I've been practicing Wicca for some years now. I was raised as a non-denominational Christian (My mother was "born-again" at a Billy Graham revival). No, she doesn't know and I see no reason to discuss it with her.
I came to Wicca after first being disillusioned by mainstream Christianity and studying numerous belief systems in an effort to find someplace I could "hang my hat", so to speak. I quickly ruled out atheism simply because I think nature is too beautiful and physics too elegant to have sprung up purely by random chance. For a long time, I called myself agnostic but that didn't fit because I really do think there had to be some creative force behind it all. Wicca has come closer to what feels right to me than anything else.
Even at that, what I follow is hardly traditional Wicca. I am a solitary practitioner rather than being in a coven. A lot of what I do is based in the old beliefs, but modified in ways that make sense to me. As far as deities go, I believe there is just one ultimate creative force, but that it can manifest in various ways, somewhat the way the Christian Trinity is three manifestations of one larger entity. Sometimes, it makes sense to invoke the creator as Lord and Lady or God and Goddess, sometimes it is more fitting to invoke the Mother, Maiden, Crone. It all depends on what your intention is in your Work.
I have nothing against the more Traditional Wiccan ways, they just don't mesh well with my ways of Worship/Work.
I do believe in the validity of the Threefold Law, which says that what you send into the world, whether for good or ill, comes back on you times three. I see this law at work in so many other people's lives... even those who are not Wiccan. It seems to hold true for everyone I encounter.
I also believe in the ethic of the Wiccan Rede. (i.e. If it harms none, do as you will.) It's a tricky ethic, though. Not only can you not harm anyone else, you cannot act such that you harm yourself, either. It is so easy to harm either yourself or others in unintentional ways that the Rede can actually be quite constraining, so it definitely not a license to just do whatever you want.
I could go on and on, but I need to go offline right now to head to a business meeting. I'll try to come back later and post some resources that might be useful.
Blessed be!
