In all the time that I've been a practicing Wiccan, which granted hasn't been all that long, the one thing I haven't done is told my parents. More specifically my mother. I was raised in?a Catholic household and I felt that it probably wouldn't be a good thing to tell my mom about my choice of beliefs for a fear of the fact that I would more than likely loose the relationship that I've tried to rebuild with her for the last 9 years. That was the last thing that I wanted to have happen...

Well, my mom and I got on the topic of why my husband and I don't go to the church that my mother-in-law goes to yesterday. After a few minutes discussion and finding it difficult to explain to her why I, myself, don't go, I sprung a question on her. I asked her how she felt about pagans in general. She claimed that she had a real problem with pagans because "pagans are devil worshippers". Now this did offend me because I know it to not be true. I tried to explain it to her, but my mother is, well, very stubborn. When she thinks she knows the facts about something, she sticks to it. And until the time that she's proven wrong on her belief of a subject, she won't listen to anything else. So I've got some work to do there.

I then asked her how she felt about Wiccans. She was a lot more open minded there because her sister, my aunt, is a practicing Wiccan in Kansas. Well, at that point, all of my secrets that center around me being a Wiccan came out of the closet. It felt good to have it out in the open with my mom, but part of me is still saddened by the fact that she thinks the things that she does about Pagans.

So....if anyone has any suggestions on how I can get my mom to see the truth about the definition of a Pagan, it would be greatly apprieciated. Needless to say, I felt a huge relief yesterday after talking to my mom, and confessing to her that I am a Wiccan. And that I'm proud of it....which she thinks I have to be careful of because not many people who are Wiccan like to have that kind of "publicity". And I know that to be true in a lot of cases, but I also know some Wiccans who are proud of who they are, and they don't hide it.

Blessed Be

The morning started out like any other morning....normal! Until I went to the gas station to get a couple of things that is. See, where I live, we have a Mormon church at the end of our road and then just around the corner and a few blocks up is the Jehova's Witness church (not too sure on the spelling there). When I got to the gas station, I discovered very quickly that there were several Mormon missionaries standing outside handing out leaflets to everyone that got within even six feet of the front doors. All I could say was "Oh man..."

Okay, normally, I'm not the kind of person you generally want to talk to in the morning. Especially when I haven't gotten much sleep. Even when I've gotten enough sleep, until I've had time to fully wake up....watch out. Even my kids avoid me.

Anyways, no matter how I tried to go about getting into the gas station unseen by the missionaries, it wasn't going to happen. So I just tried to walk in. Bad idea. Mix the not-fully-awake status with the pestering antics of a Mormon, and you get bad results. My biggest problem when I'm not fully awake is that I don't really think before I open my mouth. And this morning was no different... When one of them tried handing me one of the leaflets, I flat out told them that I didn't want their trash. Okay. Not the best statement in the world. I know. After I told them that, they responded to me with that it was "God's word and I needed to be aware of it so I could go to Heaven when it became my time"..... Uh yeah..... Ooookay. Once again, and not thinking, I opened my mouth a second time. I flat out told them, in front of several other complete strangers, that if I wanted to hear God's word, then I'd go to a church, but that I couldn't see me stepping foot inside of one anytime soon unless it's for a wedding or a funeral. They proceeded to ask me why I said that. I turned in a circle gesturing to the outdoors, the corners, and nature in a whole, telling them that this is where I "worship". Then came the looks of confusion. Noticing this, I sighed....in an overly dramatic manner..I still haven't had my caffine yet for crying out loud...and just flat out told them that I'm a Wiccan. A Pagan. A WITCH FOR PETE'S SAKE!

And then...I got a good laugh thanks to them. They told me that there was no way I was any of those things because, are you ready for this? I don't look like a pagan, because pagans, wiccans, witches, etc wear nothing but black! GRRRRRR! I absolutely detest stereotypes! Needless to say that everything flew apart at that point. I know I probably should have handled the situation a whole lot better than I did, but come on, at that point, I'd been awake for maybe, MAYBE, 45 minutes! I got a crappy night's sleep, I've had no caffine, and got jumped by Mormons....not exactly the best way to fully wake up first thing in the morning.

Oh well, tomorrow's another day.....

Despite it being very warm today, it turned out to be a pretty good day. I talked to my best friend, which is granted, a normal every-day occurance, and helped her solve a dilema she was dealing with. But I think that the best part of it was when I went to pick up my husband for lunch at his work, he introduced me to one of his co-workers and his girlfriend (the co-workers). I've been wanting to meet his co-worker because 1) he's a talented writer, but mainly because he's a pagan also. I found out while talking with him that he is an Ecclectic Pagan and his girlfriend is a Wiccan. I've been really wanting to meet people in the area that have, at the very least, beliefs similar to my own. He was not only able to reassure me in my search for a specific path for myself, but he was able to give me a list of Wiccan/Pagan authors who's books don't read like a text book and that are very detailed with everything. I had mentioned Covenspace to him during our discussion and discovered that he didn't even know about the site, and neither did his girlfriend. They both seemed to be interested in it. So hopefully, we'll have 2 more new members to the community.

Blessed Be!