Arts & Culture

Practical Advice for Discerning “Cunning Folk”

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Ed Simon reviews Tabitha Stanmore’s new book, “Cunning Folk: Life in the Era of Practical Magic.” “Stanmore enumerates the sorts of practical rituals that cunning folk offered in the plying of their trade. A thief might be discovered, for example, by making suspects eat chunks of cheese in which various charms had been carved, whereupon the guilty party would choke on their morsel. (This must be hard cheese, Stanmore emphasizes.)”

Living

Not a Witch

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At the end of it, I know that the projects I do take on – be they jars of herbs or small rituals, necklaces made of certain stones or clothes woven just so – are few and far between. If I light a candle and say a few words, they are more likely to be a prayer than an incantation. Surely that’s not Witchcraft.