The Broom Closet 

👀

Well, if someone attacks me for being a pagan, I'll just have to kick their ass in the time-honored tradition of my ancestors. a rap battle ^^

My mum (she's a Christian fundamentalist) thinks I'm an atheist because I know she would lose her absolute mind if she found out. I'm not even out of the lgbt closet never mind the broom closet.

I’m still partially in the closet, but just started wearing a Mjolnir necklace recently. I’ve been in the closet for 27 years. Feels good to see paganism growing. Slainte.

This was a big deal for me. Even though it turned out to be folkist, Hearth of Hellenism was a huge influence in me becoming an out Hellenist. Later, Hellenion showed me I wasn't alone, and gave me a structure and foundation to lean into my faith through my whole life, not just once a day at ritual time. And now this community has shown that there are more of us than I ever imagined. But it didn't come without consequences. Half of my family doesn't speak to me and some of those who do bombard me with bs every time we talk. My mother burned books and did horrendous things growing up to discourage me from my faith, though she's grudgingly accepting now. I've been physically attacked, emotionally abused, had my things broken including outdoor ritual objects in my own yard, and lost jobs over my pagan faith. But it's worth it to be who I am. And I live in the "progressive" north. It's much worse down south for you all.

im so grateful i live in England were i can openly wear my thors hammer neckless and practice norse paganism openly and without fear

I suppose I'm fortunate. I'm married to a Christian - but an open-minded, non-judgmental one. I don't think we spoke about religion for the first ten years we were married (she's definitely not a fundamentalist), but one day she asked "what exactly do you believe?" I told her, and walked her through how a college course on the Bible had set me on the polytheistic path. Her response was: "that makes sense and I respect it, but I hope you don't mind if I stick with what's comfortable for me." Nope. No problem at all. We just celebrated our 25th anniversary this week. That's not to say I haven't had well-meaning friends attempt to "save" me...some just can't resist that compulsion. I've managed to shut them down amicably though.

I think any atheist who contributes to keeping pagans in the broom closet, cautious of expressing, and being open about their beliefs (for example by calling “all theists irrational”, and other things of the sort), frankly, disgusts me a little. We always talk about how freedom of religion must include freedom to not have one, and (rightly) complain about often having to hide our non-belief, so it’s incredibly narrow-minded and hypocritical to perpetuate the same situation for others. The only beliefs anyone should be ashamed of are harmful beliefs.

I moved from the North, where I had a decent sense of community, to Georgia a few years ago. Knowing that there are Pagan communities in this state makes me feel less alone. I live in a rather blue area, but I don't think I can fully come out of the broom closet. About a year ago I started accepting myself as a witch and a Pagan. I finally came out of the broom closet as a witch to my mom over the phone and she was like "Oh, I'm Pagan too!". It was a really funny and wonderful moment. My whole life I had no idea, but looking back it makes sense my mom is also Pagan. It really was like meeting someone again for the first time.

I'm honestly so new to faith I've just become aware of the brooms in this closet 😫

I'm only partially in the closet cause I'm not educated enough on the history & beliefs, and I don't want to spread misinformation.

When I came out of the broom closet to my parents, I was on a roadtrip with them. It is by far the worst car ride I have ever been in. My parents sort of knew I'd been falling away from the faith, but not going to Communion was the last straw. I'll admit, I could have explained it better than I did but I was afraid my cradle Catholic parents would drop me off at my destination and never talk to me again. My mother acted like I was going against every single thing our family was made of. My dad wasn't convinced I worshiped Hiddleston's Loki from the Avengers. Nowadays it's . . . a non issue. Part of it is because I moved out and am not strong-armed into going to church. There are times my mother admits she prays for my soul but it's so much better than lying to them and playing the dutiful Catholic daughter (of which I am neither)

I told my partner (who is still my partner) about my worship of Aphrodite. A week or so later, they took me to the beach and watched me pray.

Ancestors Give me Strength

I really felt that when you said ‘We’re not converted, we’re drawn to it.’ That’s exactly how it was for me. I’ve felt drawn to Paganism for a number of years now but it’s only in the past year or two that i’ve started doing some serious research and decided that Norse Paganism is right for me. I’m in the broom closet and probably will be to an extent for a couple more years, but I do feel at least a little comfort knowing I have six friends that will have my back no matter what, five of them also being Pagans as well.

I like what you said about "...we tend to grow out of the ground..." Personally I have recently come out of Messianic/TorahObservant christianity-ish living. Started seeing all the inconsistencies in the bible, the constant call to not be in a churchianity environment. Honestly the story is a bit longer than that but you have a life so maybe one day I'll make my own channel. Anyway, thank you Ocean and other Pagan/Heathens who had the guts to start channels. It helps.

I’m still a baby pagan, and still in the broom closet. My friends know me as the weird but chill guy who likes Vikings and is probably not a demon, so I don’t think they’d be surprised if they found out.

I have only come out to one coworker who, although christian herself, was very interested in what I believed in and didn't judge me at all, and two friends, both also christian. One of the christian friends stopped talking to me and all of my friends, even tho she was close to all of them. The other one didn't talk to me for 3 days, and then decided that he liked being friends with me too much to not talk to me anymore. Later in our friendship we talked about what we belief in and we found mostly similarities which made him feel even better. We are still very good friends. Edit: That last friend started making pagan jokes since I came out to him, and then apologize immediately after saying them. But I don't mind, since most of them are really good and funny jokes and non of the jokes are hurtful or meant to be hurtful.

