Coming Out: What Do You Think?, and hello '-'* Options

...But before I ask you this question, "Greetings! and happy to meet you all (: "
Although I've been around browsing this forum for a while, this is the first time I gathered my courage to actually post something.
And this is what I was wondering about at the moment:

I will be going to university next month, and it will be a whole new start for me. New environment, new people and et cetra..
For the last few years of living in a boarding house in my school, I had been fairly in 'undercover', hiding my interest in magick as best as I can.
That was because I didn't see any possible good outcomes coming if I was out. I lived in a fairly small community.
(It was not a religious community..but still)

So moving onto uni, I am now thinking, should I 'come out'?
By 'coming out' I don't mean broadcasting everywhere that I practice magick but displaying my magick books on my bookshelf, having a permanent altar, and such.
It may seem like a very quiet and passive coming out but it is a big thing for someone like me who had been rather terrified of letting other people know. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
Part of me still wants to keep it to myself but staying 'hidden' have also been tiresom. And I think that I may be hiding 'too much'?
The whole notion of 'hiding' really bugs me.. it makes me feel that I'm hiding because I am scared.. when I believe I have courage.

So..
Has anyone been in the same or similar situation as me?
Do you let others know that you are a witch/wiccan/magickian?
And what kind of reactions or attitudes do you get?
Especially if you live in Australia, help me!
I would love to hear your experiences or opinions. (:

Hey there,

Well, welcome to the forum, for one, and congrats on heading into a new chapter of life. Should be exciting!

Here's my personal opinion on a few bits. I'm sure other people will toss in their cents as well.

First of all, you can probably find a group of people interested in magick at the university - that crowd tends to have a small percentage. Just be careful who you fall in with, if you do. Not because of any particular danger, that's something personal you'll have to deal with in any case, but because there are a lot of new-agey types who really have no idea what's going on or what they're doing, and there are a lot more of those than serious practitioners. It'll be up to you to sort through them, and it's possible you'll find one in amidst the crowd in any case. But one way or another, there should be plenty of people with similar interests.

Second of all, having your books up on the shelf is one way to give a subtle advertisement to the people who come to your place that it's a subject you're interested in without necessarily suggesting that you practice. You never do know. Anyone who is practicing, will probably take a look at your bookshelf. The majority of other people will look in the direction of the bookshelf in most cases, without actually examining anything closely.

As for your altar - personally I believe that's something that shouldn't be on display. It's your private, sacred space, the locus of your connection to magick, and to whatever deities that you work with - if you do. That isn't to say that you are not yourself the functioning connection, but in lieu of a workroom specifically, it's the anchor for your sacred space, and that's something that should be regarded with a lot of respect and reverence. Putting it out on display is inviting other people's opinions on it, some people are the touchy types who will want to mess with whatever is set up there, etc.

Here's my suggestion for a permanent altar - I have one in my room, where i host clients, but there's a trick to it. Get yourself some kind of shelf, like a bookshelf, whatever height you're comfortable with, with some depth to it. Pick two shelves, either the top two or bottom two, for your altar. The top shelf, make into the altar table proper, the bottom for storage. Then, cover the storage shelf with a peice of fabric (something that looks good with the surroundings, but doesn't attract too much attention), do the same for the Altar table shelf, but hang the fabric so that it covers both shelves. This makes on uniform cover, and you can lift up the cover over the altar to expose it for work or devotion, while leaving the storage shelf covered. Very practical for a room with traffic, or when you don't have a private place to put an altar. If anyone asks, either tell them what it is, or tell them you keep your underwear there - whichever is appropriate for the situation.

What I would not do, is as you say advertise yourself as a magician of any path. It's one thing to tell friends who get close to you, or other practitioners who you want to talk with, but the fewer people who know you practice magick, the better. It just keeps everyone else's energy off yours. I recall the loud, gothed up wiccans in highschool, always complaining about being oppressed, and hating christian for the 'salem witch burnings' in 'olden days'. It's not just obnoxious, it's bad for your work.

Again, welcome, and good luck going to university!

peace

If you are worthy of being known as a magician, witch, etc... you will receive recognition for it without your consent.

People you have never met will ask you to do the strangest things for them ."Cast a spell for me so such and such will happen!" or "Can you read cards?" or something of that sort will come around for no apparent reason. Your close friends will know, if you have any close friends, and they will not keep quiet about it. If they take you seriously at all, they will speak of you as if you were some sort of superhero, and otherwise it will not be mentioned except in passing. There is no reason to pretend you have no idea what these people are talking about when they bring it up to you. Making yourself useful in small ways for these people can lead to a lot of practice in magic and divination that you would never get otherwise.

