INTRODUCTION: Both Wicca and Witchcraft are nature-oriented religions whose primary belief system revolves around a relationship between the individual and Deity. Sometimes the Deity is identified with "The Land", sometimes as "The Great Spirit", but usually as a polarized Male and Female deity know simply as the God and Goddess. Wicca and Witchcraft differ from mainstream religions in their relationship with nature, a worship of both a male and female deity, and sometimes, the practice of Magick.

Although Wicca is a new religion, its traditions are drawn several ancient sources: traditional Witchcraft, pre-Christian pagan beliefs, Eastern philosophy and ceremonial magick. Wicca tends to be misunderstood because of its ancient association with Paganism and Witchcraft. For this reason, Celtic Paganism in Medieval times, was treated as an enemy of the Catholic church which demonized everything which was not the Catholic version of Christianity. Witchcraft or Folk Magick was therefore associated with evil when the Catholic Church began to Christianize Europe. It was firmly believed after the 1400s, by those who were not Pagan, that in order to become a witch, one must make a formal pact with the devil. Modern scholars, however, have shown that the Inquisitors fabricated the pact with the devil and other anti-witch propaganda to further their own social and/or political agendas.

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BIRTH OF WICCA: Numerous people have contributed to the neo-Pagan/Wiccan movement in numerous ways. The most important individual was the founder of Wicca, Gerald B. Gardner (1884-1964). After retiring from civil service as a British customs officer, Gardner joined a secret society known as the Fellowship of Crotona (he was also a member of several other secret societies, including Crowley's OTO, for which he was granted a charter to open up a new branch). It was while a member of this group that he claimed he first came into contact with a woman called "Old Dorothy." Gardner alleged that in 1939 "Old Dorothy" initiated him into one of the few surviving witches’ covens. He said that the rituals that the coven possessed were not complete, and he had to use his own knowledge and studies, which were extensive, to make them whole again. The already existing pieces, if there were any, were in the care of the coven’s living members who were all elderly women. In order to generate the publicity that he felt the Craft needed to survive, he began publishing books on the subject of witchcraft after the repeal of Britain’s Witchcraft Acts in 1951.

Many Wiccan and non-Wiccan scholars criticize Gardner’s story of initiation. "Old Dorothy" was not believed to be a real person until Doreen Valiente, a student of Gardner’s, produced the birth and death certificates of Dorothy Clutterbuck (Adler, 60-61).

Even though the existence of "Old Dorothy" was eventually proven, many still disbelieve Gardner’s allegations and assert that he created Wicca in its entirety with the help of the popular occultist, Aleister Crowley, in an attempt to create a magickal system that would gain wide popularity. Considering that the number one wish of teenage girls in America is to become a Wiccan or a witch, it seems as though they have succeeded. Still, the true origins of Wicca and its relationship to Witchcraft is one of the most heated debates within the neo-Pagan community.

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LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL EXISTENCE: In the past two decades, Witchcraft and Wicca have gained ground toward becoming more accepted by society at large. In the 1985 case of Dettmer vs. Landon, it was decided that Wicca is a legitimate religion and is therefore entitled to protection under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

In Condon vs Wheeler and the Church of Y Tylwyth Teg (1987) an Administrative Court of the US Post Office found that Welsh Witchcraft is a religion. ( http://www.usps.com/judicial/1989deci/md-45.htm )

The I.R.S. has recognized various pagan organizations as religious non-profits under 501 c 3 rules.

The Department of Army Pamphlet No. 165-13, titled "Religious Requirements and Practices of Certain Selected Groups-A Handbook for Chaplains," also recognizes Wicca as an official religion, and has since about 1980. Wicca is a recognized and sanctioned faith in the military today, in spite of recent efforts by Bob Barr (R-GA) and Senator Strom Thurmond to outlaw its practice on military bases.

