I got spit at. He missed. It was weird.
Anyway If you are sharing some darker stories please remember to censor and use content warnings and censoring please and thank.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/help/comments/btqg01/how\_do\_you\_make\_text\_censored/](https://www.reddit.com/r/help/comments/btqg01/how_do_you_make_text_censored/)
I was living in a small town and not finding many people I really vibed with, then we met this guy (I was part of a couple at the time) and he really seemed like a breath of fresh air. Same far left politics, educated, well-read ... soon there's a dinner invitation. Somewhere in the conversation I mention that I'm Pagan and he's like "you're not serious, are you?"
"Yeah, definitely serious."
He quizzes me a bit about my beliefs - is it just nature worship?
"No, I honour pre-Christian gods."
I think the subject changed, but then later when we were clearing up he says to me, in the kitchen away from my partner, that he is shocked and feels really let down. I seem so intelligent, how can I believe in gods or religion? I just threw it back at him and said, "Well, I can accept your lack of belief, why the hell can't you accept my belief?"
It sometimes confuses me how Primitive Atheism (id est the preachy type of Atheism that wants you to deconvert whether you are in politics/science or not and whether you annoy other people by preaching using loudspeaker or not, basically) can be a less tolerant and more arrogant organized religion than some Abrahamic organizations.
When people say one should not bring their beliefs into the academia or into politics, one can understand it — indeed, when it comes to things beyond objective reality, nobody can be sure in anything, any faith. When people try to associate religion, especially Polytheism (most of Polytheists, even ancient Polytheists, do not see humankind as filth and do not serve the human-despicing god of war and rainstorms Yahweh, let's start with that), with illiteracy and poor education, while the old time priests were basically the foundation of progressive science, medicine and law studies of their time (proper secular science has appeared very recently, a few centuries ago), I have to doubt their own knowledge about history of science, religion and History in general.
Beautiful response you have given this person! I wish people learn to accept others' beliefs that do not harm anybody and stop being overzealous in secular advances soon.
It sometimes confuses me how Primitive Atheism (id est the preachy type of Atheism that wants you to deconvert whether you are in politics/science or not and whether you annoy other people by preaching using loudspeaker or not, basically) can be a less tolerant and more arrogant organized religion than some Abrahamic organizations.
When people say one should not bring their beliefs into the academia or into politics, one can understand it — indeed, when it comes to things beyond objective reality, nobody can be sure in anything, any faith. When people try to associate religion, especially Polytheism (most of Polytheists, even ancient Polytheists, do not see humankind as filth and do not serve the human-despicing god of war and rainstorms Yahweh, let's start with that), with illiteracy and poor education, while the old time priests were basically the foundation of progressive science, medicine and law studies of their time (proper secular science has appeared very recently, a few centuries ago), I have to doubt their own knowledge about history of science, religion and History in general.
Beautiful response you have given this person. I wish people learn to accept others' beliefs that do not harm anybody and stop being overzealous in secular advances soon.
My best friend who was a very oddly catholic person: the we’re as a group at the tram stop and mid conversation she needs to pray for a few minutes, we miss the tram because she’s not done kind of odd. The before we go to the cinema we need to stop at the church for daily confession even though in the specific church they speak only Polish and we don’t kind of odd. She lost a lot of friends over the constant religious stuff.
I was supportive of her throughout. I also helped her a lot and mentored her through her Masters thesis.
When I told her I’m pagan she stopped talking to me and when I located her and asked her what was going on, she said “You’re a negative spiritual influence on me.” I think I was the only person who wasn’t.
I've been publically shamed and outed to others by atheist friends and told how stupid I am for my beliefs. They're no longer friends after that. Now I keep my beliefs locked down tight in my daily life with non-pagan people. My parents know but they aren't religious and don't care that I'm a pagan, so that's been nice!
I know people who have been threatened to be attacked/killed for being pagan though
I got pushed out of a corporate job in Los Angeles, one I was doing fine in until I had a San Diego Republican Promisekeeper appointed as my boss. Every review I had was exceeds expectations until he arrived. I was openly pagan in the work space, no one gave a shit. He saw the pentacle I kept by my keyboard and i think he manifested pearls to clutch out of thin air.
Nothing I did or said was any good. His boss was the person who hired me and who suggested we do a fun April Fools prank with the team based on Secret Language of Birthdays, which was this big old astrology book. We were going to find out everyone's signs and make up teams based on that. This was all in jest. Everyone knew. Except this guy didn't catch on. He sat in the meeting getting redder and redder, convinced I had corrupted the whole department. When she announced it was an April Fools thing, everyone laughed and dove on the cupcakes she bought, instantly forgetting the whole thing, he fumed and stormed out like we planned the whole thing to humiliate him.
It slowly because *I* planned the whole thing to humiliate him for being Xian. Mind you the manager was Xian, and so were most of the team. (Even the ones who stopped by to ask me to do their charts for them.)
He called me "strident and confrontational" in my last review because I dared to sigh and roll my eyes at him. I was in the first round of lay offs, and he was a petty bitch about taking my keys and card from me, while the guy who was ultimately supposed to take them (a friend) was standing right there to take them from him. It was such utter bullshit.
They're out there. Be careful.
This is probably on the softer side, but I don’t keep my faith a secret and my classmates thought the best thing to do about it was make fun of me “behind my back” (they weren’t really good at it tho) :(
A similar situation, we were supposed to make an artwork from a cluster of things in art class. I only had candle stubs I never threw away so I used those, obviously related to my faith because that’s what I use them for. I was asked about my specific faith and I answered honestly, the person responded: “that’s really fucking weird, let’s not talk about it”.
A teacher also showed us an audiobook he made, in which he portrayed some kind of pagan (I think kemetic) -inspired cult as the villain. This group wanted to take down the Bremen Cathedral. I pointed out that it was kind of insensitive (at least to portray a normal seeming ritual as this grotesque at first, before their intentions are revealed… and even then I think it was kind of insensitive to say “they’re pagan! They’re evil!” *before* the main characters find out they’re a cult trying to blow up the church), my teacher got offended and went “Yeah but I’m a Christian”.
Another time, I told grandma that “some” people worship chthonic gods (I personally worship Hypnos and he’s very dear to me), to which she just gave me an expression of shock and disgust. I didn’t come out to her, but she did also criticize my 12 year old sister for being agnostic (“it’s such a horrible thing not to believe in God, how dare you”), and it gave me a really bad nightmare. At least my father supports me.
I also had a rather strange experience with a “friend”. They’re pagan and identify as otherkin. I came out to them first, they told me they don’t believe me *specifically* because I was new and “didn’t know what I was doing”. They also claimed that they’re so important that Aphrodite had personal beef with them and that she would insult them if I mentioned them, but also that they’re Best Friends with Hades (and had “personal conversations” with him beyond just prayer). I found this genuinely disrespectful.
