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Very good point vi. Magic, like religion, is very difficult (if not impossible) to verify. The process brings about individual change, and the faith in it's workings are what cause "individual alchemy" to occur. Truth is, I've studied the Occult in all aspects for well over 10 years until I decided to drop the more distateful aspects of it when I decided to become Christian. To this day I find nothing wrong with the majority of ritual magic (GD, RC, freemasonry, etc), and still study the more asthetic aspects of Kabbalistic philosophy... I guess more because of my "need to know" than for any other reason.
Witchcraft in general has really gotten an undeserved "bad rap" over the years due to people's misunderstanding of what withcraft is.
1.) It's not Satanism. True, some witches can do some pretty unsavory things... by the same token others do very beneficial things, it's all about balance. Probably the worst harm that was done to the witch community as a whole was when LeVay adopted the term "witch" to describe the members of his Satanic coven. I know some GD people that are still steaming over that.
2.) The foundations of modern withcraft are in Celtic Druidism and Kabbalah/Hermetics, were it not for the Martinists in the late 19th century, Witchcraft probably wouldn't exist in it's present form.
3.) The religious basis for this belief is very diverse, and for the most part up to the individual practioner... I've even met some Christian Druids (an interesting lot, I can assure you). Witchcraft is not a religion, it's a practice/philosophy. I know some that make it their religion, but this generally isn't the case.
So, the question... is Witchcraft real? Only you can answer that, it's according to your perception. I myself believe that Occult practices (including witchcraft) are real. The human will is a very powerful thing.