Folk Magick from Europe Bibliography

People often ask me about books and resources to learn more about British Folk Magick and magico-religions, the fairy faith, and pre-Gardnerian Witchcraft. For my purposes, I am sticking with the British Isles / Celtic countries, simply because that’s my wheelhouse. There are also tons of books about Hoodoo, Conjure, Vodoun, and other Afro-Caribbean folk magico-religious traditions. All of these are valuable, and some are similar to one another – not due to appropriation, but because of people sharing customs, trading information between populations, and parallel practices arising at the same time in different locations.
 
While books are awesome – I wrote a few, y’know – also suggested is looking online at museum collections, at photos in magazines, photos of scenery, photos of living people doing ancient folk dances, folkplays, and calendar customs, looking at town historians and tourism sites, listening to music online, and watching videos of living customs on You-Tube. If possible, visit some of the events that are still occurring or that are being revived.
 
So anyway, here is a list of authors, teachers, presenters and venues from modern times who have worked with European versions of Folk Magick, especially the British Isles and amalgamated traditions that came to the USA.
 
Kelden Mercury – Modern folk magick
Byron Ballard – Appalachian folk magick
Shani Oates – British Traditional Witchcraft / Cochrane’s Craft
Michael Howard – Transcribed Robert Cochrane’s information and wrote his own stuff, too
Gemma Gary – Cornish Traditional Witchcraft
Cory Hutchinson – New World Witchcraft
Elsa Marie Edmond – Celtic ways
Kristopher Hughes – Welsh ways, translated some of the older Cymraeg (Welsh) documents
Lupa (Greenwolf) – Bones, vulture magick
Icy Sedgewick
Sarah Anne Lawless – Herbalism, poison path blog and store
Nigel Pearson – old world Witchcraft
Silver Ravenwolf – Germanic / Dutch “Pow Wow” / Brauche tradition
Jake Richards
John Michael Greer – Druidry, European magick
Roger Horne
Alison Davies
Vance Randolph
Ian Corrigan – ADF Druidry
Jason Mankey – Gardnerian Witchcraft, but with info from pre-Gardnerian traditions
Robin Artisson (although I think he is a jerk)
John & Caitlynn Matthews
Mara Freeman
Emma Wilby –  Cunning Folk And Familiar Spirits : Shamanistic Visionary Traditions In Early Modern British Witchcraft And Magic
“Caileach’s Herbarium” – Scots Magick blog
“Cronekdhu” – Traditional Cornish Witchcraft blog
Museum of Witchcraft and Magic – Bostcastle, Cornwall, UK
Buckland’s Museum of Witchcraft and Magick – Cleveland, OH, USA
Sharyn McCrumb (fiction author)
Old World Witchcraft store
Artes & Craft store – proprietor Paul Barbary is a blacksmith and Trad Brit W’craft practitioner
 
Here are some books and authors that are older, which have transcribed folk magick traditions, sometimes by observation, and sometimes by interviewing practitioners and witnesses. A caveat – some of these are really classist, sexist and racist, as they present from the viewpoint of the intellectual elite, Christian white males from the upper crust of British society. However, these resources have valuable information on folklore and magico-religions.
 
The Book of English Folk Tales – Sybil Marshall
The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales
The Book of English Magic – Philip Carr-Gomm & Richard Heygate
The Encyclopedia of Folklore & Literature
Bloodstoppers & Bearwalkers (tales from the Upper Peninsula of MI) – Richard Dorson
Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britian – John Brand & Henry Ellis
Old English Customs Extant at the Present Time: an account of local observations, festival customs, and ancient ceremonies as yet surviving in Great Britain – Peter Hampton Ditchfield
The Golden Bough – Sir James George Fraser
The English & Scottish Popular Balads – Francis James Child (aka the Child Ballads) (Five volumes)
A Popular History of the Ancient Britons or the Welsh People – Sir John Evans
The Welsh Fairy Book – W. Jenkin Thomas
The Mythology of the British Islands – Charles Squire
Celtic Myth & Legend – Charles Squire
Cunning Folk & the Production of Magical Artefacts – Owen Davies & Timothy Easton
Palgrave Historical Studies of Witchcraft & Magic
Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia – John Koch
“Fairy Books” (by color, such as “The Green Fairy Book”) – Andrew Lang
The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries – Walter Evans Wentz
Barddas – Iolo Morganwg
The Mabinogion – translated by Lady Charlotte Guest
The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns & Fairies – Robert Kirk
The Magic of the Horse Shoes – Robert Means Lawrence
Teutonic Mythology – Jakob Grimm
Heroic Romances of Ireland – A.H. Leary
Visions & Beliefs in the West of Ireland – Lady Augusta Gregory
Fairy & Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry – William Butler Yeats.
In fact, ANYthing by Yeats!
Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts – Patrick Kennedy
The Witch Cult in Western Europe – Dr. Margaret Murray
God of the Witches – Dr. Margaret Murray
The Gododdin Poems – William F. Skene
Celtic Folklore, Welsh & Manx – John Rhys
Carmena Gaedelica – Andrew Carmichael
Scottish Fairy & Folk Tales – Sir George Douglas
Notes of the Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland – Walter Gregor
Traditions & Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall – William Bottrell
The Folk-lore of the Isle of Man – A.W. Moore
A Peep at the Pixies – Anna Eliza Bray
Tales of the Dartmoor Pixies – William Crossing
Survivals in Belief Among the Celts
A Book of Folklore – Sabine Baring Gould
The Origins of Popular Superstitions & Customs – T. Sharper Knowston
English Fairy & Other Folk Tales – Edwin Sidney Hartland
English Fairy Tales – Joseph Jacobs
Popular tales of the West Highlands  – J.F. Campbell
Irish Druids & Old Irish Religions – James Bonwick
The Religion of the Ancient Celts – J.A. MacCulloch
The Book of Halloween – Ruth Edna Kelley
 
Fiction Authors:
Shakespeare
Spenser
Mallory
Bede (pseudo-history)
Geoffrey of Monmouth (pseudo-history)
Yeats
Burns
Chaucer
Blake

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