What's left if we remove Paganism from Witchcraft? Let us assume that the naysayers are right: let's lay aside all common sense, reason, and historical reality, and assume for a moment that "witchcraft has nothing to do with Paganism".
What's left? If we remove the influence and sources of information, custom, and power that stem from the Pagan world, where can we go to find "Witchcraft"? There are three places left. They are:
-"Cunning Folk" Craft and Rural Folk Faith-Magic
-Luciferianism or Diabolism
-Masonry and Hermetic, Cabbalistic or Rosicrucian-type Ceremonial Magic
Why is this a problem? Because none of these sources alone or in mixture suffice to demonstrate and explain the contents and constitutions of all known traditions of Witchcraft, whether historical or modern. But there are more problems.
If we accept that Witchcraft could only come from the three above-listed sources, then Robert Cochrane was a fraud. So was Gardner; so was Pickingill, and so was every remotely modern and well-attested witch from Andro Man to Isobel Goudie. We are also stuck with the absurd conclusion that Paganism, alive for countless eons and exerting such a profound affect on folklore, numerous customs, cultures, later religions, and paradigms of human thinking, somehow managed to not affect modern witchcraft at all.
Unless you wish to accept that the only legitimate "witchcraft" is witchcraft descended from Christian heresies like Luciferianism, Gnosticism, or Diabolism, or unless you are prepared to say that "witchcraft" is nothing but a very folksy form of hidden cabbalism or "ceremonial magic", you will have to find the source for what makes witchcraft uniquely "witchcraft".
That source is twofold: the folk-customs and traditions that have a distant root in the pagan world, and which were regenerated at various times and places in the last few centuries and even before, and the ongoing reality of spirits and powers that still to this day make contact with human beings, just as they did in ancient times. There is no doubt that the above-mentioned sources did have some impact and effect on modern Witchcraft, or on Witchcraft from any era. But they do not and cannot alone account for it.
Some people try to claim that the "Craft" is only "Cunning Craft", not in the sense of modern Witches who have taken the term “cunning folk” for themselves, but in the sense of the rural healers calling themselves "cunning folk" that wandered around Europe and England in the last few centuries selling off "folk remedies" and miracle cures to the country people.
Such a thing is nonsense- all of the "cunning folk" that are so popular and remembered in the folk tradition were Christian folk healers. If they were able, on some level, to interact with spirits to cause real cures, then they can lay claim to having been "sorcerers". But they were still rural Christians, and no evidence exists to imply otherwise. It should be pointed out that Christianity is now, and always has been against sorcery, even among its own members. So, you might say that the legendary cunning folk were bad Christians on top of the fact of their Christianity.
But the real issue here is that 99% of them were not real sorcerers at all, but charlatans. They were hucksters, selling fraudulent cures and miracles to the gullible and under-educated country people in whatever area they were preying upon. With a very few exceptions, we cannot look to the "cunning folk" or "rural healers" for a true testament to the existence of "witchcraft" or "sorcery" in the best and strongest sense of the word. Some cunning folk were herbalists, and in that sense, could probably help people very much. But we must still look elsewhere in our search.
The problem is insurmountable. If you cut out Paganism entirely, "Traditional Witchcraft" has to become one of these things, or a combination of these things:
1. Leftover Trickery and Fraud Acts handed down from earlier "cunning folk" charlatans who were also Christian
2. Medieval Cabbalistic Ceremonial Magic, possibly preserved in lodges or families (but no evidence exists for this)
3. Clandestine Masonry
4. Groups of people passing down Christian heresies like Satanism or Luciferianism, or Eastern forms of Mysticism
And I know for a fact that Witchcraft, as I and others have come to understand it, cannot be reduced to merely those things, nor any combination of them. There are traditions of magical practice and mysticism out there which ARE based solely on the above things, and on combinations of the above things- I have personally had experience of several of them. Some of them masquerade as "Traditional Witchcraft".
And yes, some of the personalities who are in charge of these groups, with their traditions that mostly got started about 10-20 years ago, think that they are sitting on the only "true" sorcery/witchcraft/you name it tradition out there. And they love to make claims that are as spurious now as the day the guy they got the "tradition" from either made it up, or regenerated it from historical traditions. They love to present themselves as scions of a great "traditional force", a fancy clique that in most cases has no stilts to stand on, or guardians of their country's "true" mystical heritage. They are a blight on the face of tradition.
There are organizations based on the above things that are strong, steady, and workable. They are impressive organizations, filled with impressive people. The others are good examples of what we should try to avoid.
