Wiccan is a modern-day Neopagan religion based on a cave painting, with a limiting moral code attached to it. Witchcraft is a term applied to practice of magick.
Wiccae is a non-universal plural term for a Wiccan.
It is debated as to whether or not Wicca itself is new or old, but it is safe to say that most known Wiccan traditions are newly formed or adapted from older traditions. This is not to say that Wicca itself is entirely new.
I think it would be right to say that Witchcraft is more widely known about and has been in the public eye a lot longer. Since we don't know much about Wicca before the mid-twentyeth century, it is hard to say things like it being new or old firmly.
Re: Which came first By: AwakeTooLong / Knowledgeable
Post # 7 Oct 30, 2010
Wicca, the religion as it is now known and currently called, is a practice that developed in the early half of the 20th century.
"The Wica" or "Wiccae" wikken, wiccian, etc. are terms born of old german, and possibly Icelandic Vikti or Vikta, which likely all influence the English witch. Interestingly, translating "Witch" into another latin-based language usually results in a word more akin to Sorcerer unless you are directly saying "Witch," in reference to a particular modern faith.
So to answer the root question, Wicca the religion came much later. Witch came first, and is perhaps born of the german/saxon word Wiccan(and various other versions of it).
As to arguements about the age of Wicca, the religion:
Wicca is less than a hundred years old, so...
Yes, even Christianity and Satanic practice predate "Wicca" and even paganism, as "paganism" is a modern adaptation of a word "pagan" created to describe polytheistic religion by Christians.
What we now practice is very new, as the practices generally deviate quite widely from the original methods of the ancients. These more modern methods of magical practice are more heavily influenced by and born within the occult study of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries (primarily), wherein the study of ancient and medieval magical practice and manuscripts become popularized among those who usually had a lot of money and time.
Yes, there are very deep roots that color what we now do, but when you get down to it we aren't living our lives or faiths like Druids, priests, and magi of ages old.
Now, I'm not saying what you practice is wrong, and I love the diversity of faith. I certainly think that stepping away from many of the old practices (like human and animal sacrifice) are steps in the right direction. I do however think it's important to know your history.
In the book bucklands complete guide to witchcraft i read that people practiced magic simpler version than we have today , and the priest/preists was called a wiccan meaning wise one
not sure wiccans have been around for a long time but have not been called wiccans until more recently not sure what they where called before but the name was changed when the religion was mad legal
When Gerald Gardner put together the belief system that is now called Wicca in the 1930's he called it simply Witchcraft and it's practitioners were known as being "of the Wica". It stayed known as Witchcraft until the 1960's when others started using the term "Wicca" to describe what they did in order to avoid the stigma attached to the word "Witch".
On the other hand, if you look at the origins of the term "Wicca" you will find it is derived from the Anglo-Saxon where "wicce" was a female Witch and "wicca" meant a male Witch. This is not of course to be understood as the Anglo-Saxons having practiced what we know today as Wicca because they most certainly did not. It's simply an explanation as to where the term came from that later was applied to Gardnerian Witchcraft and its off-shoots.
