Book Review: The History of Magic

Author: Chris Gosden

Publisher: Penguin Books

2021 (First published by Viking 2020)

Genre: Non-fiction

Pages: 482

Date Read: October 2024

Blurb:

Three great strands of practice and belief run through human history: science, religion and magic. As Professor Chris Gosden argues in this bold and unprecedented account, magic – the idea that we have a connection with the universe, and that the universe responds to us – preceded religion and science. It has been with us from the curses and charms of Ancient Greek, Roman and Jewish magic, to the shamanistic traditions of Eurasia, indigenous America and Africa, and from the alchemy of the Renaissance, through colonial dismissals of magic as backward, to quantum physics today – where magic and science converge.

Drawing on his decades of research around the world, and with incredible breadth and authority, this timely history of human thought across thousands of years rightly shows the role that magic has played in shaping civilisation.

My review:

First and foremost, as with any non-fiction text, I always think that it’s important to consider the person who has written it, what (if any) bias they might have, and what their intention and purpose is in publishing the text.  There is a short paragraph at the beginning of the book which informs us that the author, Chris Gosden, is a professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford and that he has written or edited eighteen academic books. It is clear early on that this is his first ‘trade book’. It is very heavy going at times and full of facts, figures, tables and information. He has certainly done is research. When I began reading the text, I did have to wonder exactly what the purpose of the book was and from which standpoint on magic the author was coming from. As fascinating as it was to read about the early history of humankind, a lot of history and associated conclusions that archaeologists draw up when interpreting their finds are purely ‘theories’. It is impossible to know exactly how people viewed magic or how they attempted to harness it even so far back as one hundred years ago. The author does acknowledge this although there are certainly points in the book when the author seems to make a lot of assumptions about what modern day people believe. As such, you can tell that it has been written from a mainly Christian/westernised standpoint for western readers.

In all honesty, there were a couple of points when I nearly stopped reading this book. I’m glad that I didn’t as the last chapter helps to round up all of the research and poses some interesting questions about the future of our planet. Early on however, references to witches effecting ‘unwanted transformations’ or causing ‘harm’, certainly made my eyes roll. It is not overly clear in what context these ‘witches’ were being referenced to, whether it was just in malign text or people’s supposed views in general. As someone who would proudly claim the title of ‘witch’, this was something which I found rather unnecessary, un-called for and misleading.

There were a few odd snippets of interesting information and knowledge to be gleaned from the middle part of the book. For example, I found the role of turtles in Chinese mythology and Hindu cosmology to be rather intriguing. Apparently according to Hindu cosmology in particular, ‘the world was seen to be balanced on the back of an elephant standing on a turtle, the latter the ultimate guarantee of stability’. I surely cannot be the only one who was reminded of Terry Pratchett’s ‘Discworld’ whilst reading that? I wonder if this is how he came up with the idea.

When researching the magical traditions in prehistoric Europe, the author ponders on the possible connections between female bodies and the house. He states that, “it is possible that among early farming communities houses and people were impossible to distinguish: houses were people. Houses were living entities, perhaps seen as having a birth, a mature period and a death.” This made me think about the Slavik folklore stories of Baba Yaga and her house which was alive and could walk about on chicken legs. It also brings into question the manner in which we treat our homes and some older ideas around Women’s importance in keeping and maintaining the house/hearth. Not just as a slave to a husband, but as a very important figurehead in the family.

Greek mythology is something that has fascinated me in the past, so I was particularly keen to read the chapter on Jewish, Greek and Roman magic. I was not disappointed as what I read was of great interest. The book talks about Greek society being ‘individualist and competitive’. It goes on to suggest that the ‘prevalence of envy, competition and anxiety led to well-developed and much used technologies of magic’. You may be thinking that this presents a rather negative view of Greek culture and magic – and you’d be right. In contrast we then read about the single God of the Jews who ‘changed the rules’ and who was all-powerful. The book states that ‘distinctions between polytheism and monotheism were softened by the extravagant range of angels and demons, who could and did act on their own’. According to Gosden and the sources he has read, Jewish magic ‘seems more protective than aggressive’. This is something that is really important to note and which I think may have had far reaching consequences even into our thoughts around magic today. If Greek and Roman societies were seen as having polytheist cultures which used ‘aggressive’ magic, no wonder a lot of western societies have continued in this thinking that polytheist practises and forms of spirituality are ‘bad’. It is well known that Pagans and witches have long called on different deities to aid them in their magical workings. The chapter also details the theory of Humours which came out of Greek medicine. It describes how the body was thought to be made up of combinations of Earth, Air, Fire and Water which also linked people to the planets. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

A few other interesting references are made to the ‘Philosopher’s Stone’, the use of the archaic spelling of the word ‘Magick’, and more recognisable figureheads around the ideas of magic from more modern times. The book goes into great detail about the history of magic as gleaned from archaeological finds across the world’s continents. But for me, the last chapter titled ‘Modern and Future Magic’ was by far the most interesting to read and felt much more down to earth in terms of the tone and personal opinions which were shared by the author. You could almost go as far to say that it is more of a ‘call to arms’ as Gosden emotively refers to ‘our current profound crisis’ in relation to climate change and the planets depleted resources. He practically praises paganism at points when he refers to aspects of it that ‘stress the closeness of people to other elements of the world and the moral responsibilities people have to all things, living and not’. In his view, ‘no choice is needed between magic, science or religion’, but these elements and ideas must all be incorporated into a ‘new magic’. The chapter also talks about our interconnectedness with the world around us and our ancestors. The book quotes that, ‘It now appears possible that states of stress or anxiety might be transmitted from one generation to the next, as the chemical stress of he body influence blood proteins, leading sometimes to genetic mutations that are then passed on to children’. This is something which I’m sure most pagans would already happily agree with and attest to. In summary to the last chapter, the need for us to put aside our differences and work together for the good of our planet and all who live on it is greatly outlined and highlighted.

If anything, this book just helps to reaffirm the thoughts that I already had around magic as a universal energy that connects us all. There are certainly strands of interesting information to be found, but I almost think that the last chapter could become a book in itself, and I would love to see these ideas researched and expanded on further. Let’s hope that we can all come together to help ‘save’ the planet before we reach tipping point, and it becomes the end of earth as we know it.

Star rating: 3 out of 5.