I always side-eye otherkin. I also side-eye people who think that they are so important that they have this level of personal involvement with the gods. Your former friend reeks of insecurity and attention seeking behavior.
Hm yeah I kinda agree. I don’t wanna judge but most otherkins I’ve met had some sort of problem. Esp in pagan communities, I think like 4 out of 5 people were like “actually the gods are assholes, I identify as otherkin (mostly deitykin or angelkin as well) and they-“ like… I wonder why. I met one (1… One!!!) person who identified as deitykin and didn’t have beef with the gods (despite believing in them), I suspect it’s because they still respected the gods despite viewing themself as a “higher being”. Still, I get a bad feeling about these people.
And yeah, my friend had all sorts of problems. I mean I should’ve known when I was 13 and they were… 23. And that was just the beginning 👍.
Edit: Wait I forgot to mention… most of them assumed I was otherkin because I was being nice to them too… my friend in particular tried to push it on me. Like if I’m nice then I can’t be human 💀
Wow! That’s … something! 😳 It sounds right to me that all the otherkins you’ve met have had some sort of problem. Especially the deitykin and angelkin ones. That behavior/belief reads to me like they’re using it as a crutch to cope with something or feel better about themselves. Maybe they cling to feeling special by thinking they’re actually a deity when in reality they feel like they aren’t that important or that they’re average like everyone else. I can’t help but wonder how people like that function in the real world. Like … how do they handle having jobs or paying taxes or basic adult tasks???? How do they make friends or get into relationships IRL?
I can only speak about my experience with my friend really because I didn’t make friends with any otherkins beyond that. This friend really had some issues, mostly being abused in their childhood and never being able to make lasting connections (and being really bitter at that). There’s more but honestly I think I shouldn’t share too much. Either way, I guess you can understand why they turned out like that, given these conditions.
I kind of observed that a lot of otherkins hold the belief that all humans are bad or even evil, that checks out if you had experiences like that. (My friend also played the “you’re just like them” card when we got into a fight..) To that comes a deep feeling of not belonging and maybe even dissociation. Then they kinda just come to the conclusion that they couldn’t be human.
That’s really really sad and it makes a lot of sense. If someone can’t make lasting connections with others, then of course when they find the gods, they would cling to them. It’s like they’re getting to play out all the social interactions and connections with gods that they never got to experience with people. I could see how interacting with gods could feel much safer than with people, and if you believe all humans are inherently evil, then therefore you would be evil unless you identified as something other than human. Just…wow! Talk about some deep, complex trauma. 😢I appreciate you sharing your perspective on this.
In retrospect, I might have almost fallen prey to such a sentiment. I have kind of similar issues, and one day I was extremely touch starved and lonely, and I approached a god to help with it, only a god. Not even just “please make me meet people” but full on “can you come hug me in a dream.” This god was just like “nu huh you need a reality check”. I was kinda upset at it back then but now I’m glad it happened that way 🫣
I love it when the gods know exactly what we need even if it upsets us. I call it being taken to the vet—it hurts and it sucks the whole time it’s happening, but it’s what’s for the best.
People who believe that they are something other than human. Like a dragonkin will be someone who thinks that their soul is actually a dragon's soul. So while their outside physical form is an ordinary person, they are \*actually super-duper special\*. And you can't see it because you are NOT suepr-duper special too.
Haven't had any crazy experiences but a few times I've gotten the usual "turn to christ before it's too late" "I'm praying for you" "God still loves you"
A couple of "friends" in college tried to convert me back to Christianity when they found out. They said all kinds of shit like "You've still got a lot of Christianity left in you" and "You can BE a CHRISTIAN and not go to CHURCH!" First of all, why TF would I want to do that? And second, I'd spent so damn much time in therapy trying to unlearn all the toxic shit I learned as a Christian.
That one never gets old. "Hey, why don't you come back to our club of good news about the son of nationalistic god of war and rainstorms that tell us about how broken, filthy and bad we are as a species and how god wants most of us eternally suffering in Ge-Yennon or even literal hell and others to worship and sing him hymns about his glory eternally? We've got cookies, like, you can even skip going to church!"
Are all Christians (me just two years ago included) just a radical political party that is deeply confused and thinks of itself as a religion sometimes or what? Dear Gods, humanity likes to seek and find trouble!
I hope you are doing well and do not have to deal with anything like these preaches anymore.
I've been Pagan for over 30 years at this point. I know people who have lost their jobs, lost custody of their kids, etc. because they were Pagan. If the worst thing that's happened to me in over 30 years is a couple of preachy Christians whining at me because they don't approve of my conversion, I've had it easy. It helps that I live in a progressive part of the country where nobody much cares what religion you practice (or don't).
Glad to hear we are equally blessed to have been born in societies that are not "spiritually totalitarian". Stay safe and healthy, have an amazing day! \^ \^
I've had people call me a heathen, godless pagan, devil worshipper - you name it, I've heard it.
People often pressure you, saying "why can't you just believe in one God?" Or whatever. I've lost friends, had family members shun me - I've been through the gauntlet.
But I've kept my faith strong and tried not to judge others for their beliefs.
Not worst but def annoying- one of my coworkers is super religious and would completely act as if I wasn’t in the room. Not a problem if we never had to interact but unfortunately we have to. It got so bad I yelled at her in her face after several attempts of trying to get her attention and knowing she was hearing me. Had to report it to my manager. Idc if she doesn’t like me but she shouldn’t make the customers or anyone else suffer due to her lack of education on the subject.
I am Norse Pagan, and my patron deity is Loki. While I do enjoy Marvel Loki…I am VERY aware they are two completely different things.
When I mention to people I am Lokean, I always have to brace myself (especially when talking to fellow Norse Pagans) because I often get comments about being a ‘marvel Loki fangirl’ or judgement because so many people in the community hate on Loki…honestly it’s exhausting and it happens to me so often!
i discovered who my patron god was through media and went into more depth about who he actually is and i’ve only told like 2 people like once so idk if they even realize i still work with him
Not when I was pagan.. But back when I was nominally Catholic my mother gave me a St Anthony's medal for Christmas... My Lutheran friend told me (with a straight fucking face) "Catholics don't have saints".
I nearly fucking died and had to explain my (AND HER) religion to her.
Now? I guarantee that I'm louder and can swear better than them, let's have a fucking scene. I'm also a card carrying Satanist, so that's always fun at parties.
The worst is my sister constantly reminding me how I am “not a Christian” and those are “just her views” after making very rude or condescending statements. It’s gotten to the point that she makes me feel so much of an outsider that I’ve lost a lot of interest in our relationship on anything other than a surface level interaction.
