Understanding modern witchcraft requires an understanding of their covens, magic, rituals, and deities. This information is useful in realizing the importance of these different types of paganistic groups.

There is usually a High Priestess and a High Priest in a coven. The Priest and the Priestess are both equal in power, but the High Priestess is usually more highly respected than the High Priest. The reason is that homage is more often given towards the Goddess. Both Gods and Goddesses can be worshiped in paganism, but there are more rituals honoring Goddesses than Gods. Every member in a coven is either a Priest or Priestess. Any member can worship any God or Goddess. Some worship Greek gods and goddesses while others worship Egyptian gods or goddesses. In most covens, there are specific places where High Priestesses or Priests live. Coven meetings can convene at different times of the week, month, or year. Wiccans are taught to love nature and worship the outdoors. Worshiping nature is an aspect that has been carried down through the centuries.

Wiccans have rituals that celebrate the waning moon (full to dark), the waxing moon (dark to full), and full moons. Rituals include chanting and prayers. Wiccans keep their rituals simple, not redundant. Singing, chanting, and dancing are all part of their rituals.

Magic is one of the concepts in the Wicca religion. There is a special relationship between Wiccans and the God and Goddess through the power of magic. Wiccans can envision the Gods' and Goddesses' presence as they call their name during spells and rites. This process creates a bond between Deity and human. Wiccans consider magic to be a religious practice. There are three different powers within magic. They consist of personal power, divine power, earth power, and universal power. Personal power empowers the body, divine power is the power of the Goddess or God, earth power is the power of the earth and nature, and universal power is the power that made everything they know today. Wiccans only believe in good magic; they do not practice magic that is evil. The Goddess can only do evil unto others.

The Wicca religion considers a Goddess as a universal mother. Wiccans know her as the mother, the maiden, and the crone. They believe "she gives to birth to everything, and she is also the death of everything." They also believe that "she is the giver of fertility, love, and abundance, but she also has a dark side."(Nicolle Moorehouse, Will Dwyer, Chris Cartwright, and Julie Castine, 5/26/97, for History & Thought of Western Man, Rich East High School, http://www.ecnet.net/users/gemedia3/Wicca/Wicca5.html) The God is regarded as a handsome man who rides a chariot and governs the Wiccans' lives. He is also seen as the Sun God and the watcher of wild animals by the Wicca religion. The God was a wild hunter in the ancient times.