Wicca

American  

[wik-uh] / ˈwɪk ə /

noun

1. a nature-oriented religion having rituals and practices derived from pre-Christian religious beliefs and typically incorporating modern witchcraft of a benevolent kind.

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Wicca British  

/ ˈwɪkə /

noun

1. (sometimes not capital) the cult or practice of witchcraft

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Other Word Forms

• Wiccan noun

Etymology

Origin of Wicca

First recorded in 1950–55; adapted from Old English wicca “male sorcerer” ( Middle English wicch(e), “sorcerer (male or female)”; witch, wicked

Example Sentences

As witchcraft practice, including Wicca, became more openly accepted, occult consultants began popping up more regularly, credited or not, on shows, including “Charmed,” “Supernatural,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and even the military legal procedural “JAG.”

From Washington Post • Mar. 10, 2023

Practices include black magic, white magic, Wicca, Reiki, Tarot, astrology, and healers of the evil eye and other ailments.

From New York Times • Dec. 17, 2022

For 50 years, Zsuzsanna Budapest dedicated much of her life to creating and disseminating Dianic Wicca, a feminist, Goddess-centered spirituality she originated in Los Angeles in the 1970s.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 7, 2021

The religion made sense to her and she joined the Women of the Goddess Circle, a feminist pagan spiritual community of women in the Dianic tradition of Wicca, which focuses on women’s empowerment.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 20, 2021

Janet was fairly sure that Reiki was Japanese, Wicca was British, and yoga came from a different kind of Indian, but her mother had no time for such trivialities.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith