Superstition

When the local wizard was the repository of all wisdom

11 May 2024 9:00 am

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

Are the rumours of human sacrifice in Bolivia true?

10 September 2022 9:00 am

The rumoured tradition of human sacrifice in Bolivia

I tempted fate – and got Covid

15 January 2022 9:00 am

Well, I did warn you. As I typed my column last week on the imminent end of Covid I said…

Stuffed doll in Edwardian-style black dress with stiletto through face, south Devon, England , 1909–13

The objects that sound witchiest on paper just look sad: Spellbound reviewed

27 October 2018 9:00 am

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

24 March 2018 9:00 am

Samantha Harvey is much rated by critics and those readers who have discovered her books, but deserving of a far…

Lose weight the Muriel Spark way

24 August 2013 9:00 am

Those of you dieting your way to a svelte physique amid the flesh-exposing terrors of summer should take courage from…