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Cunning-Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic Paperback – April 1, 2006

by Emma Wilby (Author)

4.9 118 ratings

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This book contains the first comprehensive examination of popular familiar belief in early modern Britain. It provides an in-depth analysis of the correlation between early modern British magic and tribal shamanism, examines the experiential dimension of popular magic and witchcraft in early modern Britain, and explores the links between British fairy beliefs and witch beliefs. In the hundreds of confessions relating to witchcraft and sorcery trials in early modern Britain there are detailed descriptions of intimate working relationships between popular magical practitioners and familiar spirits of either human or animal form. Until recently historians often dismissed these descriptions as elaborate fictions created by judicial interrogators eager to find evidence of stereotypical pacts with the Devil. Although this paradigm is now routinely questioned, and most historians acknowledge that there was a folkloric component to familiar lore in the period, these beliefs, and the experiences reportedly associated with them, remain substantially unexplored. This book examines the folkloric roots of familiar lore from historical, anthropological and comparative religious perspectives. It argues that beliefs about witches' familiars were rooted in beliefs surrounding the use of fairy familiars by beneficent magical practitioners or cunning folk', and corroborates this through a comparative analysis of familiar beliefs found in traditional Native American and Siberian shamanism. The author explores the experiential dimension of familiar lore by drawing parallels between early modern familiar encounters and visionary mysticism as it appears in both tribal shamanism and medieval European contemplative traditions. These perspectives challenge the reductionist view of popular magic in early modern Britain often presented by historians.

Print length

317 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Liverpool University Press
Publication date

April 1, 2006
Dimensions

5.98 x 0.7 x 9.02 inches
ISBN-10

1845190793
ISBN-13

978-1845190798
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Magic and witchcraft have between them represented one of the most difficult and challenging subjects for modern historians. Emma Wilby's book is a remarkably interesting, timely and novel way of looking at them, and one of the most courageous yet attempted." -- Professor Ronald Hutton, University of Bristol.
"Emma Wilby's conclusions and her explanation of how she drew them, laid down here in the commendable modern academic tendency towards plain English that has moved away from the previous generation's overly complex sentence structure, is worth its weight in gold." Ian Read in Runa Magazine, Issue 19, October 2006.
"...one of the few books to treat in any detail, and perhaps the only one to treat at length, the topic of the witch's familiar ... these kinds of consideration are very fruitful for understanding much fortean material ... 8/10" -- Fortean Times, July 2006.
"This is the definitive study of familiar lore, which should find a place on every Witch's bookshelf." -- Witchcraft and Wicca Magazine, Imbolc/Winter 2007.
"...valuably sets the ground for further exploration of the role and character of folk magic within community and tradition and is to be recommeded for that." -- Northern Earth Issue 105.
"...a powerful, grounding work for all modern magical practicioners of British magical tradition." -- Pagan Times Australia, Spring 2006.
"...fascinating and well-researched. It is a genuine contribution to what is known about cunning folk and lays very solid foundations for future work on the subject. Buy it today!" -- White Dragon, Beltane 2006.
"...riveting and downright encouraging review of the magical underpinning of mainstream culture." -- Sacred Hoop, Issue 51, 2006.

Review

"Magic and witchcraft have between them represented one of the most difficult and challenging subjects for modern historians. Emma Wilby's book is a remarkably interesting, timely and novel way of looking at them, and one of the most courageous yet attempted." -- Professor Ronald Hutton, University of Bristol.
"Emma Wilby's conclusions and her explanation of how she drew them, laid down here in the commendable modern academic tendency towards plain English that has moved away from the previous generation's overly complex sentence structure, is worth its weight in gold." Ian Read in Runa Magazine, Issue 19, October 2006.
"...one of the few books to treat in any detail, and perhaps the only one to treat at length, the topic of the witch's familiar ... these kinds of consideration are very fruitful for understanding much fortean material ... 8/10" -- Fortean Times, July 2006.
"This is the definitive study of familiar lore, which should find a place on every Witch's bookshelf." -- Witchcraft and Wicca Magazine, Imbolc/Winter 2007.
"...valuably sets the ground for further exploration of the role and character of folk magic within community and tradition and is to be recommeded for that." -- Northern Earth Issue 105.
"...a powerful, grounding work for all modern magical practicioners of British magical tradition." -- Pagan Times Australia, Spring 2006.
"...fascinating and well-researched. It is a genuine contribution to what is known about cunning folk and lays very solid foundations for future work on the subject. Buy it today!" -- White Dragon, Beltane 2006.
"...riveting and downright encouraging review of the magical underpinning of mainstream culture." -- Sacred Hoop, Issue 51, 2006.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Liverpool University Press; 61721st edition (April 1, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 317 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1845190793
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1845190798
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.34 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.98 x 0.7 x 9.02 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #542,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #507 in Shamanism (Books)
- #1,221 in Folklore & Mythology Studies
- #1,956 in Magic Studies (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.9 118 ratings

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S. Cranow

Shamanistic Faeries

Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2015

Verified Purchase

Many who are involved with Ceremonial Magick would be quite familiar with the concept of the Holy Guardian Angel. Going back a step further one would be quite familiar with Christian Holy men having conversation with various saints and angels. Having spirit friends or mentors is something quite common in all religious traditions. Why even Maggid of Joseph Caro in Safad helped this Jewish Holy Man write a book of law called the Shulchan Aruch.

