Do you ever just want to scream...

[Silvana]

I am a Pagan!
I do, a lot lately.
I want the world to know I'm a Pagan so I can just take their reactions all at once and stop worrying about hiding it so much. I won't have to leave the pentacle in the car when I go to my parents house, won't have to tuck it in my shirt when I go to class, won't have to put away the altar and blow out the candles when my roomies are home.

So, do you ever just want to scream it out?
Why?

[Gypsy flower]

most everyone who knows me knows I am a witch, I dont get much grief
and so what if they dont accept me.. who really cares??

[Jolixte]

Well, I did it just now and the person on the other end of the phone just got mad because I yelled in her ear.

[Silvana]

most everyone who knows me knows I am a witch, I dont get much grief
and so what if they dont accept me.. who really cares??

That's what makes me want to scream it the most!!!
Because I honestly don't care! I don't give a flying crazy monkey priest why other people think about my personal beliefs.
My anxiety issue, on the other hand, seems to think I do. :ugh:
It just sits there like a dirty pile of sludge trying to stare me down. I always lose though. Meh.

[Semjaza]

No, I'm not much of a screamer :)

Hardly anyone knows I'm pagan, and that's just the way I like it. I don't care about people's reactions, it's just none of their business. Why would I tell them?

I hope it works out for you, though. I have friends who went openly-pagan, and they found it quite liberating. I guess I'm just a private person.

Cheers,

Semjaza
FFFF

[MysticWitch]

Nope. I am very proud to be wiccan, but I dont care if anyone knows that I am. I wear my necklace because Im proud and thats my way of expressing it. If someone sees it and knows what it is.. cool. If they dont... they dont :lol:

[Cain]

Its not really a matter of wanting to...if I want to scream, it just happens. Damn my lack of inhibitions.

[Infinite Grey]

Ok, why do you feel like (excuse the expression) that you have a cross to bear? Does it really matter if people know you're pagan, Muslim, Christian, Pogo-stick champion? NO! Carting around a pentacle the size of a manhole cover is pure attention seeking. "Look at me! I'm a pagan; I don't care if you don't like it!" If you truly didn't care, it wouldn't be a problem. You'd do your thing, and if someone happened to ask, then you'd tell them. Exploiting your religion for the sake of attention is wrong, no matter what path or faith you follow. If you're particular faith requires you where a symbol (like the Jew with the skull cap thingy) then fine, but last time I check, there isn't many Pagan faiths that require you to stand on a roof top and yell "screw you I'm a pagan!"

I recently had a go at my friend for a similar thing regarding his sexuality, you don't see heterosexuals saying in a job interview, "you don't have a problem working with a straight guy?", why should homosexuals feel compelled to other wise? Equality is achieved through acting like its normal, not the subject of controversy! GET OVER IT!

[jcldragon]

I have "Goddess Bless", and "Born Again Pagan" bumper stickers on my car. Sometimes while driving, I get a Thumbs Up from other motorists. An Atheist asked me about that, (since he disliked Fundies), so I told him that the planet we live on is a living being with an intelligence on a vast order. That certainly qualifies as a Goddess. He could see that as a possibility, so he asked what God wants from us. I told him, "Be kind. Live in harmony with Nature. Learn as much as possible. Try to do some good in the world, and have some fun while you're here." Then he wanted to know what God would do, if he didn't believe in God. I told him, "Each of us has to figure things out in our own way, & in our own time. If you don't get it all in this lifetime, then you'll reincarnate, and work a little more on it in the next lifetime." He seemed to think that that was a fair deal...

I don't wear jewelry, and my attire is fairly mainstream, but people who are sensitive to auras always know that there is something Magickal about me. I don't have to tell them, they just know...

[RainInanna]

Nope, my spirituality is pretty personal. I don't even discuss the specifics in detail with other Pagans I don't know well.

[Merrilyn]

I've never felt the need. I know who I am, ever evolving..and that's enough. If it comes up, I'll discuss it. If not, ::shrug:: I've never had a problem or negative encounter about being pagan, and I am openly so. I believe it's very much dependant on how one carries oneself, or something.
Peacock's got it right on, in my opinion.

