broomcloset ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pagan Speak, June 2003 (Better late than never, right?) June 2003 Pagan Speak collab. ______
Topic #3 : The Broom Closet Revisited: What�s Your Current Occupancy Rate? (thanks to Wren's Nest) I figured this was the perfect topic for me this month as this diary is named "Stories from the Broom Closet." That's how all of this got started, after all! I'm definitely more out of the broom closet now then I was last year at this time. I told my brother just under a month ago that I'm Pagan. I've also told a few friends (waves to Jx and Aunt J!) that I'm Pagan, with happy results I must say. As I become more confident that I'm following the right spiritual path for me, I become more confident in identifying myself as Pagan. I feel that I'm able to better discuss my beliefs and open a dialogue with people I care about. It truly feels great to be able to talk about something so important in my life with people who are important to me. It's also very freeing! :D That being said, I'm still very closeted in the public sense. I don't tend to wear pentacle jewelry out in public (that often, unless I'm going to a Pagan function). I tend not to bring up the topic of religion with groups of friends or aquaintances, and when the topic does come up I don't identify myself as Pagan. I wouldn't feel comfortable telling co-workers that I'm Pagan (if I had co-workers ;). No matter what my beliefs happen to be, spirituality is something that is very personal for me and I tend not to bring it up. Now, if someone asked me point-blank, "Are you Pagan?" ... I think I'd say "Yes." That's something I don't think I would or could have done a year ago. As for protecting my identity on the Internet, that is something I do a bit. I have seperate handles or "identities" for my pagan and non-pagan surfing activities, though most of my Internet activity is pagan-related. :) I've never really tried to cover my tracks much though. I'm sure anyone who is skilled enough could connect the dots. The extent I've gone to to cover up what I do on line is to delete the history, cache and cookies from my parents' computer after I've visited pagan sites. That's about it. Oh, and I'd probably do that too if I visited a pagan site at work. (not that I'd be surfing on company time! ;) I'm not more or less worried about "witch hunts" for pagans then I have been in the past. As for using the term "witch hunt" when not relating to actual witches, I think that's a lot more likely. Take what happened after September 11th. People are still being held in American prisions without being charged with anything just because they're Middle Eastern. I'm MUCH more afraid of socio-political or religio-political witch hunts than purely religious witch hunts. Mind you, I suppose the original witch hunts weren't entirely religious in nature, were they? Hmmm, food for thought. I guess that sums it up for now. I'm pleased to be more out of the broom closet than I was before, but I do enjoy my privacy. Blessed Be!
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