Enchanted: The History of Magic & Witchcraft

In the shadow of Puritan New England, where scripture, law, and community shaped every aspect of daily life, a different kind of visionary emerged. Drawing on European alchemical traditions, Hermetic philosophy, and Christian reformist ideals, he believed that nature itself was a sacred text, written by the Creator and waiting to be deciphered. This episode brings you a story of religion, medicine, politics, and alchemy in an age of upheaval and imagination: the story of John Winthrop, Jr. Re...

In the summer of 1612, a woman named Alice Nutter walked to her death. She was not like the others who stood beside her on the gallows, gaunt women worn hollow by poverty. Alice Nutter was a woman of property in Lancashire, a woman of standing, and—most damningly—a woman who did not easily bow her head. This episode brings you a story of fear, injustice, and resistance in early modern England: the story of the Pendle witch trials. Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with origi...

In seventeenth-century England, astrology hovered at the edges of learned society. That is, until one man predicted the Great Plague and the Great Fire, both of which would strike at the very heart of London. This episode brings you the story of the English astrologer William Lilly and his legacy. Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet. Episode sources Support the show EnchantedPodcast.net Bluesky/enchantedpodcast.net

A bishop, a scholar, and a moral arbitrator, Burchard of Worms was a man of many roles, but it's his monumental work of church law, the Decretum, that may reveal folk beliefs about magic that persisted well into the eleventh century. This episode brings you the story of The Corrector and the folk magic of early medieval Europe. Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet. Episode sources Support the show EnchantedPodcast.net Bluesky/enchant...

Since ancient times Avernus, an ancient volcanic crater in the Campania region of southern Italy, has been the source of legend. In this special minisode, I bring you the story of Italy’s legendary gateway to the underworld. Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet. Episode sources Support the show EnchantedPodcast.net Bluesky/enchantedpodcast.net

In 1584, Reginald Scot, a little-known English gentleman farmer from Kent, published a work that would shake the foundations of religious and legal authority in Europe. At a time when witch trials were sweeping through Europe, Scot’s book was a rare and radical challenge to the powers that be. This episode brings you the story of Reginald Scot and his The Discoverie of Witchcraft. Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet. Episode sources Suppo...

In the last decades of the eighteenth century, Thomas Jefferson, principal author of the American Declaration of Independence, began collecting documents related to the history of the Colony of Virginia. Among them was a volume of early seventeenth-century case records from the Williamsburg Courthouse. During the American Civil War, retreating Confederate forces burned the archives in Virginia’s state capital in 1865. This one volume, maintained in Jefferson’s private library, survived, and w...

Despite his dedication to science and mathematics—or perhaps because of it—Pope Sylvester II has been historically linked with legends of magic and sorcery, though these stories are more myth than fact. His reputation for being involved in magic largely stems from his profound knowledge and his use of what was then cutting-edge technology. This episode brings you the story of the life and legacy of Gerbert of Aurillac also known as Pope Sylvester II. Researched, written, and pro...