Re: Coming out of the broom closet?
Well, maybe you could start there...with talking about what she believes. You are 13, you have a while to go before you can move out if she disapproves, so you might as well start your dialogue by research for trying to figure out your strategy. While you are at it, drop some hints that you are interested in finding out more about other religions in general. Ask her about her opinions--how she feels about other religions may give you some additional insight too.
What I did for quite some time, was to make a point to be seen with books about other religions. We had an established "anything is fair game for reading" rule in my home. So, my first pagan books were Drawing Down the Moon and Spiral Dance...got them from the library and totally read them right in front of my parents as "research". They didn't bat an eye (though they asked a few questions). And, IMO, religious literacy in other world religions is crazy useful as a Pagan. It helped that my parents were pretty open minded about religion. Also, I used the language of Unitarian Universalism when talking about religion in general--that the wisdom and inspiration of spirituality was bigger than just the Bible, that what is divine (what is "god") is a bigger idea than any one religion*, etc.
TBH, I sort of agree with your mom...at least from my own experience and observation. When I was your age, I had already started with Wicca and moved on from it by the time I was 20. I'm still Pagan...but sometimes I joke that Wicca is "the gateway Paganism"--most people find it first and either move on in Paganism, move on to something outside of Paganism, or go back to where they came...but some of them do stay in Wicca (I'd say its maybe about half and half whether they go for a lineaged, coven path or stay eclectic and solitary without moving towards something else). I'm not saying you won't remain Wiccan, but there's tons you can do in terms of practices and looking at other related beliefs, just to be more widely educated in Paganism.
Well, maybe you could start there...with talking about what she believes. You are 13, you have a while to go before you can move out if she disapproves, so you might as well start your dialogue by research for trying to figure out your strategy. While you are at it, drop some hints that you are interested in finding out more about other religions in general. Ask her about her opinions--how she feels about other religions may give you some additional insight too.
What I did for quite some time, was to make a point to be seen with books about other religions. We had an established "anything is fair game for reading" rule in my home. So, my first pagan books were Drawing Down the Moon and Spiral Dance...got them from the library and totally read them right in front of my parents as "research". They didn't bat an eye (though they asked a few questions). And, IMO, religious literacy in other world religions is crazy useful as a Pagan. It helped that my parents were pretty open minded about religion. Also, I used the language of Unitarian Universalism when talking about religion in general--that the wisdom and inspiration of spirituality was bigger than just the Bible, that what is divine (what is "god") is a bigger idea than any one religion*, etc.
TBH, I sort of agree with your mom...at least from my own experience and observation. When I was your age, I had already started with Wicca and moved on from it by the time I was 20. I'm still Pagan...but sometimes I joke that Wicca is "the gateway Paganism"--most people find it first and either move on in Paganism, move on to something outside of Paganism, or go back to where they came...but some of them do stay in Wicca (I'd say its maybe about half and half whether they go for a lineaged, coven path or stay eclectic and solitary without moving towards something else). I'm not saying you won't remain Wiccan, but there's tons you can do in terms of practices and looking at other related beliefs, just to be more widely educated in Paganism.
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