Wicca

This pentacle, worn as a pendant, depicts a pentagram, or five-pointed star, used as a symbol of Wicca by many adherents.

Wicca (pronounced [ˈwɪkə]) is a Neopagan religion and a form of modern witchcraft. It is often referred to as Witchcraft or the Craft^[1] by its adherents, who are known as Wiccans or Witches. Its disputed origins lie in England in the early 20th century,^[2] though it was first popularised during the 1950s by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft", and its adherents "the Wica".^[3] From the 1960s the name of the religion was normalised to "Wicca".^[4]

Wicca is typically a duotheistic religion, worshipping a Goddess and a God, who are traditionally viewed as the Triple Goddess and Horned God. These two deities are often viewed as being facets of a greater pantheistic Godhead, and as manifesting themselves as various polytheistic deities. Other characteristics of Wicca include the ritual use of magic, a basic code of morality, and the celebration of eight seasonally based festivals.

There are various different denominations within Witchcraft, which are referred to as traditions. Some, such as Gardnerian and Alexandrian Wicca, follow in the initiatory lineage of Gardner; these are often collectively termed British Traditional Wicca, and many of their practitioners consider the term "Wicca" to apply only to these lineaged traditions. Others, such as Cochrane's Craft, Feri and the Dianic tradition, take primary influence from other figures and may not insist on any initiatory lineage. Some of these do not use the term "Wicca" at all, instead preferring to be referred to only as "Witchcraft", while others believe that all traditions can be considered "Wiccan".^[5][6]

Beliefs

Wiccan beliefs vary markedly between different traditions, however various commonalities exist between the various groups, which usually include views on theology, the afterlife, magic and morality.

Altar statues of the Horned God and Mother Goddess as crafted by Bel Bucca, and owned by the 'Mother of Wicca', Doreen Valiente.

Theology

Although Wiccan views on theology are numerous and varied, the vast majority of Wiccans venerate both a God and a Goddess. These two deities are variously understood through the frameworks of pantheism (as being dual aspects of a single godhead), duotheism (as being two polar opposites) or polytheism (being composed of many lesser deities). In some pantheistic and duotheistic conceptions, deities from diverse cultures may be seen as aspects of the Goddess or God.^[6]

According to the Witches Janet and Stewart Farrar, Wiccans "regard the whole cosmos as alive, both as a whole and in all of its parts", but that "such an organic view of the cosmos cannot be fully expressed, and lived, without the concept of the God and Goddess. There is no manifestation without polarization; so at the highest creative level, that of Divinity, the polarization must be the clearest and most powerful of all, reflecting and spreading itself through all the microcosmic levels as well".^[7]

The God and the Goddess

For most Wiccans, the God and Goddess are seen as complementary polarities in the universe (they have been compared to the Taoist yin and yang)^[8] and "embodiments of a life-force manifest in nature."^[9] Often, the Goddess is symbolised as the Earth (i.e. Mother Earth), but also sometimes as the Moon, which complements the God being viewed as the Sun.^[10]

Traditionally the God is viewed as a Horned God, associated with nature, wilderness, sexuality, hunting, and the life cycle.^[12] The Horned God is given various names according to the tradition, and these include Cernunnos, Pan, Atho and Karnayna. At other times the God is viewed as the Green Man,^[13] a traditional figure in art and architecture of Europe, or as a Sun God,^[14] particularly at the festival of Litha, or the summer solstice. Another depiction of the God is that of the Oak King and the Holly King, one who rules over spring and summer, the other who rules over autumn and winter.^[13]

The Goddess is usually portrayed as a Triple Goddess with aspects of 'Maiden', 'Mother' and 'Crone',^[15] though she is also commonly depicted as a Moon Goddess.^[16] Some Wiccans see the Goddess as pre-eminent, since she contains and conceives all; the God is the spark of life and inspiration within her, simultaneously her lover and her child.^[17] This is reflected in the traditional structure of the coven.^[18] In some traditions, notably feminist Dianic Wicca, the Goddess is seen as complete unto herself, and the God is not worshipped at all, though this has been criticised by members of other more egalitarian traditions.

According to Gerald Gardner, the deities of Wicca are prehistoric gods of the British Isles; a Great Mother goddess and a Horned God.^[19] Modern scholarship has cast doubt on this claim; however various different horned gods and mother goddesses were worshipped in the British Isles in the ancient and early mediaeval periods.^[20]

Pantheism, Polytheism and Animism

A sculpture of the Horned God of Wicca found in the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, Cornwall.

