Virtually all cultures and epochs fizz with magic. You might call it a secret ingredient of human life, because magic takes so many forms and serves so many functions.

One relatively new area of research among historians and archaeologists focuses on the use of magic and mysticism to protect buildings, gardens and their inhabitants. It’s one of the many forms of magic I explore in my new book, Magick: Decoding the Visual Culture of Spells, Illusions and Psychic Powers.

Early modern Europe saw numerous reports of towns such as Schiltach in Germany in 1533 being burned by “incendiary witchcraft” and fire-starting demons. These dramatic examples, from an era of terrifyingly combustible domiciles, helps explain why so many people focused magical building protection on chimneys and around hearths.

Even today, people living comparatively safe and comfortable lives still use special objects and occult techniques to allay their anxieties and increase their sense of security.

A few years ago, a lovely volunteer guiding me around an ancient church in North Yorkshire explained she had planted a rowan tree in her garden. The purpose? To repel her neighbour’s “evil eye”. Rowan trees have been used in this way for centuries across the British Isles.

So, if you’ve got problem neighbours, or your house and garden seem to suffer from bad luck, perhaps it’s time to try a magical solution.

Trees, herbs and other plants were and are used to defend properties against dangers both natural and supernatural. The 17th-century botanist Nicholas Culpeper’s Complete Herbal (1653) claimed that a bay tree in the garden protects from witchcraft, the........

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