I think it is important to distinguish between "Wicca" and "Paganism" or "Neo-Paganism". "
Pagan" is the derogatory term, like "heathen", that the Christian church applied to any "non-believers" - while they were in the process of
stealing their traditions and incorporating them into church practices and doctrine (think Easter and Christmas, Yule logs, Advent, exorcism, etc.
ad nauseum).
Neo-paganism is the umbrella term for the revival of various forms of pre- and non-Christian practices, whereas
Wicca is a specific recreation of nature-based practices once called "witchcraft" by the Christian church(es). The central concern that binds them together is spiritualism.
Wicca has specific doctrine and practices - "It was developed in
England during the first half of the 20th century and was
introduced to the public in 1954 by
Gerald Gardner, a retired
British civil servant. Wicca draws upon a diverse set of
ancient pagan and
20th-century hermetic motifs for its
theological structure and
ritual practices." (Wikipedia) Wicca is intentionally distinguished from "witchcraft", although sometimes referred to as "the craft", because of the latter's negative connotations. The biggest distinction from Christianity is the acceptance of
duotheism - worship of both "the Goddess" and "God" - although some traditions merely refer to this as the female and male
aspects of god. The point mostly being reclamation of "the female" excluded and marginalized by the mainstream Christian churches.
I have two friends that are practicing Wiccans and possess a number of books on the subject, although I have not referenced them in over a decade. While I was in the military, I was tangentially aware of
some issues involving Wiccan practitioners, which is when I first started studying about it. There was, at the time, a chaplain who had been dismissed because he changed his religious affiliation, and there were several groups that were trying to establish regular practices on military bases, and ours was one of them. I was working in Administrative Law on base, at the time, and had to give some legal advice about what to do about it, and one of our Chaplains was learning about it to minister to Soldiers who were practitioners. As far as I know, there are no Chaplains who
are Wiccans.
I found this interesting related article:
?
thewanderingacademic.com
hwpi.harvard.edu