Book Review: The History of Magic by Chris Gosden

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Genre: Non-Fiction, History, Occult, Archaeology, Witchcraft

Publisher: Penguin

Review in one word: Mesmerising

I bought this book on the off-chance that it would be interesting and enjoyable. I had very low expectations. History books I’ve read recently have been dry and a bit boring, so I rarely finish them.

This unconventional and artfully composed history book exceeded all of my expectations and actually elevates the non-fiction history genre in my humble opinion.

Chris Gosden’s engaging and vividly colourful storytelling style brings to life the history of all things occult, pagan and witchy from ancient cave art to modern day witchcraft in a way that is deeply engrossing and enjoyable.

Towards the start of the book Gosden outlines his intention to showcase the triple helix of belief: magic, religion and science and how these magical practices emerged in the Middle East and manifested in nascent technologies and theories related to what later become philosophy, medicine, physics and astronomy.

He also outlines three aspects of magic: transcendence, transformation and transaction which influenced different magical practices.

Transcendence is evinced in the well-known maxim “as above, so below”. An example of transformation could be shapeshifting shamanism and transaction can be found in votive offerings in temples and other sacred places. This creates a very wide spectrum for what is defined as magic in the book.

Perhaps I am biased as this is a subject that I am already absolutely fascinated with, however, I lovingly underlined in lead pencil almost every second page. This is because between the pages lay particularly luminous and insightful statements that bring roaring to life elements of my spiritual practice that I never considered before.

If you are a practitioner of magic or you are simply fascinated by the oft-overlooked history of mysticism, paganism and witchcraft and how various folk medicine and folklore practices emerged across millennia, then you are guaranteed to enjoy this book. The only gripe I have about this book is that it spends far too little time traversing the magical practices of each region. In every case more than one chapter is needed to delve into ancient Egyptian magic, Jewish magic, Roman magic, Ancient Greek magic, early Christian mysticism, magic from Polynesian and Oceania, indigenous Austronesian magical practices etc. It seemed like Gosden was only really touching the tip of the iceberg on these very weighty and rich topics. As a wholesome introduction to this it was a real treasure.

Not only is The History of Magic a comprehensive and scholarly history of all things occult, but it is hugely immersive, a book to really sink your teeth into with your witch’s brew of choice.