The Different Types of Wicca

Hello everyone, this past weekend something that Terra and I were doing caused me to look into the different types of Wicca. (Don’t worry, you’ll see soon what we have up our sleeves.) And it made me realize, while yes, I know there are a bunch of different branches of Wicca, I didn’t realize how many of them were pretty much the same thing with a different name. I always kind of assumed that if/when I ever came to the point of looking into all the different types I would have found some major thing that made each one different. But apparently that is not the case. So below is a very brief overview of what I found when I was looking everything up.  

Gardnerian Wicca 

Gardnerian Wicca is probably the most known path of Wicca. It was founded by Gerald Gardner around the 1950s. Gerald Gardner is considered the founder of modern Wicca/Witchcraft because Gardnerian Wicca is the most mainstream path of Wicca. This was also the first tradition of Wicca to be out publicly, and not keeping their practices in the dark. Gardnerian Wicca tends to put more of an emphasis on the goddess over the god and having that parallel in the roles of the High Priest and High Priestess. Gardnerian Wicca also tends to work in secrecy, meaning that no one that hasn’t already been initiated into the coven is not allowed to know what happens in the coven. Even some of the members that have been initiated aren’t told unless they are a high enough rank. Anyone looking to be a part of this path of Wicca, needs to be initiated by another member of the Gardnerian path.  

Alexandrian Wicca 

Alexandrian Wicca was heavily influenced by Gardnerian Wicca. The only main differences are the fact that Alexandrian tended to focus more on the equality between the god and the goddess. As well as a heavy emphasis on performing ceremonial magic on the Esbats and Sabbats. Just like Gardnerian, to be a part of the Alexandrian path, you have to be initiated into the coven someone currently practicing Alexandrian Wicca.  

 Seax Wicca 

Seax Wicca, which was founded by Raymond Buckland in 1973. Buckland was an English-born high priest of Gardnerian Wicca. He moved to the United States in the 70s when he founded his own path of Wicca. Seax was different from Gardnerian because it focuses more on Germanic Deities and runes for divination. And that the rituals performed by Seax Wiccans has a tradition of being public, many of which were published. Along with being public, Buckland also encouraged his practitioners to add or modify the rituals as they see fit because there was no one set of regulations for this tradition. Unlike Gardnerian and Alexandrian, Seax traditions are not restricted to only being covens, this can be for solitary and covens.  

Dianic Wicca 

Dianic Wicca, which is fairly close to Gardnerian, just with a major difference. Lol. Dianic Wicca was born from the feminist movement and focuses solely on the feminine side of the craft and the goddess. This path is strictly meant to be followed by women, and unfortunately, that notion sometimes only means people born female, and doesn’t include anyone who has transitioned to female. That being said, there are groups out there that are more than accepting of all types of people.  

Dianic Wiccans also follow the typical Wiccan Sabbats, they just pull the masculine out of the process, and follow the triple goddess. Which to me seems impossible. I personally don’t see how you could pull the masculine out of the wheel of the year. But that’s just me. 

Eclectic Wicca 

Eclectic Wicca can also be referred to as neowiccan traditions. Eclectic Wicca is a blend of several different types of traditions. Aside from Gardnerian, Eclectic is probably the most common type of Wicca because it is essentially a build-your-own religion. That’s what makes it a good option for a lot of people.  

So, this definitely isn’t all the path of Wicca, but it’s a good starting point for anyone trying to find a path that fits for them.  

Now, I’m not going to say that I’m an expert in any of this, and if you see anything incorrect, please let me know. Or if you want to see us cover a different type of Wicca or Paganism, please let us know!