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GENERAL BELIEFS: Generally speaking, both Witches and Wiccans view divinity as the balance of masculine and feminine powers and personify these powers as a Goddess and a God. Forming a personal relationship with these deities is central to the practice of Witchcraft and Wicca. Witches and Wiccans often worship the Goddess in a three-fold form: Maiden, Mother, and Crone. The Maiden is the Goddess in her virgin aspect; she represents youth and purity. The Mother aspect represents nurturing, fertility, and the giving of life. The Crone represents age, death, and the wisdom that comes from experience. Healing, love, and the bearing of children are all believed to be sacred to the Goddess, though there are many death and war goddesses, such as the Morrigan, Hecate, and Andraste. The Goddess is both the giver and the taker of life. The God, often referred to as "the Horned One," is associated with the Sun, the wildwood, and horned animals. Most Wiccans believe that the Goddess and God are equals, though the God is most often represented as the consort of the Goddess. They personify the feminine and masculine sides of "the All" or the "Great Spirit" - the one power that Wiccans believe makes up the universe and all creation. Therefore, in Wiccan theology, the Goddess and God are simply two halves of this single power, and different names for them represent different aspects of the same universal power. Explanations of Wiccan deity concepts can take up whole books, so I will not go into further detail in order to be brief.

The elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water are revered in Witchcraft and Wicca but not worshipped. They are believed to be very powerful energies that may be called upon to aid in ritual observance. Each of the four elements is believed to exist in a state of balance with the others, and all are needed to sustain life in our universe. The idea of four elements as the "creative energies" of the universe is believed to have originated in Greece during the Classical period. The element of Earth represents fertility and stability; Air, motion and intelligence; Fire, purification and energy; Water, healing and love.

The elements also contain dark aspects which go unacknowledged much of the time in the modern forms of Wicca and Wiccan writings. For instance, earthquakes and degenerative diseases of the body may be attributed to Earth, tornadoes and mental instability to Air, volcanoes and destructive passions to Fire, and floods and emotional pain to Water. The four elements are often personified as the Elementals, or beings of Earth (knomes), Air (zephyrs), Fire (salamanders or firedrakes), and Water (undines or mermaids). The idea of four Elementals or Guardians stems from ceremonial magick. Some sources say that the ancient Celts believed in only three elements (the number three being sacred to their people), Land, Sea, and Sky, with Fire representing the element of Spirit (which is the fifth element, or Akasha, to Wiccans). Wiccans correspond the elements to certain directions that the particular element is believed to rule in. The element of Earth is placed in the North, Air in the East, Fire in the South, and Water in the West. Traditional witchcraft circles, however, usually have different directional and color correspondences from those taught in Wicca.

Both Witchcraft and Wicca are religions with few written laws, which attracts many new followers. Wicca: The only major Wiccan code of ethics is stated in the Wiccan Rede, "An ye harm none, do what ye will." (Note the similarity to the traditional OTO teaching of Crowley, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law; Love is the Law, Love under Will.") This expresses the belief that Wiccans are free to spend their lives however they want as long as by doing so they "harm none," usually meaning by magick. This law can be made to be restrictive depending upon the interpretation, which for many modern Wiccans can be quite literal. Hence, many of them are vegetarian or vegan. Both Traditional Witces and Wiccans generally believe in karma in some form or another and accept the existence Threefold Law, also known as the Law of Return, as a literal, universal fact. According to this belief, whatever energy is sent out when a spell is cast returns to the sender magnified three times, whether the energy is positive or negative. Witches and Wiccans also have certain unwritten laws or codes of ethics. Witches and Wiccans are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions without blaming their misfortunes on others or on "blind fate." Ecological issues are of some importance to many Witches and Wiccans, though this is a relatively recent addition to the Craft.

The majority of Traditrional Witches and Wiccans believe in reincarnation or some form of afterlife. (Some non-Wiccan witches don't believe in any afterlife at all and are completely atheistic, but from what I've seen this is a very small minority belief.) It is believed that through the process of reincarnating in many different lifetimes the soul eventually reaches a state of perfection, at which time it can again merge with the Goddess and God, or "Great Spirit." This belief allows Witches and Wiccans to view life as an opportunity to learn from new experiences. According to their belief about the afterlife, the soul does not immediately "jump" into the next incarnation but spends a time of rest in the Summerland, as this stage of the afterlife is often called, before rebirth. There is no Hell or place of eternal punishment in Witch or Wiccan belief, but most do believe that those guilty of serious offenses pay for their crimes in proportion to its seriousness, possibly in their next incarnation.

