Wicca

Encouraged by court rulings recognizing witchcraft as a legal religion, an increasing number of books related to the subject, and the continuing cultural concern for the environment, Wicca - as contemporary witchcraft is often called - has been growing in the United States and abroad. It is a major element in the expanding "neo-pagan" movement whose members regard nature itself as charged with divinity.

"I don't worship Satan, who I don't think exists, but I do pray to the Goddess of Creation." said Margot S. Adler, a New York correspondent for National Public Radio and a Wiccan practitioner. "Wicca is not anti-Christian or pro-Christian, it's pre-Christian."

For at least one person who has seen "The Blair Witch Project", the surprise hit movie of the summer did not so much terrify as infuriate. One long slur against witches, said Selena Fox, a witch, or Wicca, as male and female American witches prefer to call themselves.