The Bizarre Things Elizabethans Paid Magicians To Do

What if your local pharmacist, therapist, astrologer and relationship counsellor were all the same person? In Elizabethan London, people dealing with illness, money worries, problems in love or uncertainty about their future could turn to a cunning folk practitioner for answers.

These early modern magical practitioners offered a strange mixture of astrology, geomancy, herbal remedies, divination and experimental medicine — all designed to treat the body, mind and soul as one interconnected problem.

In this episode of Macabre London, Nikki Druce explores the fascinating world of Simon Forman, one of Elizabethan London's most notorious and intriguing magical practitioners. Forman kept meticulous records of the people who came to him for help, giving us an extraordinary glimpse into how ordinary Londoners used magic in their everyday lives.

From geomancy and astrology to herbal potions, purges and magical cures, we look at what people actually paid these practitioners to do — and whether their treatments were genuine attempts at healing, dangerous pseudoscience, or something in between.

Nikki is joined by Dr Alexander Cummins an expert in the history of magic and geomancy, to explore how these practices worked and why magic was such an important part of everyday life in early modern England.

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This series is sponsored by Snag - Clothing for Every Body! Make sure you check them out www.snagtights.com

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