Best-selling author Erica Jong here turns her attention to the fantastical and factual world of witchcraft. She explores the figure of the witch both as historical reality and as archetype - as Halloween hag and full-breasted seductress, as a lingering vestige of a primeval religion and a projection of fear of the unknown. Now, more than a decade after its original publication, Jong has added a new introduction to Witches, emphasizing the relevance and continued popularity of this beguiling topic.

On page after page filled with magical illustrations by Joseph Smith, Erica Jong treats the witch as a survivor of the age of sorcery, as a scapegoat for male-dominated church-state politics, as a remarkable natural healer, and as a hexer without peer. In poetry and prose, she relates tales of torture and triumph, a gallery of witches' familiars, real recipes for love potions and flying lotions, and formulas for spells and incantations that make this volume rich with mystery and delight.