University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore

Reprint of the 1936 ed.

Magic -- The magical control of the weather -- Magicians as kings -- Incarnate human gods -- Departmental kings of nature -- The worship of trees -- Relics of tree-worship in Europe -- the influence of the sexes on vegetation -- The sacred marriage -- The king's fire -- The fire-drill -- Father Jove and Mother Vesta -- The origin of perpetual fires -- The succession to the kingdom in ancient Latium -- St. George and the parilia -- The oak -- Dianus and Diana -- Royal and priestly taboos -- The perils of the soul -- Tabooed acts -- Tabooed persons -- Tabooed things -- Tabooed words -- The killing of the divine king -- The fairy wife -- Temporary kings -- Sacrifice of the king's son -- Killing the tree-spirit -- Swinging as a magical rite -- The myth of Adonis -- Consecration by anointing -- Reincarnation of the dead -- Volcanic religion -- The gardens of Adonis -- The ritual of Attis -- Attis as the father god -- On head-hunting -- The tears of Isis -- The star of Isis -- Feasts of all souls -- Mother-kin and mother goddess -- Marriage of brothers with sisters -- Children of living parents in ritual -- Blind victims in sacrifice -- Men dressed as women -- Children in winnowing-fans -- Magical significance of games in primitive agriculture -- Women's part in primitive agriculture -- Personification of the corn-spirit at harvest -- Human sacrifices for the crops -- The corn-spirit as an animal -- The Pleiades in primitive agriculture -- A primitive form of purification -- The maniae at Aricia -- Attempts to deceive demons -- The sacrifice of first-fruits -- Homeopathic magic of a flesh diet -- The propitiation of wild animals by hunters -- The transmigration of human souls into animals -- The transference of evil -- The omnipresence of demons -- The public expulsion of evils -- Public scapegoats -- The Satunalia and kindred festivals -- Not to touch the earth -- Not to see the sun -- The seclusion of girls at puberty -- The fire festivals of Europe -- Were-wolves -- The fire-walk -- The magic flowers of midsummer eve -- The external soul in folk-tales -- The external soul in folk-custom -- The ritual of death and resurrection -- The mistletoe.

" ... A supplement intended to provide some fresh information on certain subjects which I have discussed more at large in The Golden Bough."--Preface.