Pagan in Central TX, and I flaunt it. Prayer beads and rune tattoos, I wear gems and crystals. It never ceases to amaze me how many other pagans are down here. It might help that my godmother is a devout Hellenistic pagan, as well as my mother. They both always said that this was nothing to be ashamed of, and to be proud of being pagan.

As an atheist I find a friendly comfortable relationship with the polytheist pagan gods it's the the monotheistic gods that are the troublemakers.

As I'm still trying to figure out *what* I believe, wading through the remaining Mormon conditioning, I take a lot of heart in content like this-

I've not been assaulted, but I've been more in the closet than out. My sister used to have a pentagram tattoo on the back of her shoulder. She had it covered up after someone literally spat on her because of it. I've been verbally harassed, told I'm going to hell, called "satan's whore" and all the rest. All for identifying myself as a witch. Needless to say that drove me back into the broom closet pretty far. But I've felt increasingly uncomfortable in there. In part because it's exhausting to constantly monitor my language, to watch what I wear, to literally police my whole identity in certain spaces. In another part because I work(ed) at a liberal university in a job that promotes and strives towards inclusion and have not been given any real reason to think that wouldn't include me. And finally, in an increasingly large part, because I've begun to feel like my ability to hide is a kind of privlidge. That doing so is an odd kind of complicity in maintaining the status-quo as a WASP society. Allowing myself to be bullied into silence does not benefit anyone, especially the bullies who soon enough think that there isn't any form of diversity in their lives.

I was raised nonreligious/agnostic/atheistic and my immediate family is something within that spectrum. At the same time that I fully dove into paganism I also became very interested in the secular community and so also started lucking the atheist community. Well, my cousin who is like an older brother to me became a born again Christian after going through Alcoholics Anonymous and one day he came over and overheard me listening to an atheist podcast. When we confronted me if I was atheist I told him I was pagan. He went to complain to my older sister. Big mistake. She's openly an atheist and told him off. So he then turned to our mother. An even bigger mistake. She isn't atheist but she gives zero flips what her children belief and told off my cousin-to-is-like-a-brother for trying to stir drama. And that is how my whole extended family found out I was pagan. A not as funny story comes from my stepdad. Mom remarried when I was almost an adult. He lied is way into the relationship and things went downhill from there. He hated me almost from day one. When he found out I wasn't Christian (I didn't tell him)... he actually started threatening to kill me. On one occasion he even through liter-fluid on me while he was smoking and joked about tossing his cigarette at me. He also made comments about "burn witches in the street" and other comments on a regular basis. (He also verbally and physically abused me because he suspected me of being LGBT (I am) and for being autistic, so all around asshole.) No one ever did anything because he was a wheelchair-bound, partially parallelized amputee due to Type 1 diabetes with dementia and "he doesn't mean it" or "he can't take care of himself." He died of a a major stroke 6 ond and painful years after he married my mother. I'd piss on his grave if he had one. Worst experience with someone anti-pagan I've ever had and hopefully never have to live through again.

I myself am in the broom closet, but my mother had a wiccan friend, who was unapologetically out of the broom closet. Her husband had no problem with it and neither did my mom, but my dad had a problem with it because he "was pagan and it was a mistake" and "the Christian god is the best". And as such he would frequently rltry and convert her at every moment he got. He even took my sisters and i aside and had discussions about how Christianity is the best thing and that it saved his life. I never vibed with that and soon discovered my own path as a reconstructionist pagan. I had attempted to talk to my dad to see if i could come out of the broom closet to him and he spun it into a talk about jesus, so that was a no go. I uad been hoping to move out last year but lockdown had messed with my ability to move out and pretty much lost me my job

I've always been out. From the time I discovered Asatru back in 90 I haver always been out. I know many pagans and all too many of them refuse to stand up and be counted. I've lost jobs over it. Lost relationships. Lost friends. Been thrown out of stores, restaurants and other businesses because of the hammer I was wearing. Had many people mistake the hammer for an upside down cross. All in all I've had a lot of problems with people because of my religious beliefs. Do I regret any of it? Not one damned bit. I will say this..one of the reasons that we Pagans are still looked askance at is because there is a lack of familiarity with Paganism in the public forum. Whether one is a Heathen, or a Celt or a Hellenist or any of the myriad of other Pagan and....n it is the same. There is a lack of familiarity is because there are not many who are out and open and the reason there are so few who are out and open is because of how we are treated (or at least believe we will be treated) if and when people find out we are pagans. I have been at my place of employment off and on since the late 80's. A total of 16 years. (Yes I know 1986 was a lot longer than 16 years ago but there have been gaps in time when I worked at other places). In all of that time I have only known 4 other pagans in a place that employees several thousand people at any given time of the year. 2 of them I knew from outside of that job, one I met there and only found out there were a pagan, a fellow Heathen because he mentioned a name in passing of someone I knew and the other...well that person approached me and said that I should hide the fact that I was a Pagan (again I have always been open about it and have adamantly refused too hid my hammer for any reason) because that fact would keep me from getting anywhere in that place. I will admit that I have had a lot of trouble with things there, but that was a much my own doing as anything else. My point being that in all that time I have encountered such small number of Pagans in that place. If I were part of any other minority, and make no mistake as a religion we Pagans ARE a minority, others of that same group would be screaming about that fact there would be law suits and charges of discrimination because no only are there so few there, of that they environment is such that they have to hide, but that none of them were in any position of authority. But, because other Pagans feel the need to hide...nothing gets said or done. Getting back to the ides of Pagans in the public forum. You will notice that you do not anyone who is openly Pagan in the public eye, unless they are doing something connected with being a pagan (like authors who write pagan oriented books) or in the Music industry where pretty much anything goes, you don't see them. You don't see pagan characters on TV shows or in movies, at least not accurately portrayed and more often than not, when you do see someone worshipping the "old gods" it is usually some angsty teenage girl who is hellbent on revenge because the popular girls were mean to her, or the cute boy she likes won't ask her out (usually because he is shagging one of the aforementioned popular girls who were mean to her) and in the end her plans for revenge usually end up doing more damage to her than to them. Again, if were were any other minority, we would be DEMANDING that we be properly represented to see accurately portrayed Pagan characters, to have Pagan performers announced when they join the cast, to see openly Pagan candidates running for public office, we certainly don't see Christians, or Muslims or Jews hiding their religion, nor do Hindu's or Buddhists. Yes I know Hindu is one of the Pagan religions but .it has become so mainstream that most people, including other Pagans, don't think of it that way anymore. I'll be honest though...my being out and open is really of no benefit to me personally, or to the pagan community as a whole. I'm nobody. Just a low level clerk whose never actually had a real job until a couple of months ago (I'm 53...will be 54 in a couple of months). I just simply refuse to hide, or pretend ( I seem to recall that honesty and courage are kind of important things so...) I guess what I'm getting at is that, until more of use start standing up, things for those of us that are OUT will continue to be problematic, and as more come out, more will be able to come out. Who knows, someday, maybe someday soon, we will see a Hellenist running for state senate, or have the lead role in a romcom go to Celt or watch an MMA match between a Heathen and a Mayan. Of course for any of that to happen...people need to know that were are here, there are more of us than they think, and we're damned tired of hiding in the shadows.

