Alongside the learned, Latin magic of the grimoires there has always been another magic: practical, local, often spoken rather than written, and done at the kitchen table. In Britain its specialists were the cunning folk — wise men and women who, until the early twentieth century, were paid to heal people and livestock, find lost or stolen goods, read fortunes and break curses.
Frazer's two laws
In The Golden Bough (1890) the anthropologist James Frazer sorted "sympathetic magic" into two principles. Whatever you think of his wider theories, the categories are useful.
| Law | Principle | Example |
|---|
| Similarity (homeopathic) | Like produces like; an image affects what it resembles | A poppet shaped like a person; a coin-coloured candle for money |
| Contagion | Things once in contact remain connected | Using hair, nails, a signature or a worn item as a "link" |
Almost every folk spell uses one or both.
The witch bottle
Hundreds of stoneware "witch bottles" from the 16th–18th centuries have been excavated across England, buried under hearths and thresholds. Typically they contain bent pins, nails, hair, nail clippings and urine. The idea: the bottle becomes a double of the householder, and any malice aimed at them is caught and tormented by the pins instead. It combines both of Frazer's laws.
Thresholds and hearths
Folk magic concentrates on the boundaries of the home: doorways, windows, chimneys. Common traditional protections include:
- Iron (a horseshoe or nails) over the door.
- Rowan twigs bound with red thread ("Rowan tree and red thread / put the witches to their speed").
- Salt across a threshold.
- Concealed shoes in walls and chimneys — one of the most common finds in old British houses.
The witch's approach
Folk magic asks: What do I have? What does it resemble? What has it touched? It favours everyday materials — string, salt, candles, kitchen herbs — and plain, rhymed speech. That accessibility is its power.
Exercise
Walk around your home and note every threshold. Choose one and give it a simple, safe protection (a dish of salt, a sprig of rosemary, a small iron object). Record the date and anything you notice over the next month.