Who are Cunning Folk? Part Two

In my last post I started to define what a Cunning Man/Woman actually is (or mostly, was).  Here are a few more important points that you should know...

CUNNING FOLK OR WITCHES?  WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

Other terms for Cunning Folk are wizards, wise men or women, folk healers, conjurers (whether or not they actually conjured spirits in the traditional ceremonial manner), pellars and charmers. We often hear the term 'white witch' to describe Cunning folk. A real cunning practitioner would never refer to themselves as a white witch. The term was historically used by detractors who sought to connect them with the devil and suggest their powers came form the same evil source as what we call 'black witches'. It was an insult. By the way, 'black witch' was not a thing either. A witch was seen as evil, pure and simple, in the way a serial killer is today. The phrase 'white witch' therefore has the same connotation as saying 'good serial killer'. You can see how ridiculous that sounds. I am always leery therefore when a practitioner willingly describes themselves as a white witch. It says to me they are either ignorant of history, or not a true, Christian Cunning Person but a neopagan/Wiccan/Trad. Witch (pick one) using elements of Cunning Craft to enhance their pagan practise.

BORN OR MADE?

Cunning Folk worked alone, unlike witches who were thought to work in covens, although there were rare exceptions when they would work in a pair usually with a spouse or family member. There was no formal training or initiation to become a Cunning person – practitioners were often self taught from books available at the time, such as the classical grimoires, cheap almanacs, and popular compilations of charms, fortune telling, and folk astrology such as those by Raphael. A few were mentored in person to be successors of their local practitioner. Occasionally the trade was passed down through families. In a time when literacy was low, the possession of books gave Cunning folk legitimacy and credence. Further magical prowess could be claimed by being the ubiquitous 'seventh son of a seventh son' or having received fairy gifts (more on this topic later).

CITY OR COUNTRY?

They were not necessarily country bumpkins either – Cunning Folk could be found wherever people were found, in villages, towns or cities. London had many well known practitioners. Owen Davies has estimated that there were several thousand working in England alone. Some popular charmers would travel long distances across the country on call-outs, such was their demand and fame. My own fair city of Bristol had its local Cunning men and women and I hope to talk more about them in future posts as I feel they are my ancestors – in a spiritual, geographical way of course!

PROSECUTION AND PERSECUTION

Cunning Folk also were not particularly persecuted as witches were, and although there were many laws against them, these were mainly ignored by the layman. This is because, unlike witches, they were seen as helpful to society by the common man in the street (a position not usually shared by the authorities). Many of the Cunning Folk put on trial were tried for things like fraud, falsely accusing others of crimes, failing to provide services promised, and so on, very rarely for charges of witchcraft or consorting with the devil. It is recorded that in Essex, of the 400 people put on trial for witchcraft, only 4 were Cunning Folk. Over time, as beliefs changed, the laws against Cunning Folk also changed, from statutes against practising magic and witchcraft in general, to the fraudulent mediums act which we still have today. As a result, most prosecutions in the 19^th Century were for 'false pretences' of having magical or psychic powers.

PRACTICES

I will go into the practices of Cunning Folk in detail in future posts, but for now suffice to say they were based on a mixture of common folk beliefs (such as hanging a horseshoe above a door for luck), Christian spoken charms and magical prayers based on liturgical forms and ideas, adaptations of ancient Hebrew and Arabic spells found in books such as the Sword of Moses, and (usually simplified) ceremonial magic operations from grimoires like the Key of Solomon. Perhaps the closest thing you can compare Cunning Craft to (and this has been done a lot in recent years) is Hoodoo, which is a Christian folk magic of the USA, itself a mixture of African, European and Native American folk magic and beliefs. Many practices are mirrored in both systems, probably because Hoodoo also historically employed some of the same source books as Cunning Craft, and immigrants to the states from Europe took their folk magics with them to mingle with the then current local systems. The rootworker of Hoodoo can be compared to the Cunning man in that they fulfil the same role in their society and offer similar services within a framework of Christian belief. In fact, a popular name for Hoodoo and its practitioners is Conjure and Conjurers! I myself practised Hoodoo for many years before discovering Cunning Craft, and as I have some American ancestry, it is part of my heritage also, being used by many of my American family members. I still use a lot of Hoodoo methods so you will find them in some of the posts, although the material will be clearly marked as such to avoid confusion. Hoodoo can sometimes help to 'fill in the blanks' where time has obscured the detail of some British Cunning methods. Likewise the current state of Hoodoo in America can paint a portrait of how modern Cunning Craft in Britain might be had it not all but died out in the twentieth century.

