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Cunning folk are practitioners of folk medicine, divination and thwarting witchcraft. World-wide, most societies that believe in witchcraft have such service magicians claiming to be able to repel bewitchments, usually for payment.[1][2]
The term “cunning” in this context simply means someone who knows more than others,[3] who might know just a few magical charms and spellsVerbal charm to be spoken or chanted, sometimes a single magic word such as Abracadabra or the Renervate encountered in the fictional Harry Potter series of books..[4] It does not necessarily imply the use of supernatural remedies, although in practice the presence or absence of charms became the test of whether magic was involved.[3]
Nineteenth-century folklorists often used the term “white witch” to refer to cunning folk, although this was rarely used among the ordinary people themselves; for them, the term “witch” had general connotations of malevolence and evil.[4]