Wicca

A modern nature-and-magic religion of the Goddess and the turning seasons.

1954 CE → · Britain, then worldwide · Modern & New

Wicca was shaped in mid-20th-century Britain by Gerald Gardner from folk magic, ceremonial ritual, and romantic paganism into a religion honoring a Goddess and Horned God and the sacred cycles of nature. Practitioners mark the eight sabbats, work magic understood as focused will, and often follow the ethic to "harm none." It became the most widespread strand of modern Pagan witchcraft.

Key figures

• Gerald Gardner
• The Goddess and Horned God

Texts

• Book of Shadows

Beliefs

• A Goddess and God, or the divine in nature
• "Harm none" as ethical rule
• Magic as focused will

Rituals

• Casting the circle
• Sabbats and esbats
• Spellcraft and seasonal rites

Grew from

• Celtic Polytheism
• Neopaganism
• Thelema

Connections in the atlas

• Gardner’s Book of Shadows
• Gerald Gardner
• Triple moon
• Triquetra
• Wheel of the Year
• Pentagram
• The horned god