Many Wiccans believe that the God and Goddess are merely two aspects of the same Godhead, often viewed as a pantheistic deity, thereby encompassing everything in the universe within its divinity. Gardner referred to this being as the Prime Mover, but claimed that it remained unknowable.^[21] The High Priestess Patricia Crowther has called this supreme godhead Dryghten,^[22] and Scott Cunningham called it "The One".^[23]

The duotheism of the Goddess and the God is often extended into a type of dual pantheism through the belief that, in the words of the occultist Dion Fortune, "all gods are one god, and all goddesses are one goddess" —that is, the gods and goddesses of all cultures are, respectively, aspects of one supernal God and Goddess. For instance, a Wiccan may regard the Germanic Eostre, Hindu Kali, and Christian Virgin Mary each as manifestations of one supreme Goddess—and, likewise, the Celtic Cernunnos, the ancient Greek Dionysus and the Judeo-Christian Yahweh as aspects of a single, archetypal God.

A more strictly polytheistic approach holds the various goddesses and gods to be separate and distinct entities in their own right. The Wiccan writers Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone have postulated that Wicca is becoming more polytheistic as it matures, tending to embrace a more traditionally pagan worldview.^[24] Some Wiccans conceive of deities not as literal personalities but as metaphorical archetypes or thoughtforms, thereby technically allowing them to be atheists.^[25] While these conceptualizations of deity—duotheism, polytheism and pantheism—may seem radically different from each other, they need not be mutually exclusive: some Wiccans may find it spiritually beneficial (or magically practical) to shift among one or another of these systems, depending upon time and circumstance.^{[citation needed]}

Wicca is essentially an immanent religion, and for some Wiccans, this idea also involves elements of animism. A belief central to Wicca is that the Goddess and the God (or the goddesses and gods) are able to manifest in personal form, most importantly through the bodies of Priestesses and Priests via the rituals of Drawing down the Moon or Drawing down the Sun.

Afterlife

Belief in the afterlife varies among Wiccans,^[26] although reincarnation is a traditional Wiccan teaching dating back to the New Forest coven in the 1930s. The influential High Priest Raymond Buckland said that a human's soul reincarnates into the same species over many lives in order to learn lessons and advance spiritually,^[27] but this belief is not universal, as many Wiccans believe in the reincarnation of the soul through different species. However, a popular saying amongst Wiccans is that "once a witch, always a witch", indicating a belief that Wiccans are the reincarnations of previous witches.^[28]

Typically, Wiccans who believe in reincarnation believe that the soul rests between lives in the Otherworld or Summerland, known in Gardner's writings as the "ecstasy of the Goddess".^[29] Many Wiccans believe in the ability to contact the spirits of the dead who reside in the Otherworld through spirit mediums and ouija boards, particularly on the Sabbat of Samhain, though some disagree with this practice, such as the High Priest Alex Sanders, who stated that "they are dead; leave them in peace."^[30] This belief was likely influenced by Spiritualism, which was very popular at the time of Wicca's emergence, and with which Gardner and other early Wiccans such as Buckland and Sanders had some experience.^[31]

Despite some belief therein, Wicca does not place an emphasis on the afterlife, focusing instead on the current one; as the historian Ronald Hutton remarked, "the instinctual position of most pagan witches, therefore, seems to be that if one makes the most of the present life, in all respects, then the next life is more or less certainly going to benefit from the process, and so one may as well concentrate on the present".^[29]

Magic

Many Wiccans believe in magic, a force they see as being capable of manipulation through the practice of witchcraft or sorcery. Some spell it "magick", a variation coined by the influential occultist Aleister Crowley, though this spelling is more commonly associated with Crowley's religion of Thelema than with Wicca. Indeed, many Wiccans agree with the definition of magic offered by ceremonial magicians,^[32] such as Aleister Crowley, who declared that magic was "the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will", whilst another prominent ceremonial magician, MacGregor Mathers stated that it was "the science of the control of the secret forces of nature".^[32] Many Wiccans believe magic to be a law of nature, as yet misunderstood or disregarded by contemporary science,^[32] and as such they do not view it as being supernatural, but being a part of the "super powers that reside in the natural" according to Leo Martello.^[33] Some Wiccans believe that it is making full use of the five senses that achieve surprising results,^[33] whilst other Wiccans do not claim to know how magic works, merely believing that it does because they have observed it to be so.^[29]

