At the Borders of the Wondrous and Magical

Examines the esoteric side of texts and tales from the Middle Ages, including the enduring presence of haunted areas and power places and the roles of witches, house spirits, rune priests, shapeshifters, and the undead.

Discusses the dividing line between magic and devilry, as well as the significance of grimoires, bells, blacksmiths, storm callers, and more.

Serves as a guide to a still-present magical and imaginal realm, pointing readers to the borderlands and liminal thresholds that enable access to the other world.

In this new collection of his writings, scholar and Sorbonne professor Claude Lecouteux reveals that the magical world of the distant past is real and still very present—if you know where to look. Explaining how he makes the texts he studies reveal their hidden teachings, Lecouteux directly explores the esoteric side of medieval myths and tales, peeling back the Christian veneer to show the enduring presence of haunted areas and power places, witches, house spirits, rune carvers, vampires, shapeshifters, and the undead.

In tales originating from Greenland and Iceland to Saxony, Romania, and beyond, the author discusses the dividing line between magic and diablerie as well as the significance of grimoires, bells, blacksmiths, and other magical objects and characters. He explores magic in the elements of nature and as illustrated by the art of witches and magicians specialising in weather magic—storm callers and storm dispellers. He examines the medieval mythology surrounding clouds and the mythic significance of mountains in the haunted world of our ancestors, which is still as close to us today as it was to them in the past. Looking at borderlands and liminal thresholds that can serve as gateways to other worlds, the author also discusses land spirits and the rituals needed to engage with them, recognising how their ownership of the land can never fully be usurped.

Through these writings, Lecouteux acts as a ferryman, transporting readers into the realms of the wondrous and magical. He enables us to see how the haunted magic of the Middle Ages never ended and how the imaginal realm, standing just beyond the borders of our own, is as vividly real as the material world.