Wicca is defined as a modern form of paganism founded in the 20th century in Britain and says that it has its origins in early Christian religions.
Druidism is considered a spiritual and religious movement with the goal to promote peace and harmony and a connection to the natural world. The earlier Druids identified themselves as Christians.
Wiccans make use of “four elements” which are derived from medieval alchemy, which has its origins in Greek philosophy. The “four elements” are placed in categories according to cardinal directions. Druidism is based on three realms such as land, sea and sky.
Druids are tree worshippers and the early druids were very conscious of the environment and protecting it. Wicca is also concerned with the environment, but is not as concerned with tree worship.
The Wicca symbol is the pentacle, which is a star with five points set within a circle. Druids commonly use the symbol, which has interlocking spirals that meet in the middle known as the triskele.
Generally, the majority of Druids seem to be male, just as it is the majority men who wager at betting sites – for now anyways. Modern Druidism though is gender inclusive and is happy to accept both men and women into their organisations. Wicca on the other hand seems to attract mainly women.
Druidism seems to focus more on priestly roles while Wicca is more of a shamanic movement. Druids are often more concerned with things of an intellectual nature while Wiccans concentrate on being intuitive.
Long white robes are the preferred garments of Druids, while Wiccans prefer black and some Wiccans also wear other colours and some prefer no clothing at all.
Rituals and Beliefs
Both Druids and Wiccans perform various rituals and both movements worship multiple gods. Wiccans see their gods as archetypes and believe that all gods are one god and the same for goddesses.
All gods therefore come from the same source and deity’s fall into categories depending on the usefulness in spells or rituals.
Druidism believes that all the gods are individuals and there is an emphasis on making offerings to the deities, ancestors and nature. Many of the gods and goddesses in Druidism are triune in nature.
Revering and adoration of ancestors is an important part of Druidism. Because these movements have similar origins and roots they do tend to celebrate the eight holy days, solstices and equinoxes and various festivals between.
Druids consider all space to be sacred with some spaces considered as more suitable for rituals than others while Wiccans will create a circle and the space within is considered as sacred.
Origins
Druids are from Celtic origin while Wicca has a more Anglo-Saxon or Germanic origin. Both the Celts and Germanic tribes were similar and they were so similar that the Romans at the time could not tell them apart.
One of the main differences is in the realm of magic. Germanic magic tends to use objects such as magic rings, swords or runes. Celtic magic involves things from nature such as magic animals.