Wiccans cast spells or workings during ritual practices, often held inside a sacred circle, in an attempt to bring about real changes in the physical world (these rituals are further explained in the "Ritual practices" section below). Common Wiccan spells include those used for healing, for protection, fertility, or to banish negative influences.^[35] Many early Wiccans, such as Alex Sanders and Doreen Valiente, referred to their own magic as "white magic", which contrasted with "black magic", which they associated with evil and Satanism. Sanders also used the similar terminology of "left hand path" to describe malevolent magic, and "right hand path" to describe magic performed with good intentions.^[29] Some modern Wiccans however have stopped using this terminology, arguing that the colour black should not necessarily have any associations with evil.^[36]

The scholars of religion, Rodney Stark and William Bainbridge, claimed, in 1985, that Wicca had "reacted to secularization by a headlong plunge back into magic" and that it was a reactionary religion which would soon die out. This view was heavily criticised in 1999 by the historian Ronald Hutton, who claimed that the evidence displayed the very opposite, that "a large number [of Wiccans] were in jobs at the cutting edge [of scientific culture], such as computer technology."^[29]

Morality

There exists no dogmatic moral or ethical code followed universally by Wiccans of all traditions, however a majority follow a code known as the Wiccan Rede, which states "an it harm none, do what ye will". This is usually interpreted as a declaration of the freedom to act, along with the necessity of taking responsibility for what follows from one's actions and minimising harm to oneself and others.^[38] Another common element of Wiccan morality is the Law of Threefold Return which holds that whatever benevolent or malevolent actions a person performs will return to that person with triple force, or with equal force on each of the three levels of body, mind and spirit,^[39] similar to the eastern idea of karma. Both the Rede and the Threefold Law were introduced into the Craft by Gerald Gardner, and subsequently adopted by the Gardnerian and other traditions.

Many Wiccans also seek to cultivate a set of eight virtues mentioned in Doreen Valiente's Charge of the Goddess,^[40] these being mirth, reverence, honour, humility, strength, beauty, power and compassion. In Valiente's poem, they are ordered in pairs of complementary opposites, reflecting a dualism that is common throughout Wiccan philosophy. Some lineaged Wiccans also observe a set of Wiccan Laws, commonly called the Craft Laws or Ardanes, 30 of which exist in the Gardnerian tradition and 161 of which are in the Alexandrian tradition. Valiente, one of Gardner's original High Priestesses, argued that the first thirty of these rules were most likely invented by Gerald Gardner himself in mock-archaic language as the by-product of inner conflict within his Bricket Wood coven - ^[41][42] the others were later additions made by Alex Sanders during the 1960s.

Although Gerald Gardner initially demonstrated an aversion to homosexuality, claiming that it brought down "the curse of the goddess",^[43] it is now generally accepted in all traditions of Wicca, with certain groups like the Minoan Brotherhood openly crafting their philosophy around it,^[44] and various important figures in the Craft, such as Alex Sanders and Eddie Buczynsky, being openly homosexual or bisexual.

The Five Elements

In certain traditions, there is a belief in the five classical elements, although unlike in ancient Greece, they are seen as symbolic as opposed to literal; that is, they are representations of the phases of matter. These five elements are invoked during many magical rituals, notably when consecrating a magic circle. The five elements are: Air, Fire, Water and Earth, plus Aether (or Spirit), which unites the other four.^[45] Various analogies have been devised to explain the concept of the five elements; for instance, the Wiccan Ann-Marie Gallagher used that of a tree, which is composed of Earth (with the soil and plant matter), Water (sap and moisture), Fire (through photosynthesis) and Air (the creation of oxygen from carbon dioxide). All these are united through Spirit.^[6]

Traditionally, each element has been associated with a cardinal point of the compass; Air with east, Fire with south, Water with west, Earth with north and the Spirit with centre.^[6] However, some Wiccans, such as Frederic Lamond, have claimed that the set cardinal points are only those applicable to the geography of southern England, where Wicca evolved, and that Wiccans should determine which directions best suit each element in their region, for instance, those living on the east coast of North America should invoke Water in the east and not the west because the colossal body of water, the Atlantic ocean, is to their east.^[46] The five elements are symbolised by the five points of the pentagram, the most prominently used symbol of Wicca.^[47]

Practices

The Neopagan researcher and High Priestess Margot Adler, who defined ritual as being "one method of reintegrating individuals and groups into the cosmos, and to tie in the activities of daily life with their ever present, often forgotten, significance" noted that rituals, celebrations and rites of passage in Wicca are not "dry, formalised, repetitive experiences", but are performed with the purpose of inducing a religious experience in the participants, thereby altering their consciousness.^[48] She noted that many Wiccans remain skeptical about the existence of the gods, afterlife etc but remain involved in the Craft because of its ritual experiences, with one, Glenna Turner, saying that "I love myth, dream, visionary art. The Craft is a place where all of these things fit together - beauty, pageantry, music, dance, song, dream."^[49]

