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pegans involve celtic, druids, and the such. it is also older than wicca. plus it is not considered as witchcraft in most to almost all places. wicca is the 'new age' witchcraft and it invloves whatever god or goddess you want to have. and of course you can be considered a witch. where as you cannot in being a pagan. some people can elaborate on this. and some may even say i am wrong...but my best friends aunt is a pagan while she is a wiccan. so i should know this. i am also interested in the craft.

Oooee.. Okay.. well. Paganism actually refers to any religion that isn't Chrisitianity or Judiaism. ( Excuse my spelling. ) Wicca is a section of paganism. Someone can be a Wiccan Pagan, but you can be a pagan without being Wicca. People often mistake at things, and says wiccans were burned at the stake. This is not true. Pagans were burned at the stake, and even that's stretching it. Just about everyone was hung or burned who was out of the ordinary. Like the old lady at the end of the street, or the single woman with the cat. Witch is a whole different thing again. Witchcraft is not a religion. It's just a system. Wicca is a religion however. You can be a wiccan without being a witch, and a witch without being any religion at all. You can also be a wiccan witch, or a Christian witch ( though those kinda.. Hypocrite each other.. ). That's my little.. explanation in a nutshell. Hoorah! :0

Tidbit: Wicca was invented by Gerald Gardner ( or at least brought out to public by him ) about 50 years ago. Paganism has been around since long before Christianity.

Exactly, they completely contradict each other. A christian believe all other religions are satanic. If they were to also be wiccan, they couldn't possibly be Christian, because the would be... breaking alot of Christian rules. And by definition, they'd be a satanist. xD

oO I thought Budism was Pagan.

This is not true, I don't know where you were told this.

Wicca is a religion, and as such can be followed and believed in by whomever/whatever truly wants to do so. There are branches of Wicca that are initiatory, and covens that are selective with their members, but Wicca itself is not included in those things.
Solitary practitioners are just as full-fledged wiccan as the next Dianic or Alexandrain initiate. To say they are not equal in their belief is not true. This initiate training phase you speak of applies only to those who are enrolled into such a thing, but not all wiccans.
And yes, you can have any God or Goddess you wish in Wicca, as wicca is not necessarily based upon the specific God or Goddess that you follow, it's based on the Mother/Father aspect of the universe (Lord/Lady, Patron/Matron) and the earth, and its limits are inexistent to your choice of Gods.

Some may disagree with me, but the way I see it Wicca is a religion, and no one owns it.
The definition of religion is " A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion." So as I see it, no one can tell you that you can, or cannot, "pursie this activity with zeal." confused Unless they're a Nazi, but then we all know the Nazi's didn't have the authority of God (Goddess).
Certain traditions of wicca may be initiatory, but that is only because of the customs and specialized rituals they practice. Wicca as a whole religion is not governed by this, and so anyone can become Wiccan at any point in their life.
Gardnerian, like you said, is initiatory, but it's just one of the traditions. Even if it is the first said Wicca, once it brought wicca to the people, it couldn't control it. Or else there would be no Nordic, Druidic, Dianic, Eclectic, Faerie, Pctish, Seax-Wica, Strega, Teutonic, etc.
So there are the traditions that are initiatory, but the traditions do no speak for the religion.
BuuUUuuutttt, this may just be my opinion, for I am very opinionated.

<3 No problem.