ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the relationship between Wicca and Paganism as well as that between Wicca and Christianity. Based on this exploration, and on sociological data, it assesses the significance of Wicca, and predicts its future in the religious milieu of the third millennium. Wicca is beginning to be recognized as something different from witchcraft and as having a greater affinity with magic, esotericism and the occult than with early modern witchcraft. Initiatory Wicca quite clearly remains small, despite the growth of Paganism, and despite Wicca's position as the core group around which Paganism has emerged. It may be an obvious point to make that, since most people involved in British Wicca were initiated over the age of 25, they have had different religious backgrounds before initiation. Undoubtedly, many Wiccans and Pagans today see themselves as opposing Christianity, identifying with the persecution of witches in early modern Europe by the Church, and reacting against the patriarchal, monotheistic religion of Western culture.