[Silvana]

Ok, why do you feel like (excuse the expression) that you have a cross to bear? Does it really matter if people know you're pagan, Muslim, Christian, Pogo-stick champion? NO! Carting around a pentacle the size of a manhole cover is pure attention seeking. "Look at me! I'm a pagan; I don't care if you don't like it!" If you truly didn't care, it wouldn't be a problem. You'd do your thing, and if someone happened to ask, then you'd tell them. Exploiting your religion for the sake of attention is wrong, no matter what path or faith you follow. If you're particular faith requires you where a symbol (like the Jew with the skull cap thingy) then fine, but last time I check, there isn't many Pagan faiths that require you to stand on a roof top and yell "screw you I'm a pagan!"

I recently had a go at my friend for a similar thing regarding his sexuality, you don't see heterosexuals saying in a job interview, "you don't have a problem working with a straight guy?", why should homosexuals feel compelled to other wise? Equality is achieved through acting like its normal, not the subject of controversy! GET OVER IT!

Woah woah woah please calm down.
I don't wear a giant pentacle either...mine is quite small and I hardly wear it. I don't think you understand what I meant. I just want to scream it ONCE so it's out of the way, gone, over with, you know? Never again would I have to worry about it, it'd be done. Trust me, I don't tell people I'm pagan. I don't wear my pentacle for attention because I don't even wear it. I wish I could. I have an axiety disorder, that unlike your friend, would make it so I could hardly even get to a job interview. Telling them I'm pagan would be the very very very last thing I would ever do. If I can get in my car, go to my class, and come home without thinking I'm going to pass out in the middle of class then it's been a good day for me.

[fay]

Some people know that I'm pagan, some don't. That's just the way that it is.

I think I understand your sentiment of not wanting to have the same conversation with a number of people about the same thing. Sometimes you just want to gather people together and get it over with in one go.

[Xirian]

I like to keep my spirituality to myself. I have thought about telling my family, but I don't see any reason for them to know. I'm not going to behave differently around them if they knew or didn't and its my personal spirituality. I don't ask them about theirs because it's personal. Just my two cents.

[jcldragon]

Yesterday when I was at Trader Joe's, I was talking with a woman about my Garden. I mentioned that on Solstice that the Swiss Chard had told me NOT to do any pruning that day, because it would spoil their religious celebration. Perhaps because she was from Scotland, or perhaps because she lives in LA, she smiled, but didn't see anything unusual about my statement.

[Rosana]

When I found wicca, and then paganism in general, I wanted to scream "I'm a witch!", but that was just a childish phase in a life of a very lonely and very scared teenager. It made me feel special. Now I don't speak to anyone about my beliefs, but I don't hide either - when someone asks me why I'm not kneeling in church, I say that I'm not a christian, that's all. But I don't go into details, even in front of my pagan friends. They wouldn't understand and honestly, we're not interested in each other's experiences and views. To say that my life is my religion would be enough.

[Crysiira]

Equality is achieved through acting like its normal, not the subject of controversy!

I agree with this, personally, but that doesn't mean you have to be down on the people who want to shout and be proud of who they are. Respect that not everyone sees as you do.

[debnmike]

Mike and I have several reasons why we don't talk about our spirituality:

1.If his ex heard about it, she'd have is butt in court faster than you could shout "but it ain't devil worship". He's got 50% custody, and she'd be all over that in a shot.

2.Although we are both practicing pagans, we didn't feel the need to shout "get me--I'm Christian" when we were Christian, either.

3. I don't know that just saying it would "get it over with". People have a preconceived notion about what paganism is (see the "devil" reference in #1), and they'd still go back to their homes and we'd be a topic of discussion to our neighbors for sure. No thanks.

4. It's really nobody's business. I generally don't discuss religion with people to begin with, simply because the conversation never really comes up. Mike and I are very happy being who we are with each other, and that's good enough for us.

No harm, no foul.:)

Deb

[MoonDragn]

I am a Pagan!
I do, a lot lately.
I want the world to know I'm a Pagan so I can just take their reactions all at once and stop worrying about hiding it so much. I won't have to leave the pentacle in the car when I go to my parents house, won't have to tuck it in my shirt when I go to class, won't have to put away the altar and blow out the candles when my roomies are home.

So, do you ever just want to scream it out?
Why?

