Are you talking to me?

[starshadow]

I am curious. As I was having a conversation with a friend of mine I noticed that while he was talking to me, he was transfixed on my pent. What really got me was that he had this "how sad" look on his face while we spoke. He has always been adament about "The Word" but I've worn my pent for many years around my friends, family and in public. Although few have asked me about my beliefs, my close friends have a good idea what I believe. It just made me uncompfortable to have him talking to me but focused on my pent. Do any of you have a similar story? How does it make you feel?

Peace and Blessings

[LadyTrinity]

I've never had anyone look at my necklace with a sad disposition

[DarkDancer]

Hey StarShadow, hehe, too bad you're not female, you could have seriously messed with him. You could have said "Hey buddy, eyes up here, talk to me not my breasts...." :whistle:

Ok, sorry back to the topic.

No, no similar stories.

[Mystique]

I haven't really had that problem, at first I did but later my mates seemed not to care. I only get the curious odd stare when I'm in public.

[acorn elf]

He could have just been sad anyway... And it's really easy for me to stare at pents too, I think they're so pretty...^^

[Moon Flower]

Just one of the many reasons I don't wear one.

I take know, dare will and keep silent very seriously.

Especially keep silent.
About everything.

It is nobody business what I believe and/or practice.
I will not give them the opportunity to know, judge, assume or to use it against me.

Wear a pentacle?
You might as well have 'I am a witch, burn me at the stake.' tattooed on your forhead.

(well, either that or 'I am a buffy fan who can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality.')

Cos one or the other is what they are going to think.

[BlackEyed_Susan]

Just one of the many reasons I don't wear one.

I take know, dare will and keep silent very seriously.

Especially keep silent.
About everything.

It is nobody business what I believe and/or practice.
I will not give them the opportunity to know, judge, assume or to use it against me.

Wear a pentacle?
You might as well have 'I am a witch, burn me at the stake.' tattooed on your forhead.

(well, either that or 'I am a buffy fan who can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality.')

Cos one or the other is what they are going to think.

That's the reason that I don't wear a pentacle openly either.

And while I'm aware that Pagans are sometimes judged in the ways you've described because they choose to wear a symbol of their religion openly, I don't think that those are assumptions that are made as much as one might think they are. I'd say that a good portion of the general populace doesn't know or doesn't really care what a pentacle means, whether they would understand it the same way its wearer would understand it or in the way it features in pop culture. To draw an analogy, I don't automatically assume that everyone I see wearing a cross necklace has the same attitude as Jerry Falwell or is some kind of mindless sheep (I wouldn't characterize Christianity in either of those ways, but those are judgements that some people make against followers of Protestant Christianity...). I don't think that the pentacle that stigmatized in society.

However, yes, it does have those associations to non-Pagans to some degree, and yes, if you wear one you'd better be prepared to be judged by it.

Eh. Maybe I believe that the general populace is more good-natured than it is... I dunno. :whatgives

[Mjollnir]

I have people stare sometimes, usually more of a Whoa!! type stare and believe it or not sometimes they are even courteous enough to ask what it is.

[BlackEyed_Susan]

Wow... I'd be staring because it's really awesome-looking, Mjollnir! Beautiful!

[Agaliha]

I've only had one time anything like that happened.
I was on the bus (public, I don't drive) going home from school (College) and another student-- She was Christian (I know because she liked to on and on about Bible stuff).
I was in the back seat and she sat down in the side one and just curiously stared at my neck. She let her eyes wonder a few times, but she never said anything.
She might have just been trying to figure out what it even was, from a distance my pent in almost unidentifable, only up close can you see all the detail
See:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v332/LiquidThalassa/pentacle.jpg

[Penthesilea]

Just one of the many reasons I don't wear one.

I take know, dare will and keep silent very seriously.

Especially keep silent.
About everything.

It is nobody business what I believe and/or practice.
I will not give them the opportunity to know, judge, assume or to use it against me.

Wear a pentacle?
You might as well have 'I am a witch, burn me at the stake.' tattooed on your forhead.

(well, either that or 'I am a buffy fan who can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality.')

Cos one or the other is what they are going to think.I'm another one who keeps her pentacle inside her shirt. There are too many people out there who will make assumptions based on their own biases and then go off on you. I've seen it happen to friends and have no desire to put up with it myself. It is no one's business what I believe, especially if they would use that knowledge to (attempt to!) browbeat me.

[argento_occhi]

Maybe it's because of the places I go, or the atmosphere here in Perth, but I don't get hassled about my beliefs. I've only ever had one person stop me and talk to me about Jesus. Sure, I wear an ankh, which I suppose most people easily enough dismiss as a cross, but still. Maybe it's because I don't wear a pentagram. *shrugs*

Argent

[PoisonIvy]

I wear a pentacle ring all of the time. One of my friends, who just happens to be a penticostle, told me how pretty it was once,but I don't think she knew what it was or she'd be giving me the riot act.
If someone asks me what my ring stands for...I tell them,I just don't tell them everything!
Most people in my town don't even associate a pentacle with witchcraft. I don't think that they even believe that there are witches among us.
Around here,people either don't know what it is(just a pretty star ring) or they think that it's a devil sign and that I worship Satan or something. Either way.....I DON'T CARE!!!!!

[misschief]

i had some problems when i used to wear one, i would ignore it. i had a guy once tell me 'hey i know what that is! it stands for wizardry!'. .....ok dude. lol.

but... i don't wear one anymore, haven't for um... i dunno, 3, 4 months maybe. just no need for it anymore.

[aluokaloo]

I have people stare sometimes, usually more of a Whoa!! type stare and believe it or not sometimes they are even courteous enough to ask what it is.

That is really nice Thor's Hammer pendant
Mjollnir

[jinx1_2]

I own a pentacle, but I've never really felt close to it for some reason, so I don't wear it often and if I do wear it it goes under the shirt. I ALWAYS wear my ankh ring however and I've never had any problems with people about it.

[Seshata]

Just one of the many reasons I don't wear one.

It is nobody business what I believe and/or practice.
I will not give them the opportunity to know, judge, assume or to use it against me.
Wear a pentacle?
You might as well have 'I am a witch, burn me at the stake.' tattooed on your forhead.


Thing is you don't have to wear it being visible. I have worn my degree pentagram but under my clothes - no-one sees what it is. If I have something low cut etc then I won't wear it, unless at ritual.

There are also other things you can wear besides pentagrams. I have a necklace with a Lady on it who has a poppy at her heart. She symbolises a face of the Goddess to me, and to others, it's just a pretty necklace.

It's also easier to think about doing something like that for a work scenario.

BB

Seshata

[KEishin]

I prefer to wear a symbol that no one but a Pagan will know.
That way if they come up and say 'hi, nice Triple Goddess necklace,' I know they're not likely to harass me.

Everyone else just thinks it's a pretty jewel on chain.

[BlackEyed_Susan]

I wear a necklace with a ceramic pendant with a tree on it, with a Celtic knotwork border - the only questions I've ever gotten about it have been when people ask me if it's the Tree of Life. I usually say yes, because, well, it could be :p

I'm a stealth-Pagan :p