A BIT DODGY

An unfortunate point about historical Cunning Folk is that some of them were unscrupulous. This is why most of the persecutions were for things like fraud. Some knowingly deceived and ripped off their more gullible clients for profit. Not by 'pretending' to have magical powers you understand (viz., the fraudulent mediums act), as most practitioners and clients believed they actually had these powers (although authorities in the later centuries doubted this). Mainly it was overcharging, promising to do work that was never done, accusing people of crimes out of the blue and so on. This was partly the reason the authorities were so against their practices, they believed them to be troublemakers. Many were also flamboyant, and experts at spin and self promotion. Of course it goes without saying that a Cunning man today should never defraud or cheat their clients. However, a certain amount of spectacle and good-intentioned humbuggery (comparable to that of P T Barnum) can help to draw customers and raise your profile. I will talk more about this in future posts.

Hopefully these last two posts have given you a clearer picture and an insight into the world of the Cunning Practitioner.  I will expand upon some of these points at a later date, but for now consider your crash course concluded!

Lux ex tenebris

Q et I

Who are Cunning Folk? Part One

By this point you may be asking yourself, what on earth is a Cunning Man/Woman anyway?  These days the term is not well known outside of occult circles.  In this post and the next I will attempt to define these now-rare beasts.  This is Cunning Craft 101!

CHRISTIAN MAGICIANS

The number one most important thing you need to know about Cunning Craft is that it is a Christian system of folk magic. Its practitioners were (and are) Christians, some Catholic, mostly Protestant. They were not underground pagans, Witches, Wiccans, Druids, Heathens, or any other current magico-religious movement you care to name. Not that I have anything against any of these paths you understand (in fact, I started out my magical career as a die hard Wiccan, then Druid, then Heathen, before discovering none of them were for me), this is just not what Cunning Folk were. In fact, this modern notion of painting them as pagans who hid behind a veneer of Christianity to avoid detection and persecution, would make them turn in their graves. Of course there were varying degrees of belief, as there are now. Some were extremely devout, regular churchgoers, some were less pious but still active in the church community, and others were Christian but opposed an organised clergy and church, preferring to worship alone. Still others were Christian in name only, rarely attending church or knowing little of church doctrine. But even these last would never describe themselves as pagans or witches.

We have a fine tradition here in the UK of what I will call secular Christians – that is, people who tick Church of England on the census, but who are largely ignorant of all but the most basic Christian theology, and only ever go to church for weddings, christenings and funerals (and maybe the odd carol service). I know dozens of people like this and I expect you do too. Usually this stems from the fact that they know they believe in something, but they have never taken enough real interest in religion to look into it, and after all, Anglicanism is ingrained in British society, and is probably what their parents ticked on the census too. My mum is a perfect example of this type of person. If this is you as well, that's fine!

But, you say, I'm not even a secular Christian, I am a neopagan/Witch/Wiccan (choose one), can I still practise Cunning Craft? The answer is no. The practises are built on a Christian world view, theology and scripture. The bible, holy family, sacraments and other Catholic holdovers (often dismissed as 'popish' superstition by historical authorities) are an intrinsic part of the work. If you cannot recite psalms or call upon the power of Christ sincerely and with passion and genuine intent, this path is not for you. If your appeal to Jehovah is a token gesture, or rushed through, or mumbled half heartedly, or recited drearily in rote fashion as a child in school, your workings will fail. How can you call upon something to aid you if you don't believe it is real? Your mouth will be saying one thing but your heart and mind will be thinking 'I don't believe in what I'm saying, these prayers and scriptures are bull', and this will cancel the effect of any magic you are trying to create.