Its funny, but since I'm asian, I don't have that weight hanging over me. People don't expect me to be Christian. They think Im into some asian religion or buddhism. I don't usually bother to tell them unless they ask. However I don't feel the pressure to want to tell them. My motto is, hide in plain sight. What they don't know won't hurt me.

[Meadhbh]

I don't really have the urge. The only time I may say something is if I'm talking with some one and they say some so wrong that I have to tell them otherwise. But other than that I let people think the way want about how I believe. In the end it does them no harm and it makes life easier for me.

[Piney Boy]

Be proud of who and what you are. You have nothing to be ashamed of or hide. There will always people who find fault one way or another with other peoples actions or devotions, this should not effect your path however, wear that pentagram out and proud!!

Oh, scream if you like to, or my remedy is the batting cages, that really works the sreams out of me.

[catgirl]

Yes. So it's just out there and I can get on with my life and really be myself, instead of having to pretend to, tolerate's no the right word here, but something similar maybe, all of this crap from family. I'm sure it would get worse after I came out of the broomcloset, but then I could say exactly what I wanted to back and feel better about it. I'm looking forward to Yule this year, so I can put "Happy Yule Y'all" on my office door and maybe even my front lawn and be done with it.

I'm not in the deep recesses of this closet, but none of my family knows. My dad and stepmom may suspect though. My mom should know, but I think she's in denial. Two people at work know, but almost everybody should, since there wasn't a Christmas tree in the conference room last year and I brought in my Yule log and explained about it and how the Christmas tree "evolved" from it. Other than that, I've only "come out" to one other person IRL.

[Qeniheru]

I want to as well. But people here are rather weird about this kind of thing, and the ones that do know are either random people that don't understand (thank you, old Richmond Post Office....long story. :awilly: ), or my friends and boyfriend, that thankfully accept me for who I am. My family doesn't know and hopefuly never will, as they are hardline Christians that have lectured me on more than one occasion that I will go to hell if I even touch a pack of tarot cards. I hate to imagine what would happen if they found out... _inabox_ Why can't people be more accepting of others, at least our own families? Blah...

[TaysatWesir]

No religion is something personal only HoN and my close friends know about it.

[seekerofknwoledge]

Oh my Goddess yes!

[RunningRiot]

I don't care for what other people think of me, so it doesn't make a difference to me who knows or not.

[Morrigan_Wolfwind]

Occasionally I get the impulse to scream to everyone that I'm Wiccan--NOT Jewish. The star around my neck clearly has FIVE points, not six, and so is not a Star of David! Learn to COUNT, people who think I am Jewish!

Granted, that's more of a practical reason, but now that school's out I feel that impulse starting up again because around last month, I heard the (two) employees at my favorite store talking about a pagan gathering.

No, I did not jump into their conversation; I just kept looking at the necklaces.

[Crysiira]

Ha, you have that issue too, huh? Usually I just smile and let them think whatever they want to, but one time there was this guy on the bus... slightly crazy... started ranting about how the jews stole their religion from black people.... something something something... I kindly told him I wasn't one of them and exited the bus quickly. :woah:

[Bluewillow]

I don't have a set path yet as I am still deeply in "study-and-learn" mode, but as I learn more, I know that I am discovering something beautiful, and a way of looking at life and spirituality that has always drawn me, deep down. I know at heart I am a pagan. Unfortunately, the majority of my family members are Christian, and the mere mention of Paganism, Wicca, or Witchcraft would send them into a fit, which makes me sad, because I want to share what I am learning and how I am growing with them. When I went back to Oregon back in April to visit family, my mom and I had had a few drinks, and I decided to open up to her and tell her the basics of what I have been studying and explain how I finally feel like I am home, in the spiritual sense, and while she didn't get pissed off, she also didn't understand. My family are wonderful, good people, but they are also of the belief that anything pagan is also connected to the devil, but we pagans just don't know it. lol Any way of worshiping other than Christianity is apparently evil. Satan comes as an angel of light, they say. lol :woah: So, I would like to be able to open up to them and share the beauty of the various forms of paganism, the intensity, the closeness to nature, and so on, but I can't. And so while I wouldn't like to scream out that I am pagan, I would like to be able to share it. Thankfully my husband and my dear best friend are very supportive and open people who I can talk with about my spirituality. :)