Witches

It is important to note that Wiccans are not witches in the commonly understood meaning of the term, nor do they believe in the existence of Satan. The concepts of the devil and hell are part of Christian theology and have never existed in the Wiccan religion. Wiccans make sacrifices or offerings to their chosen deities, but these offerings are usually bread, fruit, wine, or flowers. Blood sacrifice of any sort is against their law.1 The essence of witchcraft and sorcery in normal, non-Wiccan usage is the causing of harm to persons or property by invisible occult means. Over 200 people who were accused of being witches were burnt to death in South Africa between the beginning of 1994 and mid-1995, but such witch hunts are rare. Witchcraft, the way real witches practice it, doesn't have anything to do with animal sacrifice and it doesn't have anything to do with Satanism.

From the Middle Ages, many Hermeticists combined Christianity with occult practices (mostly alchemy). These Christo-pagan perspectives have a long history in the Middle East and Europe, from the neo-Platonists right through to Mirandola in the 15th century, but also through freemasonry, Mormonism, to the early Rosicrucian Golden Dawn of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Another notable example of syncretism is Santería, a syncretic hybrid of African animism and Christianity. Also American Hoodoo (by certain practitioners using the Bible) among other similar religions. There are also those who practice from a combination of Neopagan/Wiccan and Christian perspectives, as for example in Christian Wicca or in some Gaian 'Goddess' communities. Other modern syncretic traditions include mesoamerican folk healing traditions, such as the curanderismo practices found in Mexico, and Andean folk healing traditions of Peru and Bolivia.