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Wicca is a branch of Paganism, or, as some would have it Neo-Paganism. It takes its roots from prehistoric worship of a fertility goddess and her horned consort, and also from the Witchcraft practiced by the Celts in early Britain. However, Wicca as it exists today has only been around since the mid 1950s when Gerald Gardener went public with it after his initiation into the Old Forest coven in England. Most contemprary Wiccan beliefs and practices stem from Gardener, and exist most purely in the aptly named Gardenerian Tradition. It is difficult to define Wicca for many reasons. First, until very very recently, Witches practiced only in secret, for fear of persecution. While this fear still exists today, our larger numbers and greater government recognition has allowed many of us to come out of the "broom closet." Today, fortunately, things are much more open and safe. There are thousands of web sites related to Wicca, as well as many many books on the subject. Wiccans are for the most part pantheistic, meaning that we do not believe in a supernatural deity. For them, the Divine is present in the air we breath, the food we eat, and the earth we walk on. Humans are not above the plants, rocks, or animals, and we do not rule them. On the physical plane, there is Male and Female (Anima and Animus), above us onthe astral plane there is the God and the Goddess, and Beyond the Veil there is the All. Wiccans worship Deity in the dual form of the God and the Goddess, naming them according to their particular pantheons. Neither deity is more important or more powerful than the other, although the Goddess is generally given more recognition. This is becoming less and less in recent years, except in Dianic Wicca, whose members worhsip only the Goddess.
