Am I a Wiccan Witch, or Just a Witch?

"So, are you a Witch or a Wiccan?"

This was the question I was asked recently, and I didn't really know how to answer it. First, I had to explain the difference between a Wiccan and a Witch.

To put it simply, I told the inquirer that a Witch is someone who works with and manipulates energies to help achieve a certain goal. A Witch may use crystals, herbs, tarot, etc to aid in their work. A Wiccan is someone who follows Wicca, which is essentially a nature-based religion. Someone can be a Witch and a Wiccan, or they can be either one and not the other. A Witch may even belong to another religion, like Christianity.

And still the question stands; which am I? I definitely consider myself a Witch, because I regularly practice Witchcraft. Many of my practices are very similar to those who call themselves Wiccan, but what it means to be Wiccan seems to vary greatly with each person who has an opinion on the matter.

I personally do not consider myself a Wiccan just because I do not work with deities. From my understanding, honoring and requesting aid from certain deities is a common practice in Wicca which makes sense because Wicca is a religion, after all. Since I believe that all of my power comes from within me and not from the aid of a deity, then I assume that I do not qualify as a typical Wiccan.

But that doesn't mean that my beliefs don't reflect those of a Wiccan. For example, I recently made and posted THIS IMAGE on Tumblr. I titled it "Witch's Pledge of Allegiance." In a nutshell, it states that I pledge my allegiance to the Earth and Moon, and promise to protect life and do good by all. The end. I immediately got a comment from a fellow Witch stating that this shouldn't be posted under Witchcraft because it was Wiccan and therefore didn't apply to Witches.

Well excuse me! I wasn't aware that Witches didn't work with the energies of Earth as influenced by the Moon, and that they didn't believe in using their knowledge and power to protect. MY BAD.

So I am just going to assume that the definition of Witch and Wiccan differs from person to person. I am a Witch, by my own definition. I am not a Wiccan, but I do share many beliefs with Wiccans. I guess anyone who disagrees should mind their own cauldrons!