Are Witchcraft and Wicca the Same?


Short Answer: No
Long Answer: Wicca is often called the modern religion of Witchcraft, or the religion of modern witchcraft, but the term is a misnomer. At the time Gardner wrote, he made the decision to ignore the fact that many indigenous "witches" in Britain not only did not use the terms "witch" and "witchcraft" for themselves, but used the terms to refer to evil people who they, as guardians of their land, fought against, these good people were called cunning-folk, kenners, wisefolk, wortcunners, healers, sages, or any dozen of names used by different people. Only those who tried to stomp these indigenous peoples out called their practices "Witchcraft."
Some people choose to reclaim the term despite the fact that the ancient practices they embrace were not called Witchcraft, and many of the people who practiced those practices would not like it if you called them witches. People with respect for their ancestors avoid using terms the ancestors would be insulted by. That is the reason why some Wiccans will never use the term Witch. In truth, the word is being "claimed" not reclaimed.
Gardner and his contemporaries did call their synthesis of old and new beliefs "Witchcraft" and the practitioners of it were called "Witches" or "The Wicca" and thus there is a historical (more than 50 year old, but not much) reason for Wiccans, whose faith is descended from Gardner, to use the term "Witch."
However, there are many things we've left behind that were great in Gardner's time, things like Racism, the Hindu caste system, blatant classism, sexism, and more. Many people feel the shock value term "witchcraft" is another one of those things we don't need in a legitimate religion. Those people prefer the term "Wiccan."
As if that was not confusing enough, there are a whole bunch of people who use the term Witch who are not Wiccan. Their use of term can be based on dozens of reasons, but their faith is 100% not Wiccan.
Put shortly, Witchcraft and Wicca sometimes mean the same thing, but never assume so, because many Witches are not Wiccan, and some Wiccans will never embrace the term "witch"

More Info:
"What do you mean 'Indigenous belief'?"
-Indigenous beliefs are remnants or parts of indigenous (natural to or original to an area) religions.
"Is there a difference between Paganism and Neo-Paganism?"
-In general, no. Many people use the term "Neo-Pagan" to distinguish between Ancient Indigenous Religions, which they call "Pagan" and Modern religions, which they call "Neo-Pagan."
For most of these ancient religions, Pagan is a perjorative, so it is best to call self-identified Pagans Pagans, and others by the proper term for their religion, or at least the generic term (like "indigenous religion of Ancient Sparta").



Citations: Beliefnet.com, Witchvox.com Go to next Question
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