Prayer is a very essential and personal part of the religions. It is often used in combination with ritual to help worshippers contact the divine and manifest their needs. Prayer is not only directed outside the self for an answer, but is also directed inside because of the belief that the divine dwells within as well as without the physical self. The Witch and Wiccan philosophy teaches that in order to be effective, prayer must be charged with the right amount of emotional energy, and they consider it to be a form of religious magick.

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ORGANIZATION: Each coven is led by its own priest or priestess and except for a few cases, there is little hierarchy, the exceptions being the Welsh Dynion Mwyn tradition with its emphasis on history, and the Gardnerian tradition with it's emphasis on linage.

The Pagan community is amazingly diverse. Witches practice as members of covens, Wiccans may practice as members of covens or alone as solitaires, and may be either secretive or open about their beliefs. Traditionally, oaths of secrecy are taken upon initiation, but many Wiccans no longer believe that initiation is even necessary. This is another hot (and sometimes emotional) topic in the neo-Pagan community. There is no set number dictating how many Wiccans may belong to the same coven. Twelve and thirteen are traditional numbers, but memberships can range from as little as two or three to as many as fifty or more. When a coven has reached fifty members it is referred to as a "grove" or "college." The total number of Witches and Wiccans in the United States is impossible to guess. In 1977, estimates ranged from a few hundred up to thirty thousand, and a recent estimate put the number at over three million. Some sources claim that Witchcraft and Wicca are the fastest growing religions in the world.

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MEMBERSHIP: In the spirit of the secret societies in which many of its beliefs originate, Witchcraft and Wicca are traditionally initiatory religions. Traditional Witchcraft and Wiccan initiations usually include a challenge, an ordeal, symbolic death and rebirth, and dedication to the Goddess and God. Another part of most initiation ceremonies is the receiving of a magickal name to be used in the circle and known only to the other members of the coven (or only between the individual and the Divine, for solitaires). Initiation is intended to be a mystical, spiritual experience aimed at bringing the initiate into a more magickal, attuned state of mind. Most Witches and Wiccans consider the exchange of money for initiations as taboo. In modern Wicca, self-initiation is becoming a more and more widely accepted phenomenon. It should be noted, however, that self-initiation is not regarded as valid by most traditions, and that to be a member of certain Wiccan traditions and all Witchcraft traditions, an initiation and formal training must take place.

Witchcraft and Wicca are religions that celebrates life and all that life's experiences have to offer. Witchcraft tries to keep as much traditional religious form and philosophy as possible, although there is room for modern thought. Wicca evolves and changes as its modern forms move further from the traditional roots of the past. Wicca has come to accept eclecticism almost as the norm, its followers incorporating new practices and discarding old ones at will. This loose structure, misinterpreted by some as "roll-your-own" or "create your own religion," attracts many followers to modern Wicca. As it becomes more and more accepted, it will likely continue to evolve into an organized, structured belief system, as it seems that all fast-growing, widely popular religions tend to do.

(It should be noted that Wicca is not the same thing as traditional witchcraft. Wicca is a modern invention of Gerald Gardner, and many Wiccans do not consider themselves to be witches. On a similar note, many traditional witches do not consider many Wiccans to be real witches. )

(The four Guardians (or Watchers) stem from ceremonial magick, and often have no association with the elements, though in some circles they have elemental attributions. )

Wicca does not acknowledge any ‘holy scripture’, dogmatic rules or dictated beliefs. Neither do we have any fixed hierarchy or organizational structure. We feel it is up to the individual practitioner to decide what to do, say or believe. He has the first and final say, and the responsibility that goes with it.

Witches believe they have the ability to experience Nature’s mystery, without having anyone dictating a certain perception on them. In search of this divine unity with Nature, witches often work together in small groups, which are called ‘covens’. Covens always respect that each member needs his or her own ‘space’ for personal development. Yet they offer the possibility to intertwine the different individual energies, thus creating a ‘group power’ with its own characteristics and strength. Covens are usually guided by a High Priestess and a High Priest.

