My Experiences in Pagan Parenting

I'm the mother of a 20-something adult daughter (raised in a pagan household since age 8) and a tween daughter (raised pagan since birth). This page is intended as a place to share the bits/pieces of being a Wiccan parent. The picture is of Boniface & our younger daughter (now a tween) having an intense dialogue. ;)

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Photo gallery of our tween's personal altar

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From a MySpace pagan parenting forum:

Pagan parents have a unique task - that of teaching pagan values to their children in a world hostile to alternative religions.

My response:

First task - get over this victim mentality. You are always going to run into people who are hostile towards you for something. But teaching children right off the bat that their religion is going to be persecuted is doing them no favors. Right from the start, act as if you are an equal with everyone else, and be that role model.

Second task, drop the "alternative religion" label. It's a religion or it's not. Period. There's no "alternative" about it. This sends a message that the mainstream faiths are top of the heap, and we're "other."

If we're truly going to teach them values - not "pagan values," but human values - we must teach them to stand firm and not go out into the world expecting to encounter a negative reaction to their faith, and thereby treating people as if they were already hostile to it.

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Recorded in my LiveJournal June 17, 2005. The tween was age 9.

Last night, she said the bridge of her nose hurt, like a bruise. "Mommy, can you do anything about it?" So, I told her to close her eyes as I touched her forehead, and imagine a colorful flow going through the area, any color she wanted that was calm and soothing to her. The flow goes over the pain like running water; as it did, the pain was washed away, goes into the ground and away.

After a couple of minutes, I stopped and said, "how does it feel now?" She touched her nose, got the biggest grin on her face and exclaimed, "it doesn't hurt anymore!" She then proceeded to launch herself on me with "Mommy, you're the best! It was magic!" I told her she could try this out herself if she ever had a headache or small pain.

A delighted child then snuggled with her Mommy, holding hands, and went to sleep.