>>9054
wow, pretty cool: I've been researching this recently.
>do witches exist
the closest thing to what would have been a "witch" in medieval Europe would be an asatrufag who practices that religions historical magical systems.
by a strict Christian definition, a witch is simply a practitioner of witchcraft, so everyone on /fringe/ is technically a witch.
>black cats and brooms
I dunno about the who cats thing, but flying brooms stem from the practice of using anticholingeric ointments to induce vivid hallucinations, some of which feel like flight. they're very real, but also dangerous to use, and don't cause real flight.
>are modern wiccans witches
not in the historical sense, no. their occultism is largely based in 19th century shit like golden dawn, oto and thelema.
by the strict Christian definition, they practice activities which fall under the definition of witchcraft and are thus witches.
>cast actual spells
as in Harry Potter movie tier magic? no. that doesn't exist and isn't what the ancients even thought of as magic.
they do practice magic as far as it can be practiced, though, even if their forms are ahistorical.