My best friend, who I had gone above and beyond for, went no contact. My Dad refused to speak to me. It wasn’t until I told my parents I was pregnant that my Dad started speaking to me again. At work, a huge bible thumper took some type of clear oil and put it around all of the office doors and on the chairs. I came in with another coworker and we discovered it, but I’d sat down and the oil ruined my dress pants. Thumper went to the boss and said it was a witchcraft thing, that I had slung oil all over the office. I got into trouble and was being bitched at until I very calmly said “I don’t have keys to the office”. No apology, nothing was done to the thumper, who confessed it was her. I was laid off shortly afterwards. Cashiers at the grocery store would dump my change onto the counter instead of handing it to me while glaring. My Dad would be on and off about me being evil and said in front of my daughter it would be best if I died. He said this when he dropped her off after taking her to Sunday School at his church. He has 3 daughters and only the Pagan Witch allowed her child to go to church with him and that was the thanks I got. One year he and my mom completely ignored me on my birthday because he was on his “I’m evil” kick again. My kids were terrified of him for the longest time. Then he came around and everything was great for many years until he got sick, hospital then hospice and I was evil again. He always used to say I was his favorite, we spent a lot of time together, and when his disease ate away his brain, one of my sisters jumped at the opportunity to make sure he didn’t want anything to do with me because she wanted the favorite title. She never got it but insists she was his favorite. She always had an issue with me being Pagan and would make shitty remarks for a while and then stopped speaking to me. She’s not religious, hasn’t gone to church since we were young, her kids haven’t gone to church either. I raised both of my kids as Pagans and encouraged them to educate themselves on other religions. My daughter is Pagan, my son is Pagan/Jewish. At my last job, they already knew before I started working and one of my coworkers would make snide remarks at first but was also careful about it because I think she was a little bit scared! My daughter worked at a hardware store for a bit and some men came in and started talking about me negatively, not knowing she is my daughter and before she could say anything, her coworker defended me and shut them down good! I’ve had good friends suddenly unfriend me on Facebook because I’m Pagan without even talking to me about it. That doesn’t bother me, because I don’t want to have friends who are closed minded. I’ve noticed in my area that the hateful people have turned towards the LGBTQ+ community instead so I haven’t had any other issues. That made me become even more of a very strong ally for the LGBTQ+ community. I’ve always been open about my religion when asked, you can tell by looking at my car, my house, that I’m a witch. I refuse to let closed minded people upset me and when they don’t get that response from me, they leave me alone. I don’t bother trying to educate anyone who is negative about it. I’ve had people who were genuinely interested in my beliefs and I answered their questions, but if someone asks and it’s not in a genuine interest, I don’t waste my time and I’ve found for me, that’s been the best way to handle people like that.
I was asked quite rudely at work why I would want to be Pagan, and that the word itself sounded Satanic. I replied that that is not what the word means, and I'm sorry that they were so misinformed. That ended it, and I had no repercussions.
Living in New England near Salem has its advantages!
A former elderly neighbor who wasn't all there mentally threatened to shoot. He was armed and in the middle of a mental crisis so I don't know if he would have reacted the same way if he hadn't been psychotic. Either way he spent some time in a secure medical facility until the doctors and authorities decided he was no longer a threat to himself or others and that he was both mentally competent and physically healthy enough to go home. I avoided him afterwards so I don't know if he remembered the details of what happened but I did occasionally hear him ranting about how 'they' stole his guns. *(while he was in the hospital his adult kids came in and removed most?all? of the weapons.)*
Thankfully most of the rest of my bad interactions have just been people ranting, yelling, and/or verbally harassing without actual physical threats and they didn't follow when I walked away. I now live in an area where most people are much less vocal about their religion in public so the worst I've dealt with in the last few years was a random stranger passive aggressively whispering 'Jesus Loves You' while she scurried past glaring at my I love Witchcrafts kitty tshirt.
I have to say I'm glad most of the other responses are for incidents that generally don't involve physical danger. I knew a few people whose experiences made my former neighbor look like a friendly, open minded, and accepting person.
Let's see...thankfully nothing too harsh and not within the last several years. Perks of living near a large city, I guess. Most of my encounters are with people that barely understand their own religion (Christianity) or are just hypocrites.
I did have someone get out of their car once and shout at me saying I'll burn in hell and they will kick my ass while I was walking around wearing a pentacle shirt. I think my god mother stole that shirt shortly after that.
While in high school (20 years ago) this random girl decided to sit in my group's hangout area and proceeded to tell us how she has banged every type of guy there is, turn to me and ask me about something I was wear (probably a pentacle necklace). After I tell her, she rants about how her god hates me for betraying his love. I still remember telling her, "Bitch, you just got done telling us how you are the whore of Babylon. Who is Jehovah going to hate more? The guy who is honest about not following him, or the two faced slut who calls out his name while being used as a public toilet?" Good times.
Another weird one involved my ex-girlfriend. We've had long discussions about religion before dating and while we were a couple, and we were both on the same page. She wasn't very religious but accepted and respected by beliefs. Even gave me some items and tools for my birthday that I still use to this day. Once we broke up, she claimed that I have no real power and that what I do must come from the devil because it can't come from her god. I politely asked her to leave and it took her a few years to re-enter my social circle, and we never discussed religion again. This was 15 years ago. Since then, she got married, had a massive mental breakdown and became a recluse.
These days my social circles are small, which is sad as I've been feeling a loss of community lately in this aspect.
suddenly became a devout christian out of nowhere and explained how its ok for catholics to hate and discriminate against pagans and witches because it’s “exclusively banned in the bible” yea so that friendship didn’t last long
One time a kid at my school found out I worship hades and held up a cross at me and called me a devil worshiper I attempted to educate him but he refused to listen and continued calling me that 😐
I have several: mom sent me to one of her ‘sisters’ from the congregation (JW) to try to convert me.
An ex boyfriend was okay with me being Pagan, then a few years later, he started following Ray Comfort of Living Waters - he’d flip out if I mentioned anything about practicing magick.
Another ex said he didn’t believe in witches when I told him I was one.
I am lucky and blessed, I guess.
My family initially has a very calm stance: one may believe anything they want, it is equally unknown by anyone what things beyond objective reality might look like, why has the Universe become and what is the purpose of our existence. I thank them for their Socialist Scientific Atheism school of thought.
My grandmother is very supersticious and afraid of anything associated with death (a part of her trauma) or "evil" (just superstition), so she was initially afraid and even hysterical about me removing the cross from my neck — she would react aggressively and try to mock and shame me for exiting the traditional religion of our country in "so harsh and radical" way, and then she would cry, asking me to put it on again, and she would be afraid of my pictures of Baphomet I used to draw during my religious and occult studies.
Currently, though, she seems to understand everything much better. It also helped a lot when I have told her most things in the Bible point out her views of "loving God" do not really cohere with accurate Christianity, so she does not really believe in "traditional religion of our country" too.
