White Witch

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Throughout the early modern period the English term ‘witch’ was not exclusively negative in meaning, and could also indicate cunning folk. “There were a number of interchangeable terms for these practitioners, ‘white’, ‘good’, or ‘unbinding’ witches, blessers, wizards, sorcerers, however ‘cunning-man’ and ‘wise-man’ were the most frequent.” The contemporary Reginald Scott noted “At this day it is indifferent to say in the English tongue, ‘she is a witch’ or ‘she is a wise woman’”. Folk magicians throughout Europe were often viewed ambivalently by communities, and were considered as capable of harming as of healing, which could lead to their being accused as ‘witches’ in the negative sense. Many English ‘witches’ convicted of consorting with demons seem to have been cunning folk whose fairy familiars had been demonised;;many French devins-guerisseurs (‘diviner-healers’) were accused of witchcraft;[ and over half the accused witches in Hungary seem to have been healers.
Some of the healers and diviners historically accused of witchcraft have considered themselves mediators between the mundane and spiritual worlds, roughly equivalent to shamans. Such people described their contacts with fairies, spirits or the dead, often involving out-of-body experiences and travelling through the realms of an ‘other-world’.Beliefs of this nature are implied in the folklore of much of Europe, and were explicitly described by accused witches in central and southern Europe. Repeated themes include participation in processions of the dead or large feasts, often presided over by a female divinity who teaches magic and gives prophecies; and participation in battles against evil spirits, ‘vampires’ or ‘witches’ to win fertility and prosperity for the community