 The inclusive use of the term Wicca — referring to the entirety of Pagan Witchcraft religion — has been traced to Britain in the early 1960s , when it was used by various groups and publicised through use in adverts , magazines , and other literary sources . It was later adopted by figures like Alex Sanders and Gavin and Yvonne Frost , who took it to the United States . There , practitioners of British Traditional Wicca adopted it exclusively for themselves as a means to differentiate their practices from those of other Pagan Witches . This exclusive meaning was countered by its popularisation as a generic term by prolific authors such as Raymond Buckland , Scott Cunningham and Silver RavenWolf . As it entered popular culture , it gained an increasingly eclectic character in its usage . During the 1990s , some attempted to distance themselves from it by utilising the term Traditional Witchcraft . 