The High Priest and Craft historian Aidan Kelly claimed that the practices and experiences within Wicca were actually far more important than the beliefs, stating that "it's a religion of ritual rather than theology. The ritual is first; the myth is second. And taking an attitude that the myths of the Craft are 'true history' in the way a fundamentalist looks at the legends of Genesis really seems crazy. It's an alien head-space."^[50] It is for this reason that Adler stated that "ironically, considering the many pronouncements against Witchcraft as a threat to reason, the Craft is one of the few religious viewpoints totally compatible with modern science, allowing total scepticism about even its own methods, myths and rituals".^[51]

Ritual practices

There are many rituals within Wicca that are used when celebrating the Sabbats, worshipping the deities and working magic. Often these take place on a full moon, or in some cases a new moon, which is known as an Esbat. In typical rites, the coven or solitary assembles inside a ritually cast and purified magic circle. Casting the circle may involve the invocation of the "Guardians" of the cardinal points, alongside their respective classical element; Air, Fire, Water and Earth. Once the circle is cast, a seasonal ritual may be performed, prayers to the God and Goddess are said, and spells are sometimes worked. These rites often include a special set of magical tools. These usually include a knife called an athame, a wand, a pentacle and a chalice, but other tools include a broomstick known as a besom, a cauldron, candles, incense and a curved blade known as a boline. An altar is usually present in the circle, on which ritual tools are placed and representations of the God and the Goddess may be displayed.^[52] Before entering the circle, some traditions fast for the day, and/or ritually bathe. After a ritual has finished, the God, Goddess and Guardians are thanked and the circle is closed.

A sensationalised aspect of Wicca, particularly in Gardnerian and Alexandrian Wicca, is the traditional practice of working in the nude, also known as skyclad. This practice seemingly derives from a line in Aradia, Charles Leland's supposed record of Italian witchcraft.^[53] Other traditions wear robes with cords tied around the waist or even normal street clothes. In certain traditions, ritualised sex magic is performed in the form of the Great Rite, whereby a High Priest and High Priestess invoke the God and Goddess to possess them before performing sexual intercourse to raise magical energy for use in spellwork. In some cases it is instead performed "in token", thereby merely symbolically, using the athame to symbolise the penis and the chalice to symbolise the vagina.^[54]

The Wheel of the Year

A painted Wheel of the Year at the Museum of Witchcraft, Boscastle, Cornwall, England, displaying all eight of the Sabbats.

Wiccans celebrate several seasonal festivals of the year, which are known as Sabbats; collectively these occasions are often termed the Wheel of the Year.^[55] Many Wiccans, such as Gardnerians and most eclectics celebrate a set of eight of these Sabbats, though in other groups, particularly those that describe themselves as following "Traditional Witchcraft", such as the Clan of Tubal Cain, only four are followed, and in the rare case of the Ros an Bucca group from Cornwall, only six are adhered to.^[56] The four Sabbats that are common to all these groups are the cross-quarter days, and these are sometimes referred to as Greater Sabbats. They originated as festivals celebrated by the ancient Celtic peoples of Ireland, and possibly other Celtic peoples of western Europe as well.^[57] In the Egyptologist Margaret Murray's The Witch-Cult in Western Europe (1921) and The God of the Witches (1933), in which she dealt with what she believed to be a historical Witch-Cult, she stated that these four festivals had survived Christianisation and had been celebrated in the pagan Witchcraft religion. Subsequently, when Wicca was first developing in the 1930s through to the 1960s, many of the early groups, such as Robert Cochrane's Clan of Tubal Cain and Gerald Gardner's Bricket Wood coven adopted the commemoration of these four Sabbats as described by Murray. Gardner himself made use of the English names of these holidays, stating that "the four great Sabbats are Candlemass [sic], May Eve, Lammas, and Halloween; the equinoxes and solstices are celebrated also."^[58]

The other four festivals commemorated by many Wiccans are known as Lesser Sabbats, and comprise of the solstices and the equinoxes, and were only adopted in 1958 by members of the Bricket Wood coven,^[59] before subsequently being adopted by other followers of the Gardnerian tradition, and eventually other traditions like Alexandrian Wicca and the Dianic tradition. The names of these holidays that are commonly used today are often taken from Germanic pagan and Celtic polytheistic holidays. However, the festivals are not reconstructive in nature nor do they often resemble their historical counterparts, instead exhibiting a form of universalism. Ritual observations may display cultural influence from the holidays from which they take their name as well as influence from other unrelated cultures.^[60]