Being from Arkansas, I can tell you the looks and children getting tugged behind their mothers just from a Mjöllnir necklace and oath ring, is by no means miniscule.

As a young teenager I was an Atheist. My parents were Catholic and made me go to church for years and even become a part of it but at the young age of 12 I knew that it wasn't for me and scientifically made no sense so Atheism came naturally, but I'd already seen things that could not be explained such as ghosts and spirits. When I found the pagan and witch side of Tumblr I was stunned and very interested. People had actual connections to their deities unlike in Catholicism where you go through Father for most things and everyone I knew had never had a personal religious experience. I decided to give paganism a shot. I read about people's experiences and what the tenants of each system were. In the end, I chose to just put out a general call for guidance and a plea to show me that something was out there. I didn't think it would happen but it did. I got a sign, something that was outside the realm of normal, so I asked again for a sign and got the same sign. In the end, I asked for that sign for a week and every day it happened in even weirder and more interesting ways so I never looked back. I found out it was Anubis that came to me (and later found out He was there since birth for me) and became a Kemetic pagan at 15 and at 18 I joined Kemetic Orthodoxy. Right now I'm out to my friends and some coworkers but if my family found out it'd be chaos, most likely I'd be annexed. They already don't think I'm religious enough and my aunt purposefully baits me by gifting me Christian things she knows I won't use and when I don't use them she gets upset and tells my family, "see they aren't Christian."

As someone new to the faith and living in Alabama, this hit close to home. Thank you for the encouragement friend.

so like im wiccan right, so here i was just standing in line at some government department when suddenly someone yells at me "YOUR WEARING IT UPSIDE DOWN!" im like super confused then realize hes talking to me, about my pentacle chain that i wear literally everywhere. . . i just ignored him not wanting to explain that *and no it wasn't upside down lol* another time someone related to an old childhood friend of mine came out of nowhere and just started asking me about tarrot cards and other forms of divination, spellcraft and whatever else and i was like Wait.. your a witch? WTF xD ahhh

One day I will be free from the Broom Closer. I'll break free from it when I can leave my parents' home. One day, none of us will have to hide our faith anymore. This is my hope.

I've been going through your playlist, "Intro to Heathenry and Polytheism" for a couple of weeks now, and I've been waiting to watch this video. Wow...Thank you! I have just recently began following the Norse gods, so I consider myself quite the apprentice and student, at best. My wife and kids are understanding and supportive; but I do feel a need to share my new path with some of my closest and dearest friends, some of whom are quite ingrained in their Christian faith, and some who are not. For example, I'm a teacher up in Illinois and my co-teacher and I have talked a little bit about religion from time to time, so this past week I took a step out of the broom closet, and while she did not have that much to say, I gathered there was respect and acknowledgment for my beliefs; so I feel fortunate. I have other friends who are closer to me, and I feel a stronger desire to share, because I don't want to be deceitful of who I am. I also acknowledge that this topic doesn't come up all too often and there is no need to...soooooooooo...that being said (sorry for my rambling), you gave me much to think about and reflect upon and settled some anxiety in the process. Thank you, sir.

Being fron rural South Louisiana i feel this video in my soul

I'm reminded of this tale from Song of the Bird, titled "The Zen Master and the Christian": A Christian visited a Zen Master and said, “Allow me to read you the Sermon on the Mount.” “I shall listen with pleasure,” said the Master. The Christian read a sentence and looked up. The Master smiled and said, “Whoever said those words was truly an Enlightened Man.” This pleased the Christian. He read on. The Master interrupted and said, “Those words come from a Saviour of mankind.” The Christian was delighted. He read on to the end. The Master then declared, “That sermon was pronounced by someone radiant with Divinity.” The Christian’s joy was boundless. He left, determined to return another day and persuade the Master to become a Christian. On the way back home he found Jesus standing by the roadside. “Lord,” he said excitedly, “I got that man to confess you are divine!” Jesus smiled and said, “And did it do you any good except inflate your Christian ego?”

