Witchcraft has always been an interesting topic to me, for many reasons. The subject is surrounded in mystery, superstition, secrecy, and most interesting of all, real magic! I used to associate witchcraft with ugly old hags wearing pointed hats and rags while riding a broom stick through the air on a full moon. I never thought of it as a religion, but it was the first religion, according to Dr. Margaret Murray, who studies witchcraft's history and origins. Raymond Bucklands book, Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft mentions her research, saying that she found it to be a fully organized religion throughout Western Europe centuries before Christianity (1). I being Christian, thought that it was Satanic until I read about the topic, and discovered the truth. Witches do not worship any entity known as "Satan" or "the Devil."
Most books about Witchcraft focus on coven Witchcraft and it is very hard to find a book on anything else. A coven, according to Silver RavenWolf, author of To Ride a Silver Broomstick, is a group of thirteen or fewer witches that work together in an organized fashion for positive magickal endeavors or to perform religious ceremonies (20). Every religion has different divisions, this religion is no exception. He

reasons, it is the most basic form of the Craft because it has no history, there is no strict rules like most other forms and the books and articles about it are straight forward. In his book Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, Scott Cunningham writes "some use ŒWicca' and ŒWitch' almost interchangeably" (iv). Wicca is the religion of the witch's while Witchcraft is the practice of healing using the knowledge of herbs and other means of healing. The word Magick is spelled with a "k" to distinguish between stage magic, for instance David Copperfield's work, and real magick the unexplainable or Œsupernatural.'

In her book titled The Wicca Spellbook, Gerina Dunwich states the basic belief of the Witches known as the Wiccan Rede "An it harm none, love, and do what thou wilt, " (xi). Raymond Buckland agrees when he says, "do what you will... but don't do anything that will harm another, " (9). These statements stand for all that Wicca is about. Witches do not wish harm upon people it is against there religion, therefore Wicca is not evil.