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Paper short abstract

One branch of Wicca as a magical-religious tradition, namely eclectic Wicca, offers a new avenue for the gendered expression of practitioner's identities in rituals and everyday life in the Quebec context.

Paper long abstract

In recent years, we have seen a resurgence of interest in witchcraft within Western societies. Television series, films, and newspaper articles are all redefining the representation of witches in a new historical context. However, very few people are aware of the fluid reality of gender identities within pagan and neo-pagan communities, which are often associated exclusively with women. Wicca is a magical-religious tradition with a unique cosmology in which the relationships between practitioners' gender identities and their ritual and magical practices are deeply rooted. From an anthropological perspective, this research explores the construction and expression of a gendered Wiccan identity in Quebec City through public rituals and everyday life. According to the results of this study, which is part of a master's degree in anthropology, I found that the definition of gender in Wicca is constantly changing depending on the socio-historical context. Today, within a specific Wiccan tradition known as eclectic Wicca, gender identity is characterized as the combination of masculine and feminine energies present in each practitioner. Practitioners choose to express masculine or feminine energy depending on a given situation in everyday life. This choice depends on the preferences and characteristics associated with masculinity or femininity according to each practitioner, which constitutes a high degree of subjective fluidity regarding gender identity.