Wicca Imagine you are walking through the woods, it is cold and from afar you hear a song floating on the wind. The sound has a haunting and lulling sound, which pushes you to follow the new melody. Your curiosity gets the better of you, so follow the noise. You enter a clearing and witness a group of individuals around a fire, singing and dancing. What's your first impression? Have you come across a satanic cult? Or perhaps you are witnessing a vibrant, misunderstood religion. Wicca is a very commonly misunderstood religion because it is affiliated with the devil and rituals containing black magic. To the uneducated mind, this is what we think of when we hear the word Wicca, or more commonly known as Witch. Defined by Margot Adler, writer for Reader's Companion to US Women's History, "Wicca is the term commonly used to describe several different traditions." of contemporary paganism, an earth-centered religion that venerates nature; celebrates seasonal and lunar cycles; and worship a goddess, or many goddesses, or sometimes a goddess and a god” (637-638). It is a religion that focuses on the worship of an earth god or goddess, using their power and the elements of the earth for good. For a misunderstood religion, it has a lot of history behind it and a deep belief system. Wicca is an ancient religion, beginning "over thirty-five thousand years ago", as stated by Starhawk, a Wiccan (qtd in Allen 18). Even though it all started long before him and many events regarding witchcraft had occurred, research has shown that a man named Gerald Gardner was the one who brought the religion of Wicca to the public eye in the 1950s (Allen 19) . Gardner said it was thought to be the pre-Christian religion of Europe called the “old religion” (Adler 637). ...... half of the sheet ......len 22).Works CitedAdler, Margot. "Wicca." Reader's companion to the history of American women. 637-638. United States: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 1998. Historical Reference Center. Network. November 4, 2013.Allen, Charlotte. "The Scholars and the Goddess." Atlantic Monthly(10727825) 287.1 (2001): 18-22. Premier of academic research. Network. November 4, 2013. Cantrel, Gary. Wiccan: beliefs and practices. Woodbury: Llewelly Publications, 2001. Print.Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. "Wicca." The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca. 3rd ed. 2012. Print.Ruether, Rosemary Radford. “The Normalization of Goddess Religion.” Feminist Theology: The Journal of the Britain & Ireland School of Feminist Theology 13.2 (2005): 151-157. Premier of academic research. Network. November 4, 2013.Stanley, Tim. “Give me that old religion.” History Today 63.8 (2013): 50. Premier Academic Research. Network. November 4. 2013.