Rites of passage

Various rites of passage can be found within Wicca. Perhaps the most significant of these is an initiation ritual, through which somebody joins the Craft and becomes a Wiccan. In British Traditional Wiccan (BTW) traditions, there is a line of initiatory descent that goes all the way back to Gerald Gardner, and from him back to the New Forest coven. Gardner himself claimed that there was a traditional length of "a year and a day" between when a person began studying the Craft and when they were initiated, although he frequently broke this rule with initiates. In BTW, initiation only accepts someone into the first degree, and to proceed to the second degree, an initiate has to go through another ceremony, in which they name and describe the uses of the ritual tools and implements.^[63] It is also at this ceremony that they are given their craft name.^[63] By holding the rank of second degree, a BTW is therefore capable of initiating others into the Craft, or founding their own semi-autonomous covens.^[63] The third degree is the highest in BTW, and it involves the participation of the Great Rite, either actual or symbolically, as well as ritual flagellation.^[64] By holding this rank, an initiate is capable of forming covens that are entirely autonomous of their parent coven.^[64]

This three-tier degree system following initiation is largely unique to BTW, and traditions heavily based upon it. The Cochranian tradition, which is not BTW, but based upon the teachings of Robert Cochrane, does not have the three degrees of initiation, merely having the stages of novice and initiate. Some solitary Wiccans also perform self-initiation rituals, to dedicate themselves to becoming a Wiccan. The first of these to be published was in Paul Huson's Mastering Witchcraft (1970), and involved recitation of the Lord's Prayer backwards as a symbol of defiance against the historical Witch Hunt.^[65] Subsequent, more overtly pagan self-initiation rituals have since been published in books designed for solitary Wiccans by authors like Doreen Valiente, Scott Cunningham and Silver Ravenwolf.

A handfasting ceremony at Avebury in England, which occurred during Beltane in 2005

Handfasting is another celebration held by Wiccans, and is the commonly used term for their weddings. Some Wiccans observe the practice of a trial marriage for a year and a day, which some traditions hold should be contracted on the Sabbat of Lughnasadh, as this was the traditional time for trial, "Telltown marriages" among the Irish. A common marriage vow in Wicca is "for as long as love lasts" instead of the traditional Christian "till death do us part".^[66] The first ever known Wiccan wedding ceremony took part in 1960 amongst the Bricket Wood coven, between Frederic Lamond and his first wife, Gillian.^[67]

Infants in Wiccan families may be involved in a ritual called a Wiccaning, which is analogous to a Christening. The purpose of this is to present the infant to the God and Goddess for protection. Despite this, in accordance with the importance put on free will in Wicca, the child is not necessarily expected or required to adhere to Wicca or other forms of paganism should they not wish to do so when they get older.

Book of Shadows

In Wicca there is no set sacred text such as the Christian Bible or Islamic Qur'an although there are certain scriptures and texts that various different traditions hold to be important and influence their beliefs and practices. Gerald Gardner used a book containing many different texts in his covens, known as the Book of Shadows, which he would constantly add to and adapt. In his Book of Shadows, there are texts taken from various different sources, including Charles Godfrey Leland's Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches (1899) and the works of 19th-20th century occultist Aleister Crowley, whom Gardner knew personally. Also in the Book are examples of poetry largely composed by Gardner and his High Priestess Doreen Valiente, the most notable of which is the Charge of the Goddess.

Similar in use to the grimoires of ceremonial magicians,^[69] the Book contained instructions for how to perform rituals and spells, as well as religious poetry and chants like Eko Eko Azarak to use in those rituals. Gardner's original intention was that every copy of the Book would be different, because a student would copy from their initiators, but changing things which they felt to be personally ineffective, however amongst many Gardnerian Witches today, particularly in the United States, all copies of the Book are kept identical to the version that the High Priestess Monique Wilson copied from Gardner, with nothing being altered. The Book of Shadows was originally meant to be kept a secret from non-initiates into BTW, but parts of the Book have been published by authors including Charles Cardell, Lady Sheba, Janet Farrar and Stewart Farrar.^[70][71]

Today, adherents of many non-BTW traditions have also adopted the concept of the Book of Shadows, with many solitaries also keeping their own versions, sometimes including material taken from the published Gardnerian Book of Shadows. In other traditions however, practices are never written down, meaning that there is no need for a Book of Shadows.

