Wicca is a modern Pagan religion that honors the divine in nature, celebrates the cycles of the sun and moon, and teaches its members to take responsibility for their actions. It is the largest and best-known of the contemporary Pagan religions.
Origins
Wicca became publicly known in England in the early 1950s, after the repeal of the last laws against witchcraft in that country. Its early teachers described it as the survival of an old pre-Christian religion. Historians now generally regard Wicca as a new religion that was assembled in the first half of the twentieth century from older materials, including folk custom, ceremonial ritual, classical mythology, and the nature writing of the previous century.
From England, Wicca spread to North America and Australia in the 1960s and has since developed in many directions. Some branches preserve the structure of the first covens closely. Others have adapted it freely, and a very large number of Wiccans today practice on their own.
Wiccans differ about how much the question of age matters. Most would agree with the summary offered by many teachers: the religion is new, and what it honors is very old.
Beliefs
The Goddess and the God
Most Wiccans honor the divine as a Goddess and a God. The Goddess is often associated with the moon, the earth, and the sea, and is sometimes described in three aspects as Maiden, Mother, and Crone. The God is often associated with the sun, the forest, and wild animals, and is frequently pictured with horns or antlers, an ancient sign of the natural world that has no connection with the Devil of Christian belief.
Some Wiccans understand the Goddess and the God as two real beings. Others see them as the two faces of a single divine reality, or regard the many goddesses and gods of world mythology as their forms. Some covens honor the Goddess alone.
The Sacred World
For Wiccans the divine is present within nature and within each person. The Earth is treated with reverence, and the body and its pleasures are regarded as good.
The Elements
Wiccan ritual gives an important place to earth, air, fire, and water, together with spirit. They are understood as the basic qualities of the natural world and of human character. The five points of the pentagram are commonly said to stand for them.
After Death
Many Wiccans believe in reincarnation, often with a period of rest between lives in a place sometimes called the Summerland. There is no belief in eternal punishment.
Ethics
The best-known statement of Wiccan ethics is the Wiccan Rede. Its central line is usually given as:
If it harms none, do what you will.
The Rede is advice, not a commandment, and it asks a great deal: a person must consider the likely results of every action for other people, for the living world, and for themselves.
Many Wiccans also hold that what a person sends out into the world returns to them, an idea often called the Threefold Law or the law of return. Taken together, these teachings make deliberate harm to others, including harm by magic, contrary to Wiccan ethics.
Practice
The Circle
Wiccan worship takes place within a circle that is marked out at the beginning of each ritual and released at the end. No permanent building is required. A circle may be cast in a living room, a garden, or a clearing in the woods.
Sabbats and Esbats
Wiccans celebrate eight seasonal festivals called sabbats, which together make up the Wheel of the Year. They also meet at the full moon, and sometimes the new moon, for rituals called esbats.
Ritual Tools
Items commonly found on a Wiccan altar include candles, a cup or chalice, a wand, a dish of salt, incense, and a pentacle. Many Wiccans also use a ritual knife called an athame. The athame is a religious object used to direct attention and to mark the circle. It is not used to cut anything and is not a weapon. Where a blade is not permitted, as in most hospitals, schools, and correctional facilities, Wiccans readily use a wand or a hand gesture instead.
Magic
Many Wiccans practice magic, which they understand as the use of ritual, symbol, and concentrated intention to bring about change. In practice it most often resembles prayer for healing, protection, or guidance. It is governed by the same ethics as every other action.
Rites of Passage
Wiccan clergy conduct ceremonies for the blessing of children (sometimes called Wiccaning), marriage (handfasting), and death. See the Glossary for these and other terms.
Covens, Traditions, and Solitary Practice
A coven is a small group of Wiccans, traditionally no more than thirteen, who worship and study together under the guidance of a high priestess, a high priest, or both. Covens are independent. Each sets its own requirements for membership.
A tradition is a family of covens that share a common body of ritual and teaching. Some traditions are initiatory: a person enters by a ceremony of initiation after a period of study, commonly a year and a day, and may advance through further degrees. Much of the ritual of these traditions is kept private among initiates, in the way that some other religious and fraternal bodies keep certain rites private.
A solitary is a Wiccan who practices alone, whether by choice or because no group is nearby. Solitary practice is fully accepted and is now the most common form of Wicca.
Wiccan clergy are usually called priestess or priest. In many covens every initiate is considered a member of the priesthood. Wicca does not charge for initiation or for religious teaching within a coven.
Wiccan, Witch, and Related Words
- Wiccan names a member of the religion. It is always appropriate.
- Witch is used with pride by many Wiccans, of any gender, as a religious title. Not every Wiccan uses it, and not everyone who calls themselves a Witch is Wiccan. When in doubt, ask.
- Witchcraft may mean the religion of Wicca, or a practice of folk magic that is not tied to any one religion. Some Wiccans call their religion "the Craft."
- Warlock is not a term for a male Witch. Many Wiccans find it offensive.
Wicca and the Law
Wicca is a religion for all purposes of United States law. Courts have treated it as such since the 1980s, and Wiccans are entitled to the same protection of religious exercise as members of any other religion. Wiccan clergy solemnize marriages, serve as volunteer and professional chaplains, and are buried under their own emblem of belief in military cemeteries. For more, see Know Your Rights.
This page was last reviewed by the Education Review Committee in September 2026.