Witchcraft history goes back to the days of cave painting. Male Shamans donned animal skins and through dance and trance called the animals to the hunt. Females stayed close to home and learned the magic and medicine of plants.

Wicca is an Old English word meaning witch or wise one. It is the contemporary face of witchcraft. Wicca as a religion comes from England in the 1940’s. A man named Gerald Gardner brought local English pagan/witchcraft rituals together with ceremonial magic ala Aleister Crowley and formed the first covens.

Since the 1940’s Wicca has spread world-wide and is rumored to be the fastest growing religion in the United States. Many Wicca practitioners prefer to use the term Wicca because of the baggage associated with the term Witch. The gruesome witch-hunts of the Middle-Ages still resound in the collective unconscious keeping many witches closeted altogether.

Although traditionally witchcraft was not used exclusively for good, Wicca as a religion is founded on the principle of “do no harm.” Witches are warned against sending out negative energy with the Rule of Three - anything you send out will come back to you threefold. Furthermore, not all Wiccans practice witchcraft. Some Wiccans practice only religious rituals seeking to connect with spirit. Spirituality is expressed through reverence of male and female aspects of the One.

A defining aspect of Wicca as a religion is its lack of cohesion. Traditionally one had to be initiated into a coven, but now the vast majority of Wicca practitioners are solitary. There are some Witches who claim traditions going well beyond the origins of Wicca. They come from families who have practiced rituals of reverence and magic for generations.

Much of the resurgence of witchcraft as Wicca is driven by a desire to restore balance to Mother Earth. Wicca is aligned with Modern Paganism which is derived from pre-Christian, earth-centered Paganism. The pantheon of gods and goddesses acknowledged in Wicca come from a number of cultures: Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Norse, among others.

Wicca as a religion continues to evolve. Its expression is as diverse as the body of individuals who make it up. As we will see, witchcraft is alive and well in Marin County. Some of its practitioners go by the title of Wicca, while others are tapping into the Old Ways and calling what they do by another name.