measi's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- shuffling around the broom closet The past 24 hours have had an unusually strong amount of religious undertones for me. I'm wondering if the Goddess is kicking me in the ass because I was unable to do my ritual on Thursday for Midsummer like I'd hoped to do. Just about a half hour ago, the more recent event, and the Linda, Nancy, Kathy (two other co-workers) and I were having lunch down in the cafeteria. Somewhere along the way, we got into a discussion about Wicca. Oh wait... that's right... Nancy mentioned how her sisters came to visit, and one of them is Wiccan and makes ritual candles for a living, and how they have daily blessing rituals on the completed candles in the shop. And while amused, my first reaction was "I wonder how she manages to pull that off in a workplace with all of the fundamentalist uprisings in America these days." Apparently almost everyone who works there is Wiccan... or another Pagan faith... anyway, so it's not a big deal and most people participate (gotta love Pagan cottage industries). So as Nancy and I are talking about this, Linda is noticing how easy going the conversation is between us about the subject of blessing candles and other such things that Generally Aren't Normal Religious Conversations At The Dinner Table. Linda asked how I knew about this. And it finally came out... "Oh... well, it's because I'm Wiccan." "And this is what you consider your official religion?" (slight pause, out of "oh shit, I'm offending" fear) "Yes." Fortunately, nothing bad. If there was, Linda didn't say anything. But considering that she then made the joke that she's on a new upswing after quitting smoking and is now trying Yoga to destress, and also saw the History of the Goddess on PBS and loved it (and was thrilled that I had a copy on video), I'm not worried. But that stupid fear of the Broom Closet remains. It's that fear that keeps me from being completely open in my religion. I'm comfortable with it, but the more God-fearing Christians among us aren't. To them, I worship Satan and am bound for hellfire and damnation for all eternity. Do I believe in their condemnation? Absolutely not. But am I sensitve to the fact that I don't want to offend? Most definitely. This reaction... and my conscious awareness of it... has been more prevalent since dear ol' Dubya took office and has thrown religion down as one of the current sensitive topics of the day. He's gone on record stating that my religion doesn't exist. Thank you, George. Glad to know that I don't exist as one of the taxpayers of this country. There's a lot more of us, actually... go check out The Witches' Voice for other religious news. I'd like the freedom of religion without this damn fear over my head, too. Would be a wonderful dream to be able to take the day off for Beltane or Midsummer, have a quiet ritual on the beach celebrating the God and Goddess, and not be afraid of being "found" by some passersby. For now, I have to simply share with my closest friends, and hope that future bad tidings that may occur between us won't come back to haunt me. *starts sweeping some more of the frustration dust from the broom closet* --Mel. 1:18 p.m. - 25 June 2001 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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