#folkmagic

The People’s Magic

Folk magic applies to living traditions passed down (traditionally this was done orally, through familial links, or through informal apprenticeship/mentorship arrangements) through time and generations, bearing a significant connection to a region, community, or people. Thus, folk witches are those that practice magic or healing (most often non-ceremonial magic) rooted within the traditional customs of a specific region, religion, ethnicity, culture, or community with which the practitioner has connection. While folk magic has existed in practice for longer than we can ever know, it is adapted over generations and centuries to meet the needs of a changing world and community. Though it’s adaptable and changeable, folk magic practices still maintain connection to and use of many of their “old” or traditional ingredients, tools, and beliefs, giving us a great number of folk magical practices that ride the line between old ways and modernity.

Folk magic is versatile, a broad field of magical, spiritual, and/or medicinal practice that belongs to no one belief, creed, tradition, or rule set. Simply put, folk magic is the people’s magic, magic that was always intended to be accessible to all, no matter their station or class, as opposed to High Magic and Ceremonial Magic, which was, historically, only accessible to the elite.

Folk magic as a term can be applied to a diverse range of magical practices and customs, coming from every corner of the world, and differing from region to region, culture to culture. Thus, what folk magic entails and what it looks like varies. Some crafts, even within different countries, share similarities in methodology, terminology, or belief (this is commonly due to cultural exchange and influence brought about by diasporic communities), but it’s often the case that even within one area you may find a variety of folk magical crafts. In the Southern United States, for example, there are a number of methods and practices that all fall within the realm of Southern folk magic, but the terminology, individual customs, herbal allies, and toolsets may (and frequently do) change from state to state and even from region to region within one state. Mountain magic, for example, will often differ from the magic of the plains, which differs still from the magic near the rivers, and so on, yet all may share ties and have been influenced by similar/the same Indigenous regional ancestors and/or diasporic groups from other lands.

Because folk magic is the people’s magic, it is often more accessible than Ceremonial and High Magic, using simpler methods and local plant allies, and relying on beliefs and customs of relevance to whatever particular region it hails from and the cultures within that region that have influenced the lore and customs there. Healing work, safeguarding crops, protecting cattle, bringing in business and bounty, reading omens and divining, communing with spirits, blessing homes, binding and baneful works — folk magic can be used to meet a wide range of needs, the needs of the common people; and folk craft practitioners (some of whom may never call or consider themselves a witch, as witchcraft was often seen as something different from folk craft across many cultures throughout history) come in just as wide a range, many bearing traditional terms and names for their individual crafts and ways while others have embraced the title of witch.

Folk Magic Around the World

No one can tell you definitively what folk magic, as a whole, looks like or what it entails, because that answer will change across communities and cultures. Anyone who claims otherwise is misrepresenting the concept of folk magic itself while also, whether deliberately or without realizing, erasing countless folk traditions around the world. Practices that one could identify under the umbrella of 'folk magic' exist and have existed throughout every culture in the world, and further back than we will ever know, though some will dispute this.

It goes by many names. It takes many shapes. And much of it isn’t something that the majority voice wants to acknowledge as being a folk magical tradition (this is largely due to Christian hegemony in action within witchcraft, magical, and spiritual media and communities, which we’ll explore in more depth in the section on Christian hegemony in modern folk magic).

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but some examples I’d like to provide of folk traditions around the world that can be (and in many cases are) deemed as magical tradition (while many will not use the term witchcraft) include (though is by no means limited to):

the Cunning Folk and Wise Folk of England, Scotland, and Wales;

Cornwall’s Pellars;

Sweden’s Klok Gumma and Klok Gubba;

the Thầy Bói, Thầy Pháp, Bà đồng, and Thầy Phù Thủy spiritual mediators, healers, and charmers of Vietnam;

the Granny Healers and Granny Witches of Appalachia;

Wales’ Knowing Men and Knowing Women, Cunning Men and Cunning Women;

Denmark’s Kloge Folk;

Ireland’s Bean Feasa/Fear Feasa, Wise Women and Wise Men;

the Charmers, Rootworkers, Conjure Doctors, Root Doctors, Witch Doctors, Conjurers, Traiteur/Traiteuse of the Southern United States;

the Sangoma healers, diviners and Inyanga herbalists of Southern Africa;

Italy’s Fattucchieri, Segnatori/Segnatrici, and Guaritori;

the Babaylan herbalists, diviners, healers, and faith healers of the Philippines;

the Nganga spiritual healers and diviners of Central Africa, Haiti, Brazil, and the Southern US;

the Pow-Wow practice of the Pennsylvania Dutch and Northern Appalachian peoples;

These customs are folk traditions, many are defined as being magical or mystical, and all are, by definition, forms of folk magic, though the terms witch and witchcraft are still taboo terms in some of these cultures and practices (and some cultures identify witchcraft as something separate from folk magical, mystical, and healing practices),so practitioners would never be defined as being witches.

