Tacere?

[IndigoRat]

I've been wondering this for a while but never got around to asking.

Given the whole "to be silent" thing, how much do you/are allowed to tell about your faith and practices. Or is it more of a personal preference? What's the whole reasoning behind this? Just curious to hear what people think about this.



Gah, no more light night postings for me.

[mucgwyrt]

It's personal preference.
I think it's tradition to not speak of it; in the Old Days you could get yourself into deep doo-doo by telling people you were a witch. Nowadays people dont get burnt at the stake for talking, but there's still stigma.
In conclusion - it's up to you :D

[AterCorax]

Do you mean like being silent about casting a spell?

If that's what you meant, it's believed that if others knew of your working, they might do something to affect it (either conciously or unconciously...I'm pretty sure I spelled that wrong, lol).

If you didn't mean it that way, then just ignore me! :)

-Ater

[Jenett]

I have stuff I've agreed not to share. Mostly it relates to group specific stuff - in my case, it's explicitly stated that we're allowed (and encourged, if it helps) to share how ritual made us *feel* or any personal experiences in meditation (for example with my husband, who gets to live with me, and who isn't Pagan. It's a lot easier if he has some idea what's going on in my head or what I'm mulling over).

But I don't share details, trad-specific teaching, etc. except as agreed upon with my teachers.

One thing it's made me realise: most of the stuff I'd theoretically *want* share takes a lot of groundwork and time to explain - when I've wanted to talk about it, I want to talk about it in context, and it takes time and work to build that context. This means that these days, if I want to talk about that set of stuff, I go find someone else in my group, and talk there - I don't go talk to a different friend. (I do still talk general stuff about religion with lots of people - just not group-specific-oathbound stuff.)

In more general terms, it does make me think carefully about what I share and don't share. Does this person *really* want to hear something? Do they need to know it for some reason (to make an informed decision, to learn stuff themselves, etc.) Why am I sharing it?

In my professional life (I'm a library paraprofessional) I've got a strong commitment to sharing information. On the other hand , I recognise that not everyone wants to know everything right away - and not everyone has the context to make sense of some kinds of information for whatever reason. Pausing and thinking about the specifics is good for me in all sorts of ways, and I often end up deciding not to share at least some aspect for some reason. As a result, I tend to talk more about process and approach and general stuff than specifics, or about things that are personal to me.

[Sommerfugl]

I will quite happily share my beliefs with people, I don't see the harm in that - it's makes me who I am. But I don't share anything about my magickal workings, they're so personal to me and I'd like to keep it that way. But yeah, like everyone has said...you'll come to your own conclusion in the end *shrugs*, it really is one of those things that's up to you. :)
Jezxx

[Romani Vixen]

It's complete personal preference. Historically it was mandated to save the lives of practitioners and their families.

Now, it's not illegal... but some people dont' care to share with others.

If you're new... think about it... meditate on it. Determine what feels right to you. how would your family react? Do you want to tell your co-workers? (A lot of people are work- in the broom closet if nothing else)

I personally havn't told certain members of my family, as they're still too closed minded... and it would only hurt our relationship. I don't lie and say that I'm Christian... I just don't offer that I'm not!

Over the past few months, I've had the most wonderful conversations with my father as a result of telling him. He understands, and we can debate all day and learn about each other!

However, if you are part of a group or coven that mandates that the materials etc be confidential... you need to follow that, or find a different group.