I have been pagan for about eight years now, having come out of the broom closet when I was 13 not knowing anything more than A) I am not Christian and B) I really love nature. These past eight years have been quite the road trip, one that almost every pagan has had to deal with at least once in their lives, so buckle down readers, it’s time to go on a little adventure.

First of all, to explain paganism is a very broad and vast religion that describes that someone worships nature, while generally worship multiple gods or pantheism (which is the belief that God is in everything or in everyone). Generally speaking, pantheists don’t believe in a direct personal God. So with this definition we are including Wiccans, Druids, Nordic Pagans, and so on on and so forth. There are many many different types of paganism.

Now with this idea squared away it is time to begin. When I was 13, I was going through a bit of a crisis. A Christ-is if we want to call it. I just finally moved on from Sunday School to the big boy Church, and well… I didn’t like it very much. I was feeling very bored and getting upset at constantly being told to pray for forgiveness. There was a sense of spiritual void inside me, but I sat with family because it was a bonding experience that we could have together, but even they slowly got sick of going to church. Church eventually became too much for my bust family, so they stuck with personal prayers and believing instead of going every Sunday. This idea really gave me the chance to think about other religions and my own at the time. Mostly, because I didn’t feel the church’s eye on me. I spent hours and days, months even, pouring research into other religions. I studied my own, and upon this studying I realized that I only believed in Christianity because my parents did. They never raised me to be a specific religion per say, but when you’re family believes in it, you end up believing in it first too. So upon my discovery, I immediately told my parents that I had doubts in my faith and was looking into paganism. My parents, being their wonderful selves, welcomed the idea and said that it’s up to me to decide and they will support me and love me no matter what I believe in. Thus, I didn’t have to really “stay” in a broom closet. Because there are some parents and family out there that would make your lives miserable if you even dared mention the word pagan in a positive light.

Think of this as the precursor, the background knowledge, the foreground of this adventure because here is where it becomes relatable to all pagans.

Years later, I am 21, and now out and about to everyone I know. I actively practice paganism, and have an altar for college and home. I pray every night. I practice the eight important holidays. I am becoming dedicated, and well…scrutinized.

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me if I was a devil worshiper, or a Satanist, I’d be able to pay off school loans. While Satanism is a decent religion and all (it gets a bad rap. After all, they do have an important rule for consent!), we pagans typically don’t believe in the idea of heaven or hell, so that kinda negates the idea of worshiping Satan, but people continue to believe it anyway especially when you wear your pentacles out and about in public.

Also if I could get a dollar every time if someone asked me if I sacrificed a virgin, well at this point I’m making some serious bank. Even in a college setting, in a class about religion, I mention mine exists and is still practiced to this day, and well, you get the same ole Satan and virgin-killing questions.

But this is due to the stigma in Abrahamic religions to be pagan, and this is due to the old ways back when science couldn’t explain weather patterns and seasons.

Here’s probably some cult out there that still believes in that stuff, but trust me, no normal pagan is sacrificing virgins or goats.

Next, in my lovely eight years of adventure, is the lovely people who tell me that the various holy books of Abrahamic religions say it’s okay to stone me or to kill me. While, generally, not a funny joke, because that’s threatening and downright rude to say when I’m talking to you about my religion in a matter-of-factual way, it’s also kind of illegal to kill people now, so thanks for telling me this useless factoid.

Being pagan is being told lots of either useless factoids, “lol I can stone you” to downright rude opinions, “You’re a devil worshiping sinner. Burn in hell!”

But there is a joy to it, and it is knowing that anywhere I go, there is nature around me, and thus a place I can worship and accept me. I have made many friends along the way, and we have found ourselves in many ways by exploring our pagan paths. Each path is special and different for it is individual. A main component of this religion is solitary and individual belief and practice, and that’s, to me the best adventure of them all.

But there are still those times when I wish people would understand. Lighting incense and sage can only go so far, when your parents start to assume all you do is pot because, for some reason, sage smells eerily similar to pot to other people? Or the ever so hauntingly beautiful altars that make your roommate concerned you’re summoning spirits into your dorm. (Don’t worry, I don’t like invoking things.) People wondering why you have bought so many crystals, and the one is recent development, “Why is going vegan a religious idea of your paganism?” The answer, my dear, readers is simply that it is what it is, and it’s something I believe in.

I know for now, there’s an air of mystique to the pagan religion, and there’s plenty of media that perpetuates the idea of pagans and witches as evil, vindictive people who are only out to hurt others, so I know that my adventures will only keep coming as I become an adult and eventually have a family while pagan. It’s going to be an especially interesting adventure to see how my family celebrating Christmas, and I celebrating Yule will come about, for I have never had to deal with a mixed religion family who celebrates more than one religious holiday. But that’s a story for a different time.

Now remember, if someone asks you if you worship the Devil, you respond with “Hold on he’s a little busy at the moment, do you want to leave a message for Sir Satan??”

Blessed Be!