cunning woman
Village wise woman
A cunning woman was a female folk practitioner in early modern England and colonial America who provided magical services—healing illness, finding lost objects, identifying thieves, breaking curses.
The term carried no negative connotation; cunning meant skilled or knowledgeable.
The villagers consulted the cunning woman when the cattle fell ill.
The male equivalent was cunning man.
- seeressWoman who foretells
- hedge witchSolitary nature-based practitioner
- healerOne who restores health
- herbalistPractitioner using plant medicines
- herbal remedyPlant-derived therapeutic preparation
diviner · midwife · old wives · enchantress · magician · clairvoyant · fortune teller · charms · spell casting · village healer · evil eye · folk magic · white magic · spellcaster · conjurer · scrying · seeing stones · runes
- folk healersfolk healer, healer, herbalist, herb doctor, root doctor
- witcheswitch, enchantress, good witch, bad witch, white witch
cunning womanmedical doctor
Licensed healthcare practitioner
physician · surgeon · apothecary · general practitioner · barber-surgeon
cunning womanscientist
One who studies nature
scholar · academic · natural philosopher · skeptic · rationalist
cunning womanwitch
Practitioner of dark arts
black witch · maleficent · curser · evil witch · sorceress
cunning, cunningly, woman, women, womanly, womanhood, womanish, knowable, knowing