It's worth noting that belief in malefic witchcraft has existed FAR longer than the modern religion of Wicca, which in the late 30's early 40's appropriated the existent term 'witchcraft' into it's retrospectively fabricated 'history'.

The modern religion of Wicca and belief in malefic witchcraft (a belief which has existed in virtually all cultures throughout the globe for *thousands* of years) are two entirely separate things.

While in the West (principally UK and USA) the appropriation of the term 'witchcraft' by neo-Pagan religions has resulted in an almost complete change in the meaning of the term in popular useage and the loss of it's older meaning, in the rest of the world where superstitious belief in malefic witchcraft persists and Wicca has yet to make any headway as a religion, the term still retains it's original meaning.