My Journey

Hail and Well Met,

I thought it would be interesting to post here how I, in my teens, came to be a Pagan.
Now, unlike some lucky people, a close friend of mine included, I was not raised Pagan and in fact had never heard of it from another person. My childhood in fact was religion-free, as my mother follows no particular faith, nor does my father.
It began on the internet. At the time, I was falling into a love of gothic fashion, vampires, and other such things. It was on the networking site Faries and Vampires that I had my first encounter with the idea of magick - don't leave me now, I am aware Paganism is not witchcraft (though I accept that there are those who do believe in witchcraft) but this is how it began. I started my research into the world of witchery, at that point amazed that anyone could think they could perform real magick, and that journey left me with a new research quest: Wicca.
After many months of collecting information I beleived myself to be Wiccan and (though I was unreasonably terrified, for my mother is a very accepting woman), somehow plucked up the courage to tell my mother: I want to be a Wiccan. Her response? Why.
It was the last question or reaction I expected and typically had absolutely no answer. I think I managed to stutter something about believing in it's beleifs....
One herdal down.
After that, my problem became school when I got asked what I beleived (I'd taken to wearing a pentacle necklace), and eventually, sick of trying to explain something that I really was unsure of myself, I told them to Google it.... Biggest mistake. A girl of popular status did, and what she found was no help to me. A christian website (again, no blame to that faith) proclaimed it to be devil-worship and witchcraft - not what I believed at all.
The rumour quickly spread through school and I became well-known as the "freaky witch girl" who thought she could do magic.
It took two years to live that down.

Anyway, eventually I sort of... admitted to myself, not everything in the Wiccan ways sat well with me - for very many Wiccans do practice witchcraft. So, I began my search again for something more fitting to my beleifs.
And thus, I became an Eclectic Pagan, which basically, I suppose, means I can take bits and peices from various Pagan religions to craft a religion fitting to me.

In another aspect, after these developments, my siblings seemed to decide perhaps they needed a beleif too (though really not, they found it of their own accord, but it just happened to occur after my journey).....
I officially have a Christian younger brother and a Christian older sister...
This isn't exactly the most... encouraging environment for me. I have been told by my own sister that she hopes "God will forgive you for your sins". Basically, she thinks I'll burn in Hell - thanks sis! (Not).
Needless to say, we've had our arguements (especially around holiday time), but no one's dead yet!

I invite you to write your own story! Perhaps how you told your own parents?


Blessed Be.