"The forbidden gods" sounds metal as hell... literally. As an agnostic, sometimes I want to be heathen just cause it sounds cool.

As frustrating as it was at the time, my mom playing Devil’s Advocate during our first actual discussion about my hellenic beliefs was a real help to me. She’s the more strong arm Christian of my parents. My dad would just shrug and go “as long as youre okay and a good person”. My mom was more adamant about trying to keep me in their church up until this point. We talked and it really helped me figure out the stuff I belief, where I stood with certain gods and practices, and gave me some introspection I wouldn’t have gotten until much later. Religion still isn’t talked about between me and my Christian family, but it’s no longer a major point of contention.

I used to be a strong Catholic back in the day, but became an Atheist; a thing which did not exactly brought problems with my parents but it did brought some ugly clashes. This has made me reluctant to open with them about my Paganism (also because they are sure that I'm still Catholic but I am just through a "rebellious face" although I constantly wear Pagan necklaces and refuse to kneel during prayers in Church). But the thing that kicked me straight to this closet was this one time when my cousin's girlfriend told something about me being Atheist, to which I corrected her in me being Pagan, to which she surprised to and replied "Oh God! Is that true? Tell me it is true!", It surprised me as she is a Catholic (but a very light and progressive one) but my cousin, a dude which I respect and cherish deeply, being the convinced Atheist he is, told me to "Stop fucking joking" (in our language the word he used for "joking" has a more mocking and insulting connotation). Then his girlfriend's face changed to a confused one, and since then she acknowledges me as an Atheist, and so does anyone even if I tried to explain to them that I'm not. Probably the fact that my believes were criticized as a "joke" in front of everyone has made them think that my Paganism is just "a fucking joke". You can imagine the insecurity I have had ever since to open up about my believes c':

I used to work in a really religiously conservative area and I didn't really come out, all I did was wear a pentagram ring. That was all it took for one of the really religious men to zero in on me and start trying to convert me. I don't have much patience with that stuff so I shut him down hard, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. So, he said he'd do for me what his grandmother did for him to bring him back to the 'light'... he'd pray for something awful to happen to me to show me that God was real. So I asked him point blank, "Are you going to be the one to do it? Because that sounds like Wrath, to me." I came back from lunch the next day to find my work station in shambles, wires and tools tossed on the floor. He told me that God had come through and shown me he was real. I laughed in his face and asked if this God was wearing a wife beater and blue jean shorts. He didn't speak to me again until he couldn't hold it in and accused me of worshiping the vending machine because it doled out food. What an idiot.

Not sure if you still look at comments on this but I just want to say thanks Ocean. You helped me find my path as a Heathen.

This hit home way hard , I found your channel a few months ago and not only did you help me simply learn history for fun but this story made me feel less boxed in life. My words are jumbled ,I'm sorry but thank you truthfully.

I'm a Celtic polytheist who plans on becoming an OBOD druid someday and I was recently outed from the broom closet accidentally, as my mom walked in on me with my books out in the open. She and the rest of my family are extremely Christian, so it's been difficult.

Man this makes me feel for our American pagan friends and family, we don’t have this type of issue really in the UK, we hear about it sometimes but in the main we’re open with our religion and suffer little of these situations ❤

I have just very recently stopped being Christian being drawn to Norse Paganism. I'm not sure if I can consider myself a pagan for I been only researching it for a year, a couple months of starting the practice and started my alter. I only have incense as I'm not sure what to do or how to do it. I joined some Facebook groups and actually started with another channel that let me to this channel. Thank you for putting your content out. For now I'm in the broom closet as my family are very much fundie Christian. I bought some books and looking forward to learning more

Im still in the broom closet. My girlfriend is a devout Christian and where I'm at your either Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. I've been trying to find a community of pagans to worship with but I've been unsuccessful. The nearest group I was able to find was at least an hour away. This video made me feel like I'm not alone. Thank you so much and keep up the great content!

I just recently learned that someone outed me as a witch to my goddamn fundy parents. And they hate it, but they never got to yelling. But if I was outed as atheist or heathen... that would be just about as bad as being trans has been.

I am from Japan and I am now a citizen of America. I was raised as Shinto. I still hold these beliefs dear to my heart but I am also Wiccan. I live in the South as well.

I'm partially in the closet, and it's a pretty touch and go kind of thing. To some, I'm fully out of the closet, mostly to my husband [who is what he calls himself a Pragmatic Christian, and has never once not accepted me for who I am and my beliefs]. Some of my co-workers know because I am blessed to have a non-descriminatory environment, and some don't simply because it just hasn't come up. Hell, even one of my co-workers is also "of the witchy disposition" as we call lovingly. Some of my friends know, and they're my closest friends who ask me all kinds of questions, and have never once disrespected me. I still keep myself "in plain sight". I wear a crystal necklace in the open 'because it's pretty and I like shiny rocks', and under my shirt is either a metal raven skull or an ankh, or eventually Mjolnir. I'm happy to see Paganism growing, and for it to become more common.

I remember the "Come To Jesus" convos.

I've been lucky and able to tell a handful of friends of my Kemetic faith, most of whom have taken it well. I could probably tell my parents too and they'd be fine; I dabbled in Hellenism in my earlier years. But I still have to pick who I tell carefully, I feel some others would scoff and scorn. It kind of sucks that only a few can truly know me, but hey, it won't stop my worship.

