Welsh Witches and Wizards

The widespread belief in Welsh Witches and Wizards in Wales reflects a land steeped in legend & myth since ancient times. The witch’s power to harm people, livestock, & crops was greatly feared. For this reason country people consulted with so-called ‘cunning men’ & ‘wise women’, who had the power to negate their spells with counter-magic. Cunning-folk practitioners were also consulted for love spells, to find lost property or missing persons, exorcise ghosts & banish evil spirits. The figures of both witch & wizard form part of a broader folk-magic continuity in Wales. This popular belief in witchcraft bears little relation to modern neo-pagan Wicca. There is little evidence of its linkage to a nature religion based on a pre-Christian fertility cult.

In this book Michael Howard describes the historically-attested Welsh practitioners of folk magic & witchcraft. The Dark Sisters, the Toadmen, the Druids, the Wizards, the Cunning Men, & Faery Doctors, & the charms & spells they used. Also examined are surviving pagan beliefs associated with holy wells & the cult of the sacred head, & the mysterious & sometimes sinister ‘creatures of the night’ such as faeries, lake monsters, dragons & Black Dogs.