Western, indigenous shamanism and the knowledge of how to commune with energy, spirits and plants, ways of healing and divination would have been held by the wise men and women of our communities. In old English the 5000 year old word for ‘wise’ was Wicca (male) or Wicce (female) (pronounced ‘witcher’), and is where the origin of the word ‘witch’ comes from, just meaning ‘wise’ without any negative connotation. These original wise men and women were also called ‘cunning folk’ – from the original old meaning of ‘cunning’ which means ‘knowledge’ and ‘to know’ and many of them would have practiced ‘hands on healing’ as part of their services.

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