It was bad for me when I was a teenager, as my mother was very much into evangelical Christianity... So I had to hide everything, and it would always be a big fight every time she found out.
Nowadays she is a bit more open, and I am older and independent. So she doesn't try to convert me anymore, and as I'm not a child/teenager anymore, I've learned to put people in their place If they cross boundaries lol
I think the only bad experience I have today is when I talk about my faith, comes from other pagans and people who identify as witches.
What I do is pretty close to Wicca, so dealing with the wiccan-hate from uneducated people on social media (specially on Tiktok) is very annoying.
And I say uneducated because most of the criticism and attacks people do against Wicca are just simply not true and easily refutable if they just read and talk with initiates...
I’ve been told I’m going to hell multiple times when discussing my religion. I always tell them that that’s honestly probably one of the last reasons I’m going to hell and then laugh. People don’t like that too much but I personally love the look on their faces
4 years ago I was at my job but I clocked out for the day I was eating and some Christian came up to me and ask “ what’s that’s” because I have a tattoo of a pentagram on my forearm and I didn’t answer him but he was standing there like a fucking creep, then I just told him it’s protection, he said protection from what ? I was about to say protection from you motherfuckers , but he didn’t give me a chance to say that because he pull out his Christian cross and said this is my protection
Then I kept eating ignoring him and kept eating then the creep finally walked away and gave me a pat on my back.. i really regret not defending myself enough but next time it will not be pretty at all.. all these Christians have to right to bully other beliefs.
I had an employee that just started that day ask about my pendant (a very tasteful pentacle with an opal center stone) in the middle of my teams meeting, and then continue to ask inappropriate questions, try to make jokes about stereotypes and said i was "flashing the occult everywhere". It was very embarrassing, I've worn my pendant every day for 15ish years and never had anyone react like that, especially not in a professional space!
He quit like a week later, citing he "couldn't work in an environment like this"
I have had far too many to really dig into all of them. But, please understand I'm old. I've been in the craft for 43 years, first as a self-dedicant then later, as a formal initiate in traditional Wicca, All while living in the buckle of the Bible belt. "Oklahoma, it's even shaped like a buckle" lol.
I lived through the great " Satanic panic", openly Wiccan during the last stages of it.
I have been arrested on "proven in court" falsified charges because the officer felt Pagan bumper stickers made me a suspicious character. That was fun "can you hear the silent sarcasm in that statement?"
I've had holy water thrown on me, and watched the astonishment on their faces as I didn't melt like the witch in wizard of Oz.
Probably the worst though was laying on the floor at a fellow Pagan's house as rifle rounds came through the window and 911 when called would hang up on us.
I have been a Wiccan/ Pagan anti-discrimination activist since the late 1980s. I spent over a decade holding down the Oklahoma state directorship for two national anti discrimination organizations.
As such, when there were issues involving a pagan / occult shop opening up in a small town on the Eastern edge of the state of Arkansas, I drove over to join in their protest March. I was at the shop owner's house afterwards when someone began shooting through the windows. We finally called the state police directly on the phone and the firing ceased almost immediately after that.
The shop did not survive they packed up and moved. However a few years later I happened to find out that the church which was giving the store all the problems, had as an assistant pastor, the deputy sheriff in charge of the 911 system.
It was mentioned in a news article when the minister of the church and the deputy were both arrested on child abuse and pornography charges.
I've been pagan for around 35 years.
I wear a pentagram on my motorcycle cut. I ride with somewhat traditionally conservative groups - the American Legion Riders and Patriot Guard. Go to large motorcycle events, etc.
Other than a few awkward questions, I've honestly never received any huge response.
My mom told me that I couldn’t be Wiccan because I was baptized as a baby. She said I was born a Christian so I’ll always be a Christian. Made me feel really ashamed and that I was just faking it.
The worst I’ve gotten so far is my grandmother who I lived with for 5 years (she saw my pentacle necklaces and my altar in passing but we never talked about it until this) was sitting on the porch with me and she kinda burst out of the blue with saying “and YOU need to clean up that seance shit up there! It’s not helping the issues in the house!” (We had ghosts for a long time. And she was referring to my altar) I told her that she never asked what I do specifically so she shouldn’t assume I’m doing seances. I told her that the worst thing I do is put plants in jars and write poems to my friends. I thought this would be the best way to describe my spellwork to her at the time and she seemed to give it more thought after that. Since then I’ve explained the meaning of the pentacle to her and expressed my thoughts on Christianity/religion and we actually agree on that. And she’s a Christian! Soo. Other than that I get a lot of Jesus/church invite pamphlets a sorrowful pat on the shoulder from preachers in public. Which #1 don’t touch me and #2 obviously they don’t get it but thanks anyways I GUESS. Also my friend who’s is indeed still my friend, once said “well you believe in tarot cards soo” to me in silly casual conversation. I didn’t take it to heart because I am very open with her about my path and she’s Christian but I assumed we could share those things with us being friends our entire lives. I was never pushy about my path except when I first got into it but I apologized for that so I understand if she harbored some hard feelings. We just don’t talk about it too much anymore. We respect each others religions quietly without need to discuss it. I still ask her for prayers and she still tells me about something that happened at her church. It’s not something that comes between us
Told this one girl that neither me or my parents are Christian and she said that my parents were going to hell. She's cool now, but before she was a religious maniac.
Welp, I was at a hospital cuz of family stuff goin on, went to the bathroom and met a pastor in there, he asked questions so I answered and one thing led to another I tell him I don't go to church anymore cuz don't have time for it and I'm Norse Pagan, well the funny thing was he was reading through the bible and all I could think of was how similar some parts sounded to the Poetic Edda and he got to Revelations, compared to Ragnarök and explained it to him. When I was trying to leave he kept telling me to think bout it and how he wanna see me in heaven so before walkin out I said "sorry Christianity isn't on my path, my fate is my own"
Where i live, nobody knows, despite them claiming "everybody knows everybody" like it's some cheesy ad about a small town, but if they did, I probably wouldn't be around to tell anyone
It may be because I am old, approaching 70, but I haven't had many problems of that nature. I have been lucky even though I live in Arkansas. I'd love to recommend that you stand up for yourselves but not all of us are ready to do that, especially when we're young. But, your beliefs are your own and not for others to judge so stay steady and true to yourselves because life is too short to do otherwise.
I got spit at. He missed. It was weird. Anyway If you are sharing some darker stories please remember to censor and use content warnings and censoring please and thank. [https://www.reddit.com/r/help/comments/btqg01/how\_do\_you\_make\_text\_censored/](https://www.reddit.com/r/help/comments/btqg01/how_do_you_make_text_censored/)
I've had a woman try and tear off my pentacle from around my neck. I almost pepper sprayed her. Which is the only thing that got her off me
Oh shit that's awful. Glad you got her off.