I'm still partially in the broom closet and actually am still working on it. I too like being honest with those around me, and at home I've had zero issues, with my friends I've had limited issues and at work I only had a small flare up. However, the issue comes with my parents. I haven't lived at home in over a decade so I have no dependency on them, but the reason I haven't come out to my extremely catholic family is for my children. My kids are over the moon in love with their grandparents, and if I took away their ability to see them or made their interactions with their grandparents nothing but conversion attempts, I don't think I could live with myself. So, until I can find a way to preserve their relationship I will remain in the broom closet.

I feel like I have to comment on your videos now. Sorry if that's annoying. But at least the algorithm likes it. I wanted to say three things: 1) congrats on passing 5k! Hope your channel keeps growing. 2) I entered college thinking I was a vanilla, monogamous, cis-het protestant male. Now I realize I'm a kinky, polygamous, pansexual, genderfluid, athiest. I graduate in December, And I still haven't told my family about any of it. That conversation is going to be interesting. 3) I wanted to thank you. I met you at FF last year, and got familiar with you from hammered out. Because of that, I backed off being the stereotypical religion hating anti-theistic atheist that everyone hates to deal with. You got me to see that not every religion is Abrahamic. I love your content, and I hope your flavor or religion becomes much more common.

I've recently just reemerged from the broom closet after forcing myself back into it due to the hate and admonishment I received from people I had shared an apartment with whom I thought were my friends. Whenever I would try to speak of anything pagan or "witchy" in any sense I would be challenged to debates constantly and made to feel a fool all for the challenger's own sick enjoyment. The main instigator was my childhood best friend's husband who denied any and all magick and "was a man of logic and science only" he was nihilistic and an atheist so trying to defend any of my beliefs was met with denial of anything spiritual, it became exhausting and I began to closet my beliefs to spare myself the frustration and pain of judgement from people I had still at the time considered my friends. They made me feel a fool for believing in the truths of my soul and the connection I felt to the spiritual side of the world. I had even stopped practicing and studying about the Gods and magick, I've never felt more disconnected from myself than when I was living there. Luckily my husband and I both decided to leave that apartment and find something for just ourselves, its been 2 years now and I'm free and able to practice and study to my hearts content however the pain and anxiety all of that confrontation and distain caused lingered with me causing my closeted-ness to still linger despite being in a home where nothing but love and respect is shown my way. I rediscovered your channel while trying to connect with that part of myself more openly and I wanted to thank you, and the community for showing me that I'm not alone or silly or foolish for believing and feeling connected to the Gods and Goddesses that watch over us and for wanting to study and learn all I can about them. Your videos are amazing storytelling and are so wonderful to listen to while working; and your humor always gets a chuckle from me. So thank you for making all of these videos, I look forward to watching and learning from them all 😊 And to all in the broom closet, please remember you're not alone, foolish, or bad. You're authentically you. I wish you all the love, blessings, and happiness the world has to offer. 💗

Henry David Thoreau brought me to an appreciation of the Goddess Aurora, any since i've spent many early morning hours clambing up high peaks and to vista to appreciate her in the fullest light.

I’m in north Florida and someone outed me. It was due to peer pressure and him being on the fence about Christianity. They manipulated him into thinking it was the right thing to do. I don’t think he really understood how much danger that could’ve put me in or still could, since a part of me feels it’s only a matter of time before word spreads to my family. And it actually led to someone from the group he told finding my social media and getting into my DMs, asking questions and then started witnessing to me. I went to an MRI afterwards and they thought I had ghosted them? It was only a few hours but whenever I checked the messages they’d blocked me, which just made things easier on my end lol He has since greatly apologized and left Christianity. So it’s water under the bridge now. But that whole experience really freaked me out.

My first experience with religious prejudice that would really effect me was in filling in a work form with "Unitarian Universalist" (after leaving that empty, then thinking UU was innocuous, then learning my manager who insisted on it being answered wanted a particular answer). A long fight, but we (1970s) had a good Union and some federal laws and I was a steward with a tape recorder an "emotional problem" with most managers and notorious for "weird ideas" and weirder books (all the criptid, aliens, religions, tarot, etc). I kept my job, she almost lost hers and finally gave up on returning me to my Baptist roots long lost (or thrown away). I was actually Wiccan at the time; if she only knew; eventually recognizing and accepting my atheism. Some noticed I took my vacations a week at a time at soltices and equinoxes and asked, I answered. But it can be very interesting to be different in any way: most everyone told me I should date/marry/have kids, work daylight hours, not have so many pets (they said I should have kids), be more Christian, and "fix" my mother (family is so very important) until they had to deal with her. So this was one problem of several.

9:20 I have a necklace with Hecate's wheel that I've worn a few times. I always get compliments on it until they ask me "What does it mean?" When they find out it's related to Paganism I always get an eyeroll or they'll flat out walk off before I even finish explaining. Its a little sad when my family gives that kind of reaction but I can't help but chuckle that everyone's initial reaction is to admire it. It's almost like they can't help but be drawn to Hecate's power.

Personally I'm still in the closet because of fear of losing friends, family, scholarship opportunities, etc. I wear my Mjolnir pendant daily, but I keep it under my clothing; although in times of stress or if I am particularly nervous I will put the pendant in my hand as I whisper a prayer. Although when I do that in public I make sure no one is watching, and that I am quiet. This channel is great for me because I dont need to hide who I am.

