Parents and Wicca

[DaineLyandra]

dragoness_arleeana

I've told my actual mother (she lives across the country, I live with my grandparents) and she's absolutly fine with it! She actually finds it quite interesting. She bought me "Confessions of a teenage Witch" (really good book!) and wrote a little note in it that said:

For whatever religion you choose, I stand beside you. May all your dreams come true, and never give up on what you believe in. And always remember "I love you" for you have a purpose.

She wrote this on the inside cover of the book ^_^ It made me so happy to read that!!

That is a great book...I'm one of the contributors in it, LOL. smile I need to get my copy of it back tho'. Of Gwin's books, it's my favorite for content.  

[Dragonwinged]

First I have to say: THIS IS A GREAT TOPIC!!! Absolutely great, exactly what I needed.

I live in Sweden and here people are not very Christian... actually if you go to church every week(except if you are above 60) you are a bit "extreme"- I'm not kidding, people really don't go to church much anymore. It's estimated that about 50% of the Swedes are Christian (and a Christian in Sweden usually go to church only on special occasions)... I always felt that Christianity was sooo wrong for me, as well as any other religion that I had ever heard about... And then in the last pages of my religion's book(3-4 years ago) it mentioned that some people had beliefs in the "new age area" and I looked it up and found wicca... It really did feel like finding home.

Well to get more to the point:
My mother is one of those who actually want to go to church every week and she's not biblical or anything, she's actually quite open and do believe in "supernatural" stuff like magic, healing etc... But she's also quite traditional, she was very upset when I didn't want to get the church confirmation... and for some reason she's still totally convinced that I will find the "true path" or something in the future and get the confirmation then (do you understand how utterly Annoying this is?? stressed ). When I told her I was wiccan she freaked for a while - months actually - until I stopped mentioning it and I have now realized that everyone will be better off with me not talking with her about it... sweatdrop This is something I'm not all happy about- I don't want to make her involved in my wicca practicing or anything but I want my whole family to at least know about my religion...

When Dad got to know about it he at once believed it to be some teenage rebellion. He's not Christian at all, at least I don't think he is, but he was convinced that this was all one of my more stupid, silly, teenage ideas that I had gotten... To me my father is very important so I never talked to him about it after that- I don't want to loose his respect in any way... I think he has partly forgotten about it or dismissed it as unimportant. rolleyes sweatdrop

I haven't given my sisters or my brother any clue about Wicca. But during the time that mother "freaked" she "happened" to talk very loudly to me about it or put in comments about things that I probably would like as I "wanted to be a witch" right in front of my sisters many, many times stare ... I think she felt that it was their right as my sisters to know about my "new religion" but they took it in a different way. My middle sister noticed how tense mom got and I guess she thought it was something that mother disliked and something that was bad of me to do... My other sister was to young and thought it was a joke... But I had fun telling her bedtime stories about witches afterwards wink

About telling grandparents... Well once I mentioned, MENTIONED, to my grandma that I was kind of interested in magic and "you know supernatural things" and that I didn't think they were all that unreal... I Mentioned this very carefully... We were sitting in a car at the moment... And as another said in this topic: I thought she wanted to throw me out! I have never felt so awkward around her- I've always felt that she was a bit open minded... But her whole persona just radiated disapproval so I quickly changed the subject sweatdrop .  

[Esme Magick]

my family is all christian, they already kno im not a christian but they dont know im wiccan, id rather not tell them till after i get out of school  

[Aleria Carventus]

I think I'm going to tell my Mom sometime in the near future, but I don't really know how...
We're not christian, so I can't just say "I'm not christian" and somehow, I don't think the whole Pagan thing will make much sense...
Any advice on how to come out of the broom closet?

 

[DaineLyandra]

Very carefully. smile Have lots of knowledge under your belt, be mature and serious, admit when you don't know the answer, offer to share as much as you can so that they can be apprised of what's going on, and be willing to negotiate. If they say you can't burn candles, don't burn candles...if they say you can't do any of that stuff in their house, you don't do any of that stuff in their house...your beliefs are always your own, and being willing to negotiate and show respect to their wishes helps your case that you are serious about this and that it isn't a phase.

I have some articles about it on my website...granted, they're from a more conservative viewpoint, but the first one especially ought to be helpful.

www.freewebs.com/wiccanwytch

Good luck.  

[illusen729]

I wear a small pentacle necklace to school, so basically anyone who asks knows. When religion comes up in discussions with my friends, if it's at a decent time, I'll bring up the fact that I'm Wiccan. I'm pretty open about it at school.
My parents, on the other hand, have no clue. My mom would probably blow up and not listen to me and never give me a chance to explain, along with banning me from Gaia and taking away my moneys. My dad would probably be cool with it after a little explaining. But I'm scared to death of what my mom would do. I do plan on telling them, but I'm waiting for the right time.  

[Bunniegurl123]

I don't have that problem. Gladly. lol. My mom really doesn't care about who I am, that probably has something to do with me being 15, I think she thinks I'm trying to 'find myself'. I don't know. But she has no problems with me being who I am.  

