12 Things That You'd Understand If You Grew Up Pagan

Pagans have for centuries been depicted as evil, non-human satanists. Not much has changed. It's hurtful, inaccurate
and INCREDIBLY annoying! But then there were those times when you WISHED certain things were true, like flying on a broom and never having to clean your house. All you'd have to do is wave a wand! But since we are just people like everyone else, that doesn't happen.

It was the "family secret". Your parents or legal guardians didn't want you to be discriminated against. And depending on where you lived, it was a real possibility, and a real danger to yourself and your family.

"What's THAT?!"
"Why do you have a book on advanced witchcraft?!"

You got the courage to tell your best friend. Expecting the absolute worst response, you waited in agony just to get it over with.
And with good responses, YOU were usually the one most surprised.

Everyone else gets to wear their crosses proudly while you tucked your pentacle inside your shirt, awaiting the day when you thought you could show it off like everyone else you knew could show theirs.

As a child it was normal to see your parent or whoever you grew up with laying out Tarot cards on the bed, floor, table, etc. And chances are, you probably had more than one deck of them, and of various kinds.

SOMEBODY HAD to have asked you this or questions like this at least once. And if they did, they were confused when you said neither. They maybe asked you if you were Jewish or something else, but I'm sure Pagan and Wiccan were the last things on their mind.
"So are you Pagan or neopagan?"

Witches in storybooks, witches on TV, and that green kid at the door next to you on Halloween night, claiming to be a witch. Sometimes it made you feel bad. Sometimes you'd just roll your eyes. Eventually you got used to it, but it never went away.

You just wanted to tell them they didn't get the whole picture. Way back when during the time Christians were trying to convert Pagans to Christianity, they altered Pagan holidays to make them Christian. Nobody is necessarily "right" here, but you can't honestly tell me an evergreen adorned with ornaments and lights, Yule logs and the lyrics in Deck The Halls are ALL about the birth of Jesus.
Also, what has a rabbit got to do with Jesus? If you can provide an explanation that is entirely Christian, I would be happy to hear it. I'm open to new information. But that does not make me any less Pagan.

Heaven forbid the secret got out, because you feared that people wouldn't like you based on your spiritual beliefs.

Perhaps you weren't around any Pagan children and teens. When you got to your teens, you questioned if the "Pagans" you met really practiced and believed, or if they were just saying that to be "cool".

Maybe you were like your mom. If you felt uncomfortable with your parents, about sex, or about both, this was a big deal for you. Some Pagan moms are less modest than others, but I'd assume all pagan moms on some level feel okay about expressing their sexuality.
She may have encouraged you to express your inner man/woman and talked endlessly of the wondrous feminine energy in all of us, had the talk with us early on, and was perfectly honest about it.