Recently found your content and joined the discord today. One of my main goddesses is Hestia and I hope, some day, to be able to create a home and a center for education for the overlapping (but not mutually exclusive) witchcraft and pagan communities to be out of the broom closet together!

I lived in Alabama at the time, I accidently left a pentagram necklace on when going to high school (years ago). The assistant principle refused to talk to me unless I did not wear it in her office ( I was is JROTC so I went to the office to give reports and papers on a normal basis). I took it off and left it in the class room, when I came back the pentagram was gone but the cord was still there (someone untied a leather cord and took it, then retied the cord). I told my professor but nothing was ever done about it.

Here in switzerland more and more people turn to the old european gods, is it because of ancestry and heritage or whatsoever. I had a friend I knew since birth who suddenly started talking about the old gods like Odin when we were out drinking lmao

I'm in south Ga myself so I can definitely feel the pressure to not express myself. Not only for myself but also for my family

I'm what I called semi-closeted. I'm out and proud online and I don't go out of my way to my beliefs, but around non-pagans, I simply don't discuss my beliefs unless someone asks.

It's crazy how we don't find paganism, paganism finds us.

I was very new to things and still exploring, high schooler in TX so my mom finds a Wiccan Book and confronts me very aggressively (as i was thinking about coming out to her earlier that week but so glad i didnt) she is waving this book in my face. I look at which one it was "Cooking by Moonlight" it was a wiccan cook book. So I lied. "Mom that is also a cook book they have a cool bean soup and pumkin stuff in there. it belongs to a friend and I need to give it back." she deflated and let me cook the bean soup.

I usually tell them, "But I have seen the light! Why do you think I'm no longer Christian?" Some of us know better! As far as name-calling, I have been called everything from a "devil worshipper" to a "kitty killer," which really hurts as I am an ardent cat lover. Some people in the little birdhouse of their mind feel that if you don't believe as they do, you are worshipping their devil by default. This is why they even go after other Christians. Once I was waiting in line at the check-out stand when a man asked me why my Star of David had only five points. I told him I was a bad Jew and they had taken one point off. He believed me!

I came out of the broom closet in the summer of 2016. Before that, I'd grown up in the Episcopal church and, even though my family was very open in terms of spirituality, I was still nervous to admit even to myself that I was Pagan. I'd subconsciously absorbed that "Believe or you'll burn in Hell" idea which often appears in Christian-dominant countries (I'm American). Plus, being visually impaired, I already got unwanted attention from Christians while out in public, offering healing prayers or wanting to "bring me to Jesus" as if I wasn't already Christian. I could only imagine the raised eyebrows or worse that I'd get if I was seen with my white cane AND pentacle jewelry. But after a lot of soul-searching, prayer, meditation, and studying in secret, I got the courage to come out. And my family was accepting and so were my friends and that's all that matters. What strangers think of me, I don't really care. My loved ones are cool with who I am, and that's enough for me. My channel isn't strictly Pagan-related, but as a Wiccan, I do make videos on the subject when I feel inspired to, so feel free to check it out if you'd like. Blessed be.

It was always the smell of campfire.. on a summer or winter night the feeling never changed.. I felt a calming feeling even alone I was at peace. I was drawn to the outdoors almost to much so, I spend a lot of time there and there’s a feeling of home.. my past aside to feel at home broke me open and I knew I had the wanderer following me till I was ready to have the talk and accept my roots. The tree of life has always sheltered is from the harshest storms! Hail to the gods!

I’m fairly open about my paganism, but I’m a babysitter, so I NEVER mention it around anyone I babysit for. I know the satanic panic wasn’t all that long ago and the archetype of the “satanic childcare worker” has ruined people’s lives. I’m also considering going into education in the future, so I know I need to be more careful in the future if I ever want to have a career in that field.

I never thought about how big of a deal this must be for some pagans. As an athiest, I realize it's a diffrent experience, but in some ways it can be simalar. I came out as an athiest to my family at 12 and my first though was "is this what it feels like to come out as gay?" A year later I realized I was a little bit gay too. I am out to my friends about that, but not my family, as I know they would think I am confused. The main difference is LGBT people seem to find each other pretty quickly and find community there, whereas with pagans that seems to be more difficult. I feel for anyone who has ever had to hide any part of themselves because of how people may receive them.

I, being originally from Alabama, feel your pain. I was a Christian. At eighteen I got a dragon tattoo and then put two symbols from the necronomicon around it (yes, I was an idiot), then two symbols that randomly popped into my mind (Did I mention that I was an idiot at that time?). Then the words Spirit Walker tattooed under the dragon, thought it sounded cool. I'll be 48 this year. I know what Spirit Walker means now and what the sigils mean that popped into my mind, all seems appropriate for my path. Been seeing runes in the candles flames lately, never felt called by the Norse Gods until recently. Always thought Odin was cool though (metalhead here) so there's that. Neat stuff.

Thank you so much for this video Ocean! It helps me alot,Hail the Aesir!

Having grown up in a very Catholic family, I'm still in multiple closets with most family members. Fortunately, living in another state lets me be more open most of the time. Coworkers have never given me any issue with being bi, non-binary, or heathen (though I don't know how many of them are super aware of all those aspects of me).

