Growing up in magic, Love and trials in the dramatic theater Options

I'm always keen to hear the experiences of people who grew up in a magical atmosphere, or even about what happened to people their first couple of years involved in the Work. This thread also is about the stereotypes that often portray magicians and the bunch as a bunch of sexually obsessed goat sacrificers.

It's all too natural I'm afraid for the youngsters growing up to be pressured not to believe in such things as the occult by their parents. Now I've always been involved in these kind of things and none of my immediately family have ever been upset by it, but at the same time they aren't all exactly open to the my ideas and beliefs either. This has often led to trouble, since there's really nothing more annoying than an unbelieving heathen to the teenage witch.

I'm in my mid twenties so I'm not that far removed from today's youth, but I realize things are way different as when I was a teenager no one owned a cell phone expect for a parent. So things are radically different, equally different are people from the generation before me, growing up in the 60's or 50's and living a magical lifestyle was really against the grain.

I'll stop myself before I write a short story but all in all I've found that jealousy, pride and overextravagance are the largest pitfalls for those who have started on the path whether they be young or old, however I think these things are often more intense if you start at that tweener age of 10-21, it's a little easier if you start before or after these ages.

Bb3, no you were right about the he part, and I tend to agree with you now that I'm older in that my mother did my a favor in the long run, it just didn't seem like it then. And yes, unless you were a Curandera (medicine man/women) if you practiced you were going to hell and falling to the devil. (How this hypocricy makes even the slightest sence is still very unclear to me). I also think it always has to be your decision, and by being put in the situation I was I had the choice to choose either, but I never had doubts. I tend to go off of instinct over anything, and thats were it let me. I will also agree Texas is by no means the best place to start that struggle, but it definately makes sure your committed or not, becuase if its not something you believe in, than its not worth it. We do have the Texas Renaissance Festival outside of Houston, and I found it fairly open to such things, it aslo taught me how judgemental other witches can be. Many of them (mostly wiccans †nothing against wiccans as a whole, I 'm catholic and as much as I fall back on it, were full of such people†) were just as bad as your hardcore baptist, if you didn't take the path of the goddess, than you were seen as ignorant....
I can honestly say this is the most open I've ever been able to be about this many people without fear of any persecution. In catholicism we have something called confirmation, its the first time the respective subject is seen as making there own choice to accept the faith. Starting when ones older seems to me to have the same advantage...yes, time has been lost, but you've made the choice, and as your older others are more likely to respect said choice, as when your a child most believe your incapable of making such a choice, wether you are or not. †smacks self for rambling and ranting again† trying to get better about that, sorry...
†I guess that many years of silence built up alot of pressure to be released at once...†
†Christopher Raven†
P.S. ~for what its worth, thanks to everyone for making such a place possible.