Okay, you say. Well in that case I'll just strip out all of the Judeo-Christian bits from the practise and either leave them out entirely or substitute them for calls to pagan gods and goddesses. Fine, you go ahead. Just take a quick look at a small sample of the charms, spells and ceremonies in the handbooks and grimoires. That's a lot of rewriting to do.  The power behind the charms and ceremonies of Cunning Craft comes from God, the models of much of the spells are ecclesiastical rites, and the whole framework is based on Christian symbolism. If you strip all of this away, and I mean all, because you cannot just switch the word Jesus for Cernunnos, and the sign of the cross for the sign of Osiris slain and expect everything to make sense, then you are left with practically nothing, so you might as well practise something else anyway.

The short, blunt, perhaps painful truth for some of my readers is this – if you cannot identify as a Christian, be it Catholic, Protestant, Methodist, or Quaker, devout, secular or middle of the road, you cannot practise true Cunning Craft. You don't have to go to church, abstain from sex before marriage, and fast on a Friday, but you do need to be able to call on the Holy Trinity and believe in what you are saying and who you are appealing to. If you can't do this, Cunning Craft is not for you. If you self identify as a pagan of any kind, Cunning Craft is not for you. Take up something else because you will be frustrated in this endeavour. If this offends you, you might as well stop reading now because it's not going to get any better.

Sorry to make this point so long but it has to be said. I see so many self styled 'Cunning Folk' these days who when you look into their beliefs, they spout on about the Horned God and the Goddess, summerlands, reincarnation, rule of three etc., things which have NOTHING to do with true Cunning Craft. These people are trying to claim what is essentially a Christian practise as their own and twist it to make it pagan. As a result, there are so few people performing real British Cunning Craft now that it is in danger of dying out, and people are believing nonsense such as historical practitioners were secretly pagan and were the ancestors of today's witches. Thankfully a small revival seems to be taking place with the recent publication of some excellent and well researched books. I can only hope my writings will add to this revival, keep the spirit alive, and create some more Wise Men and Women.

SERVICE PROVIDERS

The next most important thing about Cunning Craft is that it is just that – a craft. It is a trade, a profession. Cunning Folk were (and are) professional or semi professional service providers. They didn't learn all those charms and methods to just benefit themselves or their immediate family and friends. While many ordinary folk would know a few common or family charms and practices, Cunning Folk were recognised as having more expertise and experience in the field of magic than regular people, and thus were consulted by all strata of society, from the poorest farm labourer to Kings and nobles. Cunning Folk gave a service, and charged accordingly for it. You often read in modern magic books that you must not accept payment for spells, for various reasons (one popular reason is given that accepting payment for a spell will nullify the magic) however there is no historical evidence to support this modern belief. Cunning Folk expected to be remunerated (whether in currency or goods) for their expertise, just as a lawyer or barber would be. They weren't like clergy who performed rites for free as a duty to the church. Neither should you be. If you fully intend to take up this path then you will need to provide your services to others, for a fair rate. Of course I don't expect you to do this straight away, so at first you will work only on yourself, then, once you gain experience you can start to work on willing family and friends. Only after practising and perfecting your techniques on them can you begin to work with the public.

There is so much more to working with clients than just knowing the spells and techniques. You have to have empathy, authority, control, discretion, accounting, marketing and organising skills, the ability to 'read' people's body language, to ask the right questions, timekeeping... the list goes on and on. Having a customer service background is an advantage. Some students are real people persons and really click with clients and understanding their needs straight away. For most people it takes a few years of time and practise. A small few will never manage it. I am going to discuss the 'mechanics' of working with clients in this blog – as in the consultation procedure, how to structure and cost different services etc. - but I will not teach business skills or people skills. Those you will have to learn yourself. I recommend a government funded business basics course, and a customer service course such as those offered to waiters or retail staff.

SEMI PROS

This brings me to the next point. Many Cunning Folk had second jobs or were semi professional. Often these jobs were from the middle trades sector of society, jobs like tailors, farmers and carpenters. Quite a few were also pub landlords, a handy thing as it kept them in the hub of local gossip, always useful for fortune telling and thief detection! So do not fret if you are unable to perform this work full time, you are still following in the tradition of offering Cunning services 'on the side'. By the way, on the topic of Cunning men as pub landlords, the role's usefulness in their work and how to replicate those advantages today, there will be more to say in a future lesson.

I still have a few more points to make but this is getting quite long and it is past my bedtime, so I will save them for the next post.

To be continued...

Q et I