Bantu Folk Lore: Now Available!

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This ethnographic work is a significant compilation of South African herbal and ritual lore, with profuse linguistic inclusions, combining the scientific names of species, and descriptions of types of doctors and practices, with the native speech involved. Less preachy than some contemporary studies, it actually compares the materia medica of the Bantu people with that of the European people.

77 pages.

Superstition About Animals: Now Available!

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This is a great book of folklore; great instead of merely good, because it is actually entertaining, because much like my prior edited release on flower lore, it adds poetry and prose of various kinds (especially Keats, Shakespeare, and the biblical Psalms) in its various meanderings. About half the work deals with birds, which are highly present symbols within spirituality.

It covers good and bad omens among other things, and at times attempts to mock and dispel some of the superstitions it speaks of, although it notes that others are technically true; for example, a bee die-off indeed does correlate to farmers having bad years- because bee hives tend to die off far more commonly under adverse weather conditions not conducive to life forms thriving in general (prolonged drought, abnormal cold, etc.)

172 pages.

Ancient Cures, Charms, and Usages of Ireland: Now Available!

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This particular book is an interesting combination of work that delves into folklore, civics, and what might be considered, beyond the strictly folkloric, spook stories, some of which are fairly fantastical in nature. Crafted at the end of the 19th century, it encourages the invasion of Ireland by the United States to liberate the island from British tyranny, and at great length condemns the English almost in entirety.

For occult purposes the lore of interest here is threefold; first, a treatment of simple remedies, often herbal or in the form of Christianized incantations. Second, fairy lore, significant in bulk. Third, folk stories involving both the dead and witches in a great deal of sometimes quite morbid detail. I must admit several of the stories about dead brides were bizarre even by my standards. It caps itself off with a nice little series of proverbs, which are sometimes religious.

186 pages.

Animism, the Seed of Religion: Now Available!

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This is of interest potentially to two groups of people; the occultist will here find some interesting folk tales and spiritual rites from cultures then being actively studied at the height of the colonial era, and the history buff will find in these pages an interesting but sometimes outdated colonial perspective on non-European cultures. It focuses mostly on African lore but also on India and makes some mention (in the naturalistic period post-animism but prior to semimodern religion, as the theory then held) to the Mesoamericans. The categorical system isn't entirely accurate, but it is applicable and useful.

60 pages.

Vampires and Vampirism: Now Available!

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This work is one of a number of interesting titles on the subject of vampirism that come in the late premodern period. Many works even from that interesting early 20th century academic era only fixate on vampires as the bloodsuckers of specifically southeastern European lore- this work manages to extend its scope to Asia and Russia as well and includes a number of interesting poems and stories. In the most amusing inclusion, it classes Bram Stokers' "Dracula" as an exciting modern romance- this being amusing only because the work dates to over a century ago.

Only a small proportion of works I edit actually grab my attention fully whilst being edited- this is one of those books and I highly recommend it.

113 pages.

Celtic Religion: Now Available!

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This short but coherent work was penned back in one of my favorite eras and styles of literature- the academic theory and archaeological/historical thought of that happy period during the rampant social upheaval of the early technological era- with its tintypes, early moving pictures, and obsession with tombs and temples.

Divided into multiple sections, it has a bit of linguistics, a bit of ancient history, a bit of then-modern archaeology, and plenty of Druidism. While some of its academic content has been largely forgotten these days (especially with regards to its very proto-eugenic view of the progression of civilization) it is still a very good work. It contains a short bibliography with other texts as well for those interested in a larger look at the subject.

50 pages.

The Book of Halloween: Now Available!

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This fine collection of folklore, "The Book of Halloween" by Kelley, is primarily a work of European extraction but details the pagan origins of its obvious subject matter. Written at the dawn of the 20th century, it traces the history of Halloween, Samhain, etc, through to the then-modern era, providing numerous examples from folklore, poems, and historical materials of the lineage of what would eventually become our now-modern day of candy begging and pumpkins. Not surprisingly it mentions Grimm at several points.

Fairies, jack o'lanterns, and other topics are denoted in some degree of detail along with the usual departed spirits and witchery of that special time of year.

113 pages.