Covens are basically independent, but often choose to follow one of the known Wiccan traditions. Some of these traditions have been passed on from generation to generation, sometimes within certain families. Others stem from the more recent pagan revivals. The Gardnerian Tradition (founded by the British witch, Gerald Gardner and his artner Doreen Valiente) is one of the latter. The same is true for the Alexandrian Tradition, which was started by another British witch, Alex Sanders and his partner Maxine Morris. Some covens only allow female members. Such covens can be found within the Dianic Tradition. Each one of these traditions is well-known and widely practiced in Europe as well as the USA.

The word ‘Wicca’ originated in Anglo-Saxon regions. Confusingly, the word ‘Wicca‘ refers to something entirely different in France. There, the word seems to be associated with a rather satanically and erotically inspired movement. Of course, it would be unbelievably naive to deny the existence of satanic cults. Those groups who think of Satan as being ‘Lucifer, the Bringer of Light’ (and therefore not as ‘the Evil’ !) are probably not even dangerous or malignant. Nevertheless, Wicca clearly and firmly dissociates itself from all worship related to an ‘anti-christ’, blood sacrifice, sinister rituals, or anything of that nature.

The Greencraft movement is the youngest, but fast-growing branch on the Alexandrian tree. The Greencraft movement evolved from a coven, founded some years ago by Hera and Arghuicha. Greencraft now unites several covens in Belgium, the Netherlands and the USA. Characteristic of the Greencraft is its unusual openness. It stems from the need to create a fairly flexible federation-like structure within which covens can help eachother, hereby creating an environment which allows several solutions in cases of personal conflict. Though Greencraft covens are also basically independent, different forms of co-operation and mutual visits are strongly encouraged. Often, if possible, Greencraft covens invite each other to celebrate certain Sabbats together.

The Greencraft is determined to pay more than just lip-service to Mother Earth! We aim to truly experience this tie that connects us to Her other children. After all, we all share the same planet! The names we use for God(s) and Goddess(es), mainly originate from our Celtic past and the footprints of an Old Religion that still seem to color our local traditions, folklore and customs.

Lately, many women seem to have found their way into Wicca, because they discovered the deep-rooted respect for womankind that is embedded in our beliefs. Strangely, this respect is lacking in most of the great ‘world’ religions. This essential role the Goddess plays in the Cosmic Dance, this high status She enjoys, is reflected in the re-thinking of gender-related patterns. The polarity between the male and female (both in the human and in the divine) which lives and moves all around us, is both liberating and inspiring for men and women alike.

All things considered, the different Wiccan Traditions are actually quite similar. Whichever Tradition a witch chooses to follow, the idea of Divinity-revealed-in-Nature will always bind her to other fellows in the craft.

From his tenure with the seminal hardcore band the Misfits to his later work with the heavy metal outfit which bears his name, Glenn Danzig remained one of the preeminent cult figures in rock, forging a dark, chillingly atmospheric brand of goth metal considerably more literate and compelling than the music of his contemporaries. Born Glenn Anzalone on June 23, 1955, in Lodi, NJ, he fronted the little-known cover bands Talus and Wodat & Bojang before founding the Misfits in 1977. Although the group's brutal hardcore punk sound and psycho-tronic lyrical imagery appealed only to a tiny but fiercely devoted cult following during its own lifespan, following their 1983 demise the Misfits' cult following swelled exponentially, and their music was cited as a major influence by the likes of Metallica and Guns n' Roses. Danzig next helmed Samhain; much darker and more brooding than the Misfits, the group's records pushed him closer to heavy metal, and reflected an increasingly mature songwriting approach. In 1987, he formed the band Danzig, his most visible project yet; reaching their commercial peak with 1992's Danzig III: How the Gods Kill, the group also scored a left-field hit with the live "Mother," a favorite of MTV tastemakers Beavis and Butt-Head. In addition to his musical pursuits, Danzig also founded his own comic book publishing imprint, Verotik, writing a series of titles including Grub Girl, Satanika, and Jaguar God. ~