lecture is presented by the historian and diviner Dr Alexander Cummins, himself an English magician now living in these United States. Dr Cummins will lead us on an exploration of what early American magicians did and how they went about doing it. Along the way, we will learn about how shadowy colonialist fears were projected onto indigenous peoples and their cultures, as well as much of the necessary background and context of “everyday practical magic” and arch occult philosophy alike.

This class-bundle includes:

An illustrated lecture of 1 hour 48 minutes duration
The accompanying slides for this lecture
Over 50 primary source documents concerning early modern necromancy
Bibliography of further reading

The full list of the primary source documents explored in the lecture and included in the class-bundle runs:

Ioseph Acosta, The naturall and morall historie of the East and West Indies (London, 1604)
Thomas Ady, A Candle in the Dark (London, 1656)
Heinrich Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, trans. J.F. (London, 1651)
George Alsop, A character of the province of Mary-land (London, 1666)
Nathaniel Ames, An Astronomical Diary: or, An Almanack (Boston, 1728)
Samuel Atkins, Kalendarium Pennsilvaniense, or, America’s Messenger (Philadelphia, 1686)
Pierre d’Avity, The estates, empires, & principallities of the world, trans. Edward Grimstone (London, 1615)
Joseph Blagrave, Astrological Practice of Physick (London, 1671)
Thomas Blout, Glossographia (London, 1661)
Jean Bodin, De la démonomancie des sorciers (Paris, 1580)
John Booker, The Bloody Almanack (London, 1642)
Thomas Brightman, Revelation of the Apocalypse (Amsterdam, 1611)
Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (Oxford, 1621)
Henry Butts, Diets Dry Diner (London, 1599)
Nathaniel Chauncy, Almanack (Cambridg[e], 1662)
Samuel Clarke, A true and faithful account of the four chiefest plantations of the English in America (London, 1670)
Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician (London, 1652)
Robert Fludd, Mosiacall Philosophy (London, 1659)
Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy trans. Robert Turner (London, 1655)
Fernando Gorges, America painted to the life (London, 1658)
Richard Hakluyt, The Principle Nauigations (London, 1600)
John Hale, A Modest Enquiry (Boston, 1697)
John Heydon, Theomagia, or The Temple of Wisdom (London, 1664)
 Israel Hiebner, Mysterium sigillorum, herbarum & lapidum (London, 1698)
John Josselyn, An account of two voyages to New-England (London, 1674)
John Josselyn, New-Englands Rarities Discovered (London, 1672)
Ludwig Lavater, Of Ghostes and Spirites Walking by Nyght (London, 1572)
Daniel Leeds, The Temple of Wisdom for the Little World (Philadelphia, 1688)
Daniel Leeds, An Almanack and Ephemerides (Philadelphia, 1693)
Daniel Leeds, An Almanack (Philadelphia, 1695)
Daniel Leeds, An Almanack and Ephemerides (Philadelphia, 1696)
Daniel Leeds, An Almanack (Philadelphia, 1697)
Titan Leeds, The American Almanack (New York, 1715)
Titan Leeds, The American Almanack (New York, 1738)
William Lilly, The World’s Catastrophe (London, 1647)
John Locke, Two treatises of government (London, 1690)
Cotton Mather, Memorable providences relating to witchcrafts and possessions (Boston, 1689)
Cotton Mather, The wonders of the invisible world (Boston, 1693)
Paracelsus Of the Supreme Mysteries of Nature, trans. Robert Turner (London, 1655)
Dorothy Partridge, The woman's almanack, for the year 1694 (London, 1694)
William Perkins, The Arte of Prophecying (London, 1607)
Samuel Purchas, His Pilgrimes in fiue bookes (London, 1625)
John Seller, An Almanack for the Provinces of Virginia and Maryland (London, 1685)
Peter Severinus, Idea Medicinae Philosophiae (Hague, 1660)
Thomas Tryon, Friendly advice to the gentlemen-planters of the East and West Indies In three parts (London, 1684)
Alexander Whitaker, Good nevves from Virginia (London, 1613)
Roger Williams, A key into the language of America (London, 1643)
William Williams, Cambridge Ephemeris: An Almanac (Cambridge, 1685)
Edward Winslow, Good nevvs from New England (London, 1624)