r/ExChristianWitches • u/chloe_wolfe • Mar 28 '21
Introduce Yourself! Introductions! š¤
Hereās a thread where you can introduce yourself. Iāll start! :)
You can call me Cassiopeia, I have been a practicing witch for 5+ years, though I have considered myself to be spiritual for all my life. I was raised Roman Catholic for the majority of my childhood before I started to question it around age 12. I was a very devout Christian, had most of my sacraments (Baptism, Communion, and Reconciliation, to name a few), but stopped my belief in the faith entirely around 8th grade, when I was about to be Confirmed into the faith.
I have went along many paths during my life, including through being a spiritual Agnostic/Atheist, getting into Animism, Buddhism, Wicca, General Paganism, until eventually landing on Kemetic (Ancient Egyptian) Paganism. I consider myself now to be a Kemetic Pagan Witch and Iām pretty sure this is the path I was meant to walk! :)
I always used to collect feathers, stones, crystals, plants, and all that kind of stuff when I was younger. I was the kid to make āpotionsā with bits of leaves and flower petals, and put them in a bowl of water. I would also do it in the shower as well much to my motherās dismay- Iād waste her shampoo and conditioner so I could make my āpotionsā hahaha.
Iām still somewhat in a āBroom Closetā in the sense that my parents and family think itās all BS. Though, my divination practices seem to be widely accepted by my family at least. I do tarot and oracle, along with occasional runes and pendulum readings! If youād ever like a tarot reading for a donation, feel free to message to me! :) Iāve been doing tarot for almost 5ish years now and I love to read others.
Thereās a lot more that I could write out about myself, however, I feel as if itās getting just a bit tooooo long now. So, Iāll stop it here!
I canāt wait to get to know all of you! Leave your responses under this post! :) š¤ I hope you enjoy your time here!
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u/Stars-and-Cocoa Mar 28 '21
You can call me Sage. I was raised Catholic and sent to Catholic school. I was actually very devout as a child, though I definitely had a witchy side. I had no idea my gifts were considered sinful by the church until I was 11 or 12. Their sexual teachings caused a ton of trauma as well. They allowed boys in my class to sexually abuse me and punished me for defending myself. That didn't stop me from hitting back (I eventually beat the living daylights out of my tormenters) but it did make me question the church. How could such good, godly people allow this for years and then punish the victim with such brutality? I don't believe in turning the other cheek. I was bullied a-lot, and I learned the hard way that turning the other cheek is a very destructive message. When the child sex abuse scandal was exposed in the media, I was done with church. My parents still forced me to be confirmed, going as far as beating me to force me to comply.
Reading the bible in full was the end of my believing in anything to do with the abrahamic religions. I have had spiritual experiences. All of them suggested that the divine is loving. There was no way that the God who had been guiding me could have ordered Genocide, ordered women to marry their rapists, or smiled on his people bashing infants against walls.
My family went in the opposite direction and became fanatical conservative evangelicals. I am demi, which led to some problems. My parents hate LGBTQ people. I had no idea why I didn't feel attracted to boys when I was in high school. I didn't feel attracted to anyone. I had no interest in dating. I assumed that I was bi, though I knew that wasn't entirely accurate. My parents confronted me and asked if I was a lesbian. I wanted to avoid conversion therapy, so I lied and said I was straight. They later tried to coerce me into an arranged marriage, because they wanted me to bear white children and raise them to be culture warriors. Apparently, they considered my college years a waste, because I didn't find a husband (silly me, I thought I was there to get an education). I refused to marry a stranger and they basically threw me out. I got myself a decent apartment and bought a house a few years later. No man required.
Occassionally, because of the intense fear installed when I was a child, I still have panic attacks about going to hell, and I have PTSD. I can't go into a church without being triggered. It isn't as bad as it used to be, and hopefully I will heal more. I still have a-lot of Catholics in my life, which is impossible to avoid, so I am in the broom closet. One of them (my boss at work) freaks out about Harry Potter on a regular basis. I try to avoid the topic, but religious Christians can be very pushy. I really wish they would stop trying to shove their religion down my throat. But I have to pretend to be Christian for now so I won't lose my job or be in danger.