In certain Traditional Witchcraft traditions, different forms of literature are used, for instance in the 1734 tradition, the letters which Robert Cochrane wrote to Joseph Wilson containing mystical instruction are held in high esteem whilst in the Sabbatic tradition, various grimoires are followed, such as the Azoetia of Andrew Chumbley.

Symbology

Triple Goddess symbol of waxing, full and waning moon

Various different symbols are used by Wiccans, similar to the use of the crucifix by Christians or the Star of David by Jews. The most notable of these is the pentagram, which has five points, each representing one of the five classical elements in Wicca (earth, air, fire, water and spirit) and also the idea that the human, with its five appendages, is a microcosm of the universe. Other symbols that are used include the triquetra and the triple Moon symbol of the Triple Goddess.

Traditions

In the 1950s through to the 1970s, when the Wiccan movement was largely confined to lineaged groups such as Gardnerian Wicca, a "tradition" usually implied the transfer of a lineage by initiation. However, with the rise of more and more such groups, often being founded by those with no previous initiatory lineage, the term came to be a synonym for a religious denomination within Wicca. There are many such traditions^[72][73] and there are also many solitary practitioners who do not align themselves with any particular lineage, working alone. There are also covens that have formed but who do not follow any particular tradition, instead choosing their influences and practices eclectically.

Those traditions which trace a line of initiatory descent back to Gerald Gardner include Gardnerian Wicca, Alexandrian Wicca and the Algard tradition; because of their joint history, they are often referred to as British Traditional Wicca, particularly in North America. Other traditions trace their origins to different figures, even if their beliefs and practices have been influenced to a greater or lesser extent by Gardner. These include Cochrane's Craft and the 1734 tradition, both of which trace their origins to Robert Cochrane; Feri, which traces itself back to Victor Anderson and Gwydion Pendderwen; and Dianic Wicca, whose followers often trace their influences back to Zsuzsanna Budapest. Some of these groups prefer to refer to themselves as Witches, thereby distinguishing themselves from the BTW traditions, who more typically use the term Wiccan (see Etymology section).

British Traditional Wiccans in particular, but also other groups, insist that to become a bona fide member of that tradition, a person has to undergo an actual physical initiation ceremony performed by a pre-existing initiate. In this manner, all BTW's can trace a direct line of descent all the way back to Gardner. Other traditions however do not hold this to be necessary, for instance anyone following a Goddess-centred form of the Craft which emphasises feminism could be considered to be Dianic.

Covens and Solitary Wiccans

Lineaged Wicca is organised into covens of initiated priests and priestesses. Covens are autonomous, and are generally headed by a High Priest and a High Priestess working in partnership, being a couple who have each been through their first, second and third degrees of initiation. Occasionally the leaders of a coven are only second-degree initiates, in which case they come under the rule of the parent coven. Initiation and training of new priesthood is most often performed within a coven environment, but this is not a necessity, and a few initiated Wiccans are unaffiliated with any coven.^[27]

A commonly quoted Wiccan tradition holds that the ideal number of members for a coven is thirteen, though this is not held as a hard-and-fast rule.^[27] Indeed, many U.S. covens are far smaller, though the membership may be augmented by unaffiliated Wiccans at "open" rituals. When covens grow beyond their ideal number of members, they often split (or "hive") into multiple covens, yet remain connected as a group. A grouping of multiple covens is known as a grove in many traditions.

Initiation into a coven is traditionally preceded by a waiting period of at least a year and a day. A course of study may be set during this period. In some covens a "dedication" ceremony may be performed during this period, some time before the initiation proper, allowing the person to attend certain rituals on a probationary basis. Some solitary Wiccans also choose to study for a year and a day before their self-dedication to the religion.

In contrast, Eclectic Wiccans are more often than not solitary practitioners. Some of these "solitaries" do, however, attend gatherings and other community events, but reserve their spiritual practices (Sabbats, Esbats, spell-casting, worship, magical work, etc.) for when they are alone. Eclectic Wiccans now significantly outnumber lineaged Wiccans, and their beliefs and practices tend to be much more varied.^[74]

History

Origins and Early Development, 1921-1959

The first edition cover of Witchcraft Today, which first brought Wicca to public attention

In the 1920s and 30s, the Egyptologist Dr Margaret Murray published several books detailing her theories that those persecuted as witches during the Early Modern period in Europe were not, as the persecutors had claimed, followers of Satanism, but adherents of a surviving pre-Christian pagan religion - the Witch-Cult. Despite now being discredited by further historical research, her theories were widely accepted and supported at the time.

