Pagan Teens.

[windkeeper]

I was raised with a christian mother and very catholic grand parents. I was forced to go to church quite often and I hated it. I heard all these stories about why people were christian, how it felt etc and I just didn't feel that way. Whenever I stepped foot into church or heard a conversation about Christianity I just felt wrong. When I was in 8th grade we did a mini section on world religions and it sparked my curiosity. I started spending hours upon hours in my bedroom online researching different religions. Many of them felt somewhat right (such as buddhism) but I kept looking. Eventually I found Paganism (as a whole, later on came Wicca specifically) and as corny as it sounds it felt like coming home. I just got this feeling and I knew it was for me. I then spent even more time eating up every piece of information I could about different paths of paganism. After a while I declared myself as Wiccan and that is still what I tell people usually but I identify as an eclectic pagan. I take aspects of wicca, druidry, and buddhism. I use what works for me. Some will agree that this is good, others think I cant be part of all of them. I disagree. I have a very special relationship with my goddess and I know she has lead me to the path I am meant to walk.

[Love Is Endless~]

The original idea for looking into Wicca was put in my head by one of my closest friends, who jokingly said that he was going to become Wiccan. I started to look into it, and it was as if everything I had ever believed and everything I am was there in a single religion. Not only that, but it wasn't a dominant-male religion, and masculine and feminine energies were revered as equals. Also, reading and studying about Wicca made me realize that my future-predicting dreams didn't make me a freak.

Naturally, I was terrified to tell my parents. I wasn't sure what religion my mother was, and my dad was an agnostic who would get upset when I said that I didn't see myself as a Christian. One day, my mother went into the room where I kept my altar, and flipped out. She took my athame, and still hasn't given it back. D: After a good long while of explaining to her about my beliefs, she understands and supports me. My father still doesn't know.

Only a select few of my friends know about my being Wicca. A majority of my closest friends are devout Christians who believe that practitioners of other religions will be sent straight to hell. Not to mention the fact that I go to a private Christian school. I won't be able to publicly leave my "broom closet" until I graduate high school.

Sometimes I smile at the way that my friends' Christian lives coincide with my Wiccan one. My dearest Christian friend was telling me how amazing it was to bring three "lost" children to Christ, and that she wished it was something I'd get the chance to experience. I grinned to myself and remembered two of my dearest friends--the ones that were joking about becoming Wiccan--coming to me and asking for information on the Craft. I was the first person they told when they performed their solitary initiation rites. (:

[Brujita13]

It all started when I did some religious study. I was up late and feeling google-happy when I searched "religious persecution". What came up you ask? The Crusades, Native Americans forced into Christianity by Missionaries, Salem Witchcraft trials, Spanish Inquisition, and other things too repulsive to talk about. Later, I read a section of the Bible telling wives to be subordinate to their husbands. The last straw was a video on YouTube called "Jesus Camp". But I digress... I found Goddess (or is it that she found me?) in a thrift shop. I was looking for books when I saw one called "Simple Wicca" by Michele Morgan. It didn't have a great deal of information, but it got me wondering about Paganism. After it was maliciously destroyed (along with my other books) by my Catholic parents, I checked online. I was amazed! I was worried about a bunch of books when I had a PLETHORA of information at my fingertips!

Sorry . But, there's my story for you.