Hello there. A little fox told me you were interested in cunning-craft…
Completing a trilogy of posts compiling my current works, classes, interviews, and resources on geomancy and necromancy, I wanted to put one together on my current work on the English magic of (especially early modern) folk magicians called cunning-folk.
I have a host of course series and class recordings on various aspects of traditional British cunning-craft both on my own Talks page and elsewhere, especially through the excellent folks over at The Cauldron Black, so here is some overall organisation.
Ok, So… What’s Cunning Craft?
Those looking for more focused introductory surveys of particular cunning-crafts should find two class recordings of assistance:
Cunning Is As Cunning Knows: Folk Divinations of the British Isles offers material on book-and-key, sieve-and-shears, and other “object divination” and various applications of astrology and geomancy, as well as contexts for scrying, dream incubation, and more.
Cunning Conjurations: Spirit Calling in English Folk Magic presents the varied practices around summoning, bargaining with, and propitiating angels, devils, fairies, and the dead.
Being myself a practitioner of these crafts from Old England now living in New England, I also want to point out, that those interested in the history of Old English magics in New England should check out Transatlantic Cunning: English Magic in Early America, a self-contained one-off class-bundle on the folk magic, divination, prophecy, spell-craft and magical practitioners of the early British colonies of the Americas (1500-1700).
For those looking to dig a little deeper into this folk magic tradition, I offer the Cunning Craft Foundation Course, a six-part series offering around twelve hours of training exploring the history, techniques, documents, and practices of pre-modern British cunning-craft. The classes in this seriess break down into grounding students in historical sources and contexts; divinatory practices of cunning folk; unbewitching practices of hex-breaking and curse-reversal; the protocols and practices of conjuring angels, fairies, and spirits of Air and Woods; the texts and techniques of nigromancy for summoning devils and the dead; and conclusions on modern cunning practice as well as working with the Cunning Dead.
Cunning Sourcebook
For those looking for a survey of the folk grimoiric texts and techniques of cunning-folks’ working-books, you will be well served by Cunning Libraries: The Magic Books of Early Modern Folk Magicians, which goes over exactly that: the personal spellbooks and receipts of working service magicians and wise ones.
Two of the most important historical source texts of folk grimoiric magic for these very service magicians and wise-ones are analysed in two of my dedicated Sourcebooks courses:
Sourcebook: Scot’s Discoverie is a three-part course series exploring the magical source text, Reginald Scot’s infamous Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), which formed a treasure trove of magical operations, charms, and ritual protocols for conjuring spirits and working sorcery.
Sourcebook: Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy is a three-part course series exploring that infamous collection of magical treatises, the Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, containing a great variety of explicit early modern material on the conjuration of spirits; offering instructions, practical considerations, and explanations for working with holy angels, planetary spirits and unclean devils.
Finally for those looking to prepare, compile, construct, and conjure their very own spell-book, liber spiritus, or grimoire, the considerations of ritual inks, penknives, stationary, and paper – along with the consecrations and conjurations of these tools and provisions – of On Making Magical Books should be of assistance.
Cunning Techniques
Those interested in particular techniques of cunning craft should consider:
Psalm Magic in Cunning Craft, a self-contained one-off class module introducing the magical, cultural, and social history, understanding, and application of psalm magic, healing, charming, and other pious sorceries.
Spellcraft with Planetary Number Squares, a self-contained one-off class module on early modern cunning sorceries involving astrological number squares (kamea): from charms to talismans and a range of practical spell-crafts.
Spirit-Houses: Bundles, Charms, & Vesssels for Empowering Spiritwork, a self-contained class module on working with spirits through various means to house and call these familiars – from bottles to bundles, pots to shewstones, rings to hagstones, and much much more.
Be Not Afraid: Angels in English Magic, a self-contained class module on early modern angelology, pre-modern understandings of spiritual medicine and folk healing, and calling angelic spirits by traditional grimoiric means.
Unclean Spirits: Demons in English Magic, a self-contained class module on early modern demonology, pre-modern notions of black magic and maleficia, and working a cunning goetia of grimoiric nigromancy and spirit-work.
Angelical Speech: Enochian As Ritual Language, a self-contained class module exploring the magics of the Angelical language of Dr Dee – often called Enochian – for its mythic meanings and practical sorcerous implementations in conjuration and spellcraft.
Catching Hands: Gestural Magic for Planetary Sorcery, a self-contained class module examining chiromancy, divination by palmistry, as well as hand gesture in planetary and geomantic conjuration, spirit-work, and spell-craft.
Instruments of Nigromancy, a one-off class exploring the various tools used by pre-modern necromancers – from circles and knives to suffumigations and spellbooks and beyond.
Those looking to explore necromantic work with the Cunning Dead themselves should check out my class recording for The Cauldron Black’s Mighty Dead series, Mighty Dead: Anne Bodenham. And feel free to (re)acquaint yourself with my necromantic work over at my previous post So You’re Interested In Necromancy.
Love & Hate
For studies of cunning crafts grounded in understanding pre-modern medicine as well as conceptions of the emotions, cursing, and the heart, consider:
Apple of the Eye: Love Magic in Early Modern England is a one-off self-contained class considering the magical psychologies of humoural theory and the passions, the sorcerous ingredients and ritual actions of seduction, enchantment, heart-healing, glamour, “love-leashes” and even works of erotic-malefic cursing that cunning folk dealt both with and in...
The Devil's Bath: Curse-craft and Humoural Theory is a self-contained one-off class introducing the Four Humours of fiery choler, airy blood, watery phlegm, and earthy melancholy, and exploring how they can be manipulated to both heal and harm.
If you want to get really stuck into humoural theory – the most important cosmological as well as medical and psychiatric model across the Old World for millennia, which was employed by countless sorcerers, doctors, and poets alike to map self, situation, spirit, and substance in an holistic intricacy of natural magical expression – you should consider my Four Humours Foundation Course.
For those who prefer their healing modalities with a little more angelology, I would be remiss in forgetting to mention my class-bunde, Raphael: The Doctoring Archangel, which celebrates this healing and exorcising angel and offers some formulary, advice, and resources for developing a relationship with this archangelic healer and guide.
More Cunning To Come
I have a lot more classes and courses I’ve taught online that I am in the process of putting up on my site to purchase as recordings at the moment. So I will be adding to this here blogpost as a one-stop-shop for people to check up on what’s available as they are added.
You can also keep abreast of new classes and courses – both live online and on the site as recordings – on my Friends of English Magic mailing list or having a look-see over at my Linktree hub.
I wish you all wise workings, effective unbewitchings, and artful experiments in all your cunning crafts. Cheers folks.