The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft

The Triumph of the Moon traces the development of modern pagan witchcraft, examining how a religion that emerged in England drew upon older ideas about paganism, magic, folklore and ritual. Ronald Hutton places its formation within changing British attitudes from 1800 onwards, rather than treating it as a survival unchanged from antiquity.

The book considers Victorian ritual magicians, Freemasonry, Romantic poets, archaeologists, scouting movements and rural secret societies, alongside the changing cultural meaning of witchcraft. Its later chapters focus on Gerald Gardner, his associates and the wider setting in which modern pagan witchcraft took shape after 1950. Earlier discussions also examine the shift from accepting magical harm as possible to regarding witchcraft as fraud or superstition.