The Visions of Isobel Gowdie; Magic, Witchcraft and Dark Shamanism in Seventeenth-Century Scotland, Emma Wilby (Sussex Academic Press, Brighton, Portland and Toronto, 2010) xi, 604pp., hardback, £75.00, ISBN 978 1 84519179 5

This is the first full-length examination of the famous confessions given by Isobel Gowdie at Auldearn in 1662 which have aroused so much interest in academia circles and in the popular press.  The author's discovery of the trial records, long believed to be lost, has justified the book.  Emma Wilby has offered an interdisciplinary attempt to separate what Isobel had to say as against the language of her interrogators, to identify her beliefs and to indentify why her confessions differ so markedly from those of the suspects of the period.  Emma Wilby sees the confessions in the context of contemporary witchcraft and examines recent research into American ‘dark' shamanism in an original way.  The attraction of Isobel's confessions is obvious - their descriptive power, vivid imagery and contentious subject matter.

Emma Wilby concludes that her close analysis supports the hypotheses, even now controversial, that in seventeenth century Scotland popular spirituality was shared through a deep interaction between church teachings and shamanistic traditions coming from before Christian times.  Whether there is agreement with Wilby's conclusion or not, she has presented a substantial piece of research which is generously illustrated.  Reproductions of manuscripts are not clear, which is often the case, but there are some interesting items - in particular the probable appearenace of Highland soldiers at the Battle of Auldearn.  There are scholarly end-notes, a full bibliography of works cited and a comprehensive index.