wow lots of questions but let me do my best to answer some of them.

Paganism/witchcraft/wicca are all about a more natural path and a very individualised path, what a witch does varies from coven to coven, individual to individual but at its core its very nature based. Most of us follow the and celbrate the seasons (sabbats) and the moons (full moon is an esbat) we beleive in Gods and Goddesses and worship them.

As for does all the magic/spell stuff work I beleive it does as I have always been able to feel the energy in things (it kind of feels like a tingle under my hands and through my body) I view spellwork as kind of being like prayer. In prayer a christian puts a lot of energy in to talking to their god and asking for what they need and essentaily that is what we are doing when we are working a spell.