Conjuring Spirits: Texts and Traditions of Medieval Ritual Magic, edited by Claire Fanger, Sutton Publishing, Phoenix Mill, Thrupp, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL5 2BU, UK, 1998, £40, hardback, pp. 284.

Medieval and Renaissance magic made heavy use of theories of astronomical influence. This collection contains nine extracts from magic texts each introduced by a different contributor. For example, Juris Lidaka introduces The Book of Angels, Rings, Characters and Images of the Planets attributed to Osbern Bokenham, which includes the rules for the making of images during the appropriate planetary day and hour.