Wicca

===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}}