January 18, 2005
The cunning folk
were white or anti-witches, people who could undo harmful magic for you. Tammy (Tamsin, Tamson) Blee (Blight) was also known as the White Witch of Helston, a seriously weird place also known for its Furry Dance Another cunner was James Murrell, and according to this (geocities) site so was Daddy Witch, though this account of her grave suggests she was a bit on the scary side...
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I used to live down the road from a white witch, when I was but a slip of a lad. My parents forbade me to speak even one word to her. Sometimes parents suck.
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Burn them all. 'tis not normal.
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Wisdom will always be feared.
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so if she weighed the same as a duck....
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My Granny.
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Interestingly, cunning folk were as likely to be men as to be women, but most of those prosecuted as witches were nonetheles women. But then again, there is such a small sample - only about 1000 people charged with witchcraft in England, and the whole system/belief was different on the continent. Historians are still totally baffled by the rise and fall and whys of witchcraft prosecutions (why then, why women) - any thing you have heard in the popular media or documentary is likely out of date or inaccurate. The Burning Times is especially inaccurate - I remember having pagan friends who thought it was perfect, only to find out it's really inaccurate (exagerrated, misunderstanding what was happening) after I started doing history at university.