Etymology of Wicca Pagan Witchcraft community. The author's name was not printed, although it had probably been produced by one of the figures involved in editing "Pentagram", such as Gerard Noel or Doreen Valiente. In July 1968, a group of British Gardnerians began publishing a magazine titled "The Wiccan", while Welshman Gavin Frost founded the Church of Wicca in the United States that same year. In the 1960s, the Gardnerian initiate Alex Sanders founded his own tradition, which became known as Alexandrian Wicca; he used the terms "Wicca" and "the Wicca" in reference to the entire Pagan Witchcraft religion. One of Sanders' initiates,
Wicca Wiccans do not claim to know how magic works, merely believing that it does because they have observed it to be so. Some spell it "magick", a variation coined by the influential occultist Aleister Crowley, though this spelling is more commonly associated with Crowley's religion of Thelema than with Wicca. During ritual practices, which are often staged in a sacred circle, Wiccans cast spells or "workings" intended to bring about real changes in the physical world. Common Wiccan spells include those used for healing, for protection, fertility, or to banish negative influences. Many early Wiccans, such as Alex Sanders, Sybil