My Background and the Beginning

Growing up, I was never a religious person; to this day I have been to church only a handful of times and most of those were when friends or family guilted me into going with them while I was visiting.  My mom grew up having to go to church every Sunday and I assume that once she got out on her own, she just stopped going.  I have memories of going to church a few times with my dad, but that was only because I wanted to spend time with him and asked if I could go.  For the majority of my life, I grew up in the Bible belt and it seemed like everyone around me was Christian, but I never really felt like I was missing anything by not being like them.  I never felt like not being religious made me a bad person or somehow less complete than the rest of them.  I’ve always tried to do the right thing; I’ve never stolen anything, I don’t lie to people, I’ve never cheated on anything...and all without being threatened every Sunday that I’ll go to hell if I do these things.

Three years ago, though, I was playing World of Warcraft and a character ran by with the name Willow.  I whispered him (at the time figuring he was a she) and said I liked their name and asked if they got it from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  He told me that, although he liked the show, he got it from his Wiccan name.  I just thought ‘oh’ and, after talking for a while, he joined my guild.  A few years ago I finally asked him about Wicca since I considered him a friend and I wanted to know more about his religion since I was unfamiliar with it.  Sure I’d heard of it since I did grow up with Buffy as my favorite show, but I knew nothing of what they believed and I knew it couldn’t be the stereotypical crap that people claim to make you afraid of it.

He seemed a bit hesitant to tell me, but he did and it intrigued me.  What he told me about it was actually what I had always thought and felt religion should be, but I never knew there was a name for it.  I asked him for recommendations on some books to read about it and the next time I got to a bookstore, I picked up Scott Cunningham’s Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner.  It sat around forever and I eventually got The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft out of the local library and read it first.  This was a year or two ago and, after reading the book, I thought that maybe this was actually for me, which brings me to today. 

I’m still in the process of reading books on the subject and I wouldn’t exactly say I’m Wiccan, but I’m heading there.  I guess I’ve been apprehensive about the whole thing and I don’t know if it’s because of where I live and having everyone’s Christian ideas thrown at me or if it’s just because I’ve never been committed to something like religion before.  Summer break is coming though and I’ll finally have time to read the massive amount of books that I have accumulated on the subject.

My best friend is already chronicling her journey so I thought I would do the same for anyone interested in reading my experiences.  But if you are just here to tell me I’m wrong and going to hell, don’t bother.  I don’t feed the trolls and I will only delete your comments so don’t tell me how to live my life and I won’t tell you how to live yours.  All other comments, suggestions, etc. are welcome.