Satanism vs. Wicca — What's the Difference?

Satanists sometimes perform rituals to manifest personal desires.

Wiccans might cast spells to promote healing or protect the environment.

In Satanism, personal success and fulfillment are paramount.

Wicca teaches adherence to the principle of harming none.

Satanism can represent a symbolic opposition to mainstream religious values.

Wicca incorporates practices such as spellcasting and rituals.

Theistic Satanists literally worship Satan as a deity.

Wiccans celebrate seasonal festivals that honor the Earth’s cycles.

Some branches of Satanism encourage actions based solely on personal benefit.

Wiccan rituals often honor the divine masculine and feminine through their God and Goddess.

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.