WiccaImagine that you are walking in the woods, it is cold, and from a distance you hear a song floating in the wind. The sound has an eerie, soothing sound, inviting you to follow the new melody. Your curiosity gets the better of you so you follow the noise. You enter a clearing and observe a group of individuals around a fire, singing and dancing. What is your first impression? Have you come across a satanic cult? Or perhaps you are witnessing a vibrant and misunderstood religion. Wicca is a religion that is often misunderstood as being 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. contemporary paganism – an earth-centered religion that reveres nature; celebrates seasonal and lunar cycles; and worships a goddess, or several goddesses, or sometimes a goddess and a god” (637-638). It is a religion that focuses on worshiping an earth god or goddess, using their power and the earth's elements for good. For a misunderstood religion, it has a lot of history behind it and a deep belief system. Wicca is an ancient religion, having begun "over thirty-five thousand years ago," as stated by Starhawk, a Wiccan (qtd. in Allen 18). Although it started long before him and many events involving witchcraft occurred, research has shown that a man named Gerald Gardner was the one who brought the religion of Wicca to the public in the 1950s (Allen 19). Gardner stated that it was the pre-Christian religion of Europe called the “old religion” (Adler 637). ...... middle of paper ......len 22).Works CitedAdler, Margot. “Wicca.” Reader's Companion to American Women's History. 637-638. United States: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 1998. Historical Reference Center. Internet. November 4, 2013. Allen, Charlotte. “The Scholars and the Goddess.” Atlantic Monthly (10727825) 287.1 (2001): 18-22. Premier Academic Research. Internet. 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 Academic Research. Internet. November 4, 2013.Stanley, Tim. “Give me that old-time religion.” History Today 63.8 (2013): 50. Academic Research Premier. Internet. November 4. 2013.