Witchcraft, which may be defined as the usage of a variety of supernatural or magical powers to influence objects and people, either for good or bad purposes, is a practice that has been in existence for hundreds of years throughout the world, in places such as South America, Europe, and Africa.  Witchcraft has historically mostly been seen as something that is evil, with the classic version of it being the witches of medieval Europe who cast spells on people with evil results such as causing them to get sick or kill others.  Witchcraft has also occasionally been viewed as good, such as with European “white witches” who used witchcraft to reverse the effects of evil spells, or witch doctors who heal the sick.  But at least up until fairly recently, the principal attitude of society toward witchcraft has been one of revulsion and fear, and one result of this attitude has been the phenomenon of witch hunts, in which thousands of people have been killed.

The amount of people believing that witches and witchcraft are real, in the sense that witches not only do certain things such as using incantations, casting spells, and making potions, but that these things also really do have magical powers to influence people, has undergone an interesting evolution.  With the belief being widespread among the population up until the nineteenth century, then declining steadily in the developed world as the prestige of science rose while still being widespread in undeveloped countries.  This recently has gone up again with the emergence of New Age ideas and a new respect for indigenous religious practices.

There is a stark contrast today with regard to modern day witches and witchcraft, with it still being viewed in the Third World largely as a force for evil.   With it being on the one hand portrayed positively in the media, as with portrayals of Native American shamans and Caribbean voodoo practitioners.  A somewhat romanticized version of it is practiced by middle class people, as with the neopagan Wiccans.  There are still witch hunts in the Third World to this day; witch killing cases have been reported in countries like Tanzania, Uganda, and Ghana, and there was a report that fifteen suspected witches had been killed in the month of February 2003 alone in Nigeria.  The common denominator with both of these views of witchcraft is the belief that witches have actual powers, and I would argue that this belief is both incorrect, with no scientific evidence to support it, and harmful, because of the fear the belief generates.