I love history and magic, and this book seemed right up my alley. While it isn’t a book on actually how to practice magic, it is chock full of history on how people used practitioners back in medieval times. it was extremely interesting and educational. I absolutely enjoyed it.

This was an absolutely fascinating read! It teaches us quite a few things on the cunning folk and the way of life in a time where it was very common and accepted. We think back and that’s not something that would first come to mind. I really enjoyed it.

An excellent deep-dive into the fascinating history of cunning folk across Europe, particularly England. Unlike other 'historical' accounts of the time, Stanmore is quick to note the differences between cunning folk and witches. This confusion is one found in many neo-pagan and modern occult books, which is a shame because it has infiltrated the pagan community so deeply, yet isn't based on any truth. Cunning folk were highly respected and completely separate from witches, so much so that very few cunning folk were ever tried as witches during the Burning Times. Any trial records for cunning folk are almost entirely for crimes outside of witchcraft, such as fraud, conspiracy to commit murder, or other unlawful acts. Stanmore does an excellent job separating cunning folk from witches using historical documentation and records from across Europe. Each chapter has stories interwoven throughout, connecting the magic back to the needs and desires of the time. I enjoyed her perspective, as well as her educated insight into the culture of cunning folk and how they were perceived throughout history.

Stanmore is truly an expert in her field and her research should not be taken lightly. I wish more modern pagan authors would turn to real historical documents instead of continuing to perpetuate misinformation. If you are interested in learning the real history of magic-practicing folk, this is the book for you. Highly recommend!

Cunning Folk, life in the age of practical magic by Tabatha Stanmore is about life in the middle ages and there opinion and belief in magic. Whether it be tea leaf reading conjuring the answers with bread a mirror and many other different rituals the fact was there was a big belief in magic at that time. People from all walks of life spent their money and all their hope on many different types of conjurers astrologers and in some cases even the local vicar The reason we still answer the question what’s your sign on dating apps is because sometimes it even worked. In some cases a rational thinker could figure out the trick but there was still those cases that left the eyewitness is baffled. I loved this book and found it so truly interesting and wish I could write a great review to convince others to read this book but I think like me those who love the strange and different will definitely read this I love how in the book the author says that she doesn’t know if she believes they really had magic because she wasn’t there which I think is a fair humble statement and shows her intelligence. A lot of people would scorff and dismiss any belief in ferry‘s phase conjure‘s psychics ET see but that in my opinion shows a lack of intelligence such as passing opinions on those who lived at a time we have no clue what it was like and yet we are so confident we know what they should’ve done and how we would’ve done it so much better and that’s just ridiculous. Whether they had magic or not the book is still interesting to read and fun to ponder and just know you can laugh but you weren’t there. I love this book and definitely recommend it they have things in the book that are easy to figure out and then bears the stories that are unexplainable like the 12-year-old and the mirror he even have those using magic to try and gain romance kill the romantic partner and much more this book is just so so good. I want to thank bloomsbury academic for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.