There are countless other folk magical crafts and practices, far too many to list them all, but the point of this list is to illustrate that there is no one way that folk magical traditions look, no one way folk magic is practiced or perceived, and no one region, religion, or culture from which the world of folk magic was birthed. While much of what you’ll find in terms of resources online and in publication is now heavily saturated with Christian folk magic, it is incorrect to perpetuate the claim (which an unfortunately large number of people are convinced of) that folk magic is itself Christian in practice or in origin. There are, indeed, many paths of Christian folk magic, but it is quite simply not the case that all folk magic has Christian roots or has been Christianized, and that is a dangerous and offensive misrepresentation of folk magic as a whole.

A Source of Confusion: Folk Magic, Folkloric Witchcraft, Traditional Magic, & Traditional Witchcraft

One source of confusion, particularly in online spaces, is in regard to the terms ‘folk magic,’ 'folkloric witchcraft,’ 'traditional magic,’ and 'Traditional Witchcraft.’ I’d like to take a moment to give a very simple, barebones rundown of what these terms mean and the crafts to which they can be applied, in order to clear up some of the misunderstanding.

FOLK MAGIC & TRADITIONAL MAGIC

Firstly, folk magic and traditional magic (not to be confused with Traditional Witchcraft, on which I’ll touch in but a moment) are general, umbrella terms. They are not applied to one specific craft but rather are used to classify or describe a wide range of practices. It’s like how the term math applies to the general field of mathematics, but there are countless mathematical methods within that field, this is how the terms folk magic and traditional magic are also used.

Folk magic is, as I’ve said before, a magical craft shared by a common folk of a particular region, ethnicity, religion, culture, etc; while traditional magic is a term that is sometimes used to describe practices that are simply systems or crafts of magic that a) are, like folk magic, generally rooted in particular regional beliefs or practice, and/or b) usually have origins in practices (which can sometimes be folkloric roots or even folk magic roots) that pre-date the founding of Wicca and Traditional Witchcraft. While traditional magic isn’t as commonly used as folk magic, you’ll still hear or see a fair few practitioners defining their practice as a traditional magic practice, and none of them do so with the intention of confusing traditional magic with Traditional Witchcraft. Indeed, many may not even be aware that Traditional Witchcraft is a separate term with its own meaning.

That’s where the confusion comes in — the term traditional magic is often conflated with the system of Traditional Witchcraft, which has led to the issue of Traditional Witchcraft being misrepresented as a form of folk magic, as traditional magic has been, by some, used interchangeably with the term folk magic (albeit far less commonly than folk magic is used). Simply, traditional magic and Traditional Witchcraft are two different terms that, understandably, have led to confusion and, in some cases, inadvertent misrepresentation.

TRADITIONAL WITCHCRAFT

Traditional Witchcraft (sometimes also called Traditional Craft) applies to specific systems of magical practice, typically initiatory, and often Neo-Pagan or Neo-Druidic, though there are some antitheist, agnostic, and Luciferian practices within the broader realm of Traditional Witchcraft. A more specific definition for Traditional Witchcraft given by Dr. Ethan Doyle White, a religious studies scholar and noted author on esoteric subjects, follows —

’…a broad movement of aligned magico-religious groups who reject any relation to Gardnerianism and the wider Wiccan movement, claiming older, more “traditional” roots. Although typically united by a shared aesthetic rooted in European folklore, the Traditional Craft contains within its ranks a rich and varied array of occult groups, from those who follow a contemporary Pagan path that is suspiciously similar to Wicca, to those who adhere to Luciferianism.’

The term Traditional Witchcraft is typically applied to a variety of systems, most of which were founded from 1950-1970. Systems and practices such as the Sabbatic Craft, Cochrane’s Craft and the Clan of Tubal Cane, and crafts that fall within the realm of the Crooked Path, to name just a few, are all considered schools of Traditional Witchcraft.