It was during the 1930s that the first evidence appears for the practice of a pagan Witchcraft religion^[75] (what would be recognisable now as Wicca) in England. It seems that several groups around the country, in such places as Norfolk,^[76] Cheshire^[77] and the New Forest had set themselves up as continuing in the tradition of Murray's Witch-Cult, albeit with influences coming from disparate sources such as ceremonial magic, folk magic, Freemasonry, Theosophy, Romanticism, Druidry, classical mythology and Asian religions.

The Witchcraft religion became more prominent in the 1950s with the repeal of the Witchcraft Act of 1735, after which several figures, such as Charles Cardell, Cecil Williamson and most notably Gerald Gardner, began propagating their own versions of the Craft. Gardner had been initiated into the New Forest coven in 1939, before forming his own tradition, later termed Gardnerianism, which he spread through the formation of groups like the Bricket Wood coven. His tradition, aided by the help of his High Priestess Doreen Valiente and the publication of his books Witchcraft Today (1954) and The Meaning of Witchcraft (1959), soon became the dominant form in the country, and spread to other parts of the British Isles.

Adaptation and Spread, 1960-present

Alex Sanders leading a coven in the celebration of a sabbat. The only robed participant, Sanders stands among skyclad coveners.

Following Gardner's death in 1964, the Craft continued to grow unabated despite sensationalism and negative portrayals in British tabloids, with new traditions being propagated by figures like Robert Cochrane, Sybil Leek and most importantly Alex Sanders, whose Alexandrian Wicca, which was predominantly based upon Gardnerian Wicca, albeit with an emphasis placed on ceremonial magic, spread quickly and gained much media attention. Around this time, the term "Wicca" began to be commonly adopted over "Witchcraft" and the faith was exported to countries like Australia and the United States.

It was in the United States and in Australia that new, home-grown traditions, sometimes based upon earlier, regional folk-magical traditions and often mixed with the basic structure of Gardnerian Wicca, began to develop, including Victor Anderson's Feri, Joseph Wilson's 1734 tradition, Aidan Kelly's New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn and eventually Zsuzsanna Budapest's Dianic Wicca, each of which emphasised different aspects of the faith.^[78] It was also around this time that books teaching people how to become Witches themselves without formal initiation or training began to emerge, among them Paul Huson's Mastering Witchcraft (1970) and Lady Sheba's Book of Shadows (1971). Similar books continued to be published throughout the 1980s and 1990s, fuelled by the writing of such authors as Doreen Valiente, Janet Farrar, Stewart Farrar and Scott Cunningham, who popularised the idea of self-initiation into the Craft.

In the 1990s, amid ever-rising numbers of self-initiates, the popular media began to explore "witchcraft" in fictional films like The Craft and television series like Charmed, introducing numbers of young people to the idea of religious witchcraft. This growing demographic was soon catered to through the Internet and by authors like Silver Ravenwolf, much to the criticism of traditional Wiccan groups and individuals. In response to the way that Wicca was increasingly portrayed as trendy, eclectic, and influenced by the New Age movement, many Witches turned to the pre-Gardnerian origins of the Craft, and to the traditions of his rivals like Cardell and Cochrane, describing themselves as following "Traditional Witchcraft". Prominent groups within this Traditional Witchcraft revival included Andrew Chumbley's Cultus Sabbati and the Cornish Ros an Bucca coven.

Etymology

The term "Wicca" first achieved widespread acceptance when referring to the religion in the 1960s and 70s. Prior to that, the term "Witchcraft" had been more widely used. Whilst being based upon the Old English word wicca, which referred solely to male sorcerers, the actual individual who coined the capitalised term "Wicca" is unknown, though it has been speculated that it was Charles Cardell, who certainly used the term "Wiccen" during the 1950s.

Demographics

The actual number of Wiccans worldwide is unknown, and it has been noted that it is more difficult to establish the numbers of members of Neopagan faiths than many other religions due to their disorganised structure.^[80] However, Adherents.com, an independent website which specialises in collecting estimates of world religions, cites over thirty sources with estimates of numbers of Wiccans (principally from the USA and UK). From this, they developed a median estimate of 800,000 members.^[81] In the United States population alone, there have been many attempts at finding a figure, with the 2001 American Religious Identification Survey estimating that at least 134,000 adults identified themselves as Wiccans, compared to 8,000 in 1990.^[82] Wiccans have also made up significant proportions of various groups within that country; for instance, Wicca is the largest non-Christian faith practiced in the United States Air Force, with 1,434 airmen identifying themselves as such.^[83]

In the United Kingdom, census figures do not allow an accurate breakdown of traditions within the Pagan heading, as a campaign by the Pagan Federation before the 2001 Census encouraged Wiccans, Heathens, Druids and others all to use the same write-in term 'Pagan' in order to maximise the numbers reported. For the first time, respondents were able to write in an affiliation not covered by the checklist of common religions, and a total of 42,262 people from England, Scotland and Wales declared themselves to be Pagans by this method. These figures were not immediately analysed by the Office of National Statistics, but were released after an application by the Pagan Federation of Scotland.^[84]

Acceptance of Wiccans

The use of the inverted pentagram by the Church of Satan has led to the misidentification of Wiccans as Satanists.

Wicca emerged in a predominantly Christian country, and from its inception suffered opposition from certain Christian groups and from the popular tabloids like the News of the World. This has continued till this day, and some Christians have asserted that Wicca is a form of Satanism, despite important differences between these religions,^[85] such as the lack of a Satan-like figure in Wiccan theology. Due to negative connotations associated with witchcraft, many Wiccans continue the traditional practice of secrecy, concealing their faith for fear of persecution. Revealing oneself as Wiccan to family, friends or colleagues is often termed "coming out of the broom-closet".^[86] In a similar way, some people have accused Wicca of being anti-Christian, a claim disputed by Wiccans such as Doreen Valiente, who stated that whilst she knew many Wiccans who admired Jesus, "witches have little respect for the doctrines of the churches, which they regard as a lot of man-made dogma".^[87]

In the United States, a number of legal decisions have improved and validated the status of Wiccans, especially Dettmer v. Landon in 1985. However, Wiccans have encountered hostility from some politicians and Christian organisations,^[88][89][90] including from former president of the United States George W. Bush.^[91]

According to the history of Wicca given by Gerald Gardner, Wicca is a survival of the European witch-cult that was persecuted during the witch trials (sometimes called the Burning Times). Modern scholarly investigations have revealed, however, that these trials were substantially fewer than claimed by Gardner, and seldom at the behest of religious authorities.^[92] Theories of an organised pan-European witch-cult, as well as mass trials thereof, have been largely discredited, but it is still common for Wiccans to feel solidarity with the victims of the witch trials.^[93]

Some have asserted that Wicca is an off-shoot of the New Age movement, a claim which is fiercely denied by most Wiccans and also by historians such as Ronald Hutton, who noted that Wicca not only predates the New Age movement but also differs markedly in its general philosophy.^[94]

References and footnotes

Further reading

Significant historical works:

• Gerald Gardner, Witchcraft Today (Ryder, 1954)
• Gerald Gardner, The Meaning of Witchcraft (Aquarian, 1959)

Practices and Beliefs:

• Stewart Farrar and Janet Farrar, Eight Sabbats for Witches.
• Nikki Bado-Fralick, Coming to the Edge of the Circle: A Wiccan Initiation Ritual (Oxford University Press, 2005).

History of Wicca:

• Aidan A. Kelly, Crafting the Art of Magic: A History of Modern Witchcraft, 1939-1964 (St Paul: Llewellyn, 1991). ISBN 0-87542-370-1.
• Ronald Hutton, The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft (Oxford University Press, 1999).

Wicca in different countries:

• Helen A. Berger, A Community of Witches: Contemporary Neo-Paganism and Witchcraft in the United States (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1999).
• Chas S. Clifton, Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America (Lanham, Md.: AltaMira Press, 2006).
• Sabina Magliocco, Witching Culture: Folklore and Neo-Paganism in America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004)
• Lynne Hume, Witchcraft and Paganism in Australia (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1997).

General:

• Raymond Buckland, The Witch Book: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, Wicca, and Neo-paganism (Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 2002).
• James R. Lewis, Witchcraft Today: An Encyclopedia of Wiccan and Neopagan Traditions (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1999).
• Shelly Rabinovitch and James R. Lewis, eds., The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism (New York: Kensington Publishing, 2002).
• James R. Lewis, ed., Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996).
• T. M. Luhrmann, Persuasions of the Witch's Craft: Ritual Magic in Contemporary England (London: Picador, 1994).

External links

Wicca portal

• Witchvox.org - Neopagan news and networking site
• Covenant of the Goddess (U.S.)
• Pagan Federation (UK), (Canada)
• The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies
• The Wiktionary definition of Wicca

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