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.

Interesting question.

I suppose it is the same whatever type of household you grow up in where there are strong beliefs about something, you might take it on board or rebel against it.

I do know of a girl that was brought up in a magickal home and she is quite obnoxious and proud of it, but she was introduced to it from an early age, ie: before age 10. I think it is how the parents treat the system themselves and how they present themselves to the world that influences the behaviour of the offspring.

The girl I know has a parent that is a little difficult to deal with and the girl (now in her twenties) is becoming just as troubled, but I think she would have been the same whatever belief system was in the home.

I was stuck betweent two worlds. My mom taught me to read at 4 and my dad to research at age 6, It was his occult library I learned from, the same library my mother condemned and on more than one occasion threatened to burn. So my dad would hide them, he would tell me where there were so I could continue.
My mother is a full blooded hipanic Catholic, and it was always amusing that while all magickal practices were according to her 'evil and against god', she had no problem taking me to a curandera...(I know I spelt that wrong, Ive never had to spell it, only say it....) Which is a medicine women. It was rather enraging really, becuase effectively she was trusting a stranger over those she loved, and the hypocricy of it drove me mad to no end. On the other hand, my dad taught me to see the wind as my brother and the rain my sister, and it gave me an extra tool to make this world what I wanted of it, not unfailing, but it helped. One of the first things I remember learning was divination by candle, when the flame moves left no, right yes...and my first candle WAS flawless, never had any other serve me that well since. Being an only child, in an odd kind of way, the flame became part of my family, with the wind and rain. And while I've never exerted any form of control over either of them, when I make a serious request they answer, especially the rain. All she asks is when she visits I spend time with her.
As much as I hated having to hide my beliefs from my own mother, it taught me a valuable lesson. Silence is a virtue, abandon it and you challenge the worlds ignorance which as far as I can tell can be unending. I also have to say I've noticed cycles in my magickal/spirtitual growth, it comes in spurts, and in those spurts its almost as if anything I wish I can make a realty, and other times it ebbs and I find myself having problems with simple tasks...
I was lucky enough that my best friend since age 4 took an intrist in the subject to, so I had someone to talk to about it other than my father, who even today I take council from. I didn't stay on any particular magical practices. I studied general white witchcraft (I know it sounds vague, but I only remember it being a hardcover with the title "White Magic"), most of Scott Cunninghams works, which his refrences made impropt spell casting alot simpler than it would have otherwise been, and am endlessly grateful to the late author for all of his works, especially his encylopedias on everything to herbs, metals, minerals, stones, etc... though his 'Earth Power' and the sequal to it which name I can't fully recall taught me much more about the general practice of witchcraft, not the least of which was to feel the vibrations of stone, crystals, and herbs; and to cleanse and charge them. I studied Pictish witchcraft, which I loved to no end. It was a style I very much saw eye to eye with...while there wiccan brother further south were in covens and much more formal, the pict practiced Impromtu spell casting with minimal of tools, the only one I have yet to make is a Keek Stain, but I will eventually =). I also found the belief of Macht similiar to the way I viewed our inner power, and our ability to breath it into things.
That wasn't the least of it but I'm watching this post get longer and longer, and at this point, if I were someone else, I wouldn't read it... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)
I do thank bb3 for the chance to share some of my childhood expierences with magick...
†Poetic Raven† the unofficial mascot--->:pope:
'And as you from your crimes would pardoned be, let your indulgence set me free..." W.S. - from the tempest. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wizard.gif)

Star you do bring up a nice point, as I was first writing, I almost wrote something along the lines, 'growing up in magic is the greatest gift... yaddah, yaddah' then I thought better of it. You're story shows why, it doesn't matter what background you come from, magic, or what one might call divinity is a choice that person alone can make, their mother can't make it for them, nor their friend, it's true some people make the choice without realizing it, but once they conciously acknowledge it they then realize this choice belongs solely to them. This girl is proud of herself just like most girls. She probably has never had that 'wake up' call to realize that it's her that needs to live that life, her parents aren't doing it for her.

Which brings me to my next point that poetic has brung up. He (sorry if your female poetic) was introduced to magic and given the choice to continue or not. In fact Poetic it may even be fortunate that your mother was so against it (or was she? muhahaha) since it made you that much more cautious as well as tenacious in your course. My definition of magic is pretty much this- the Art, it's a gift that you possess and may give to others. From my own experience I safely say that the beginning of magic is the end of 'fitting in' or being 'ordinary' and it's a struggle, a trial. Starting the struggle early surely has its advantages over starting it late. It's important to point out of course though that people who start very early often must face greater, and more intense trials than people who pick it up later on, and so if you've picked it up later please post a little about the beginning.

Personally I think it must be tough to live in a place like Texas which is kind of the anti-magic capital of the world and go through this, I grew up in outside San Francisco so I'll let you decide about the difference in view point. The trials we face are often defined by our geography perhaps.

Well anyway I hope to hear more people talk about what's it's like for them to grow up in magic.

This post has been edited by Bb3: Oct 2 2005, 11:45 PM

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.

I don't think I was brought up in a magickal household in the traditional sense. My mother was a Bhuddist who believed in spirits and magick. Her best friend practiced some form of witchcraft from the Phillipines. My dad dragged me to weekly meetings of some Christian cult. I didn't have a very happy childhood, my mum died, and I was left with my bible / child-beating alcoholic dad. Basically, in the cult, everyone had to give EXACTLY 10% of their money to the cult as tithing to "God", regardless of financial problems. We practiced a bastardized form of gematria, visualization, speaking in tongues, faith healing, etc. When I turned 15, I got interested in Wicca, and, well, here I am.
My fiance wasn't raised in a magickal household, but he's practiced since a very young age, I think like 14 or something. He was born in England, he has a genetic anomaly in his blood... like, 2% inhuman or something. He can do a lot of stuff, he was born a natural psychic vampire (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) One of my former mentors is gypsy-blooded, he was raised in a complete magickal environment. Then his dad married some Christian psycho who just drove him nuts and made him angry all of the time. He's travelled all over Asia and stuff, and he's pretty crazy. He has a lot of talent, but a lot of people I've talked to don't think he knows who he is anymore.