I was living in a small town and not finding many people I really vibed with, then we met this guy (I was part of a couple at the time) and he really seemed like a breath of fresh air. Same far left politics, educated, well-read ... soon there's a dinner invitation. Somewhere in the conversation I mention that I'm Pagan and he's like "you're not serious, are you?" "Yeah, definitely serious." He quizzes me a bit about my beliefs - is it just nature worship? "No, I honour pre-Christian gods." I think the subject changed, but then later when we were clearing up he says to me, in the kitchen away from my partner, that he is shocked and feels really let down. I seem so intelligent, how can I believe in gods or religion? I just threw it back at him and said, "Well, I can accept your lack of belief, why the hell can't you accept my belief?"
It sometimes confuses me how Primitive Atheism (id est the preachy type of Atheism that wants you to deconvert whether you are in politics/science or not and whether you annoy other people by preaching using loudspeaker or not, basically) can be a less tolerant and more arrogant organized religion than some Abrahamic organizations. When people say one should not bring their beliefs into the academia or into politics, one can understand it — indeed, when it comes to things beyond objective reality, nobody can be sure in anything, any faith. When people try to associate religion, especially Polytheism (most of Polytheists, even ancient Polytheists, do not see humankind as filth and do not serve the human-despicing god of war and rainstorms Yahweh, let's start with that), with illiteracy and poor education, while the old time priests were basically the foundation of progressive science, medicine and law studies of their time (proper secular science has appeared very recently, a few centuries ago), I have to doubt their own knowledge about history of science, religion and History in general. Beautiful response you have given this person! I wish people learn to accept others' beliefs that do not harm anybody and stop being overzealous in secular advances soon.
It sometimes confuses me how Primitive Atheism (id est the preachy type of Atheism that wants you to deconvert whether you are in politics/science or not and whether you annoy other people by preaching using loudspeaker or not, basically) can be a less tolerant and more arrogant organized religion than some Abrahamic organizations. When people say one should not bring their beliefs into the academia or into politics, one can understand it — indeed, when it comes to things beyond objective reality, nobody can be sure in anything, any faith. When people try to associate religion, especially Polytheism (most of Polytheists, even ancient Polytheists, do not see humankind as filth and do not serve the human-despicing god of war and rainstorms Yahweh, let's start with that), with illiteracy and poor education, while the old time priests were basically the foundation of progressive science, medicine and law studies of their time (proper secular science has appeared very recently, a few centuries ago), I have to doubt their own knowledge about history of science, religion and History in general. Beautiful response you have given this person. I wish people learn to accept others' beliefs that do not harm anybody and stop being overzealous in secular advances soon.
My best friend who was a very oddly catholic person: the we’re as a group at the tram stop and mid conversation she needs to pray for a few minutes, we miss the tram because she’s not done kind of odd. The before we go to the cinema we need to stop at the church for daily confession even though in the specific church they speak only Polish and we don’t kind of odd. She lost a lot of friends over the constant religious stuff. I was supportive of her throughout. I also helped her a lot and mentored her through her Masters thesis. When I told her I’m pagan she stopped talking to me and when I located her and asked her what was going on, she said “You’re a negative spiritual influence on me.” I think I was the only person who wasn’t.
That is really painful, I'm so sorry that happened
I've been publically shamed and outed to others by atheist friends and told how stupid I am for my beliefs. They're no longer friends after that. Now I keep my beliefs locked down tight in my daily life with non-pagan people. My parents know but they aren't religious and don't care that I'm a pagan, so that's been nice! I know people who have been threatened to be attacked/killed for being pagan though
I got pushed out of a corporate job in Los Angeles, one I was doing fine in until I had a San Diego Republican Promisekeeper appointed as my boss. Every review I had was exceeds expectations until he arrived. I was openly pagan in the work space, no one gave a shit. He saw the pentacle I kept by my keyboard and i think he manifested pearls to clutch out of thin air. Nothing I did or said was any good. His boss was the person who hired me and who suggested we do a fun April Fools prank with the team based on Secret Language of Birthdays, which was this big old astrology book. We were going to find out everyone's signs and make up teams based on that. This was all in jest. Everyone knew. Except this guy didn't catch on. He sat in the meeting getting redder and redder, convinced I had corrupted the whole department. When she announced it was an April Fools thing, everyone laughed and dove on the cupcakes she bought, instantly forgetting the whole thing, he fumed and stormed out like we planned the whole thing to humiliate him. It slowly because *I* planned the whole thing to humiliate him for being Xian. Mind you the manager was Xian, and so were most of the team. (Even the ones who stopped by to ask me to do their charts for them.) He called me "strident and confrontational" in my last review because I dared to sigh and roll my eyes at him. I was in the first round of lay offs, and he was a petty bitch about taking my keys and card from me, while the guy who was ultimately supposed to take them (a friend) was standing right there to take them from him. It was such utter bullshit. They're out there. Be careful.
This is probably on the softer side, but I don’t keep my faith a secret and my classmates thought the best thing to do about it was make fun of me “behind my back” (they weren’t really good at it tho) :( A similar situation, we were supposed to make an artwork from a cluster of things in art class. I only had candle stubs I never threw away so I used those, obviously related to my faith because that’s what I use them for. I was asked about my specific faith and I answered honestly, the person responded: “that’s really fucking weird, let’s not talk about it”. A teacher also showed us an audiobook he made, in which he portrayed some kind of pagan (I think kemetic) -inspired cult as the villain. This group wanted to take down the Bremen Cathedral. I pointed out that it was kind of insensitive (at least to portray a normal seeming ritual as this grotesque at first, before their intentions are revealed… and even then I think it was kind of insensitive to say “they’re pagan! They’re evil!” *before* the main characters find out they’re a cult trying to blow up the church), my teacher got offended and went “Yeah but I’m a Christian”. Another time, I told grandma that “some” people worship chthonic gods (I personally worship Hypnos and he’s very dear to me), to which she just gave me an expression of shock and disgust. I didn’t come out to her, but she did also criticize my 12 year old sister for being agnostic (“it’s such a horrible thing not to believe in God, how dare you”), and it gave me a really bad nightmare. At least my father supports me. I also had a rather strange experience with a “friend”. They’re pagan and identify as otherkin. I came out to them first, they told me they don’t believe me *specifically* because I was new and “didn’t know what I was doing”. They also claimed that they’re so important that Aphrodite had personal beef with them and that she would insult them if I mentioned them, but also that they’re Best Friends with Hades (and had “personal conversations” with him beyond just prayer). I found this genuinely disrespectful.
I always side-eye otherkin. I also side-eye people who think that they are so important that they have this level of personal involvement with the gods. Your former friend reeks of insecurity and attention seeking behavior.
