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Difference between a witch and a Wiccan

Posted by Witches Coven on September 29, 2014 at 11:15 AM Comments comments (0)

Being a witch and a Wiccan are NOT the same thing. For example, I am a witch not a Wiccan.


A witch simply means someone who practices the craft (does spells). They do not necessarally have to be Wiccan, they can be from many walks of life and hold many different beliefs.


A Wiccan is someone who practices the religion Wicca. This means someone follows that spiritual path in life, however they may have made the personal choice to refrain from casting spells.


Although a Wiccan who does not cast spells may choose to claim that they are a witch because they still share the beliefs of other Wiccans who do cast spells or because they do have the ability to cast spells but have chosen not to.


There are also witches from many different belief systems and religions. Here are just a few of the different types:


~Kitchen Witch: It practices by home and hearth, mainly dealing with practical sides of the religion, magick, the elements and the earth.


~Ceremonial Witchcraft: Mainly use ceremonial magick (obviously) in their practices. They commonly use Qabbalistic magick or Egyptian magick in their rituals.




~Eclectic Witch: Doesn't follow a particular religion or tradition. They study and learn from many different systems and use what works best for them.




~Alexandrian Tradition: They are said to be modified Gardenarian.


~Gardenarian Tradition: Follow a structured root in ceremony and practice. They aren't as much vocal as others and have a fairly foundational set of customs.




~Pictish Witchcraft: It's originally from Scotland and is a solitary form of The Craft. It is more magickal in nature than it is in religion.




~Caledonii Tradition: Also known as the Hecatine Tradition, it's the denomination of The Craft with a Scottish origin.




~Solitary Witch: This is one who practices alone, without a cover etc.. following any tradition.


~Strega Witches: Originally coming from Italy are the known to be the smallest group in the US. It is said their craft is wise and beautiful.


What Is Wicca?

Contrary to what those who choose to persecute or lie about us wish to believe, Wicca is a very peaceful, harmonious and balanced way of thinking and life which promotes oneness with the divine and all which exists.




Thanks to archaeological discoveries, we now have basis to believe that the origins of our belief system can be traced even further back to the Paleolithic peoples who worshipped a Hunter God and a Fertility Goddess. With the discovery of these cave paintings, estimated to be around 30,000 years old, depicting a man with the head of a stag, and a pregnant woman standing in a circle with eleven other people, it can reasonably be assumed that Witchcraft is one of the oldest belief systems known in the world toady. These archetypes are clearly recognized by Wiccan as our view of the Goddess and God aspect of the supreme creative force and predate Christianity by roughly 28,000 years making it a mere toddler in the spectrum of time as we know it.






To begin, the medieval church of the 15th through 18th centuries created these myths to convert the followers of the old nature based religions to the churches way of thinking. By making the Witch into a diabolical character and turning the old religious deities into devils and demons, the missionaries were able to attach fear to these beliefs which aided in the conversion process. Secondly, as medical science began to surface, the men who were engaged in these initial studies had a very poor understanding of female physiology, especially in the area of a women's monthly cycles. The unknowns in this area played very well with the early churches agenda lending credence to the Witch Hunters claims and authority. The fledgling medical professions also stood to benefit greatly from this because it took the power of the women healers away giving it to the male physicians transferring the respect and power to them.


Unfortunately these misinformed fears and superstitions have carried forward through the centuries and remain to this day. This is why many who follow these nature oriented beliefs have adopted the name of Wicca over its true name of Witchcraft to escape the persecution, harassment and misinformation associated with the name of Witchcraft and Witch not to mention the bad publicity the press and Hollywood has given us simply to generate a profit.

What is Witchcraft?