Because much of Traditional Witchcraft falls in the line of Ceremonial and High Magic, some feel that it not only doesn’t fit with folk magic but, at its core and roots, sits in opposition to folk magic, which is the magic of the common people, not the magic of the elite, not magic locked away behind hierarchies, initiatory systems, and the like. There are, however, some practitioners of Traditional Witchcraft who also practice forms of folk magic as well and who may identify with both labels.

FOLKLORIC WITCHCRAFT

Folkloric witchcraft is another general term than can be applied to a number of practices. Any practice with roots in folkloric belief or symbolism can be described as folkloric witchcraft, which means there is a lot of overlap across practices as to what falls under this classification. Because of the broad array of crafts to which this term applies, folkloric witchcraft has accidentally ended up adding to the confusion of what is or isn’t folk magic.

Folk magic can often be considered folkloric witchcraft, as can some forms of Traditional Witchcraft and traditional magic. Often, the term folkloric witchcraft isn’t purposely misused or misapplied, but can end up confusing and misleading some readers unfamiliar with the great variety of crafts to which this term can be applied.

To summarize —

Folk magic and traditional magic are used interchangeably by some practitioners and writers.

Some traditional magic may also be folk magic or find roots in folk magic, but not all traditional magic does.

Traditional magic and Traditional Witchcraft are two different terms often confused for each other.

Traditional Witchcraft is applied to systems of magical craft (most often initiatory and ceremonial) usually founded from 1950-1970 and is not a form of folk magic.

Folkloric witchcraft is a descriptive term that can be applied to any magical practice (be it contemporary, ceremonial, folk, traditional, or Traditional) that is rooted in, reliant on, or heavily influenced by folkloric beliefs, symbols, figures, and/or tales.

Christian Hegemony in the Realm of Modern Folk Magic

I’d like to preface this section by stating very clearly that there is nothing wrong with being a Christian folk witch. There are many folk magical paths woven through various Christian traditions, each rich with its own style and culture largely influenced by the regions in which they take their roots as well as in their Christian beliefs. Christian hegemony, though, cannot be denied within witchcraft and occult spaces, and this is a particularly relevant issue in folk magic communities. This section focuses on Christian hegemony in action, what it is, and how it directly impacts diverse and minority communities.

There are many of us who have heard the term Christian hegemony used, particularly within political spheres, but who may not have a clear understanding of what exactly it means aside from the broader definition of 'Christianity being utilized or weaponized as a means of enacting control over a situation, populous, individual, etc.’ To be far better detailed, Christian hegemony can be defined as —

“…the everyday, pervasive, and systematic set of Christian values and beliefs, individuals and institutions that dominate all aspects of our society through the social, political, economic, and cultural power they wield. […] Christian hegemony as a system of domination is complex, shifting, and operates through the agency of individuals, families, church communities, denominations, parachurch organizations, civil institutions, and through decisions made by members of the ruling class and power elite. Christian hegemony benefits all Christians, all those raised Christian, and those passing as Christian. However, the concentration of power, wealth, and privilege under Christian hegemony accumulates to the ruling class and the predominantly white male Christian power elite that serve its interests. All people who are not Christian […] experience social, political, and economic exploitation, violence, cultural appropriation, marginalization, alienation and constant vulnerability from the dominance of Christian power and values in our society.” -per Challenging Christian Hegemony

Christian hegemony absolutely impacts witchcraft and always has in a number of ways, but what does this look like in modern witchcraft communities? Well, Christian hegemony is enacted within the witchcraft community in a variety of ways — holding all practitioners to standards of practice and behavior either admonished or supported by the general Christian narrative; speaking over non-Christian practitioners; partaking in practices, symbols, customs, etc. that were stolen from non-Christian practitioners and have now been claimed as Christian; upholding theft by Christians from non-Christian practices (theft of practices, texts, symbols, etc.); erasure of non-Christian/non-Christian influenced beliefs and practices… The list really is endless and, unfortunately, Christian hegemony remains a pervasive problem within the broader witchcraft community.

But how does it impact folk magic in particular? One need only scroll through a community board or a comment section on any article or post pertaining to folk magic to see for themselves the inferring that all folk magic has a Christian connection, and, in more extreme cases, the active push and insistence that this is the case and the accusations of inauthentic practices or stolen wisdom hurled toward non-Christian folk magic practitioners.

