>>64311
>>64365
The funny part is that witchcraft is just a corrupted version of prayer using sacrifice and paranoia infused in others instead of your own will. Really all you have to do to enforce your will is to believe it, which can be done with your own rituals, like, say, a small, sealed promissory note that contains a single piece of your hair, with your message printed over and over but shown to no one, that you keep very close in a hidden place that reminds you of the note and it's promise.
Because "magic" in essence is simply your stalwart belief that drives you through chaos into the correct path to achieve what you want. Cults are created and beliefs are propagated to instill a fear that the cult's message might be true on some level, but the current modern society does not believe in such things any more, even subconsciously, so the only "magic" that now works is non-selfish belief, the original idea of prayer.
To put it more plainly, real world "magic" is the manipulation of belief and will to make things real. There's two types, "Black" and "White". Black involves making others believe a lie that you don't believe yourself (Cults and forced brainwashing, publicized witchcraft, media lies), and White is turning inward and projecting a message onto your own will to influence it, which also effects others around you (Prayer and belief in a kind higher power, genuine love for another, personal will, personal goals, confidence and charisma)
Olden witchcraft was pure white, as it involved sacrifices and rituals to convince the self and group, who all believed in change through it. Rain dancing, burning incense/herbs/plants/meat, ritual word, prayer and so on.
Nowadays the magic is mostly Black (media, cults, inner circles, schemes, cons, rumor)
So in more scientific terms, this is now called "social engineering". But this was studied before magic was rebranded into Science.