Wicca

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Wicca is a neo-pagan (meaning "new pagan") religion that was created by a British man named Gerald Gardner in the mid-to-late 1940s. Gardner popularized the new religion through books of his that were printed in 1949, 1954, and 1959. Those three books are High Magic's Aid, Witchcraft Today, and The Meaning of Witchcraft. Gardner called Wicca the "witch cult" and "witchcraft", and called its followers the "Wica" (or "Wicca"). In his 1959 book he also called them the "Wicca" (with two 'c's), which is where that word came from.^[1] The word "wicca" means "witch" in Old English.^[2] People who follow Wicca are called "Wiccans". Before the name "Wicca" was adopted, the religion was sometimes called simply "the craft".^[3]

Wicca is now used as an umbrella term for many different paths that have branched off from Gardner's original practices.

1. ↑ Gardner, Gerald B (1999) [1954]. Witchcraft Today. Lake Toxaway, NC: Mercury Publishing. OCLC 44936549.
2. ↑ Seims, Melissa. (2008). "Wica or Wicca? - Politics and the Power of Words" in The Cauldron magazine #129. Available online at www.thewica.co.uk/wica_or_wicca.htm.
3. ↑ Kemp, Anthony. (1993). Witchcraft and Paganism Today. London: Michael O'Mara Books. Page 3.