Unfortunately, you’ll find plenty of practitioners claiming that folk magic is strictly Christian and that the term itself applies solely to Christian magic, and that non-Christian practitioners using the term folk magic are interlopers and usurpers of customs that they “don’t have any right or claim to.” That simply isn’t the case. Folk magic is bigger than any one religion, and the term is a general identifier, a classifier of a type of magic, not a name that is applied to one particular belief set. Some folk magic is Christian or Christianized, but some is not. For instance, there are forms of Jewish folk magical practices, Pagan folk magical practices, Buddhist folk magical practices, non-religious folk magical practices, and a wide array of other non-Christian paths of folk magic. To say or believe otherwise is to actively participate in the erasure of non-Christian beliefs and practices.

Christian hegemony may seem to those who don’t suffer the negative impacts of it little more than an annoyance, but when a decently large portion of the witchcraft and occult communities’ Christian/formerly Christian but still maintaining Christian programming/Christian-influenced voices actively seek to push non-Christian/not Christian enough practitioners out, to speak over or “for” non-Christian practitioners, to “borrow” from non-Christian customs and beliefs and claim them as their own, and/or to actively promote the narrative that “folk magic = Christian”, we then have traversed far beyond the realm of annoyances and into the realm of harmful and dangerously problematic behavior, the ramifications of which (i.e. erasure and exclusion of/theft from minority voices and communities within witchcraft spaces) nearly never impacts the majority of the Christian community while greatly and negatively impacting already othered and marginalized peoples.

Again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a Christian folk witch, and there are many folk magical traditions rooted within Christianity and practiced throughout various Christian-majority regions. Simply writing and speaking about Christian folk magic, practicing it, sharing your love and pride in your practice, educating about it — none of this is Christian hegemony. The problem comes when one represents Christian folk magic as the standard for folk magic, when one perpetuates the claims that other forms of folk magic all find their roots in Christian folk magic or have “borrowed from” Christian folk magic, when one partakes in the erasure of, theft from, or talking over practitioners of non-Christian folk magical crafts, or when one cannot unlearn their Christian biases and continues to judge others by those biases or hold others to those standards — these are all very commonly seen forms of Christian hegemony in action within the modern day folk magic community.

I’ll wrap up this section by stating that to attempt to represent all folk magic as being connected to or birthed from any one religion is wrong and offensive. When we do so, we not only disregard so many within the witchcraft community and practitioners outside of the witchcraft community all around the world, but we also disregard and erase the histories of countless cultures, peoples, and communities outside of our own.

the Modern Resurgence

It’s no secret (nor is it much of a surprise) to see such a large amount of genuine and sincere practitioners finding their way back to folk crafts. You may ask why, and the answer (in my opinion) is a long one. The condensed version though, I believe, is that the rise in the return to folk craft is due to a number of factors (political, economic, and sociological) both in and outside of the witchcraft community.

Over the last 10+ years, the interest in connection with one’s authentic roots has grown. DNA testing services for ancestry and genealogy purposes have profited massively off this interest, and a number of networks and organizations have popped up online that aim to help others learn how to research their familial backgrounds, as well as to learn more about the histories and cultures from which one hails.

These trends exist within the witchcraft community as well, and such topics have long been at the forefront of many magical community spaces, in part leading to the broader magical community’s slow crawl toward realizing and addressing unethical tendencies and problematic foundations within many popular practices and systems within the world of witchcraft and within groups who overlap with the broader witchcraft community. Some who have left behind these magical systems and their communities have had to start from the bottom in learning an entirely new craft, and many have opted for taking on folk magic going forward.

Seeking Connection:

Delving into folk magic requires connection — connection to community, region, or ancestors; connection to the world around you; connection to oneself — and, indeed, strengthens connection and understanding in practitioners. Whether learning about folk magic leads to learning about oneself, or whether learning about one’s background leads to folk magic, the end results can be a fulfilling and empowering thing, and can make for a beautiful, wholly authentic practice.

A decent chunk of practitioners finding their way to folk magic over the last few years have done so in an attempt to better connect with and embrace their own cultural histories and heritage, or to keep alive practices and customs associated with their cultural or familial backgrounds. There are also those who utilize folk magic as a means of ancestral connection or even ancestral veneration, keeping and tending a craft being no different or perhaps more effective than keeping and tending a shrine or grave.

Folk magic as a means of connection is any and all of these things — a vehicle for learning, understanding, and forging deeper connection, and a means of stewardship for cultural and familial history.

