Stewart and Janet Farrar There are a lot of people who choose not to use the word Wicca, because they see it as too restrictive and dogmatic. A dogma is an official system of belief held by a religion, or a particular group or organization. But who has the authority to decide what the official beliefs of Wicca are? I would suggest that Wicca as a whole is not dogmatic, but that some Wiccan groups may be. In Wicca it is generally agreed that every coven is autonamous, independent and self-governing, not subject to anyone else's laws. No Wiccan has the right to tell another coven what they can or cannot do. We can give each other advice, sure, that's what the Rede is after all, a piece of advice. This is what makes Wicca so difficult to define, and I think the difficulty makes some people very uncomfortable. Other religions seem more than willing to offer up official creeds, rules and regulations by which they may be recognised. Other religions have sacred texts, but Wicca ...