In contrast with this plural use of the word , in a 1954 article written by Arnold Field , a reporter for the Daily Dispatch , Gardner had apparently explained to him that " there are man and woman witches . Each is called a wica . " This quote offer the only piece of evidence that Gardner also referred to Pagan Witches individually as a wica . It is possible that Field misunderstood what Gardner was saying by not capitalising Wica , and that therefore Gardner might have never used Wica in a singular sense .