I'm growing up within a very Christian family. I'm constantly told how many gifts god has given me and taught about the story of Jesus. I also went to a catholic high school for most of freshman year until transferring to public school in the last month of that school year. I started learning more about this religion after finding a necklace in a shop with the Yggdrasil and felt a chill down my spine. I started following the religion after this experience but as people (few and far between) found out I was pagan, i got comments talking about the mythology being nothing more than another fairytale and of course, the stereotypical comments of me being a worshipper of the devil. I've stayed in the closet to keep from the having to deal with the headache that will come with being open about my beliefs while still surrounded by more closed minded people within my family and former friends

Living in Georgia myself, I wouldn't be surprised to be burned at the stake if I were to come out as a heathen

I live in a rural town in Southeast GA and am an eclectic heathen. I was around 16 when I first left Christianity(I'm 42 at the time of posting this) and at the time I didn't really know what I was, I knew I wasn't a Christian, I knew I wasn't an atheist, so I kinda looked around with the limited resources I had at my disposal. I still had to play at being Christian for years. I had to spend a long time in the broom closet, being in special education, I was heavily bullied by not only students, but also many members of school faculty and didn't want to bring down more bullying on myself. In my mid-20's I found a good medium that worked for me and still works for me. My base is non-racist Asatru(I hate having to use that term,but because of all the white power motherfuckers out there, I do), I also draw heavily from Khemitism, Taoism, Shontoism, Voodoo and Native American Shamanism. In my early 30's I came out of the broom closet with a vengeance after learning that 4 of my friends were pagans and would become aggressive and combative, to the point of getting up in other people's faces when other people in the community would start harassing them. I have been the victim of assaults, batteries, received death threats, had people shout all sorts of repulsive things at me when the drove by and even had one person who paid for an editorial to publish an editorial in the local newspaper that gave my name and current address, along with calling me a "devil worshiper". I wound up calling the newspaper to have the editorial redacted and when they refused, I threatened to lawyer up and they wound up not only redacting it from print, but also publishing a public apology. But the damage had already been done, I had people mail death threats to my house, a few bricked a couple of my windows, my house was egged several times, someone repeatedly slashed the tires on one of my friend's car just for hanging out with me, several people intentionally dumped trash in my yard, which in many cases had soiled diapers, someone printed up a bunch of posters with a photo they took of me when I was going into a store and set them up all around town with all sorts hateful messages and foul slurs, women who had known me since I was a child would publicly accuse me of corrupting the minds and souls of their kids and that I was responsible for "destroying this country". For about 6 years I went everywhere with as many weapons on me as I could carry, many of which I openly carried and would place my hand on one when someone started acting aggressive towards me. Now-a-days people don't really approach me with threats of violence or shout thing from their cars. Part of it I attribute it to a preacher about 4 years ago who transferred to a church here, his sister was a pagan and he had spent some time talking with her,he sat down with me and talked to me to find out what I was about(he wound up being transferred away by his church about 2 years after that), another part was when the kids of people I grew up with or their parents were adults when I was young would talk to me and found out what I was about and though what I am might not be for them, they found they could respect me, another part is that(mostly guys who are insecure in their own masculinity and sexuality) who called themselves "One of God's warriors" or "A soldier in the army of Jesus" found that they didn't want to come blustering with threats of violence and whatnot when they could face the real prospect of violencein return(it also didn't hurt that a group of fellow misfits, outcasts and rejects had all come together for mutual protection and camaraderie and at the drop of a hat, if any of us had called up any of the others talking about someone threatening one of us or physically hurting one of us, we would show up in force to defend one of our own by any means necessary), the final part as to why they leave me alone is that I started counter-proselytizing to them when they took it upon themselves to "save my soul" and they found that they didn't want to sit there and preach to me when I would in turn they would have to hear me preah about my gods and what they do for them every day. Now I don't know if my story is unique to me because of the town I live in and the circumstances I grew up in, or of other people have experienced have experienced similar. If you're being bullied and persecuted for your beliefs, I'm not going to say respond with violence, but you don't have to bow your head an take it, speak up, act out, draw attention, make them see there is real consequences to their actions and that what they're doing is not only harming you, but also negatively impacting their religion. Sorry about the long ranting post, but I kinda feel very strongly about a group of people who constantly go on about being persecuted and then turn around and actively persecute others.

I shit you not, the very first time I opened a book on Wicca at my local Barnes and Noble, a very concerned Christian woman ran up to me and informed me that I was "messing with dangerous forces," and that her friend who experimented in "the dark arts" became "possessed by the Devil!" Managed to weasel my way out of that by saying it was for a religious studies course at my college. Wish I'd had the guts to challenge her on her claims, but it was probably for the best that I didn't...

I live in a place that has a Christian majority and haven't been able to find a community locally, but I'm glad there is a community abroad at least.

Meeting my barber and a former member of the local chamber of commerce who spoke at my high school at pagan pride events was amusing and a pleasant surprise. I have been half in and out of the broom closet most of my 20 plus years on my path.

I’m still chillin in that broom closet.

I’ve recently started being more open in some aspects, but since I’ve started I’ve come to find more of my friends are heathen as well. We just never talked about it

I wear my Mjolnir Pendant out in public. I wore it at work and was stopped by an employee who tried to have a "come to Jesus" moment. We didn't speak at all prior to this, and after this encounter he continued to try and make small talk from time to time. The only people I'm not "out of the broom closet" to are my really religious grandparents.

The other day at the store I kept getting dirty looks because I had a pentacle on

My husband kinda knows I'm pagan. I haven't told him but he sees the books I read and videos I watch. Only this year did I start to include my family in celebrating pagan holidays. I still don't know how to explain to my kids what mommy believes in. My husband plus our whole family's are all christian. My oldest daughter if god or Jesus is brought up will say how much she loves them and how good they are. I am at a lose for words when that happens because I hoped my children to be pagan like me. Its frustrating but I do want my children to have a choice in what they believe. So I'm going to start sharing more with my children and try to not worry about what my family or my husbands feel about it.