In most cases the general public will have some idea of what it means to be a magician. They will expect you to throw fireballs and fly, or they expect that you are into Wicca or whatever they already know, or they will be contemptuous and skeptical. Unless you want to do a lot of explaining before the fact, it's best IMO to let people know what you mean by magic by showing them before they ever ask. If they act horrified in realizing you "must be some sort of wizard," just tell them it's only your good luck and hard-earned skills.

On the other hand, even if you are "worthy" to be recongized as the world's greatest sorcerer, there's no harm in letting people stay in the dark about it.

To be honest very little good has come out from being open and honest about my spiritual views. It has lead to false rumors (like one was where I supposedly cut the heads off chickens to worship satan) and misunderstanding. People who believe in magick, but don't practice it, have come to both online and in real life, to solve their problems when really they needed a shrink, not magick. Some people are afraid of me, because they think I'm in league with the devil. Some think of magick as a novelty and actually just recently a couple friends wanted me to lead a sayance at the local cemetary as though it were a game or a dare.

The vast majority of people have a preconceived notion about the occult that is false. You have people who will view you as a devil worshipper and may even harass you. Then you have those who are uber science and will think you're a nut. Then there are those who will fear you because they think you have powers to hurt them (which you do but they think of it in the context of like charmed or some such none sense). The majority of people will not take you or your beliefs seriously and may even think you're just in a "phase", play way too much D&D or some such game or think you are just plain nuts.

Either way I think it is not a bad thing to fix up your living space as you feel fit. But I'd leave the bag of magick tricks inside the house.

Don't be afraid to show who you are. Some people won't like it, but the ones that do will not be fickle or fleating. So make yourself at home, it is YOURS after all. Oh if you have a roomate, make sure they are ok with it to.

Oh and Acid, what is wrong with playing way too much D&D?!?

This post has been edited by Adept: Jan 14 2008, 08:27 PM

Honestly i am at the view if you do magic and you get results. place everything in open and also tell the peopele you deal whit what you doing! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bicycle.gif)
when i finally was getting results i told the world actually... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/butcher.gif)
But never before hand just a hint maybe since others DOUB'TS may destroy your magic.
But as they start to belive you can use their belives as a reinforcement of your magic.
but hiding in the closet when you get results... well i let this emo show my meening (IMG:style_emoticons/default/face08.gif)

Honestly i am at the view if you do magic and you get results. place everything in open and also tell the peopele you deal whit what you doing! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bicycle.gif)
when i finally was getting results i told the world actually... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/butcher.gif)
But never before hand just a hint maybe since others DOUB'TS may destroy your magic.
But as they start to belive you can use their belives as a reinforcement of your magic.
but hiding in the closet when you get results... well i let this emo show my meening (IMG:style_emoticons/default/face08.gif)

ok replying to myself may seem insane but... i RARELAY get results when doing magic for ME but only for others.....

Don't be afraid to show who you are. Some people won't like it, but the ones that do will not be fickle or fleating. So make yourself at home, it is YOURS after all. Oh if you have a roomate, make sure they are ok with it to.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/angel.gif)

Fear has nothing to with what I was talking about. Personal integrity and reputation is what I was getting at. Being yourself is not the problem. You should be proud to be who you are, who ever you are and there's nothing wrong with being open about yourself either. However advertising too much can lead to problems. If you want to avoid such problems, like mentioned in my earlier post, then I would suggest not being overly open about your spiritual/magickal views. I'm not saying be a closet magician necessarily, but there is no need to draw attention to yourself, imho.

For example when people ask me my religious affiliation (usually LDS nuts) I pretty much just say I'm spiritual, not religious and leave it at that. If they want to probe deeper I give them answers as superficial as I can make them unless they are people I know well. Strangers don't need to know my deeper spiritual views or practices. My past experience has taught me that strangers will not always be as accepting of my beliefs as they might others. And they might even act irrationally. So simply out of my own interest I find it prudent to keep my beliefs to myself accept from those I truely trust.

Don't forget the axiom to keep a secret either. It might be a bit far fetched to use that as an example, but by letting people know your beliefs you are in a way giving them power.

This post has been edited by Acid09: Jan 15 2008, 05:34 PM

Wow, so many replies already!
Having a permanent altar without people messing around was another thing I was thinking about, and I think I'll definitely take Vagrant Dreamer's approach to it.
Anyway.. all the feedbacks I've been given are really helpful..
It's definitely clearing up my thoughts. So thank you for sharing your opinions! (: