Wicca

==Definition and terminology==
{{Main|Etymology of Wicca}}
{{See also|Modern paganism and New Age}}
[[File:Wiccan priestess preaching, USA.PNG|thumb|upright|Wiccan priestess, United States]]
Scholars of [[religious studies]] classify Wicca as a [[new religious movement]],{{sfnm|1a1=Hanegraaff|1y=1996|1p=87|2a1=Doyle White|2y=2016|2p=5}} and more specifically as a form of [[modern Paganism]].{{sfnm|1a1=Crowley|1y=1998|1p=170|2a1=Pearson|2y=2002|2p=44|3a1=Doyle White|3y=2016|3p=2}} Wicca has been cited as the largest,{{sfnm|1a1=Strmiska|1y=2005|1p=47|2a1=Doyle White|2y=2010|2p=185}} best known,{{sfnm|1a1=Strmiska|1y=2005|1p=2|2a1=Rountree|2y=2015|2p=4}} most influential,{{sfn|Doyle White|2010|p=185}} and most academically studied form of modern Paganism.{{sfn|Strmiska|2005|p=2}} Within the movement it has been identified as sitting on the eclectic end of the [[Modern Paganism#Eclecticism and reconstructionism|eclectic to reconstructionist spectrum]].{{sfnm|1a1=Strmiska|1y=2005|1p=21|2a1=Doyle White|2y=2016|2p=7}}
Several academics have also categorised Wicca as a form of [[nature religion]], a term that is also embraced by many of its practitioners,{{sfnm|1a1=Greenwood|1y=1998|1pp=101, 102|2a1=Doyle White|2y=2016|2p=8}} and as a [[mystery religion]].{{sfnm|1a1=Ezzy|1y=2002|1p=117|2a1=Hutton|2y=2002|2p=172}} However, given that Wicca also incorporates the practice of [[Magic (supernatural)|magic]], several scholars have referred to it as a "magico-religion".{{sfnm|1a1=Orion|1y=1994|1p=6|2a1=Doyle White|2y=2016|2p=5}} Wicca is also a form of [[Western esotericism]], and more specifically a part of the esoteric current known as [[occultism]].{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=8}} Academics like [[Wouter Hanegraaff]] and [[Tanya Luhrmann]] have categorised Wicca as part of the [[New Age]], although other academics, and many Wiccans themselves, dispute this categorisation.{{sfnm|1a1=Pearson|1y=1998|1p=45|2a1=Ezzy|2y=2003|2pp=49–50}}

Although recognised as a [[religion]] by academics, some [[Evangelical Christianity|evangelical Christians]] have attempted to deny it legal recognition as such, while some Wiccan practitioners themselves eschew the term "religion" – associating the latter purely with [[organised religion]] – instead favouring "[[spirituality]]" or "way of life".{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=5}} Although Wicca as a religion is distinct from other forms of contemporary Paganism, there has been much "cross-fertilization" between these different Pagan faiths; accordingly, Wicca has both influenced and been influenced by other Pagan religions, thus making clear-cut distinctions between them more difficult for religious studies scholars to make.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=7}}
The terms ''wizard'' and ''warlock'' are generally discouraged in the community.{{sfn|Harvey|2007|p=36}}
In Wicca, [[Religious denomination|denomination]]s are referred to as ''traditions'',{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=5}} while non-Wiccans are often termed ''cowans''.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=1}}

===Wiccan definition of "Witchcraft"===
When the religion first came to public attention, its followers commonly called it "Witchcraft".{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=4}}{{efn|Scholars of contemporary Paganism usually capitalise "Witchcraft" when referring to Wicca, reflecting that the names of religion are typically capitalised.{{sfn|Rountree|2015|p=19}} Many Wiccan practitioners also do the same.{{sfn|Crowley|1998|p=171}} }} [[Gerald Gardner]]—the man regarded as the "Father of Wicca"—referred to it as the "Craft of the Wise", "Witchcraft", and "the [[Witch-cult hypothesis|Witch-cult]]" during the 1950s.{{sfn|Doyle White|2010|p=188}} Gardner believed in [[Witch-cult hypothesis|the theory]] that persecuted witches had actually been followers of a surviving pagan religion, but this theory has now been proven wrong.<ref name="Hutton witch-cult">{{Cite book |last=Hutton |first=Ronald |title=The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present |date=2017 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |page=121 |author-link=Ronald Hutton}}</ref> There is no evidence that he ever called it "Wicca", although he did refer to its community of followers as "the Wica" (with one ''c'').{{sfn|Doyle White|2010|p=188}} As a name for the religion, "Wicca" developed in Britain during the 1960s.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=5}} It is not known who first used this name for the religion, although one possibility is that it might have been Gardner's rival [[Charles Cardell]], who was calling it the "Craft of the Wiccens" by 1958.{{sfn|Doyle White|2010|p=190}} The first recorded use of the name "Wicca" was in 1962,{{sfn|Doyle White|2010|pp=191–192}} and it had been popularised to the extent that several British practitioners founded a newsletter called ''The Wiccan'' in 1968.{{sfn|Doyle White|2010|p=193}}

[[File:Wiccan event in the US (1).PNG|thumb|left|Wiccan event in Minnesota, with practitioners carrying a pentacle, 2006]]

Although pronounced differently, the [[Modern English]] term "Wicca" is derived from the [[Old English]] ''[[:wikt:wicca|wicca]]'' {{IPA-ang|ˈwittʃɑ|}} and ''[[:wikt:wicce|wicce]]'' {{IPA-ang|ˈwittʃe|}}, the [[Masculine (grammar)|masculine]] and [[Feminine (grammar)|feminine]] term for [[Witch (word)|witch]], respectively, that was used in [[Anglo-Saxon England]].{{sfnm|1a1=Morris|1y=1969|1p=1548|2a1=Doyle White|2y=2010|2p=187|3a1=Doyle White|3y=2016|3pp=4–5}} By adopting it for modern usage, Wiccans were both symbolically linking themselves to the ancient, pre-Christian past,{{sfn|Doyle White|2010|p=187}} and adopting a self-designation that would be less controversial than "Witchcraft".{{sfn|Doyle White|2010|p=195}} The scholar of religion and Wiccan priestess Joanne Pearson noted that while "the words 'witch' and 'wicca' are therefore linked etymologically, […] they are used to emphasize different things today".{{sfn|Pearson|2002b|p=146}}

In early sources "Wicca" referred to the whole of the religion rather than to a specific tradition.{{sfn|Doyle White|2010|p=194}} In following decades, members of certain traditions – those known as [[British Traditional Wicca]] – began claiming that only they should be called "Wiccan", and that other traditions must not use it.{{sfnm|1a1=Doyle White|1y=2010|1pp=196–197|2a1=Doyle White|2y=2016|2p=5}} From the late 1980s onwards, various books propagating Wicca were published that again used the former, broader definition of the word.{{sfn|Doyle White|2010|pp=197–198}} Thus, by the 1980s, there were two competing definitions of the word "Wicca" in use among the Pagan and esoteric communities, one broad and inclusive, the other narrow and exclusionary.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=5}} Among scholars of [[Pagan studies]] it is the older, broader, inclusive meaning which is preferred.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=5}} 

Alongside "Wicca", some practitioners still call the religion "Witchcraft" or "the Craft".{{sfnm|1a1=Pearson|1y=2001|1p=52|2a1=Doyle White|2y=2016|2pp=1–2}} Using the word "Witchcraft" in this context can result in confusion with other, non-religious meanings of "witchcraft" as well as other religions—such as [[Satanism]] and [[Luciferianism]]—whose practitioners also sometimes describe themselves as "Witches".{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=4}} Another term sometimes used as a synonym for "Wicca" is "Pagan witchcraft",{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=4}} although there are also other forms of modern Paganism—such as types of [[Heathenry (new religious movement)|Heathenry]]—which also use the term "Pagan witchcraft".{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|pp=4, 198}} From the 1990s onward, various Wiccans began describing themselves as "[[Neopagan witchcraft|Traditional Witches]]", although this term was also employed by practitioners of other [[magico-religious]] traditions like Luciferianism.{{sfn|Doyle White|2010|pp=199–201}} In some popular culture, such as television programs ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' and ''[[Charmed]]'', the word "Wicca" has been used as a synonym for witchcraft more generally, including in non-religious and non-Pagan forms.{{sfn|Doyle White|2010|p=199}}