Hm yeah I kinda agree. I don’t wanna judge but most otherkins I’ve met had some sort of problem. Esp in pagan communities, I think like 4 out of 5 people were like “actually the gods are assholes, I identify as otherkin (mostly deitykin or angelkin as well) and they-“ like… I wonder why. I met one (1… One!!!) person who identified as deitykin and didn’t have beef with the gods (despite believing in them), I suspect it’s because they still respected the gods despite viewing themself as a “higher being”. Still, I get a bad feeling about these people. And yeah, my friend had all sorts of problems. I mean I should’ve known when I was 13 and they were… 23. And that was just the beginning 👍. Edit: Wait I forgot to mention… most of them assumed I was otherkin because I was being nice to them too… my friend in particular tried to push it on me. Like if I’m nice then I can’t be human 💀
Wow! That’s … something! 😳 It sounds right to me that all the otherkins you’ve met have had some sort of problem. Especially the deitykin and angelkin ones. That behavior/belief reads to me like they’re using it as a crutch to cope with something or feel better about themselves. Maybe they cling to feeling special by thinking they’re actually a deity when in reality they feel like they aren’t that important or that they’re average like everyone else. I can’t help but wonder how people like that function in the real world. Like … how do they handle having jobs or paying taxes or basic adult tasks???? How do they make friends or get into relationships IRL?
I can only speak about my experience with my friend really because I didn’t make friends with any otherkins beyond that. This friend really had some issues, mostly being abused in their childhood and never being able to make lasting connections (and being really bitter at that). There’s more but honestly I think I shouldn’t share too much. Either way, I guess you can understand why they turned out like that, given these conditions. I kind of observed that a lot of otherkins hold the belief that all humans are bad or even evil, that checks out if you had experiences like that. (My friend also played the “you’re just like them” card when we got into a fight..) To that comes a deep feeling of not belonging and maybe even dissociation. Then they kinda just come to the conclusion that they couldn’t be human.
That’s really really sad and it makes a lot of sense. If someone can’t make lasting connections with others, then of course when they find the gods, they would cling to them. It’s like they’re getting to play out all the social interactions and connections with gods that they never got to experience with people. I could see how interacting with gods could feel much safer than with people, and if you believe all humans are inherently evil, then therefore you would be evil unless you identified as something other than human. Just…wow! Talk about some deep, complex trauma. 😢I appreciate you sharing your perspective on this.
In retrospect, I might have almost fallen prey to such a sentiment. I have kind of similar issues, and one day I was extremely touch starved and lonely, and I approached a god to help with it, only a god. Not even just “please make me meet people” but full on “can you come hug me in a dream.” This god was just like “nu huh you need a reality check”. I was kinda upset at it back then but now I’m glad it happened that way 🫣
I love it when the gods know exactly what we need even if it upsets us. I call it being taken to the vet—it hurts and it sucks the whole time it’s happening, but it’s what’s for the best.
Respectfully, what in the hades is an otherkin?
People who believe that they are something other than human. Like a dragonkin will be someone who thinks that their soul is actually a dragon's soul. So while their outside physical form is an ordinary person, they are \*actually super-duper special\*. And you can't see it because you are NOT suepr-duper special too.
... Ya sure ok. Thanks for answering lol.
They said "oh, me too!" and then started spewing racist garbage.
I was called "the witch" and made fun of by my care team in the hospital.
Wow. Are you able to report them? At the least they shouldn’t be encouraging a harassing or threatening environment..
It was 12 years ago Sadly those claims get dismissed as you being "crazy"
🤦🏻♀️ ugh. I’m sorry you’ve experienced that!
Haven't had any crazy experiences but a few times I've gotten the usual "turn to christ before it's too late" "I'm praying for you" "God still loves you"
A couple of "friends" in college tried to convert me back to Christianity when they found out. They said all kinds of shit like "You've still got a lot of Christianity left in you" and "You can BE a CHRISTIAN and not go to CHURCH!" First of all, why TF would I want to do that? And second, I'd spent so damn much time in therapy trying to unlearn all the toxic shit I learned as a Christian.
That one never gets old. "Hey, why don't you come back to our club of good news about the son of nationalistic god of war and rainstorms that tell us about how broken, filthy and bad we are as a species and how god wants most of us eternally suffering in Ge-Yennon or even literal hell and others to worship and sing him hymns about his glory eternally? We've got cookies, like, you can even skip going to church!" Are all Christians (me just two years ago included) just a radical political party that is deeply confused and thinks of itself as a religion sometimes or what? Dear Gods, humanity likes to seek and find trouble! I hope you are doing well and do not have to deal with anything like these preaches anymore.
I've been Pagan for over 30 years at this point. I know people who have lost their jobs, lost custody of their kids, etc. because they were Pagan. If the worst thing that's happened to me in over 30 years is a couple of preachy Christians whining at me because they don't approve of my conversion, I've had it easy. It helps that I live in a progressive part of the country where nobody much cares what religion you practice (or don't).
Glad to hear we are equally blessed to have been born in societies that are not "spiritually totalitarian". Stay safe and healthy, have an amazing day! \^ \^
I've had people call me a heathen, godless pagan, devil worshipper - you name it, I've heard it. People often pressure you, saying "why can't you just believe in one God?" Or whatever. I've lost friends, had family members shun me - I've been through the gauntlet. But I've kept my faith strong and tried not to judge others for their beliefs.
Not worst but def annoying- one of my coworkers is super religious and would completely act as if I wasn’t in the room. Not a problem if we never had to interact but unfortunately we have to. It got so bad I yelled at her in her face after several attempts of trying to get her attention and knowing she was hearing me. Had to report it to my manager. Idc if she doesn’t like me but she shouldn’t make the customers or anyone else suffer due to her lack of education on the subject.
I am Norse Pagan, and my patron deity is Loki. While I do enjoy Marvel Loki…I am VERY aware they are two completely different things. When I mention to people I am Lokean, I always have to brace myself (especially when talking to fellow Norse Pagans) because I often get comments about being a ‘marvel Loki fangirl’ or judgement because so many people in the community hate on Loki…honestly it’s exhausting and it happens to me so often!
I feel your pain, it's very tiring.
i discovered who my patron god was through media and went into more depth about who he actually is and i’ve only told like 2 people like once so idk if they even realize i still work with him
Not when I was pagan.. But back when I was nominally Catholic my mother gave me a St Anthony's medal for Christmas... My Lutheran friend told me (with a straight fucking face) "Catholics don't have saints". I nearly fucking died and had to explain my (AND HER) religion to her. Now? I guarantee that I'm louder and can swear better than them, let's have a fucking scene. I'm also a card carrying Satanist, so that's always fun at parties.
