How much influence does witchcraft have in modern society?
“Witchcraft” is jargon, although many people today like to call themselves witches and say they practice witchcraft. All cultures, especially provincial cultures, have practices that technically are “witchcraft” and include use of folk remedies, sympathetic magic, ideas related to energy manipulation, and fortune telling, and sometimes use of trance states (shamanic elements) etc. Look at the New Age Movement and you will find elements of witchcraft in it. Go into a Church and watch people light candles or pray or involve themselves in “miracle working” or Pentecostalism. This is regarded as being different from witchcraft but the template is the same. People in rural Europe that practiced witchcraft did NOT call themselves witches and much European ‘witchcraft” 1) is Old World shamanism 2) is not synonymous with but is often related to paganism or cultural mixture of pagan remnants and peasant Christianity and 3) is ironically often focused on behaviors to protect oneself or others ag
