Out of the Broom Closet

I am interested in personal stories of how you have dealt with revealing your Wiccan beliefs to family members, co-workers and friends who may not understand......or coming out of the broom closet if you have been in other faith traditions.

Be Well

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I have given guidence to other members on the subject.
Understand that you pick this Wiccan belief, is up to you if you want to tell them.
I allways say, learn and study be knowlegeble in the craft then you can deal with family members co-workers and friends , because they will ask questions and you need to be ready with an answer

My family is catholic, and four years ago I choose to follow the wiccan path. I was worried that they wouldn't understand or let me practice my belief, but fortunately when I told them and really started getting into it they were accepting as long as I don't get myself into trouble. It all depends on the kind of person you are and the kind of people you surround yourself with.

well my mum is catholic and my dad is church of england so while i was writing a spell in to my book of shadows my dad walked in and saw it and he knew exactly what it was and just said is this the religon you pick and i said yes so he was alright with is but my mum is still a bit touchy


hope this helps

My family actually doesn't really care what religion or practices I do. So coming out of the broom closet was pretty easy for me. I'm blessed to have such accepting parents.

I like to live out in the open about who I am, what I believe, etc. Simply when people ask me something such as, "What do you believe?", I explain it to them. When the topic of beliefs came up with my parents, I was kind of thrilled, excited, and nervous about telling them. However, I mustered up the courage and let it come out.

They sometimes have their skeptical (and rather hilariously ignorant) moments, but I always let them know if they have said something wrong, or stepped out of line. We are a very odd family because we are very open with eachother. Time and time again I have found myself explaining to them the basis of why I practice (and sometimes 'What'), but it always ends up posotively.

Just the other day my father explained to me how he didn't want me doing spirit work in our backyard because he found that the trees were aligned in the space to create what he called a "Prayer space" (all the trees were aligned in a geometric pattern), and I explained to him that I do not do spirit work - at this point in my practice. I took this as a sign that he knows about and accepts my practices (considering he is pretty catholic/christian in beliefs) and my beliefs.

In short, it often takes time for many parents to accept their childs beliefs if they are different from their own. Just hang in there, be prepared for the questions - no matter how rude or crude - and try and handle it as maturely as possible.

My advice for peopl in the broom closet: Get out of it, it will be so much easier in time.

when it comes to friends and co workers, i told my really close friends, then it spread out so all my friends know, though i didn't tell them. co-workers, only my last job knew, but then the manager quit and the new guy make the other co-workers quit, so everyone i told left. if someone comes over and asks, then i'll tell them [provided they aren't holding a torch or pitchfork lol] otherwise, i don't see why i should tell people. my sister doesn't go around proclaiming she's Anglican, she wears a cross, other than that, you wouldn't tell. i'm the same, i wear a pentagram and that's it.

parents, i told my mom right away, she thought it was a phase [i think she still does after all these years lol] but she was fine with it as long as, in her words 'there are no virgin sacrifices in the back yard' lol. my dad, my sister told him, he was pissed at me for the night, but he acts like nothing ever happened. but he doesn't talk to me much anyway so no problem there. my mom told my grandparents [her parents] and they've never done or said anything. mom explained what i believe, and they agreed it sounds just right for me. on my dads side [all Irish Catholics] i only told my cousin who i knew would understand. she's been fine with it, fascinated even. now she's in the Salvation Army, we have long philosophical and religious discussions, but we normally have conversations like that, there's just more religion talk than normal.

Well I come from catholic family. I told them about Wicca and of course that didnt go well. Mom says Im the devils child and Dad just thinks its a phase Im going through. I have to practice in secerecy one because they think witchcraft is evil and two because Im not allowed to burn candles or insence.

So basically I cant wait to move out so I can be myself. I was told to hide this from the rest of my family and I hate it.

I made my dad read the wiccan rede and he smiled and said at least you have faith in something and my mom knew from the start she started practicing the craft again my brothers just think im weird

Thanks for sharing. I hope you can find some acceptance from your family..perhaps the more they see the good that Wicca does for you, the more accepting they'll be. But people will probably have to rethink a lot of myths and misinformation to accept your path.

Be Well.