Episode 5: Religion 1

Alright. The most debate topic in human history. Religion. I have had many people look down on my religion, Wicca, but more have been curious about it and asked natural and sometimes laughable questions. Tonight, however was the worst.

Before I came out of the closet, so to speak, about being Wiccan, I had been going to a Wednesday night Youth Group at Salem Baptist. My friend Cassie asked me to come a few years earlier and finding nothing to do, I agreed. I have been Wiccan for 5, almost 6, years now and by then I knew that it was something I truly believed in. No one else knew this, so I put up a front, seemingly like that of a homosexual still hiding his/her secret from the world. I went to the youth meetings for about 2 years. In my Freshman or Sophomore year, I decided it was time to stop pretending. I couldn't take it anymore. I told everyone and stopped going to Salem. Even though I am Wiccan, I am still friends with the youth leaders, Brody and Lauren. No one ever lectures me on my choice. No one ever says that what I am wrong, and under no un-certain circumstances has anyone ever preached to me trying to convince me that Wicca is wrong and that Christianity is right. Until tonight that is.

I was sitting in front of the computer, minding my own business when one of the family friends walks in from the barn. Lynn, then proceeds to talk to me about how my religion is bad and dangerous. She could have talked about this at any time if she had truly wanted to, but she decided that tonight would be best, all because my mother wasn't around to hear what she had to say. She then proceed to go on about how she had done research about Wicca. That she had found it dangerous. That, basically, it was crap. That people have done research and Christianity has been proven true. That it is the one true religion.

How dare she!!!! I am out of my mind with anger right now. I have never been so insulted in my entire life. The insolence of it. It just blows my mind that she said some of that shit to me. About my own religion. She did have the decency to admit that people are just people and some of the stuff done on the name of Christianity is horrific but that it was the peoples fault and shouldn't be held against the religion. And then she went on to say that people in Wicca are the same way. And I told her that that may be true but that is exactly why I am Solitary Wiccan. I wont give others the oppertunity to mess with my mind and my beliefs. Wicca is not a cult, and the only leaders I have are myself but more importantly, the Goddess and God. That is all that matters. I am not power-hungary so I do not have to worry about seancé troubles, possession and all that kind of crap. I worship my Lord and Lady. I worship Them in my own way, I am devouted to them and I do not need anyone to tell me how to do so. There is no "proper" way to do so, due to that, there is no reason as to why I should let myself be taken under someone elses wing and become brainwashed into doing what they say is the "one and only way" to worship Them. There is no danger in my religion. I know my limits and I have no desire to learn how to
"talk to the dead or raise the dead" as Lynn so wonderfully put it. I am a humble Wiccan and I know my limitations.

That being said, there is a difference between a Wiccan and a Witch. A witch is someone who does spellwork. I may be classified as a witch by some, but not to myself. I do minor casting, i.e. candle magic, tarot, dreamweaving but not much else that classifies itself as spellwork. My energy is spent mainly in meditation and and worshipping, often resulting in an offering to the gods. I am a Wiccan and I am not a Satanist. I am not full of myself and I do not wish to be involved in anything involving a circle of candles AKA a seancé, a calling of unknown spirits, a Ouiji board or inexperienced novices thinking they are the Goddess gift to the Craft. I am my own person. And I practice alone. I do help guide a few others, always telling them that how I do things is not the only way, and I offer them other ways to go about doing whatever they are trying to do. I very rarely ask for help with my studies, occasionaly writing a few different High Priestess/High Priests and then choosing how it should be done based on thier replies. I am not a weakling to be taken along for the metaphorical ride. And I do not appreciate being treated so.

I am Wiccan.