Wiccan

adj. Of, relating to, or pertaining to the religion of Wicca or its practitioners. n. A practitioner of Wicca.

Though there have been some highly intelligent Wiccan thinkers and writers (most notably Doreen Valiente and the Farrars), most Wiccans have managed to gain a reputation for fluffiness, flakiness, and low intelligence among the occult community. There’s also a general sense that some of them, at least, are simply college students looking for attention or trying to annoy their parents. Since Wicca is the oldest and best-known of all Neopagan faiths, it’s the one that’s most easily found by neophyte seekers with little actual drive for learning or discovery. After reading one or two books (often all from Llewellyn Publishing), such people can declare themselves “full-fledged Wiccans” (in accord with the idea of self-initiation), and proceed to give Wicca a bad reputation by spouting ill-formed theories with no backing in fact.

Those with a sincere interest in Neopagan religion may find Wicca first, but then move on to other paths such as Druidism, Ásatrú, or Discordianism. Those who truly are interested in Wicca are also likely to find Wicca first, but they will also actually learn about their religion and treat it as such. They invariably wind up being very annoyed at the flaky, fluffy types.

Wiccans generally wear the pentacle as a sign of their belief, but it’s often decked out with additional symbology, such as a lunar crescent, Goddess figure, antlers, Celtic knotwork, quartz crystal or other gemstone, snake or ouroborous, or nearly any other magickal, occult, or personal symbolism. Alternatively, they may wear some non-pentacle emblem, usually chosen from the above list, but also including ankhs, animal imagery (often of totemic significance), and so on.