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Paganism is not a single religion, but an umbrella term for all those religions other than the Abrahamic faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. A Pagan is a person who follows one of those "other" faiths. Many Witches, Wiccans, Reconstructionists, and other Neo-Pagans simply identify themselves as "Pagan" or "Neo-pagans" when talking with others who may not be familiar with the complexity of the different belief systems. This can make it sound like "Paganism" is a religion instead of a collection of religions. Neo-paganism should also not be confused with the "New Age" movement, as Pagans are almost exclusively involved in distinctive religions while New Age spirituality draws from many sources and esoteric spiritual techniques which are generally added as an extra layer on top of whatever religion one normally follows.

Wicca, as it is known today, is a ditheistic Earth religion, a Neo-pagan denomination. Wiccans believe in the sanctity of all within nature, and that the Spirit, known as the God and Goddess are present within everything and ourselves. In the trees, rain, flowers, the sea, in each other and all of natures creatures. This means that they must treat all things of the Earth as aspects of the Divine. They attempt to honour and respect life in all its many manifestations both seen and unseen.

Wiccans learn from and revere the gift of nature from Divine creation by celebrating the cycles of the sun, moon and seasons. They search within themselves for the cycles that correspond to those of the natural world and try to live in harmony with the movement of this universal energy. They also revere the spirits of the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water which combine to manifest all creation. From these four elements they obtain insight to the rhythms of nature and understand they are also the rhythms of their own lives.

Wicca is known as a ditheistic religion as opposed to a polytheistic religion because it believes in the existance of two main entities: the God and Goddess, and both of these can be divided into different aspects of themselves, which are known by different names. For example, the Goddess may be known as Diana, Hecate, Isis, etc. all different Goddesses with different personas, but all ultimately a part of the same Divine Being. It is the same for the God also. This is what makes Wicca ditheistic. If it was polytheistic, each of the Gods and Goddesses would be seperate entities in their own right, instead of merely aspects of the same being.

Wiccans have one major rule in their belief system which is part of the Wiccan Rede:
"An it harm none, do what ye will." Despite popular belief, this does not mean "as long as you don't hurt anyone, do what you like". In actual fact, if you look at Crowley's meaning of "do what ye will", it means to act upon your true Will's desire (what is needed spiritually, not what is wanted on a materialistic level), and in the Wiccan Rede this means that so long as no-one is harmed (including yourself) by your actions, one can achieve what you truely need.

Another belief that goes hand in hand with this rule is that whatever we do, whether it be magickal or mundane, will come back to them three times over. Therefore, if they do a good deed, they shall be rewarded justly. However, if they commit a harmful action then they believe that they shall also be harmed in some way as a result.
An important aspect of Wicca is it's open-mindedness and tolerance of others. For example, Wicca has no rules saying you can't be homosexual. You can be or believe whatever you wish without prejudice, it is your way of life and they believe they have no right to dictate it, so they also believe in inclusivism. This means that they believe all religions and spiritual paths are valid paths. Wiccans do not think theirs is the only way, so they let people decide what is right for them instead of trying to "recruit" followers.

Many would argue that to be an official Wiccan, you must be formally initiated by an existing coven in keeping with Gardner's original system. Any other practices by "Solitary Wiccans" are therefore considered as pagan Witchcraft, and not Wicca. The good, credible books published today only contain "outer court" information on Wicca (as is that which is written above). To learn the "inner court" secrets of Wicca, one much be initiated into a Wiccan coven. As I have not been formally initiated as a Wiccan, I would not be able to tell you any of those secrets, and even if I had been, I would be sworn to secrecy. After all, Wicca is called a mystery religion for a reason.

Witchcraft is, literally, the 'craft of the Witch', which is the skill of being able to work magick; especially magick utilizing personal power in conjunction with the energies within stones, herbs, colours, and other natural objects. While this may have spiritual overtones, Witchcraft, by this definition is not a religion. However, some followers of Wicca incorrectly use this word to denote their religion.

The main aim of Witchcraft is to live in harmony with nature, and to understand the processes which go on in nature through observing the seasons, lunar phases, changing tides, etc.

Calling yourself a Witch does not make you a Witch, nor does undertaking an intitation ritual; what does make you a Witch is how you do the above. You don't need to take an initiation ritual, although you may if you wish (I did), you just need to know yourself as a Witch who can do great things to help others. Try looking yourself straight in the eye in a mirror and say the word "Witch" firmly and loudly.

Create your own set of rules to live by and stick to them. As long as they reflect modern social standards and uphold the law, you should be ok with whatever rules you set yourself.

Make sure that you do not in anyway harm Nature on purpose. Harm to the Earth is seen as harm to the Gods themselves if you have polytheistic/pantheistic beliefs. Damage will be seen as a sign of disrespect and will probably affect how effective your spells and magickal workings are. You are not living one to one with Nature if you are dropping your sweet wrappers on the floor, and so you will not be able to gain the full power from nature. Many Witches find ways to deal with the unavoidable damage of nature, like harvesting of plants and flowers. Many even ask permission of the plants or apologise to it for harvesting it, and they always leave the roots so the plant can grow again. Whenever picking plants or herbs or flowers, Witches always make sure that they can grow again. If, for example, a Witch removes wood from a tree for a wand, they make sure that they ask permission first and leave a gift for the tree spirit.

The correct name for Witches these days is much debated. Some shrug off the name Witch, as it has a negative childlike perception of women with hooked noses in pointy hats! To start of with the hat is representative of the cone of power, and it is perfectly okay to call oneself a Witch. More modern Witches who focus on worship and magick rather than healing often prefer to be called Pagan or Neo-Pagan Witches. Call yourself what you will.

Male Witches are called just that, Witches. Wizard is a fairy tale name, which is associated with conjuring. They also do not call themselves warlock, which comes from Scottish word meaning "oathbreaker", and is more of an insult so it is not often used. However, I have known and heard of a rare few who do chose to call themseves these for their own reasons, I respect their views.

Some consider themselves witches and do not involve any kind of religious overtones, as stated above, and see their Witchcraft practices as just a magical act. Others consider Witchcraft to be their spiritual path or religion. As I said before, different people hold different opinions, I'm just trying to express all of them for better understanding of the subject.

Just because Gerald gardner published the first modern book on witchcraft after England repealed the Witchcraft act does not mean that he is the only reliable source for a wiccan organisation.