Superstition
Why shamanism shouldn’t be dismissed as superstitious savagery
Our need for belief in the supernatural gave rise to a demand for ‘mystical intermediaries’, or shamans, forging man’s earliest religion from which all others developed, argues Manvir Singh
When the local wizard was the repository of all wisdom
Before the arrival of ‘proper’ doctors, everyone in the Middle Ages, from rulers to peasants, turned to magic practitioners and cunning folk for healing and advice
Bodies beneath us
The rumoured tradition of human sacrifice in Bolivia
Why I don’t walk under ladders
Well, I did warn you. As I typed my column last week on the imminent end of Covid I said…
The objects that sound witchiest on paper just look sad: Spellbound reviewed
Just in front of me, visiting Spellbound at the Ashmolean last week, was a very rational boy of about seven…
Drowning in superstition: a magnificent thriller of medieval England
Samantha Harvey is much rated by critics and those readers who have discovered her books, but deserving of a far…
A far diet from Kensington
Those of you dieting your way to a svelte physique amid the flesh-exposing terrors of summer should take courage from…