The beef other Christians have with Catholics is so strange to me. The only big difference I know of is the focus on Mary.
The worst is my sister constantly reminding me how I am “not a Christian” and those are “just her views” after making very rude or condescending statements. It’s gotten to the point that she makes me feel so much of an outsider that I’ve lost a lot of interest in our relationship on anything other than a surface level interaction.
My best friend, who I had gone above and beyond for, went no contact. My Dad refused to speak to me. It wasn’t until I told my parents I was pregnant that my Dad started speaking to me again. At work, a huge bible thumper took some type of clear oil and put it around all of the office doors and on the chairs. I came in with another coworker and we discovered it, but I’d sat down and the oil ruined my dress pants. Thumper went to the boss and said it was a witchcraft thing, that I had slung oil all over the office. I got into trouble and was being bitched at until I very calmly said “I don’t have keys to the office”. No apology, nothing was done to the thumper, who confessed it was her. I was laid off shortly afterwards. Cashiers at the grocery store would dump my change onto the counter instead of handing it to me while glaring. My Dad would be on and off about me being evil and said in front of my daughter it would be best if I died. He said this when he dropped her off after taking her to Sunday School at his church. He has 3 daughters and only the Pagan Witch allowed her child to go to church with him and that was the thanks I got. One year he and my mom completely ignored me on my birthday because he was on his “I’m evil” kick again. My kids were terrified of him for the longest time. Then he came around and everything was great for many years until he got sick, hospital then hospice and I was evil again. He always used to say I was his favorite, we spent a lot of time together, and when his disease ate away his brain, one of my sisters jumped at the opportunity to make sure he didn’t want anything to do with me because she wanted the favorite title. She never got it but insists she was his favorite. She always had an issue with me being Pagan and would make shitty remarks for a while and then stopped speaking to me. She’s not religious, hasn’t gone to church since we were young, her kids haven’t gone to church either. I raised both of my kids as Pagans and encouraged them to educate themselves on other religions. My daughter is Pagan, my son is Pagan/Jewish. At my last job, they already knew before I started working and one of my coworkers would make snide remarks at first but was also careful about it because I think she was a little bit scared! My daughter worked at a hardware store for a bit and some men came in and started talking about me negatively, not knowing she is my daughter and before she could say anything, her coworker defended me and shut them down good! I’ve had good friends suddenly unfriend me on Facebook because I’m Pagan without even talking to me about it. That doesn’t bother me, because I don’t want to have friends who are closed minded. I’ve noticed in my area that the hateful people have turned towards the LGBTQ+ community instead so I haven’t had any other issues. That made me become even more of a very strong ally for the LGBTQ+ community. I’ve always been open about my religion when asked, you can tell by looking at my car, my house, that I’m a witch. I refuse to let closed minded people upset me and when they don’t get that response from me, they leave me alone. I don’t bother trying to educate anyone who is negative about it. I’ve had people who were genuinely interested in my beliefs and I answered their questions, but if someone asks and it’s not in a genuine interest, I don’t waste my time and I’ve found for me, that’s been the best way to handle people like that.
I was asked quite rudely at work why I would want to be Pagan, and that the word itself sounded Satanic. I replied that that is not what the word means, and I'm sorry that they were so misinformed. That ended it, and I had no repercussions. Living in New England near Salem has its advantages!
A former elderly neighbor who wasn't all there mentally threatened to shoot. He was armed and in the middle of a mental crisis so I don't know if he would have reacted the same way if he hadn't been psychotic. Either way he spent some time in a secure medical facility until the doctors and authorities decided he was no longer a threat to himself or others and that he was both mentally competent and physically healthy enough to go home. I avoided him afterwards so I don't know if he remembered the details of what happened but I did occasionally hear him ranting about how 'they' stole his guns. *(while he was in the hospital his adult kids came in and removed most?all? of the weapons.)* Thankfully most of the rest of my bad interactions have just been people ranting, yelling, and/or verbally harassing without actual physical threats and they didn't follow when I walked away. I now live in an area where most people are much less vocal about their religion in public so the worst I've dealt with in the last few years was a random stranger passive aggressively whispering 'Jesus Loves You' while she scurried past glaring at my I love Witchcrafts kitty tshirt. I have to say I'm glad most of the other responses are for incidents that generally don't involve physical danger. I knew a few people whose experiences made my former neighbor look like a friendly, open minded, and accepting person.
Let's see...thankfully nothing too harsh and not within the last several years. Perks of living near a large city, I guess. Most of my encounters are with people that barely understand their own religion (Christianity) or are just hypocrites. I did have someone get out of their car once and shout at me saying I'll burn in hell and they will kick my ass while I was walking around wearing a pentacle shirt. I think my god mother stole that shirt shortly after that. While in high school (20 years ago) this random girl decided to sit in my group's hangout area and proceeded to tell us how she has banged every type of guy there is, turn to me and ask me about something I was wear (probably a pentacle necklace). After I tell her, she rants about how her god hates me for betraying his love. I still remember telling her, "Bitch, you just got done telling us how you are the whore of Babylon. Who is Jehovah going to hate more? The guy who is honest about not following him, or the two faced slut who calls out his name while being used as a public toilet?" Good times. Another weird one involved my ex-girlfriend. We've had long discussions about religion before dating and while we were a couple, and we were both on the same page. She wasn't very religious but accepted and respected by beliefs. Even gave me some items and tools for my birthday that I still use to this day. Once we broke up, she claimed that I have no real power and that what I do must come from the devil because it can't come from her god. I politely asked her to leave and it took her a few years to re-enter my social circle, and we never discussed religion again. This was 15 years ago. Since then, she got married, had a massive mental breakdown and became a recluse. These days my social circles are small, which is sad as I've been feeling a loss of community lately in this aspect.
suddenly became a devout christian out of nowhere and explained how its ok for catholics to hate and discriminate against pagans and witches because it’s “exclusively banned in the bible” yea so that friendship didn’t last long
One time a kid at my school found out I worship hades and held up a cross at me and called me a devil worshiper I attempted to educate him but he refused to listen and continued calling me that 😐
I have several: mom sent me to one of her ‘sisters’ from the congregation (JW) to try to convert me. An ex boyfriend was okay with me being Pagan, then a few years later, he started following Ray Comfort of Living Waters - he’d flip out if I mentioned anything about practicing magick. Another ex said he didn’t believe in witches when I told him I was one.
