White witch - Definition and Overview

White Witches is a qualifying term in English used to distinguish those helpful witches who do not use magic to hurt or harm other people from normal witches. It was needed because the word witch always carried connotations of evil and black magic, from the medieval period till recently. Thus its antonym black witch is an entirely contemporary creation as it was not needed. The term or a similar one, good witch, was in use from the 16th century but it was fairly uncommon in ordinary use except in Devon. It has become more popular in the twentieth century amongst followers of Wicca, but the type of traditional folk magicians it is usually thought to cover are better thought of under their popular name, cunning folk.