Wicca is a modern Pagan religion whose practitioners commonly work with seasonal ritual, magic, and devotion to a Goddess and a God. Its public development in Britain is associated especially with Gerald Gardner. Wicca has several traditions, and a description of one coven does not necessarily describe a solitary practitioner or another lineage.[1][2]

Gardner, Sanders, and the modern Craft#

The Pagan Federation places the public emergence of modern Wicca in the late 1940s. Gardnerian Wicca takes its name from Gardner; Alexandrian Wicca developed through Alex and Maxine Sanders. In these traditions, initiation and the transmission of ritual within a lineage matter. The Federation also describes solitary paths and disagreements over where Wicca ends and other forms of Witchcraft begin.[1]

Older materials helped shape the religion without making it an unchanged survival from antiquity. Margaret Murray's theory that the European witch trials persecuted an organized, surviving Pagan religion influenced modern witchcraft. The Pitt Rivers Museum identifies that theory as discredited while acknowledging its considerable cultural influence.[3] An ancient symbol, a nineteenth-century interpretation of it, and a modern religious practice can therefore have different histories.

What practitioners do#

Covens often meet in a ritual circle. A ceremony may include an invocation, seasonal observance, a shared meal, or magical work. The Covenant of the Goddess describes ritual as a way of celebrating and engaging with the divine, rather than treating every meeting as an occasion for a spell. A Book of Shadows can preserve a group's rites or a practitioner's work; it is not a single scripture shared by every Wiccan.[2]

Accounts of deity also vary. The Covenant's basic philosophy describes divinity as present in nature and speaks of a Goddess and a Horned God. That is the organization's explanation of its religious outlook, rather than a creed binding everyone who uses the word Wicca.[4]

Wicca and Satanism#

The Covenant of the Goddess rejects the identification of its religion with Satan worship.[2] A horned deity, a Pentagram, or a candlelit Altar can appear in more than one religious setting, but resemblance between objects does not establish shared theology. Wiccan descriptions of nature and deity should be read alongside Satanist sources when making a comparison.

Readers approaching Wicca through books should also check whether an author describes an initiatory tradition, a personal practice, or a general introduction. Those books may use the same vocabulary while giving quite different instructions.

References

  1. Pagan Federation, Witchcraft & Wicca · Organizational introduction to modern Wicca, lineages, and differences in Craft terminology. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩
  2. Covenant of the Goddess, Frequently Asked Questions · Practitioner account of ritual, the Book of Shadows, and the organization's distinction between its religion and Satan worship. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩
  3. Pitt Rivers Museum, Beyond the Binary: Witchcraft · Museum discussion of counter-witchcraft, modern religious identity, and the discredited Murrayite witch-cult theory. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩
  4. Covenant of the Goddess, Basic Philosophy · The organization's account of nature, divinity, and the Goddess and Horned God. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩
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This encyclopedia covers traditions beyond the High Satanic Church. Church doctrine is identified as such when it appears.