What is the distinction of Wizardry, as opposed to Witchcraft?

Wizardry is simply magic practiced by wizards as witchcraft is magic practiced by witches. It is based on gender, although wizard is also synonymus with magician so can used to refer to both male and female magicians. It has nothing to do with the type of magic practiced, "high" and "low" magic are distinctions used to classify ancient magic, practiced centuries ago. Today we use the word sorcery which is basically higher level magic. So ordinary magic would have low magic before and sorcery was called high magic. High and low magic was determined by the intention of the wizard. The difference is basically the gender. Some misinformed people have got the stupid idea in their head that wizardry is high magic, which is incorrect. As I said high magic is sorcery and wizardry and sorcery are not the same. They are both magic but sorcery is more advanced magic.

Witch comes from the old word "wicce" which later became "wicche" then "witch." Witch was used to refer to females that practiced magic. The equivalent for males was "wicca". Although this word went into disuse and was replaced with "wizard" from the root meaning "wise" as it was originally spelt "wisard" the "ard" coming from French. This is why magicians of old were referred to as wise men and women, so the word wizard was coined to refer to both men and women as well as being the equivalent of witch. Craft means skill so witchcraft is simply the skill or art of witches which is magic and the "ry" on wizardry also means skill or art of wizards.

I practice wizardry and I am a female. It does not depend on gender. There are plenty of male witches and wiccans. Wicca is a religion of witchcraft which like Christianity has been split into many different types and beliefs. Wizardry is not a religion, it is more of a practice. There are different types of wizardry and everyone who practices magick and even psychics, whether they realize it or not are in fact wizards. I can go on and on but I will leave it at that.

In Harry Potter I think it's just a gender thing.

Very few people in real life actually call themselves wizards. Usually it's witch or magician, the difference being their understanding of how magic works.

Historically, witchcraft is a more negative term than wizardry, as it directly referred to malevolent magic use. Today the term has taken a more neutral meaning, often used to describe any magical working regardless of its purpose.

Jk Rowling uses it to define the gender of the magick maker. Wizardry for boys and Witchcraft for girls. No difference just the name.

In the Harry Potter world, it's just a gender thing. A female practicioner of magic is called a witch; a male, a wizard.

EDIT: Yes, I **know** that's not the case in the real world. Thumb in the eye to the thumbs-downer!!

I wouldn't get all spiritual about Harry Potter ... but anyway, yes, in the books I think the distinction is gender based.

I honestly think because some people think that a male witch is a "warlock" but in fact that is a bad kind of witch. I personally think too that the reason is because Merlin was a great wizard and Aradia was a great witch. In the story, it seems to be a gender thing. But male and females can be "Witches".

The difference is High and Low Magic.

Witchcraft would deal with "Low" magic, it's is the microcosm of magic.

Wizardry is "High" magic, the macrocosm.

I'll try to put it simply, because I'm not one for boring lectures ;) High magic is more about using powers outside of yourself only to draw it into whatever magic your working on, whereas Low magic is more about using the powers within to work with the powers without. Sorta, there's more to it than that, but I think that's good enough for now. Bear in mind High and low are just words, doesn't mean one is better than the other :)

It's completely unrelated to gender, except in fiction.

Ask JK Rowling - it's her universe...

To be honest, I wouldn't put a lot of worry into what differences a fictional book/universe has in real-world application. Because it's just as likely that she's misusing the words, too...

I named my cat harry potter and he turned me into a toad.