A growing number of Americans identify themselves as Wiccan. Patti Wigington, is a soccer mom and a witch.
(Courtesy Patti Wingington and Selena Fox)More Photos
In 2008, some 342,000 people identified themselves as Wiccans, up from 134,000 in 2001 and up significantly from 8,000 in 1990, said Barry Kosmin, a sociology professor at Trinity College, and the lead researcher of one of the largest surveys on religion in the U.S., the American Religious Identification Survey.
But the number of Wiccans remains relatively small to the U.S. population, less than 0.3 percent, according to the Pew Forum for Religion and Public Life.
"Wiccans are rare but certainly more common," said Kosmin. "We don't know if there are more new adherents, or if they are just less likely to hide their religion than they used to be, if they've come out of the closet -- or coven."
"I never heard of Wicca in 1990, and now you see it in the newspapers. It's become more fashionable. There's been an uptick," Kosmin said.
Wicca has become increasingly popular as the word has spread about it, said Rev. Selena Fox, leader of the Circle Sanctuary in Madison, Wis., the oldest established Wiccan church in the U.S.
Fox, who last month became the first Wiccan religious leader to deliver the invocation at the Wisconsin State Assembly, said that Wicca is a non-proselytizing religion and people have learned about it from hearing about Wiccan civil-rights cases and searching the Internet.
In 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs, under pressure from two lawsuits from civil rights groups, agreed to allow the Wiccan pentacle -- a five-pointed star inside a circle -- on tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery and other U.S. military burial grounds.
More than a dozen veterans' families have since requested the symbol be placed on tombstones.
Modern Wicca, which draws its practices mainly from pre-Christian Europe, was established in the U.K. in the 1950s. Its popularity coincided with an in interest in other ancient religions that emphasize beliefs in magic and nature.
"Wicca emphasizes environmental relevance and responsibility. There is gender equality. People are looking for religions with a greater balance between male and female, the god as well as the goddess, the mother as well as the father. It's an equal opportunity religion," Fox said.
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