[[memory_keeper]]

my gosh....i would not DARE tell my parents...if i did i could only look foward to:
1.bording school domokun
2.4 more years of counseling[no!!!! crying ]
3.every piece of clothing except for i dress with pick flowers all over it and a shirt that says "I LOVE MY MOMMY] domokun
4.eyeliner go by by..... xp
5.and to wrap it all up how bout nice a** WHIPING!!!!!  

[illusen729]

I had the perfect chance to tell them today. They were both at the table eating lunch, Dad reading something, Mom doing her Sudoku, and my brother not home. I so wanted to tell them. But I couldn't get up the courage to do it. gonk  

[Lady Wormwood]

I've been practicing long enough for my parents to know that I'm Wiccan, it's not going to change, and they might as well accept it and let me do my own thing.
Which is awesome to nth power. mrgreen
When they first saw how the subject matter peaked my interest, I think they were concerned I was getting into something that was a negative influence... but my parents are smart, did their research, talked to me about what I thought and what my motives were, and they settled on just leaving me be.
Things were kinda rocky at first because well, it was a chnage. I was learning, I couldn't always give them answers to their questions, and there were times when I didn't want to tell them things because I needed my own privacy.
But things have a way of smoothing out.
My dad still thinks some of it's still ridiculous. xd He sees magick as impossible because he believes the human mind isn't physiologically capable of bending reality and manifesting one's will. *shrug* That's all well and good, and he can continue look at my spells and rituals as vain delusions.
My mom still sees me as a good, loving person and believes I'll go to heaven on the idea that Christians aren't the only ones to go to heaven and even if that's not true, I was baptized Christian and that somehow makes my soul clean of sin. *shrug* Okay, I'll let mom have her faith in such things. She deserves that.

When it comes to coming out of the broom closet with my parents, I was very fortunate to have it easy. I know there are those who don't, and for those I say to you, if you can get through it, it makes you that much stronger. biggrin
I've only come out to my parents. And my grandma knows. Strangely, she's refered to herself as a "White Witch" and I didn't know about this until recently. I was a little miffed about that. stare How dare she dabble in such things and not tell me.
I still have to come out to my mom's side of the family, but I was thinking of putting that off for a little while longer. mrgreen By that time, it won't matter what they think or how they feel on the subject.  

[OmgItsChibiwolf]

Well my mom is okay with it, but I didn't tell my father...but I think he knows I leave my book out in the open in my room but Im not sure yet, if he finds out well I dont care cool  

[Grey skies tainted red]

I didn't have the comfort of choosing when I came out of the "Broom closet." My mother went on a cleaning binge in my room and found alot of things she didn't like. But when she uncovered all my herbs she didn't know what they were. So she was mad and called me a druggy, which isn't far from the truth but in this case she had the wrong thing for proof. So I quickly yelled out in tears. "Mom thats not what you think!" And then I proceeded to tell her about it. Neither of my parents go to church but both were raised in strict religious fashions, but they rebelled and said they wouldn't force anything on us. So imagine my shock when my mom said, "I don't want this! I DO NOT WANT PIG SACRIFICES IN MY DAMN HOUSE!" But after a long sit down she came around, my dad could care less just as long as my grades don't slip.

But I haven't done anything in like a year out of fear she will walk in on a spell and freak.  

[Princess Cheese]

I told my dad one day when I convinced him to buy me a book.
He ended up telling my mom, and she did research on it before she talked to me.
I absolutely love it. She finds me sites sometimes, and gives me money to buy books and things I'll need.
My dad even lets me have lighters now, so I can light candles.
I'm glad my parents were so accepting.
Nobody but my cousin on my dad's side of the family knows.
She only knows because I'm close to her, and I know she wouldn't tell the family.
And then on my mom's side, almost everybody knows. I was out eating breakfast with my aunt, uncle, mom, and brother. We were in the mall my friend has her book store in, and I decided to go look so I could buy my friend a Cardcaptors movie, since she sells other things besides Pagan books.
I looked at the books, and my uncle kinda figured it out, and told everyone else.  

[kayjustfreak]

Meh...I have had Problems

Problems beyond belief with my mom and wicca


but i won in the end...

it started when i tol her i was wiccan...then it escalated....eventualy i ended up emailing my moms church pastor and he sided with me instead of my mom...wich i didnt quite expect

so then she forgot about it for about another 6 months but she refuses for me to have pagan/wiccan books articles jewlerie laying around the house

she thretens to burn all my books and things

see she has enough books and paper to fill up the roman collisium

so il throw away her books dvd...tapes...cd's.....trip money for mission trips if she does do such a thing and then she said nothing about it again and it was settled...i think she learned to cope with what was being dont and got used to it because she hasen't mentioned it to me in about a year now so now i think im all good!

Thanks for getting the stikie steph!xDDDDD  

[DrainedDreams]

I've been raised in a christian home and if my mom EVER found out she'd get all preachy. She even told me I'd burn in the fiery pits of hell if I was to turn Wiccan. So...I can't tell them her OR my dad anything. I'd get disowned.