Brandeis resident scholar in the Women’s Studies Research Center Helen Berger (WGS) wrote an article in The Conversation discussing Wicca and its growth in the United States. It is estimated that there are around 1.5 million practitioners in the United States, according to the article.
According to the article, Wicca is a minority religion whose adherents call themselves witches regardless of their gender. The religion originated in the 1940s in the United Kingdom, and is now a part of the pagan movement. “All these spiritual paths, as pagans refer to them, base their practices on pre-Christian religions and cultures,” said the article.
In the United States, Wicca can be traced back to the 1960s. However, Berger points out that not all witches are Wiccans; of the 1.5 million, only 800 thousand of them identify as Wicca. According to the article, “increasing numbers that have been witnessed in surveys and the growth of groups, such as those on TikTok, suggest that the religion is continuing to grow.”
The Wiccan religion is different from more common religions. Not only does it celebrate both a Goddess and a God, but it does not have institutions such as churches and religious texts. There is one main rule in the practice: “Harm none and do as you will.” This single rule allows witches to have their own unique form of practicing the religion. Divinity can be found in nature for the Wicca.
The focus of Wicca is more on spiritual experience and rituals. Many rituals are held, which are meant to put practitioners in contact with the divine. “A yearly cycle of rituals, known as sabbats, celebrate the beginning and height of each of the four seasons of the Northern Hemisphere. Each ritual encourages participants to celebrate the changes the seasons bring to nature and to reflect on how those changes are mirrored in their own lives. For example, at Beltane – which takes place May 1, at the height of spring – Wiccans celebrate fertility in both the Earth and in people’s lives,” says the article.
Most of them also practice magic “to heal themselves and others or to find a new home or job, among other things, and emphasize that magic must not cause harm,” according to the article. The point of pursuing magic is to encourage self-growth and improvement.
Witches are also “in regular contact, networking on the internet and congregating at large gatherings to conduct rituals, learn about magical and spiritual practices from one another, and enter what they see as a magical space where they can more readily encounter and embrace divinity,” according to the article.