The Pursuit of Decolonization & Ethical Practice:

One reason we’ve seen such a surge in interest in folk magic amongst younger generations is due to the ability such generations have to address difficult topics such as cultural appropriation, decolonization, and intersectional community building, conversations which, doubtlessly, have led many to understand and acknowledge problematic behaviors of their own, such as appropriation of other cultures or lack of knowledge in their own cultural backgrounds leading to ignorant actions towards others, and to attempt to address these issues and unlearn such behaviors; but also leading many to recognize problematic and harmful beliefs, practices, and behaviors across the world of witchcraft and within many popular magical and occult practices.

While many work to decolonize witchcraft on a large scale, some choose to start close to home, looking at their own connections to practices that are built on harmful frameworks or maintain and contribute to harmful, unethical issues within the witchcraft community. Some call this willful introspection and unlearning an act of decolonization, and many attempts to decolonize one’s own mind, lifestyles, beliefs, and behaviors have led to seeking knowledge about one’s background, one’s ancestors, and the cultural world and behaviors of said ancestors.

For many practitioners of witchcraft and magic on such journeys, those roads have led them to discovering, studying, or taking up folk magic accessible to them through their own backgrounds or regional connections, as they find folk magic and building a craft around culturally rich beliefs and customs to which they are connected to be not only more authentic a practice for them, but to be something they feel is more ethical for them take part in, as well as being a means of healing (ancestral healing, cultural healing, etc.), all of which furthers their pursuit of attempting to unlearn colonialist narratives, behaviors, and ideologies that have influenced many magical and occult practices and communities.

The Importance of Folk Magic & Embracing Newcomers

Folk magic is so much more than “just another magical path” or “just another witchcraft style.” Folk magic is a means of keeping history alive, of keeping ancestral wisdom alive and in practice, of forging and enacting class solidarity through accessible, anti-elitist, anti-hierarchical practices, and of standing against a world where diversity is not valued, standing against a witchcraft community in which the mainstream would much rather we get in line with whatever commercialized, watered down, syncretized amalgamation of magic they’re currently selling, because they’d rather us shut up and pay up, buying into their insistence that magic is a pay-to-play system that can only be accessed through their products, their services, their connections.

To be a practitioner of folk magic is to walk the paths of historian, environmentalist, community advocate, healer, charmer, protector, crafter, and so much more all at once. Folk magic practitioners are keepers of the old ways, working to meet the needs of today’s folk, and paving the way, keeping the fires going, for future generations of folk witches, all through authentic, adaptable practice that feeds the soul, cures what ails you, and makes right what’s wrong.

To those already practicing and keeping folk magical traditions, I commend you for your work and dedication. And to those who may be taking their first steps on the path toward folk magical practice, I welcome you. So long as you come with genuine intentions, with willingness to do the work and to protect the sacred, you’re welcomed, wanted, and needed. I wish you well on your journeys.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING/LISTENING/VIEWING:

The majority of this post is the author's own opinion and interpretation based on experience in this field of witchcraft and magical community, and on the author's own research. Readers are welcome to conduct their own research on such topics and histories and come to their own conclusions.

'African Traditional Religion' - Lugira, Aloysius Muzzanganda

'An Historical Essay Concerning Witchcraft' - Hutchinson, Francis

'Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic' - Wilby, Emma

'Cunning-Folk: Popular Magic in English History' - Davies, Owen

'Des Remèdes Aux Traiteurs: An Introduction to Folk Medicine in French Louisiana' - Lançon, John Adrian

'The Divine Eye and the Diaspora: Vietnamese Syncretism Becomes Transpacific Caodaism' - Jammes, Jerémy

'French Louisiana Traiteurs' - Swett, Julia

'Good For What Ails You' - 1998 documentary

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'Italian Cunning Craft: Some Preliminary Observations' - Maglicco, Sabina

'« Je jongle au Bon Dieu quand je traite » : Verbal and Herbal Healing in Francophone Louisiana' - Gavot, Dana David

'Mojo Workin': the Old African American Hoodoo System' - Hazzard-Donald, Katrina; Prof. / Dr.

'Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in 16th and 17th Century England' - Thomas, Keith

'Rituals of Resistance: African Atlantic Religion in Kongo and the Lowcountry South in the Era of Slavery' -Young, Jason

'Signs, Cures, and Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore' - Milnes, Gerald

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'Traiteurs' - Gavot, Dana David

'Vietnamese Supernaturalism: Views from the Southern Region' - Đõ̂, Thiện

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