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Wicca and New Age

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions

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Definition

Wicca, also known as modern witchcraft, or simply craft, is the most widely known religion among the various religious expressions that comprise neopaganism. This term is used to describe various contemporary traditions and practices that revere nature as sacred and alive, based on and inspired by pagan religions of the past. These religious expressions share a seasonal cycle of festivals and tend to be polytheistic, pantheistic, or duotheistic, rather than monotheistic (Pearson 2002).

Wicca was founded in the first half of the twentieth century by a retired British civil servant, Gerald Brosseau Gardner (1884–1964), who popularized through his works the belief patterns and practices of modern witches and neopagans, in general. The main features of this religion are as follows: it follows the cult of the triple Goddess (maiden, mother, and crone) and the horned God (son and consort), and the adherents practice in groups called covens (witches’ groups) or as individuals. The...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pós Graduação em Ciências da Religião, PUC-SP, Rua Monte Alegre 984, Perdizes 4 andar, sala 4E-09, 05014-901, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Celso Terzetti

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  1. Celso Terzetti
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Correspondence to Celso Terzetti .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sociology/Anthropology, Oakland Univ Sociology/Anthropology, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Henri Gooren

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Terzetti, C. (2016). Wicca and New Age. In: Gooren, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08956-0_334-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08956-0_334-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-08956-0

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