Spiritual Forum. Org

I'd like to know what the difference is between Wicca and witchcraft?
Every book I can find is about Wicca, so there's plenty of information
about that.  I know not all witches are Wiccans, and that point is
made repeatedly.  Is it the religious component?  The ethics, i.e.,
the Rede? 

      

Witchcraft is a wide family of magical practices that generally use
some sort of folk magic basis, including, but not limited to, poppets
(dolls), candles, incantations, herbs, etc, etc.  There are regional
and cultural versions of such practices.  In many regions, the witch
is considered as being aligned with evil or malignant forces as part
of the practice or as a source of power.

Wicca is a religion with a magical component which Wiccans describe as
Witchcraft.  The methods of Wiccan Witchcraft overlap many of the
forms of witchcraft in general, especially when you consider eclectic
witches who use content from all sorts of sources, sometimes in
unlikely combinations.  Wiccans usually add some sort of ceremonial
context for the witchcraft, as in drawing circle and calling quarters,
or in using more formal wording and methods in the process of
witchery.  (Note the word "usually"!!)  Wiccans also almost always
apply some at least rudimentary code of ethics (i.e. the Rede).
Although many Wiccans acknowledge both a bright and a dark side to
Magic as well as the rest of the universe, they do not identify with
the common concepts of "Good" and "Evil" and therefore do not use
"Evil" as a component or source for their magic.  (However, that does
not prevent a perception of such from outsiders.)

Because of the issue of ethics, and the choice of Wiccans to almost
always use magic to help and heal rather than harm or curse, Wiccan
Witchcraft is very often viewed as white-light nice and somehow weak.
I advise against such a conclusion.  But then again, I sometimes leave
people to form misconceptions if they insist, especially ones that
underestimate me and my practices.

There are some of us who are Witches but shun Wicca.

So much has been done to make "Wicca" appealing to the general public that it feels "cheapened".

I take a little bit of a different perspective on the difference between Wicca and Witchcraft. It's not just about Wicca being a religion and witchcraft not... Wicca is more like just one of many different *religious* Witchcraft traditions. This can be covered much more in depth in its own thread, but there's plenty of discrepancy about whether "Witchcraft" is a religion itself. To me it is. It's a way of life and a means of spirituality. Not every "practitioner" of witchcraft would use it that way, but many do, and of the many who do, they do not follow the tradition of Wicca. It might be a tradition with a different name, or a mixture of different traditions, and even other religions.

I knew I was very interested in witchcraft many years ago, and of course, Wicca is the easiest, most obvious tradition available. I quickly decided it wasn't for me, and I kept searching. Not all Witches are Wiccans. Many Witches are something else all together. Just like Christianity has Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Mormons, Catholics, Pentecostals, etc. Witchcraft is full of a variety of traditions. Wicca just stands in the limelight.