It has been a while since I posted, huh? I say that every time, I know. Crazy. I’ve been pretty busy lately - I was sick last week as you know, but also some pretty exciting things have happened.

On Thursday or Friday last week I made contact with Serenity regarding her podcast, because I’d just restarted my own podcast at GeekWitch. We got talking and she let me know about open positions at the Tradition she founded, called The Path of the Wise Ones. It’s a non-profit, non-dogmatic, innovative and progressive pagan tradition that seeks to unite people of all spiritual paths in a unique new collective. Serenity offered me a voluntary position as Director of PR - I was a little hesitant but figured “What do I have to lose?” and so I accepted. Eventually it could turn into a full-time, paid position, which is really awesome, but even if it doesn’t, I’m still certain that this is what I want to be doing, because I really do enjoy it.

So essentially it’s been PR for PotWO and full-time work at my actual job; I’ve also got schoolwork due which is a pain in the ass but I hope to get that all done this weekend so that I don’t have to worry about it.

On Monday night I also had the pleasure of attending a concert by Wendy Rule at the 45Downstairs in Melbourne with my sister. Wendy’s performance was awesome, and she was the most lovely person ever! She made time for everyone who waited after the show to meet her, and signed CDs, and even had a photo with me - see here.

If you’re in the Phoenix (AZ) or surrounding areas, you might want to check Wendy out at the Chez Nous Cocktail Lounge on the 21st May 2008 - it’s at 915 Grand Ave in Phoenix - for more deets, go here and view it at original size.

I want to say Happy Mothers’ Day to all the mums out there - I unfortunately won’t get to see my mum on Sunday, but I will see her at the end of the month when my little brother has his 18th birthday.

So that’s about it - nothing really much else to talk about. Anything you want me to comment on or that kind of thing, let me know.

So I’ve been thinking for some time that it’s about time that I came out. No, not as gay. Out of the broom closet. Yes, time to tell my family that I’m Wiccan. I’ve thought about it for so long, and on top of that why I can’t just say it to them. I mean, I’ve said it to my friends, my fiance, my in-laws - why not mum and dad? I guess it’s that fear of rejection - what happens if they don’t like what I’m saying? What happens if they turn against me, or disown me? I’ve thought about writing it down and giving it to mum in a letter, but it’s difficult because I don’t know if she’ll think I’m trying to avoid confrontation, or if she’ll genuinely understand that I express myself better through writing than orally - I can get my words out, re-write if it doesn’t make sense, and it not only gives me a chance to re-read it, but for her to as well; if there’s anything that’s not making sense, she can re-read until it does, rather than hearing it once. But on the other hand, it gives leeway for the uncomfortable questions, because Goddess knows we can sure say a lot more and answer a lot more face-to-face than through writing without writing a 40-page essay, and even then you don’t know if you’ve covered everything that’s going to be on the other person’s mind.

I’ve attempted to write a letter; it has some FAQs in it, for her information, but I don’t know if it sounds too much like an essay than a heartfelt letter. I’ve tried to say that all she’s ever wanted for me is for me to be happy, and this makes me happy. The fact I’ve found a religion where I feel ‘at home’ with is astonishing in itself, because if I’ve done nothing in my life, it’s not fitting in anywhere, until the last few years. I feel an accepted part of the wider Pagan community; I feel I know enough (not everything, but enough) to hold up a debate with people on the subject, and I feel one of my reasons for being alive is to spread the word about how wonderful and misunderstood my religion is. It’s slowly becoming a more understood thing - people are asking more questions rather than being presumptuous. In my experience, people have either been more inquisitive about Wicca, or they’ve never heard of it - I’ve never been on the receiving end of anything nasty (thank the Gods). But I want to share what I have with my family; I don’t want to convert them, I just want them to understand and respect the decision that I have made for my personal life.

My sister, a while back, turned to a religion - I don’t know what it is called - but it seemed very cultish, and my parents were (understandably) worried, and it wasn’t for a while before they calmed down, and realised she’s not in any danger. I don’t want them to be that worried about me like that - Wicca isn’t a cult, that’s obvious just from the amount of people who claim to be Wiccan around the world, and it’s a recognised religion in most Western countries (if not all).

So what the hell am I afraid of? I need help - have any of you done something similar (if not with Wicca, then with another religion)?

I know, guys - I said I’d put up pictures of our apartment the other day but I still haven’t got around to doing that (go figure), so I’ll manage to do that sometime soon, definitely after we’ve cleaned up because our house is atrocious right now.

On the other hand, I have managed to get my altar together after close to 6 months. I used to have it in a box, kind of portable I guess, but now it’s found a proper, more permanent home on an old blanket box. We used to use the box as a kind of side table until we got a couple of end tables from Michael’s sister, so the blanket box has been claimed as my altar now.

So I took a few pictures, and I think that should suffice for the time being (look at pictures after the cut).

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