Book Report: Witchcraft and Folklore of Dartmoor by Ruth St. Leger Gordon (c) 1965

Witchcraft and Folklore of Dartmoor by Ruth St. Leger Gordon (c) 1972

Waitaminit, you say, so far all the books you posted had some practical connection to mind-phenomena of various sorts, but isn't this book a bit of a stretch? When I bought it, I never expected I'd be including it in this list. It's primarily a lot of fun and spooky folklore from one particular corner of England. The author's stated intent was to preserve some of the disappearing mythology of her community, and I imagine it also finds a lot of interest with the tourist trade for that area. (I love stories like this and this would be a fun read after watching Hammer Film's "The Wicker Man" with Christopher Lee!).

There's information that might be of some use to aspiring witches, but what earned this book a place on my hypnosis blog is a rather extensive discussion of healing, which sounds to me an awful lot like hypnosis. Close enough, at least to merit a little examination. 

Apparently, while "black witchcraft," hexes and so forth, are traditionally frowned upon, the area has a strong history of "white witchcraft" particularly healing warts, ringworm and other skin-diseases, and at the time of writing (c. 1960-70), the local hospital was directing patients with warts to the local witches! More mainstream hypnotic references had observed that warts, of all things, respond strongly to hypnosis, so examining the local wart-witches has a little hypnotic interest. Apparently each witch had their own unique method, from rubbing them with a peapod to "buying" them for a few coins, but belief is a necessary component. 

It was sociologically interesting that each witch assembled their own set of spells which were passed from generation to generation, but not amongst the women, as you might expect. Rather it was passed from one gender to another, ie: mothers passed the secrets to the sons, and fathers to the daughters. If the intended recipient didn't have the necessary talent, that tradition might be broken, and the spells might even be passed to a stranger if necessary. 

If you like to move out of the usual spheres and find some wild hypnosis on the hoof, this book is a fun adventure!