WITCHCRAFT - I consider Witchcraft to be a way of life; kin to how we see our early ancestors living in harmony with nature (at least trying to live in harmony with nature.) They listened and paid attention to the sounds around them, the changings of the seasons, planting crops, tuning in to the nature which was all about them. Of course this was necessary for survival purposes, but still they knew all kinds of cool stuff which we've forgotten about today or even things that maybe we never knew about. For example, when a beaver hopped up and down on one leg it meant that it was going to rain. If a bird flew backwards, then we were going to get a cold frost the next morning. Now these particular things aren't necessarily true, but you get the point.
These people knew about plants and healing. They made salves and medicines for sickness out of plants which grew right outside their doors. They knew how to make all kinds of crafts using things that were growing that time of year. They decorated and had celebrations to bring in the changing of the seasons. Of course they didn't think anything special about it, it was just a way of life. Today, in our cement cities, we have all but lost touch with that way of life; I know it has been hard for me to reclaim many of these traditions. I'll take an air-conditioned room anyday. Yet these people of old, were and still are witches.
Now those witches didn't necessarily think about a God or a Goddess, in fact many of them were probably Christian and didn't think twice about their way of life being special. It was how they survived. They didn't necessarily have rituals, or "call quarters," or perform initiation rites, bless the cakes and wine, or cast circles. They were the simple folks in tune with their surroundings, they were the witches.
WICCA - Now let's take the above. Let's tack on all the rituals, the God and Goddess names, the books of shadows, the athames and other tools, circles, pentagrams, pentacles, strange sounding words like deosil or widdershins, and a whole set of rules on how to use them. Put all this stuff in a blender and add your flavor of culture, whether it be Irish, or Norse, or Native American or Gerrmanic or whatever and put on "mix" cycle for about 60 years. Poof, you have Wicca.
Wicca therefore, by my definition, is a combination of the witchcraft, which is a way of life, and all the fixings and trimming of religion mixed with a regional culture. Now I do use the words Wicca and Witchcraft interchangeably sometimes depending upon the context of my conversation. But I do generally try to keep them separate. Feel free to distinguish the words if you will or use them interchangably. Just make sure when you mean one or the other, that the person you are speaking with knows what you are talking about.
If you were to count every grain of sand at the beach, that number that you would end up with would still be less than the number of different definitions of Wicca. It's not easy to define because it is a dynamic religion which adapts itself to people of all ethnic backgrounds and social statuses and which changes constantly. It's said that Wicca survives because it changes, and I would tend to agree. Yet, in its most simple, basic form, Wicca is spiritual- Please allow me to explain.
To know Wicca is to have truly experienced Wicca and the world around you. If you have ever experienced the serenity of a quiet walk on the beach, the warm, dry winds of a desertscape, the soothing waters of the ocean or the musty smell of a dew enveloped forest morning you have indeed been touched by Wicca. You see, Wicca is not about casting spells, although we do work "magick" to improve our lives and the lives of our families and children as well as the world around us. Wicca is not about alienating ourselves from society, but instead about learning how to live and be a part of it lending our abilities to help wherever we can. It is not about shirking off the responsibilities of the world but instead about embracing them and creating the change within us and eventually creating change without.
Wicca is about nature. It's about recognizing that you are an intricate part of all this stuff around you and it's about learning how to live in harmony with it. Consequently many Wiccans are activists, striving to create a better world for themselves as well as for their neighbors whether they be humans, plants or animals.
Really, to define Wicca is to look within yourself and remember a time in your life when you truly felt that you were a part of the world around you. Perhaps it was your first trip to a mountain-top where you looked off into the horizon at the infinate space above and below you. Maybe it was your first time to the beach or to see snow. Wicca is about the unexplainable connection between nature and ourselves that lies within each of us. Yet as we grow older, we often lose sight of this connection and sadly spend our lives in our concrete cities never truly knowing happiness.
When you make that connection with the divine through nature and life itself, you never see things quite the same way again. A dead leaf on the ground is no longer something just to rake, but instead it is part of a cycle of life that has just finished and which will begin anew by providing nourishment to the trees so that other leaves may be born and flourish. Old persons are not merely liabilities to take care of but instead are valuable wells of information and experiences which we can draw upon and learn from. Water from a fountain is not just cool and satisfying. It is a fluid of life providing energy to all parts of our bodies, helping our organs to cleanse themselves, much as the element of water is used within our magick circles. Wicca challenges us to look beyond the surface of our life experiences to find the real meanings. Everyone experiences life, not all people live it.
I hope you have felt a bit of the passion I have for this path. Blessed Be.