One of the most influential works on witchcraft and concepts of magic was E. E. Evans-Pritchard's Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande, a study of Azande witchcraft beliefs published in 1937. This provided definitions for witchcraft which became a convention in anthropology. [18] However, some researchers argue that the general adoption of Evans-Pritchard's definitions constrained discussion of witchcraft beliefs, and even broader discussion of magic and religion, in ways that his work does not support. [19] Evans-Pritchard reserved the term "witchcraft" for the actions of those who inflict harm by their inborn power and used "sorcery" for those who needed tools to do so. [20] Historians found these definitions difficult to apply to European witchcraft, where witches were believed to use physical techniques, as well as some who were believed to cause harm by thought alone. [2] :464–465 [21] The distinction "has now largely been abandoned, although some anthropologists still sometimes find it relevant to the particular societies with which they are concerned". [1] :19–22 a b Singh, Manvir (2 February 2021). "Magic, Explanations, and Evil: The Origins and Design of Witches and Sorcerers". Current Anthropology. 62 (1): 2–29. doi: 10.1086/713111. ISSN 0011-3204. S2CID 232214522. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021 . Retrieved 28 April 2021.

And light a third candle to welcome the kindly dead, saying ‘May this flame be seen in the Otherworld as it is in this World.’ Leave in a bowl some cake or honey, cream or apple juice or other biodegradable treat. Or sing a song for them.) In these societies, practitioners of helpful magic, usually known as cunning folk, have traditionally [ timeframe?] provided services such as breaking the effects of witchcraft, healing, divination, finding lost or stolen goods, and love magic. [1] :x-xi In Britain, and some other parts of Europe, they were commonly known as cunning folk or wise people. [1] :x-xi Alan McFarlane wrote that while cunning folk is the usual name, some are also known as 'blessers' or 'wizards', but might also be known as 'white', 'good', or 'unbinding witches'. [127] Historian Owen Davies says the term "white witch" was rarely used before the 20th century. [7] :xiii Ronald Hutton uses the general term "service magicians". [1] :x-xi Often these people were involved in identifying alleged witches. [1] :24-25

Beatrice Grimshaw (1908). "A Mystic Power". In the Strange South Seas. London: Hutchinson & Co. pp.71–72. Semple, Sarah (June 1998). "A fear of the past: The place of the prehistoric burial mound in the ideology of middle and later Anglo‐Saxon England". World Archaeology. 30 (1): 109–126. doi: 10.1080/00438243.1998.9980400. JSTOR 125012. It has been suggested that this section be split out into another articletitled Witchcraft in Oceania. ( Discuss) (September 2023) Davies, Owen (1999). Witchcraft, Magic and Culture, 1736–1951. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0719056567. Hall, David, ed. Witch-hunting in Seventeenth-century New England: A Documentary History, 1638–1692. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1991.

In some cultures, witches are believed to use human body parts in magic, [1] :19-22 and they are commonly believed to murder children for this purpose. In Europe, "cases in which women did undoubtedly kill their children, because of what today would be called postpartum psychosis, were often interpreted as yielding to diabolical temptation". [35] Such helpful magic-workers "were normally contrasted with the witch who practiced maleficium—that is, magic used for harmful ends". [128] :27-28 In the early years of the witch hunts "the cunning folk were widely tolerated by church, state and general populace". [128] :27-28 Some of the more hostile churchmen and secular authorities tried to smear folk-healers and magic-workers by falsely branding them 'witches' and associating them with harmful 'witchcraft', [1] :x-xi but generally the masses did not accept this and continued to make use of their services. [129] The English MP and skeptic Reginald Scot sought to disprove magic and witchcraft, writing in The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), "At this day, it is indifferent to say in the English tongue, 'she is a witch' or 'she is a wise woman'". [130] Historian Keith Thomas adds "Nevertheless, it is possible to isolate that kind of 'witchcraft' which involved the employment (or presumed employment) of some occult means of doing harm to other people in a way which was generally disapproved of. In this sense the belief in witchcraft can be defined as the attribution of misfortune to occult human agency". [2] :519 Semple, Sarah (December 2003). "Illustrations of damnation in late Anglo-Saxon manuscripts" (PDF). Anglo-Saxon England. 32: 231–245. doi: 10.1017/S0263675103000115. S2CID 161982897. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 July 2020 . Retrieved 26 October 2018. A new book called Hedge Witchcraft,by Harmonia Saille, author of Walking the Faery Pathway, attempts to explain exactly what a hedge witch does, and how anyone with the willingness to learn can follow in the hedge witch's footsteps to learn her craft. Bristol, J. C. (2007). Christians, Blasphemers, and Witches: Afro-Mexican Ritual Practice in the Seventeenth Century. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

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Young, Eric Van; Cervantes, Fernando; Mills, Kenneth (November 1996). "The Devil in the New World: The Impact of Diabolism in New Spain". The Hispanic American Historical Review. 76 (4): 789. doi: 10.2307/2517981. JSTOR 2517981. The word is over a thousand years old: Old English formed the compound wiccecræft from wicce ('witch') and cræft ('craft'). [25] The masculine form was wicca ('male sorcerer'). [26] a b Hutton, Ronald, The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, Oxford University Press, 1999. [ ISBNmissing] Light a candle to the Goddess as Queen of the Dead, She who brings peace and renewal of harmony. And light one also to the God as Lord of the Wild Hunt, He who brings the souls of the dead home to the Otherworld where they dwell between lives. Pearlman, Jonathan (11 April 2013). "Papua New Guinea urged to halt witchcraft violence after latest 'sorcery' case". The Telegraph. London, England: Telegraph Media Group. Archived from the original on 11 February 2018 . Retrieved 5 April 2018.

While most cultures believe witchcraft to be something willful, some Indigenous peoples in Africa and Melanesia believe witches have a substance or an evil spirit in their bodies that drives them to do harm. [1] :19–22 However, such substances are described in other accounts as being able to act on their own while the witch is sleeping or unaware. [19] The Dobu people believe women work harmful magic in their sleep while men work it while awake. [1] :18-19 Further, in cultures where substances within the body are believed to grant supernatural powers, the substance may be good, bad, or morally neutral. [22] [23] Hutton draws a distinction between those who unwittingly cast the evil eye and those who deliberately do so, describing only the latter as witches. [1] :10 Emperor Wu's suppression of shamanism was part of a larger effort to centralize power, promote Confucian ethics, and standardize cultural practices. While the ban on shamanistic practices did impact certain communities and religious groups, these measures were not universally applied across the vast territory of the empire. Local variations and practices persisted in some regions despite imperial edicts. [64] Whitaker, Kati (September 2012). "Ghana witch camps: Widows' lives in exile". BBC News. BBC. Archived from the original on 20 October 2018 . Retrieved 1 September 2012.Evans-Pritchard, Edward Evan (1937). Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-0198740292. witch". Oxford English Dictionary (Onlineed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.) Byrne, Carrie 2011. Hunting the vulnerable: Witchcraft and the law in Malawi; Consultancy Africa Intelligence (16 June): Emma Wilby says folk magicians in Europe were viewed ambivalently by communities, and were considered as capable of harming as of healing, [131] :51–54 which could lead to their being accused as malevolent witches. She suggests some English "witches" convicted of consorting with demons may have been cunning folk whose supposed fairy familiars had been demonised. [131] :123