
Contents
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Introduction Introduction
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Harmful Magic: Witchcraft, Pishogues, Cursing Harmful Magic: Witchcraft, Pishogues, Cursing
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Beneficial Magic: Supernatural Healing, Holy Wells, and Magical Healing Beneficial Magic: Supernatural Healing, Holy Wells, and Magical Healing
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The Churches and Popular Magic The Churches and Popular Magic
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Conclusion Conclusion
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References References
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Suggested Reading Suggested Reading
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5 The Supernatural, Magic, and Religion
Get accessAndrew Sneddon lectures in history at Ulster University, is a former President of the Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies, and has published widely on religious, medical, and social history in Britain and Ireland. His recent research explores the history of magic and includes Witchcraft and Magic in Ireland (Palgrave, 2015) and Representing Magic in Modern Ireland (Cambridge University Press, 2022). An advocate of public-facing history, he is adapting his 2013 book, Possessed by the Devil, which examines Ireland’s last witch trial in 1711, into a ‘serious’ video game, a virtual reality experience, and a graphic novel: w1711.org.
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Published:22 February 2024
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Abstract
In nineteenth and early twentieth-century Ireland, many committed Christians continued to believe in supernatural cursing and witchcraft; divination; holy wells; fairies; magical healing; and protective magic. These beliefs and practices were present in both Protestant and Catholic communities and were dynamic, evolving, and nuanced, differing according to region, locality, and personal preference. They were dismissed by journalists and the legal profession as superstitious throwbacks to an irrational, immoderate age. Church hierarchies denounced popular magic from pulpits and in church courts, as well as in print and in person, but this did little to eradicate them. Magic survived this opposition, and the medical, structural, and intellectual changes associated with modernity, because of its secretive nature and its selective appropriation of Christian doctrine and forms of devotion. It also helped people to deal with hard lives and uncertain futures and afforded, especially women, agency and a means of resistance against authority.
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