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Wicca (English: / ˈ w ɪ k ə /), also known as "The Craft", [1] is a modern pagan, syncretic, earth-centered religion.Considered a new religious movement by scholars of religion, the path evolved from Western esotericism, developed in England during the first half of the 20th century, and was introduced to the public in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant.
In the Late Middle Ages, witch trials started becoming more accepted if the accusations of witchcraft were related to heresy. However, accusations of witchcraft could be for political reasons too, such as in 1425 when Veronika of Desenice was accused of witchcraft and murdered even though she was acquitted by a court because her father-in-law ...
The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-820744-3. Hutton, Ronald (2017). The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present. Yale University Press. Levack, Brian (2013). The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America. Oxford University Press.
A person that performs sorcery is referred to as a sorcerer or a witch, conceived as someone who tries to reshape the world through the occult. The word witch is over a thousand years old: Old English formed the compound wiccecræft from wicce ('witch') and cræft ('craft'). [77] The masculine form was wicca ('male sorcerer'). [78]
Laws prohibiting various forms of witchcraft and divination can be found in the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. These include the following (as translated in the Revised JPS, 2023 : Exodus 22:18 – You shall not tolerate a sorceress. [1] Leviticus 19:26 – You shall not eat anything with its blood. You shall not practice ...
The history of Wicca documents the rise of the Neopagan religion of Wicca and related witchcraft-based Neopagan religions. [a] Wicca originated in the early 20th century, when it developed amongst secretive covens in England who were basing their religious beliefs and practices upon what they read of the historical witch-cult in the works of such writers as Margaret Murray.
There are two separate definitions of the term Wicca that have been used in Paganism and Pagan studies since circa 1980. [1] The first developed in England during the 1960s. Broad and inclusive, it covers most, if not all, forms of modern Pagan Witchcraft, especially if they share sufficient theological beliefs and ritual practices to be considered denominations within a common religious movement.
The Malleus Maleficarum, [a] usually translated as the Hammer of Witches, [3] [b] is the best known treatise about witchcraft. [6] [7] It was written by the German Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer (under his Latinized name Henricus Institor) and first published in the German city of Speyer in 1486.