Pale Hecate's Team

Pale Hecate's Team examines beliefs about witchcraft and magic in England during Shakespeare's lifetime and the generations that followed. Katharine Briggs considers the inheritance of witchcraft ideas, English witch belief and the arguments surrounding them, drawing on literary and historical sources.

The book traces these themes through learned writings, Elizabethan drama and Jacobean poetry, while also considering magicians, tricksters, quacks, devils, imps, amateur magic, fate and fortune. Further sections address Robin Hood and related magical beliefs, with appendices gathering terms, cited stories, spells, charms and two early accounts of psychic experiences. The result is a study of how witchcraft and magic appeared in literature, folklore and contemporary belief.