Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
English Folk Magic Revealed, November 26, 2003
In CUNNING-FOLK: POPULAR MAGIC IN ENGLISH HISTORY Owen Davies gives a detailed picture of the English folk magic practitioner in detail. Although the cunning folk were often referred to as white witches, their way of life was not just black and white. It was complicated and colorful. The cunning folk (from the Anglo-Saxon cunnan meaning to know, the author tells us) were both men and women. They claimed to be able to find lost goods, locate hidden treasure, tell fortunes, heal, do love magic, give charms, find evil witches and unbewitch the alleged victim of malefic witchcraft. Yet they were often thought of as witches or worse than witches. Davies fully explores the culture of the cunning-folk from around the 15th century to the early 20th century in a clear and logical presentation.
There are eight chapters: Cunning-Folk and the Law, For Good or Evil?, Who and Why, Services, Books, Written Charms, European Comparisons, Cunning-Folk in the Twentieth Century. There are 246 pages with Notes, Bibliography and Index. For those interested in folk magic or in the general environment of witchcraft, this book is highly recommended.
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3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting, informative bewitching, December 5, 2005
"Cunning-folk" was the uniquely-English term given to multi-faceted practitioners of magic who healed the sick, bewitched, told fortunes, identified thieves, and induced love. They could be either male or female, though two-thirds were male. They usually held another form of employment, generally as artisans or tradesmen, which provided them with a relatively prominent place in society and served to some extent as a protection against authorities who could overlook the cunning-trade if the person in question held a steady job.
Cunning-folk provided a wide range of services for their clients, though their specialty was bewitching. In regards to witchcraft, they offered a wide range of services. First, they diagnosed bewitching, often by examining a client's urine. If bewitching was suspected, they provided a variety of means to heal their client, and protect against future bewitching. Finally, they could determine if an accused person was a witch, often without even seeing them. Most often, cunning-men and women provided written charms as protection for their clients against witches. The shape these charms could take varied from a piece of animal uterus on which words or symbols had been drawn, to a stone, pebble or piece of glass that had been inscribed.
Davies' book is immensely useful in the study of English society, including its fears and a formerly un-studied aspect of the community and is enjoyable to read.
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