Many Wiccan youngsters are afraid their parents will go BERSERK if they know that their son or daughter is learning about Wicca. Some parents have. I heard of one story, that a teenage Wiccan girl was setting up her altar and her very Christian father come in and started yelling and trashing the altar. The girl pleaded for him to stop and finally said "What if someone come in and destoryed your church?". The father dropped to his knees and started crying. One Wiccan friend of mine's parents thought that this Wicca thing was a phase so they let her buy books, incense, candles, whatever until one day she bought "Wicca: Guide for the Solitary Practioner" by Scott Cunningham. Her parents took away all her Wiccan stuff and made her go get baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. She was pretty depressed after that and I'm sure she secretly still worships the God and Goddess, for she was devoted. There are about a million stories about this kind of stuff. It really made me nervous because I wanted to tell my mom I was learning about Wicca. I already knew she was suspicious. Or I thought so. Movies make it more difficult. But, eventually I went to my mom and told her. The only thing she was resented about was why I was so nervous about telling her. It turned out that when she was my age, she learned a little about it too from her mother. She knew it was a nature-based religion that honored a Goddess and a God, and not satanist bull. Though at her time, it was kinda hard to learn about Wicca. Not many available books and no internet. She was surprised to know that there are an amazing number to male Wiccans. I wasn't. There's a lot of female Christians, even though their religion honors more of the male power than the female. If you absolutely know that your parents won't understand your beliefs, the last thing you want to do is dress in black and rebel against everything they say. They'll see you less mature and take your decisions less validly. So....what to do. Another choice is to wait it out until you're 18, then tell your parents. They might see you as more of an adult and find your decision mature. Another problem:
This is a very tearing issue. There are about two common choices. One is to remain in the broom closet(keep your beliefs hidden) and seek some new friends that are the same as you. Another, probably the hardest one, is to tell a friend you trust with your heart and soul. They might not "get" it, but since they're your friend, they'll support you and maybe even join in your interest. There have been several cases where a young Wiccan will tell their friends they are witches and end up depressed. They discover which friends were really true friends. And of course, this is followed by the rejection, teasing, outcasting, discrimnation, etc. Most teenagers don't want to be scorned and known as witches in a world where very few understand.
Ah, the dread. Being young, its going to be diffcult getting everything. Improvise. You may ask how, but its quite easy. If you can't buy a censer for any particular reason, ashtrays work fine. After using it, you can put it back where you borrowed it from or if you have a small one, you can hide it away safely. Candles? Yeh, candles can be easily purchased anywhere. Including your local grocery store. They can also be maded. What about a wand? A wand can be easily taken from a small tree or bush limbs. Though the type of tree may have different effects on the wand, you can find the correct wand. I need a pentacle! Not too hard. I have found several things that look like a pentagram. Some old earrings I found. I can make them out of fancy paper or cardboard. Clay is always neat. If this is about wearing a pentacle necklace, you don't need it. If you just gotta have it, save money or make one. I never felt compelled to do so. Incense isn't hard to buy. They sell incense at my local gas stop. I don't live in a city, I live in a very VERY small town. It costed like 3 bucks for two packs of twenty. Which sounded like a good deal and the incense had good quality. Water(the symbol of the West) shouldn't be hard to get, just get any old bowl you like and go to the sink. Books are probably the hardest. Wiccan books don't come cheap. Save your money. Check around bookstores. Amazon is where I shop for books. My mom buys them for me and in about a day or two, they come through regular mail. Though if you can't get non-Wiccan parents to help you, try to sneak to anywhere that have these kind of books. Check in the New Age section, thats where they usually stock them. If the bookstore doesn't have a certain book, its your job as the consumer to annoy, pester, beg until they decide to order it. Back homeCopyright (C)1999 by Yemaya.
