Somehow your friends and family have discovered you are now on the Pagan path. Maybe your mom searched through your dresser for marijuana and instead found marjoram, lavender, dragon's blood resin and a book on herbalism with a pentacle smack dab on the cover. Take a moment to scream.
Take a deep breath. Now you are faced with two different paths. Honesty or damage control. Not being honest may harm your relationship, but if you aren't ready to discuss something with another person they should not have the right to force you into it. Simply stating that you aren't ready to talk about it but that you will be soon may suffice, but don't be surprised if your conservative Christian parents have the priest over for dinner every week or your roommates stop talking when you walk into the room. Part of dealing with outing is how you handle yourself and believe it, it speaks volumes.
I was outed as Gay and I had two choices. Deny it even though everyone already knew and was accepting, or tell the truth and work on improving myself. I know practicing Wicca and being Gay aren't the same thing, but there are some correlations. The important thing to note is that you are who you are whether people know it or not. Start making a plan today on how you would deal with this should it happen to you.
1. Resources. You may not want to keep a lot of books around that people can find, but a list of online resources that you have emailed to yourself and saved in an email folder can become a great way to educate others when they shake their crosses at you and expect you to fly.
2. A lot of advancement in Paganism becoming more mainstream has led to a lot more people already knowing some things about it. Usually it may not be true or is muddled with misconceptions. Be willing to sit for a while and talk about truth rather than myth.
3. If you know of a local public Pagan group or Pagan Pride Day invite your curious friends to attend meetings or discussion groups with you. You don't want to try to force this way of life on them, but letting them have the option to learn about this path from people that actually practice it is invaluable.
4. Be patient. Sometimes the people that are willing to confront you about things are the ones that would have the most difficulty with it. Sometimes they will surprise you with their understanding.
5. Be yourself and if you can't be yourself, be who you want to be. I'm not saying to pretend that you are Cinderella because you want to be a princess! I mean to be the understanding and caring person you want to be even if you aren't normally. This is a time when people are going to judge you and how you react to being confronted. If you are defensive and combative it leads to the idea that you are hiding dangerous practices and could be in a cult.
6. Let you friends and family care for you, but do not be afraid to keep them from walking all over you. Ask them how they would feel if you told them that they had to be Catholic, Jewish, or Muslim. Do not let others dictate your life, ever.
7. Have faith. All things eventually work out, even after long periods of discomfort and sadness. Happiness is just around the corner if you are willing to let it in.
This concludes the series on the Broom Closet. Please comment to let me know what you thought of the series and if you have any of your own tips for those in the verge of revealing their spirituality to others.
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