Witchcraft, in various historical, anthropological, religious and mythological contexts, is the use of certain kinds of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft. While mythological witches are often supernatural creatures, historically many people have been accused of witchcraft, or have claimed to be witches.
Witchcraft still exists in a number of belief systems, and there are many today who identify with the term witch. The majority of Europeans historically accused of witchcraft were women, and in legends and popular culture the stereotype is female; however males were also often referred to as witches. Practices and beliefs that have been termed witchcraft do not constitute a single identifiable religion, since they are found in a wide variety of cultures, both present and historical; however these beliefs do generally involve religious elements dealing with spirits or deities, the afterlife, magic and ritual. Witchcraft is generally characterized by its use of magic. Sometimes witchcraft is used to refer, broadly, to the practice of using magic , and has a connotation similar to shamanism. Depending on the values of the community, witchcraft in this sense may be regarded with varying degrees of respect or suspicion, or with ambivalence, being neither intrinsically good nor evil.

Members of some religions have applied the term witchcraft in a pejorative sense to refer to all magical or ritual practices other than those sanctioned by their own doctrines; although this has become less common, at least in the Western world. According to some religious doctrines, all forms of magic are labeled witchcraft, and are either proscribed or treated as superstitious. Such religions consider their own ritual practices to be not at all magical, but rather simply variations of prayer. Witchcraft is also used to refer, narrowly, to the practice of magic in an exclusively inimical sense. If the community accepts magical practice in general, then there is typically a clear separation between witches and the terms used to describe legitimate practitioners. The term is found in accusations against individuals who are suspected of causing harm in the community by supernatural means. Belief in witches of this sort has been common among most of the indigenous populations of the world, including Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. On occasion such accusations have led to witch hunts. Under the monotheistic religions of the Levant, witchcraft came to be associated with heresy, rising to a fever pitch among the Catholics, Protestants, and secular leadership of the European Late Medieval/Early Modern period and sometimes leading to witch hunts. Throughout this time, witchcraft came to be interpreted as Devil worship.

Accusations of witchcraft were frequently combined with other charges of heresy against such groups as the Cathars and Waldensians. Practices to which the witchcraft label have historically been applied are those which influence another person's mind, body or property against his or her will, or which are believed, by the person doing the labeling, to undermine the social or religious order. Some modern beliefs consider the malefic nature of witchcraft to be a Christian projection. The concept of a magic-worker influencing another person's body or property against his or her will was clearly present in many cultures. Many examples can be found in ancient texts, such as those from Egypt and Babylonia. Where malicious magic is believed to have the power to influence the mind or body, malicious magic users can become a credible cause for disease, sickness in animals, bad luck, sudden death, impotence and other such misfortunes. Witchcraft of a more benign and socially acceptable sort may then be employed to turn the malevolence aside, or identify the supposed evil-doer so that punishment may be carried out. The folk magic used to identify or protect against malicious magic users is often indistinguishable from that used by the witches themselves. There has also existed in popular belief the concept of white witches and white witchcraft, which is strictly benevolent. Many neopagan witches strongly identify with this concept, and profess ethical codes that prevent them from performing magic on a person without their request. Where belief in malicious magic practices exists, such practitioners are typically forbidden by law as well as hated and feared by the general populace, while beneficial magic is tolerated or even accepted wholesale by the people; even if the orthodox establishment objects.

Probably the most obvious characteristic of a witch was the ability to cast a spell, a spell being the word used to signify the means employed to accomplish a magical action. A spell could consist of a set of words, a formula or verse, or a ritual action, or any combination of these. Spells traditionally were cast by many methods, such as by the inscription of runes or sigils on an object to give it magical powers, by the immolation or binding of a wax or clay image (poppet) of a person to affect him or her magically, by the recitation of incantations, by the performance of physical rituals, by the employment of magical herbs as amulets or potions, by gazing at mirrors, swords or specula for divination. Modern practices identified by their practitioners as witchcraft have arisen in the twentieth century which may be broadly subsumed under the heading of Neopaganism. However, as forms of Neopaganism can be quite different and have very different origins, these representations can vary considerably despite the shared name. During the 20th century interest in witchcraft in English-speaking and European countries began to increase, inspired particularly by Margaret Murray's theory of a pan-European witch-cult originally published in 1921, since discredited by further careful historical research. Interest was intensified, however, by Gerald Gardner's claim in 1954 in Witchcraft Today that a form of witchcraft still existed in England. The truth of Gardner's claim is now disputed too, with different historians offering evidence for or against the religion's existence prior to Gardner.

