Charmers were[year needed] English practitioners of a specific kind of folk magic, specialising in supernatural healing.
The charming tradition is quite distinct from others,[citation needed] being based either on the charmer's possession of inherent healing ability by 'laying on of hands', or ownership of an object that had healing properties or possession of a charm or charms in verse, typically deriving from Biblical sources genuine or apocryphal.
Charmers differ from cunning folk in two principal ways.
They also did not attempt to heal those who believed themselves to be suffering from the effects of witchcraft or demonic possession.
They restricted themselves to healing natural ailments, such as snakebite, toothache or burns.