Witches, Werewolves, and Fairies

MYTHOLOGY Otherworldly beings--among them werewolves, witches, and fairies--have figured in our stories and dreams since the Middle Ages. But as Claude Lecouteux shows, their roots reach back to a much older Western European belief system that predates Christianity. Through his study of Germano-Scandinavian myths and legends, as well as those from other areas of Europe, he has uncovered the almost forgotten concept that every individual has three souls, and that one of these souls--the Double--can, in animal or human form, leave the physical body and journey where it chooses. While there were many people during the Middle Ages who experienced this phenomenon involuntarily, there were others--witches--who were able to provoke it at will, thus attracting the persecution of the Church. In a thorough study of the medieval soul, the author reveals eerie and surprising accounts of contact with the Double and otherworldly phenomena, such as second sight and psychic foreknowledge. He shows that far from being fantasy or vague superstition, fairies, witches, and werewolves all attest to an ancient and continuous vision of both our world and the world beyond. CLAUDE LECOUTEUX is a professor of medieval literature and civilization at the Sorbonne. He is the author of nine other books exploring the true nature of medieval beliefs in the afterlife and the supernatural. He lives in Paris.