The Wicca that Gardner initially taught was a witchcraft religion having a lot in common with Margaret Murray's hypothetically posited cult of the 1920s. Indeed Murray wrote an introduction to Gardner's Witchcraft Today, in effect putting her stamp of approval on it. Wicca is now practiced as a religion of an initiatory secret society nature with positive ethical principles, organized into autonomous covens and led by a High Priesthood. There is also a large "Eclectic Wiccan" movement of individuals and groups who share key Wiccan beliefs but have no initiatory connection or affiliation with traditional Wicca. Wiccan writings and ritual show borrowings from a number of sources including 19th and 20th century ceremonial magic, the medieval grimoire known as the Key of Solomon, Aleister Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis and pre-Christian religions. Both men and women are equally termed witches. They practice a form of duo-theistic universalism. Since Gardner's death in 1964 the Wicca that he claimed he was initiated into has attracted many initiates, becoming the largest of the various witchcraft traditions in the Western world, and has influenced various occult movements and groups. In particular it has inspired a large movement of sole practitioners, who are not initiated into the original lineage but live according to beliefs that keep with the original tenets of the religion.

Stregheria is an Italian witchcraft religion popularized in the 1980s by Raven Grimassi, who claims that it originated in the ancient Etruscan religion of Italian peasants who worked under the Catholic upper classes. Other scholars argue that it is a newly invented religion largely based upon Charles Godfrey Leland's Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, which was also used as a basis for Wicca. Followers worship the Goddess Diana, along with her brother Dianus/Lucifer, and their daughter Aradia. They do not see Lucifer as the evil Satan of Christian myth, but a benevolent god of the sun and moon. The ritual format is roughly similar to that of other Neo-Pagan witchcraft religions such as Wicca. The pentagram is the most common symbol of religious identity. Most followers celebrate a series of eight festivals equivalent to the Wiccan Wheel of the Year.

The Feri Tradition is a modern witchcraft practice founded by Victor Anderson. Its emphasis is on ecstasy, often sexual ecstasy, and it has a basis in the Hawaiian Huna philosophy. Practitioners worship three main deities; the Star Goddess, and two divine twins, one of whom is the blue God. They believe that there are three parts to the human soul. Some Neopagans study and practice forms of magic based on a syncretism between classical Jewish mysticism and modern witchcraft. These practitioners identify with Judeo-Paganism and either borrow from existing Jewish magical traditions or reconstruct rituals based on Judaism and NeoPaganism.

The basis of various historical forms of witchcraft find their roots in pre-Christian cultural practices. There has been a strong movement to recreate pre-Christian traditions where the old forms have been lost for various reasons, including practices such as Divination, Seid and various forms of Shamanism. There have been a number of pagan practitioners such as Paul Huson claiming inheritance to non-Gardnerian traditions as well.

Contemporary witchcraft in Western cultures is a spiritual and magical practice, which may have strong religious elements to it. Many modern witches see themselves as reviving ancient practices, mostly of European and British origin. The religious beliefs of witches can vary; many are strongly influenced by Wicca and Neopaganism, while others hold Abrahamic or other religious views, or none at all. Contemporary witchcraft often involves the use of divination, magic, and working with the classical elements and unseen forces such as spirits and the forces of nature. The practice of natural medicine, folk medicine, and spiritual healing is also common, as are alternative medical and New Age healing practices. Some schools of modern witchcraft, such as traditional forms of Wicca, are secretive and operate as initiatory secret societies.

In media, witches are often depicted as wicked old women with wrinkled skin and pointy hats, clothed in black or purple, with warts on their noses and sometimes long claw-like fingernails. Like the Three Witches from Macbeth, they are often portrayed as concocting potions in large cauldrons. Witches in popular culture, typically ride through the air on a broomstick. They are often accompanied by black cats. One of the most famous recent depictions is the Wicked Witch of the West, from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Witches may also be depicted as essentially good, as in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, or the television show Charmed. Following the movie The Craft, popular fictional depictions of witchcraft have increasingly drawn from Wiccan practices, portraying witchcraft as having a religious basis.