Annotated Bibliography

"Basic Tenets of Wicca Craft." Wicca.org. Ed. Church and School of Wicca. Church and School of Wicca, 26 Sept. 2006. Web. 9 Apr. 2010. In Wicca, they have a design which is a five-pointed star, each of the points is supposed to remind a Wiccan of the Wiccan Rede. These five points are Harmony, reincarnation, power through knowledge, law of attraction and Deity is supposed to exist in the center of the star. All five of these points reflect good natured, peaceful and self-fulfilling ideas that are the center of Wicca.“Wicca—Reaching towards Deity in spiritual growth is considered vertical. Craft—Magic and matters of this world are horizontal (pragmatic). Achieving growth in both matters is a way to find balance (harmony). Wicca-Craft.” “Law of Attraction: What I do to other living creatures, I will draw to myself. Shakespeare called this Measure for Measure. It can also be expressed as ‘birds of a feather flock together.’ We do not, however, ascribe to the commonly called Law of Three where what I do comes back to me three times.”

National Geographic, prod. "Wicca." National Geographic. National Geographic. NGC, Washington, D.C. YouTube.com. YouTube, LLC. Web. In this video, it featured a woman who lives in England and she just became a Wiccan. They were celebrating the next spring that was coming and they were performing a secret ritual to make incense and to get ready for spring. Wiccan practices appear to happen everywhere and they are, again, peaceful practices that are designed to celebrate life between the Goddess and the Earth and it this community in England, people are starting to be accepted. “Wiccans worships the gods and spirits of nature, in return for their faith the spirits grant them the power of magic.” (0:13-0:20) “I’m very careful about who I tell. Umm…I’m very careful about who sees my pentacle. There it is. That sits by me and I have a great belief that it should be next to my body as opposed to on show. There’s a lot of prejudice still.” (0:57-0:60)

Guiley, Rosemary E. "Church and School of Wicca." The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft. Second ed. New York: Facts On File, 1999. 57-58. Print. In her introduction, Rosemary’s thesis would probably be that there is a strong difference between the religious Witchcraft and the sorcerers kind of witchcraft which she is trying to distinguish and that Wicca (or Witchcraft) is becoming exceedingly more and more popular and understood. “The Church of Wicca, founded in 1968, is the oldest recognized church of witchcraft in the United States, achieving federal recognition in 1972.” “Founded by Gavin and Yvonne Frost.” “Gavin serves as archbishop and Yvonne as bishop. They obtained their doctorates of divinity from the church.” “…in 1985, Dettmer v. Landon, the District Court of Virginia ruled that witchcraft is a legitimate religion. The decision was appealed by Virginia prison authorities.” “In 1986, Judge J. Buther of the Federal Appeals Court affirmed the decision.”

Guiley, Rosemary E. "Council of American Witches." The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft. Second ed. New York: Facts On File, 1999. 65-66. Print. In her introduction, Rosemary’s thesis would probably be that there is a strong difference between the religious Witchcraft and the sorcerers kind of witchcraft which she is trying to distinguish and that Wicca (or Witchcraft) is becoming exceedingly more and more popular and understood. “[Carl] Weschcke believed that the formulation of a common set of principles and definitions would help dispel myths about witchcraft and distinguish it from Satanism in the eyes of the public and press.”

Gibson, Marion. Witchcraft Myths in American Culture. New York: Routledge, 2007. Print. In her introduction her thesis would probably be that Witchcraft has been present for many years, from the past with the Salem hunting, to the Wizard of Oz and Bewitched and that it will continue to be present for many more years.. She highlighted what each of her chapters will be covering and then she went on to list all of the people and places that helped her write her book. “Each generation innovated, and added to the eclectic traditions handed down to it. Each Witch tried to find a way of making the Craft work for her or him-a dash of Buddhism here, or the feminist philosophy of Cixous or Irigaray there.” Pg. 167 “Leo Martello wrote of American Wicca more generally that while European traditions say that a Witch is born, not made, Anglo-American covens say, ‘A Witch is made, not born.’ Although this distinction is not always true, it reflects perfectly the mythos of America and thus of her Witches, too: American Witches are generally self-made.” Pg. 165-166

Russell, Jeffrey Burton., and Brooks Alexander. A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics and Pagans. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2007. Print. Their thesis statement would probably be that no witch has ever probably fit the common stereotype of a “witch” with the warts, conical hats, broomsticks and evil, cackling laugh. They believe that “Witches exist-or don’t exist-depending on one’s definition of a witch.” “The Internet is another factor that has taken Witchcraft far beyond its esoteric sources. One of the real surprises of the 1980s was the emergence of a strong connection between witches, high technology, and the computer culture.” Pg. 178 “The Horned God and the Moon Goddess are the principle deities of Wicca. The Horned God represents the male aspect of divinity: the Lord of Death, Winter, and the hunt, while the Moon Goddess represents the female aspect: the Mother Goddess, Summer, fertility and birth. Within Wiccan tradition it is believed they can be ‘drawn down’ to possess the High Priestess and High Priest.” Pg. 188