Editing Wicca (section)

===Magic and spellcraft===
[[File:Wiccan Altar.png|thumb|Wiccan altar set with vintage pieces of green and brown calcite onyx]]
Many Wiccans believe in [[Magic (paranormal)|magic]], a manipulative force exercised through the practice of "[[spellcraft]]".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dunwich |first1=Gerina |author1-link=Gerina Dunwich |title=The A–Z of Wicca |date=1998 |publisher=Boxtree |page=120}}</ref> Many Wiccans agree with the definition of magic offered by [[ceremonial magic]]ians,{{sfn|Valiente|1973|p=231}} such as [[Aleister Crowley]], who declared that magic was "the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will", while another ceremonial magician, [[Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers|MacGregor Mathers]] stated that it was "the science of the control of the secret forces of nature".{{sfn|Valiente|1973|p=231}} Many Wiccans believe magic to be a law of nature, as yet misunderstood or disregarded by contemporary science,{{sfn|Valiente|1973|p=231}} and as such they do not view it as being [[supernatural]], but a part of what [[Leo Martello]] calls the "super powers that reside in the natural".{{sfn|Adler|1979|pp=158–159}} Some Wiccans believe that magic is simply making full use of the five senses to achieve surprising results,{{sfn|Adler|1979|pp=158–159}} whilst other Wiccans do not claim to know how magic works, merely believing that it does because they believe they have observed it to be so.{{sfn|Hutton|1999|pp=394–395}}

During ritual practices, which are often staged in a [[sacred circle]], Wiccans cast [[spell (paranormal)|spells]] or "workings" intended to bring about real changes in the physical world. Common Wiccan spells include those used for [[energy medicine|healing]], protection, fertility, or to banish negative influences.{{sfn|Gallagher|2005|pp=250–265}} Many early Wiccans, such as [[Alex Sanders (Wiccan)|Alex Sanders]], [[Sybil Leek]] and Alex Winfield, referred to their own magic as "[[magic (paranormal)|white magic]]", which contrasted with "[[black magic]]", which they associated with [[evil]] and [[Satanism]]. Sanders also used the similar terminology of "[[left-hand path]]" to describe malevolent magic, and "[[right-hand path]]" to describe magic performed with good intentions;<ref>{{cite book |first=Alex |last=Sanders |author-link=Alex Sanders (Wiccan) |title=The Alex Sanders Lectures |publisher=Magickal Childe |year=1984 |isbn=0-939708-05-1}}</ref> terminology that had originated with the occultist [[Helena Blavatsky]] in the 19th century. Some modern Wiccans, however, have stopped using the white/black magic and left/right-hand-path dichotomies, arguing, for instance, that the color [[black]] should not necessarily have any associations with evil.{{sfn|Gallagher|2005|p=321}}

Scholars of religion [[Rodney Stark]] and [[William Sims Bainbridge|William Bainbridge]] claimed in 1985 that Wicca had "reacted to [[secularisation]] by a headlong plunge back into magic" and that it was a reactionary religion which would soon die out. This view was heavily criticised in 1999 by the historian [[Ronald Hutton]], who claimed that the evidence displayed the very opposite: that "a large number [of Wiccans] were in jobs at the cutting edge [of scientific culture], such as computer technology".{{sfn|Hutton|1999}}