I wonder... what are the beliefs and activities of real witches? Do they exist? Is is all ironic? What say you, Pollymoog?
<stepping up to the podium>
well sir, i have not looked into witches all that much, but i am convinced that they were real and did practice the black arts. there is plenty of proof for this. anything that is labeled as a "myth" is coded truth. its my belief that its heavily linked to satanism; perhaps an offshoot of it, as i imagine john dees rituals made him a true warlock.
i would imagine that those who had given up and foresaken their religion (christianity) would turn to witchcraft, as i think we are only focusing on the anglo witch phenomena.
last year, i bought a 3 volume set of the encyclopedia of mythology.
with topics like this (and fairies, elves, kobolds, etc.) its best to get the oldest source available. this reprint is from 1903 (really not old enough to do a serious study, though) and covers a lot of interesting stuff. ive read bits and pieces on elves and little people (far more fascinating to me), but only perused the witch topic. there are lots of pages explaining special days (st johns day, etc.) for special spells and ingredients for them, etc., but i would need a lot more time to sift through and see what is true and what isnt because lots of information in there contradict themselves.
i am sure there is someone here with a better knowledge on this subject than i, but to answer your question directly, i believe that they existed and that the modern, watered down version of them are wiccans (but probably are ignorant about the real witches and their activities from the past-- that
real occult knowledge is held by only a few).