Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lately I've been thinking a lot about my teenage years especially since I've seen more issues with bullying on the news lately. That wasn't a problem for me or my friends but it is a huge problem for many kids and the pressure to fit in (in the US at least) seems to be a lot larger and it seems to have a much greater impact on the youth then academic pressure.

I don't remember if this was discussed here already but I was wondering what your experiences as someone who may fit under the Pagan title have been or are in school. Is it harder to fit in, do people even really notice or care? I'm assuming in the bible belt areas it could pose quite a problem but it's not something I'm too familiar with since I'm a Christian and I went to a very liberal high school.

I was a teen Pagan. It was never an issue because I didn't go around saying "OMG I IS A TEEN PAGAN LOL!". I never brought it up unless someone asked me. I was practising a year before my Pagan friends even found out because while we'd discussed Paganism, I'd never out and out said "I'm one as well btw" and they'd never asked.

I'm a teen Pagan but I dont go and say it to everyone I meet. I've only said I'm pagan a few times actually, once when someone asked why a Pagan friend of mine was absent on Beltaine i believe it was and I explained why and they asked how i knew and I said i knew because he was Pagan and I was Pagan. I said it to my Pagan bud when he asked me if I would consider myself Pagan and I was like Yea I guess I am a Pagan. But yea no one really cares at my school though I do see bullying a lot but its not bullying because everyone is joking around, its friends bullying friends but laughing with them as they do it. I mean ill admit i was bullied last year because i was new in a class and everyone basically hated me because of that or some stupid a** reason. But I mean honestly I don't just go up to everyone and say "I'm a Pagan and your religion is?" I do ask what religion people are when I'm uncertain and when it's my friend. But yea lol i just noticed i started sentences with the word but wow I fail at grammar lol. Yea all is cool and I mean I kinda do some Pagan stuff but it's wicked hard since my town is almost all Christians and no one my friends who seem to be interested in Magick or Magic whichever u prefer to write never invite me to stuff they do because I aint Christian and it does piss me off but its only cause they pray to stay safe while I would do something other than Pray to be kept safe.

That makes sense, I only knew the religious beliefs of my really really close friends.

I'm assuming you mean Neo-Pagan since Pagan kinda hits everything right? Also are you an eclectic or of a particular tradition?

Are you a Gael?

Freaking evangelist. That's not appropriate in this thread. Do you do this door to door too, or can I get the sermon on my TV?

During the latter half of my high school years (after I moved), I was still attending the Catholic Mass for appearances and family - in a Suth'rn Baptist town that largely considered *that* Pagan. It was the first time I remember hearing that "Cult of the Saints" annoyance. The Pagan Community was really growing right under their nose for it - the fundamentalists don't seem to know where to look, when it's right in front of them.

I didn't know what I really was. I found a couple of the Pagans, sorta tried to fit in there, but their version of Wicca just didn't fit.

How did that affect me in high school? The Catholic folks were feeling the social pressure. They Stuck together over it so firmly it felt like a cult around me. A handful of those folks in my classes, and the *really* awkward kids were what I had the opportunity to call friends. It was rarely outright bullying for these things, just "you're not part of our tribe/church/blahblahblah... and that usually went unstated.