Wicca is a 20th century, polytheistic fertility religion focused on the worship of Pagan Gods; generally a God and Goddess, but how many Gods and Goddesses a Wiccan may worship is really up to them.
Now, that's just the answer in a tiny nutshell.
Wicca is:
A 20th century religion
-Contrary to popular belief, Wicca is not an ancient religion, as it's often boasted to be. Gerald Gardner, founder of the religion approximately 70-75 years ago, created his religion basing it off the theories of anthropologist Margaret Murray, who believed (at the time) that there was an underground movement of Pagans and Witches who survived throughout the centuries with their beliefs and practices intact. More recent anthropological studies into her theories have since debunked and disproven those theories. There was no underground movement.
Gerald Gardner, approximately 75-80 years ago stumbled upon a group of Pagans practicing their own brand of Paganism and was eventually embraced into their group. He then branched off to create his own religion, admittedly "piecing" it together to fill in whatever gaps he felt were missing in his new religion (as he also based it primarily off the group he was a part of). The religion may have began with the idea he was creating a "Witch cult", including ideas that he was practicing an ancient religion, and whatever Paganism he had stumbled upon, but as time went on and evolution happened to the religion, practitioners who practice today (novices and well seasoned practitioners) acknowledge these theories were disproven, however that doesn't diminish the spiritual fulfillment the religion provides. Remember, it's not the age of the religion determines validity, it's those who find fulfillment in it.
A Polytheistic religion
-Wicca is a polytheistic religion. Polytheism suggests the belief in and worship of multiple deities. Typically Wiccans worship at least a God and Goddess, but they are not forbidden from worshiping a multitude of deities. How many one may worship is only limited to their own preferences. Surely there are some who choose to worship only one God and one Goddess, but there are others who choose to worship an entire pantheon of Gods and Goddess (i.e. Hellenists worship all the Greek Gods).
A Fertility religion
-Because Wicca is a fertility religion, many people like to think that Wiccans participate in a free-for-all in the manner of sexual orgies with many, many people, around roaring bonfires with a devil-may-care attitude.
Truth be told...while Wiccans do indeed value sexuality as something sacred, they hardly hold a "devil-may-care" "free-for-all" sexual orgy in the forest. Because of the sacred view Wiccans have about sex, it's done ONLY with full consent of ADULTS, and usually one-on-one (though if there are some who are more adventurous, that's their bag and no one elses business). It's also not done in full view of other participants. Like the vast majority of sexual encounters, it's done in the privacy of a private room, usually one's own.
The reason for this misunderstanding about Wicca's comfort about sex is that everyone else has a discomfort about it. Mostly because we've been indoctrinated to believe that sex is a negative thing. As children, we're shielded from sexual scenes in movies; parents lock their doors when engaging in sex; we're told it's dirty and sinful; we're told we should never find pleasure in it, despite it being a very pleasurable act. Finding pleasure and happiness in something so "dirty" makes us "dirty" as well. So for Wiccans to be so accepting about sex makes most believe that we are dirty sinners who find joy in being perverse. We forget that sex is NECESSARY for procreation; that the very reason it's pleasurable is because it makes procreation much easier, and that not only is it meant for procreation, it's meant for REC-reation as well. Are we as humans so naive as to believe the animals in the animal kingdom don't participate in sex for recreational reasons too? I challenge anyone to go out and study animals in the jungle for a year and come back to tell me they don't. Sex is nothing to be frightened about. It's not dirty, it's not perverse and it's definitely not wrong to do. The ONLY time sex is unacceptable is when it's with a minor and/or with someone who has NOT given consent (children cannot give consent, even if they know how to say "yes". That's not consent because they have no idea what they're consenting to).
A religion focused on the worship of Pagan Gods
-Wiccans don't worship plants and trees (or nature in general). They don't worship the devil (there is no "devil" in Wicca), they also don't worship Christian deities (including Jesus or Mary). Wiccans worship Pagan Gods...the Gods that have existed centuries before Christianity was even a thought. The Pagan Gods still exist. They always have, for the most part, though they'd been "pushed" aside for the more popular Abrahamic God and Jesus Christ. In parts of the world that dismissed the conversion of Christianity, or never heard of Christianity period, they still worshiped the Gods of Old. Today the embrace of Pagan Gods is re-growing, thanks to religions like Wicca, who open themselves up to accepting these new Old Gods.
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