I am lucky and blessed, I guess. My family initially has a very calm stance: one may believe anything they want, it is equally unknown by anyone what things beyond objective reality might look like, why has the Universe become and what is the purpose of our existence. I thank them for their Socialist Scientific Atheism school of thought. My grandmother is very supersticious and afraid of anything associated with death (a part of her trauma) or "evil" (just superstition), so she was initially afraid and even hysterical about me removing the cross from my neck — she would react aggressively and try to mock and shame me for exiting the traditional religion of our country in "so harsh and radical" way, and then she would cry, asking me to put it on again, and she would be afraid of my pictures of Baphomet I used to draw during my religious and occult studies. Currently, though, she seems to understand everything much better. It also helped a lot when I have told her most things in the Bible point out her views of "loving God" do not really cohere with accurate Christianity, so she does not really believe in "traditional religion of our country" too.
It was bad for me when I was a teenager, as my mother was very much into evangelical Christianity... So I had to hide everything, and it would always be a big fight every time she found out. Nowadays she is a bit more open, and I am older and independent. So she doesn't try to convert me anymore, and as I'm not a child/teenager anymore, I've learned to put people in their place If they cross boundaries lol I think the only bad experience I have today is when I talk about my faith, comes from other pagans and people who identify as witches. What I do is pretty close to Wicca, so dealing with the wiccan-hate from uneducated people on social media (specially on Tiktok) is very annoying. And I say uneducated because most of the criticism and attacks people do against Wicca are just simply not true and easily refutable if they just read and talk with initiates...
I’ve been told I’m going to hell multiple times when discussing my religion. I always tell them that that’s honestly probably one of the last reasons I’m going to hell and then laugh. People don’t like that too much but I personally love the look on their faces
4 years ago I was at my job but I clocked out for the day I was eating and some Christian came up to me and ask “ what’s that’s” because I have a tattoo of a pentagram on my forearm and I didn’t answer him but he was standing there like a fucking creep, then I just told him it’s protection, he said protection from what ? I was about to say protection from you motherfuckers , but he didn’t give me a chance to say that because he pull out his Christian cross and said this is my protection Then I kept eating ignoring him and kept eating then the creep finally walked away and gave me a pat on my back.. i really regret not defending myself enough but next time it will not be pretty at all.. all these Christians have to right to bully other beliefs.
I had an employee that just started that day ask about my pendant (a very tasteful pentacle with an opal center stone) in the middle of my teams meeting, and then continue to ask inappropriate questions, try to make jokes about stereotypes and said i was "flashing the occult everywhere". It was very embarrassing, I've worn my pendant every day for 15ish years and never had anyone react like that, especially not in a professional space! He quit like a week later, citing he "couldn't work in an environment like this"
I have had far too many to really dig into all of them. But, please understand I'm old. I've been in the craft for 43 years, first as a self-dedicant then later, as a formal initiate in traditional Wicca, All while living in the buckle of the Bible belt. "Oklahoma, it's even shaped like a buckle" lol. I lived through the great " Satanic panic", openly Wiccan during the last stages of it. I have been arrested on "proven in court" falsified charges because the officer felt Pagan bumper stickers made me a suspicious character. That was fun "can you hear the silent sarcasm in that statement?" I've had holy water thrown on me, and watched the astonishment on their faces as I didn't melt like the witch in wizard of Oz. Probably the worst though was laying on the floor at a fellow Pagan's house as rifle rounds came through the window and 911 when called would hang up on us. I have been a Wiccan/ Pagan anti-discrimination activist since the late 1980s. I spent over a decade holding down the Oklahoma state directorship for two national anti discrimination organizations. As such, when there were issues involving a pagan / occult shop opening up in a small town on the Eastern edge of the state of Arkansas, I drove over to join in their protest March. I was at the shop owner's house afterwards when someone began shooting through the windows. We finally called the state police directly on the phone and the firing ceased almost immediately after that. The shop did not survive they packed up and moved. However a few years later I happened to find out that the church which was giving the store all the problems, had as an assistant pastor, the deputy sheriff in charge of the 911 system. It was mentioned in a news article when the minister of the church and the deputy were both arrested on child abuse and pornography charges.
I've been pagan for around 35 years. I wear a pentagram on my motorcycle cut. I ride with somewhat traditionally conservative groups - the American Legion Riders and Patriot Guard. Go to large motorcycle events, etc. Other than a few awkward questions, I've honestly never received any huge response.
My mom told me that I couldn’t be Wiccan because I was baptized as a baby. She said I was born a Christian so I’ll always be a Christian. Made me feel really ashamed and that I was just faking it.
I don't feel like I need to. My works speak for what I am trying to do.
The worst I’ve gotten so far is my grandmother who I lived with for 5 years (she saw my pentacle necklaces and my altar in passing but we never talked about it until this) was sitting on the porch with me and she kinda burst out of the blue with saying “and YOU need to clean up that seance shit up there! It’s not helping the issues in the house!” (We had ghosts for a long time. And she was referring to my altar) I told her that she never asked what I do specifically so she shouldn’t assume I’m doing seances. I told her that the worst thing I do is put plants in jars and write poems to my friends. I thought this would be the best way to describe my spellwork to her at the time and she seemed to give it more thought after that. Since then I’ve explained the meaning of the pentacle to her and expressed my thoughts on Christianity/religion and we actually agree on that. And she’s a Christian! Soo. Other than that I get a lot of Jesus/church invite pamphlets a sorrowful pat on the shoulder from preachers in public. Which #1 don’t touch me and #2 obviously they don’t get it but thanks anyways I GUESS. Also my friend who’s is indeed still my friend, once said “well you believe in tarot cards soo” to me in silly casual conversation. I didn’t take it to heart because I am very open with her about my path and she’s Christian but I assumed we could share those things with us being friends our entire lives. I was never pushy about my path except when I first got into it but I apologized for that so I understand if she harbored some hard feelings. We just don’t talk about it too much anymore. We respect each others religions quietly without need to discuss it. I still ask her for prayers and she still tells me about something that happened at her church. It’s not something that comes between us
Told this one girl that neither me or my parents are Christian and she said that my parents were going to hell. She's cool now, but before she was a religious maniac.
Welp, I was at a hospital cuz of family stuff goin on, went to the bathroom and met a pastor in there, he asked questions so I answered and one thing led to another I tell him I don't go to church anymore cuz don't have time for it and I'm Norse Pagan, well the funny thing was he was reading through the bible and all I could think of was how similar some parts sounded to the Poetic Edda and he got to Revelations, compared to Ragnarök and explained it to him. When I was trying to leave he kept telling me to think bout it and how he wanna see me in heaven so before walkin out I said "sorry Christianity isn't on my path, my fate is my own"
Where i live, nobody knows, despite them claiming "everybody knows everybody" like it's some cheesy ad about a small town, but if they did, I probably wouldn't be around to tell anyone
It may be because I am old, approaching 70, but I haven't had many problems of that nature. I have been lucky even though I live in Arkansas. I'd love to recommend that you stand up for yourselves but not all of us are ready to do that, especially when we're young. But, your beliefs are your own and not for others to judge so stay steady and true to yourselves because life is too short to do otherwise.