Welcome to Gaia! ::

I thought I would make this board to see how others deal with being openly Pagan in their everyday lives. I will start with my experience.

I am pretty open about my religion. I wear a pentagram everyday... sometimes it is visible, sometimes it isn't... just depends on what I am wearing. I also occasionally carry a satchel that has a pentagram on it, so there isn't really a lot of hiding it for me. I do not, however, go out of my way to make it known. In my opinion, it's no different than anyone who wears a cross or star of david. It's just part of me, at this point.

In my college courses, I have spoken openly about Paganism/Wicca whenever the topic was brought up, but I don't bring it up to be all "look at me! I'm Pagan!" I just try to set the record straight.

Overall, I have been very open about it for a little over 4 years now. To date, I have only had two negative experiences... one of which I blame entirely on my father xd The first experience was just a man giving me an incredibly nasty look and calling me a freak... however, I am not entirely positive that had to do with the pentagram, so I let that one go. The other one (my father's fault) I actually find laughable. We were standing in line at McDonald's ( gonk ) and this older woman saw my triquetra. She said "oh, what a lovely Celtic knot" and proceeded to show me her Celtic cross. My father, seeing an opportunity to be funny, says loudly "She's a witch! Are you a witch, too?" stressed This poor woman proceeds to make a horrified face, grab her grandchildren, and leave the restaurant. While I felt bad, it really was a little funny how she overreacted. My father, on the other hand, thought it was a riot! He spent the rest of the time we were there making up "spells" and "hexing" people. Yes, my father can be a real "comedian" sometimes... but there's never a dull moment.

Oh, and I was called a "Jew" once... that was funny. Some people, I tell ya biggrin


Beyond that, I have been treated with nothing but respect and quite a bit of curiosity. Which is actually surprising seeing as I am from a hard-core Christian area. Perhaps it's because the diversity has increased ten-fold over the past five years or so and people are more tolerant. I'm not sure. Anyways, I just wanted to share that with everyone and see how y'all deal with being Pagan.

Discuss:
idea Are you openly Pagan?
idea How open are you?
idea Have you had any positive or negative experiences?
idea How do you deal with questions or even bias that you encounter from people you do or do not know?

idea Are you openly Pagan?
Yes, very much so. I wear my pentacle with pride and will not hide it for any one. If someone asks, I will explain it to the best of my abilitys.

idea How open are you?
Very, I would have to say I am very open about it. I dont go around shouting " BLESSED BE " or anything, but I am very open, especially so to the mormons and Jahovas witnesses that come to my door.

idea Have you had any positive or negative experiences?
The other day I went to the bar with my mom and dad and I was hanging out with everyone I know there, and a lady smiled at me and held up her little broom necklace and nodded. It was very nice to see her and have her show me her necklace. She saw mine and I guess felt comfortable enough to show me hers... as for bad experiances.. I suppose i have had a few, but mostly with people on line when in open discussions.

idea How do you deal with questions or even bias that you encounter from people you do or do not know?
I do my best to explain to them what it is truly about, I feel a teacher of sorts, hoping to open up peoples minds and show them the truth of the faith I follow, so they can at least not judge me as harsly.

Yes i am openly pagan i dont wear any jewlery or anything like that i dont need a reminder of my faith and i dont have the money to spend on such thing (which is the real reason)
Im not going to bring it up to just anyone i know how this world works and how some people will treat me if they know but if it comes up in conversation im not going to shy away from the topic im proud to be a pagan and wil talk about it with anyone.

I have not had to many negative experiances we all have arguments about what paganism is with people who are of diffrent faith but that is hardly negative. I had a friend who i had known over the internet for a long time probably 4 or 5 years and religon never really came up in conversation till one night when we were talking about him being a youth leader for his christan church I mentioned that i was a pagan and he went off about how i worship the devil and i was going to hell he upset me so much that i had to stop talking to him. We are on better terms right now.
I was lucky to have a family ho no matter what i was would accept and love and suport me always.
Ill answer any questions to the best of my ability regardless of the person if they want to know they have a right to. I how ever do not tollerate people who would treat me diffrent because of what i believe i respect all religons and expect to be respected in return and i truly feel it should be that way with everyone you have a right to believe in what you do i live in america and its in the consititution and regardless of where you live no one has the right to tell you you are wrong in what you believe.

I'm in Utah, mormon central y'know? I seriously do intend to do this, get a few spiritual advisors to run a non denominational pagan temple where people can go for ritual or worship or just advice on magick from preists and preistesses. Here is what I see. The Jews and Christians have their worship central, and it's only fair the pagans get one too. it's in the constitution.

there's something like that here...but i'm scepticle of it...i just don't see how so many paths can have a sort of service together...*shrugs* the concept's just fuzzy to me...

Are you openly Pagan?

I've never felt the need to show my religious beliefs to the rest of the world. Most people who pass me on the street can't tell in any way that I'm Pagan because I don't really wear any necklaces or cloths that one could use to assume that I am Pagan.

How open are you?

I only really tell people of my beliefs if I find that I can benefit from it somehow or if I don't see anything negative coming from me telling them. In most cases I generally keep my beliefs to myself.

Have you had any positive or negative experiences?

I've never really worn anything relating to my beliefs around people, and I also usually don't tell any others of my beliefs unless I feel like it. So, I've never really had a negative experience.

How do you deal with questions or even bias that you encounter from people you do or do not know?

Mostly, if someone asks if I'm a Christian, I tell them that it's none of their business (or some variation of that, depending on how polite I feel like being). If I'm filling out a form which asks anything about my religion, then I simply choose the "other" option.

I say give your gods the justice they deserve, be open and don't hide being pagan. Pretty much it goes like this, Honour your gods.

Are you openly Pagan?

Yes, have been for nine years now.

How open are you?

I always wear two penticals(one ring and one necklace) sometimes I'll hide the necklace if I'm not sure how someone will react and I don't want to offend them.

Have you had any positive or negative experiences?

Both, I've had a chaplin basically call me an evil devil worshiper. But I've also been part of some large group rituals which were extreamly enpowering.

How do you deal with questions or even bias that you encounter from
people you do or do not know?

I try to expain and teach but it doesn't always work with the very stubborn.