This image is the cover for the book Love Potions Through the Ages

Love Potions Through the Ages

The spiritualist and author of Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs presents an in-depth study of love potions and charms through the centuries.

Love and sexuality are perhaps some of the most essential, eternal, and universal concerns of humankind. Since before recorded history, societies have sought ways to improve their physiological potency, attract mates amorously, and—in some instances—prevent such attraction or divert it elsewhere. Over time, these means have taken many forms: love elixirs, spells, and rites have been part of virtually every civilization through the ages.

This survey explores the evolution of love potion practices over the centuries and across the world. Separate chapters focus on ancient Greece, Rome, India, and the Orient, as well as the Middle Ages and modern times. Author Harry E. Wedeck relays the spiritual aspects of these concoctions as well as historical anecdotes about them. Recipes are also included, though Wedeck cautions that they are exclusively for academic purposes and not intended for personal use.

Harry E. Wedeck

Harry E. Wedeck was a linguistic scholar of the classics, an observer of spheres beyond the norm, and a practicing witch. A native of Sheffield, England, Wedeck was chairman of the department of classical languages at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn from 1935 to 1950 and then taught the classics at Brooklyn College until 1968. Afterward, he lectured on medieval studies at the New School for Social Research until 1974. Some of his excursions into the unusual remain available in reprint editions. They include Dictionary of Astrology, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, A Treasury of Witchcraft, and The Triumph of Satan.

Open Road Media