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We don’t need to ask what witches look like. With Halloween upon us, one can see them on every street, with a standard set of accessories: pointy hat, black cloak, broomstick, possibly a magic wand and hag mask. And all witches are female, we know. Harry Potter has a broomstick, but he’s not a witch; he’s a wizard.
What, though, is a witch? In his detailed study “The Witch,” Ronald Hutton, a historian at the University of Bristol, gives the standard academic definition right away: “someone who causes harm to others by mystical…