In this study penned by Emma Wilby, the concept of the Cunningman is discussed along with his/her spiritual familiar. THe Cunning man or woman was sort of like the healer or wizard of the village . They would use magic to heal sickness and track down thieves. They also could protect one from witchcraft.In comparison witches were the old hags that cast mean spells on people and cavorted with demons. All this happened about 400 years ago. It was at a time when rural Britain was rather poor. malnutrition was rampant and plagues were a regular occurrence . Medical care was nowhere near advanced as it is today. Police were not as proficient at tracking down Nieves as they were today either. So teh cunning man or woman played an important role in the village. When the witch trials came about at first they spared but later one they too could be hauled in.

When the inquisition people tortured witches it was often revealed that they had demon familiars who gave them advice regarding magic and differing herbs that could cure illness. Not much was made of having these demon familiars. Many researchers thought that the demons were part of the church or elitist mindset hoisted on the witch trials. In a word the demons were a church invention .

Of course researchers forget the underlying animist faery belief that never die once chrstianity took hold. Often times these testimonial were a blend of church fantasy and the existing peasant belief in Faeries . In fact when comparing cunning folk to witches one sees that they are almost the same exact deal. demons and fae familiars shared a lot in common they both came to the practitioner at a time of need, taught them magic,had very intimate relations, shape shifted and took their charges to sabbats. Cunning folk could both heal and curse so could witches.

The author later addresses shamanistic spiritual practices ranging m native American , eskimos, and so Erwin shaman. It can be almost positively stated that there was an underlying shamanistic practice. In pre morn Europe and the faery faith was a hold over or remnant . The final part of the book delves into the spiritual uses for familiars and cunning folk practice, the reality of familiars and what could cause the open mid the ability to perceive these familiars if they are in fact real.

This book puts a lot of magic back into the concept while at the same time digging in depth the concept of familiars and its shamic origin . This book is a must read.

9 people found this helpful

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ChimChim

Outstanding analysis

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2012

Verified Purchase

This is what books on the history of witches and witchcraft should be like. I don't mean offense to anyone's cherished religion, but I am so tired of the rampant ignorance of New Age authors who want to rewrite the world as a matriarchal paradise before those bad old Christians came along.

This book is a solid historical/anthropological analysis of witch trial testimonies and contemporary documents pertaining to the subject. Wilby makes a convincing case that the "cunning arts" practiced in 16th and 17th century Britain contained a significant element of shamanism and were in many ways quite distinct from the witchcraft practiced in continental Europe at the time. Although today much is made by witchcraft enthusiasts of the use of hallucinogenic herbal "flying ointments," Wilby shows that British witches were having visionary experiences spontaneously, and that familiars, far from being pet cats or dogs, were spirit beings encountered during these visionary experiences. Wilby also illustrates that witchcraft in Britain, at least by the early modern period, was not a "goddess religion" but was in fact an element of a more animistic "fairy faith." The account also gives the reader a sense of the regional variability of practices and their evolution through time.

In short, an excellent analysis, very readable although erudite, and I'm looking forward to reading Wilby's other works.

24 people found this helpful

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T

More Academic Gold from Wilby

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2018

Verified Purchase

Emma Wilby continues to be a force to be reckoned with in the field. From someone with an academic background the book is breathtaking, but as someone with a practical background in folk magic the book is so much more. This book captures the lives and beliefs of folks that most modern magical folk idolize, but most modern magical folk haven't put in the left work to learn more about these idols. Wilby lays it all out there and does an amazing job of defending her thesis and presenting information. I always recommend this book to anyone who asks about familiars.

8 people found this helpful

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BadAsMe

Amazing book and great customer service.

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2021

Verified Purchase

This book is amazing. I highly recommend that anyone interested in the subject matter read it. I also wanted to thank the seller, BookMarkIt, for responding to my email immediately and addressing my concerns.

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Garnet

A Hard Read but a Great One

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2009

Verified Purchase

This book is one that every serious Witch or Pagan needs to have on their shelf. Its well worth the cost and I'm still eagerly awaiting her second book based on the trial of a rather (in)famous Scottish Witch.

Rather than buy Robert Hutton's Triumph of the Moon (with his clear bias against the modern Craft having any sort of roots past the 1800's), get this work and sort things out for yourself over whether the Old Faith has a history or not. For one thing, it puts forth the connections between Witchcraft and Cunning Folk and ancient Shamanistic practice, in particular that of spirit familiars.

Here is a work of real pagan scholarship.

5 people found this helpful

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DRCarlson

I wish I could give this a higher rating than 5 stars

Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2011

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My favorite book of this year, along with her book about the confessions of Isobel Gowdie. This is my favorite non-fiction book, period. The real story on cunning-folk , witches and the fairy-faith. New Age/Murray and Gardner-Sanders' Wiccan book of shadows and other assorted 'blue of the cloak' types need to look elsewhere, this will just make them sad. Also any wingy thing fairy types go back to your victoriana and j.m. barrie. Real history, Real cunning-folk, Real witches, real fairy-familars. The non-fiction companion to Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr.Norrell. Essential to understanding scotch and english magical practices.

4 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

O.L.

Informative and hefty

Reviewed in Canada on July 10, 2019

Verified Purchase

A very. very useful book. It's a lot to take in at once, so take breaks when you're reading it! I learned a lot. It also validated elements of my spiritual practice. I'd been eyeing this book for years on my friend's bookshelf so I am glad I finally bought it.