Witchcraft is real. Witchcraft is currently widely used in developed countries like the United States. My guess is it's been encouraged by the agents of Shintoism from the beggining. To me in this very moment is very hard to imagine the functioning of the US without it.
"and thus can be difficult to define with precision"
I kinda used to agree with this. However i will try a definition.
Witchcraft is everything that can be willingly or undetectably used on a second party (target or victim) starting with influencing and ending with healing, health damaging or even death, including gestures, rituals, talk (spells or mantras) and sometimes use of biological materials like molds, other or chemical pollutants usually taken from the immediate environment where the targets is located, dust, noise, to make it completely undetectable.
It is based on mostly empirical knowledge (through tradition and generational transmission) of manipulation of psyche, physiology and uses applied, empirical psychology, physiology, chemistry and biology.
Most times witches use self or others as agents or actors in the process of manipulation which involves gestures that can go all the way to physical contact, talk and use of biological materials and/or polutants.
However always carrying some sort of ethics mostly resulting from belief of the witches themselves it's bad luck (or karma) to directly or visibly harm someone.
Most likely these ethics include syntagms like "let the sinners die by their own sin and their own laws, we are only mediators or catalysts" (masons must perceive every profane (ignorant) as being a sinner because in their view all humans are bad from nature, like Buddhists perceive them as ignorant). However these restrains may indeed vary from culture to culture.
When used on an unknowing target most oftenly involves bullying and placing subject in a state of suggestibility. After studying the target's mind, the "ethical influencer" (or good witch) simulates a threat by choosing an action the target (due mainly to ignorance) may falsely perceive as a major threat that starts usually approaching target in a normal or even attractive manner, then revealing the usually falsely perceived threat. In the last moment, after target begins to react the threat is vired through revealing of information the target initially ignored, again into a perceived legitimate action, so the subject cannot accuse anything. More than that, target starts to feel guilty of his own miss-perception of having bad ideas on someones action. If done right, by that time the subject is in an extreme state of anxiety and confusion and the whole makeup of his neurotransmitters and metabolism has changed.
Then they may even repeat variants of the sequence above or continue with the suggesting part which is again within a carefully planed legitimate cover which is revealed upon limited examination of the subject. So in the end the subject forgets the whole thing not knowing his mind was already altered or programmed to do something, which usually means wrong decisions.
Most often the whole process is part of a ritual used as mnemonics, sometimes ancient, like in case of freemasons which is learned during initiations or improvised in case of shamans.
Hypnoses is a very good example of getting a subject in a trance through extreme, though not perceived as such, vired subconscious bullying.
There are organized forms, like freemasonry, where there are very clearly established rules, usually deemed as for a good purpose, and also individual forms, where witches can be hired by interested parties and they usually don't have many rules though they have to exhibit some ethics, otherwise they would scary even the person who hires them.
It started since ancient times when were categorized as different gods who summarized the number of traditions but many times they were simply shamanic, that is individuals who received some training from their direct ancestors.
Sometimes the which him/herself need to place selves in a state of trance to be able to accomplish the purpose.
It can be done by proxy. Where they can't get real close to a target they can program through extreme bullying and viring of the mind of someone else who can.
Nowadays wee see forms of mass manipulation through witchcraft using media. Again forms of bullying like fake accidents, catastrophes in remote places, economic downturns, which sometimes are real but lately mostly not. Reprogramming of the mind of the masses is usually done by simply using in this context of keywords, names of people and events they want to be forgotten or remembered.
Areas of human physiology like some forms of emotional telepathy may be involved. Universal forms of communication like in advanced yoga. But those are rare and controlled by religious people. Like the elite of the Sadhu of India.
Shintoism of Japan has classified each element of manipulation as a kami. Amaterasu is the main goddess of Shintoism.
At the other pole, Judaism believes in only one male God and a set of rational rules, called "the law" or ten commandments. Christianism added tolerance to that.
However there are forms that have been corrupt and mixed with other practices, like Kabbalah which may be derived from an eastern practice knwon as Kapala which literally means skull. Paradoxically intolerant or corrupted forms of Christianism.
Ninjutsu is a very active, direct and effective type of witchcraft which combines elements of Buddhism, Hinduism and Shintoism, maybe others.