I've experienced this with an online friend of mine. I didn't tell him that I was / am a Norse Pagan who just happens to work with two Egyptian gods for 6 months because I knew he wasn't going to take it well. In his eyes I was the girl who loves biology and that was as far as my identity went. To him, it's quite unfathomable that I can both love biology and be a polytheist, and nearly every time he brings up my beliefs he makes it seem like I'm a monotheist and by no means am I one. This done specifically when he Renton cizme worshipping, and I'm more annoyed with being put in a monotheistic framework than I am with anything else. He is not a Christian but he absolutely has a Christian mindset which I 100% despise. He leaves nothing but toxic positivity in his wake and now he has a RU-vid channel. Ironically, I'm still friend's with him, but by no means does he try to understand me because if it's not a part of his worldview he thinks it's not important or not real. He even kept on asking me if I was going to give up my religion in a specifically are you going to give it up in 2 years manner. I told him no but every time I talk about researching the gods or making an offering he brings it up. He'd basically be an anti-theist since he doesn't like atheists either. He likes to complain about religious people cherry picking religious texts when he cherry picks science. Yes, oh how much I wish he could understand that he's nothing but a freaking hypocrite. My family is indifferent to my religious views but they've known since the beginning, well technically, since in reality I've always believed in Set and Anubis but that's not how I would have described me thinking oh if it's not set or Anubis so you and your God are irrelevant to me whenever Jehovah's Witnesses would come to the door. My family members are mostly Roman Catholic or Baptist but they've always been open to other religions and I was taught about mythology very early well not Norse mythology but I digress. I'm allowed to own books on the Gods but I just don't have an altar for now

I’m lucky. I went from Christian, to agnostic atheist, to Buddhist, to agnostic atheist, to atheopagan, and nobody cares, except my mom and grandma, but I’m still close to them. We’re still stealthy when need be, though 😈 🪓

Does it matter that the closet is for brooms and not for clothes or coats? :)

As someone who works in home healthcare in south GA, the broom closet is my life. I'm open about my journey with my fiance of course, and some friends, but at work you have to watch what you say. I'm also half Hispanic (Spanish and Italian) and my trainer told me not to disclose that I am anything but European white because they would call me an illegal Mexican and try to report me (it's happened before) so my religious ideas were definitely on lock down for awhile just out of fear of losing my job. I'm so happy I found a private home health job with a client who himself is atheist and very open minded and respectful of my views. His family not so much so I still have to be on guard, but at least I feel more freedom.

3:12 in, that exact thing happened to me (different field of employment) in Michigan, my old Chef bullied myself and another Sous Chef until we quit because she "Wasn't Christian enough" and I was "A worshiper of false Idols". He also questioned my mother's faith in Christ because of my personal belifes...at which point I asked him if he'd like to go out back so I could write HIS "sin's" in the dirt ( i knew he had been cheating on his wife with the head waitress)

You know I've seen people attack the term "broom closet" because it appropriates queer language, but as a queer pagan I think it's somewhat apt, because Pagans too are oppressed by the Christian culture that surrounds us and in fact I am more comfortable talking about queer identity than pagan identity today because it has significantly more defenders

I'm happy that my fate was to be born in Portugal. Here the non-Christian folk are not afraid of losing their jobs or being ostracized of their family thanks to their religion. But to everyone out there that needs strength to show their true selves to the world I wish you good luck and you have this community suport that I was lucky enough to stumble upon while searching for norse mythology in RU-vid. May the gods be with you.

I love how wolf called the jet ski a "water Harley"🤣

I absolutely love the term broom closet! These stories remind me so much of living as a closeted transgender man; my decision to come out was to embolden others who are closeted around me, similar to the sentiments you expressed at the end of this video. It's funny, my parents seemed to have a much easier time understanding my broom closet reveal as some form of pagan (maybe because they're a couple of agnoatic old hippies), but have had a hard time wrapping their minds around my being trans (at least they are supportive).

In the winter of 2009, I gifted all of my books, my athame, and my triple moon pendant to my best-friend. They were the last pieces of my "Pagan life" as I began my conversion to Catholicism. It hurt a hell of a lot, (there was outside pressure) but I was a doing my best as a wee lamb. October of 2019 I began what I told everyone was research for a book I was writing (not wholly untrue), and began learning again. Two days ago, I made my first true act of disobedience and I ordered an Odin statue and a Janus coin. And so the foundations of the pantheon are laid. The closet door handle is a-rattlin' now.

I’m still a closeted Hellenist. I converted when I was sixteen and had to still feign Christianity around my relatives. Growing up in the South, the people absolutely despise atheists, and Pagans are even worse. I’ve had my relatives talk about Pagans and dehumanize them by calling them demons, murderers, destroyers, blasphemers, and more. Luckily, my other relatives out of state are all-accepting. The conversion was made even worse given that I’m also a gay man. With both of those stacked, it’s been very difficult to thrive where I live. Oftentimes, Christians come after me at work or in random public spaces and tell me I’m going to hell or something of the sort. I’m currently working towards moving with my accepting family.

I grew up Christian. Frankly, the culture of American Southern Christianity has turned me so far from that faith. I never fully connected with it, but it's what I had to believe to be saved so I forced myself to adhere to it. Only within this past year have I started following what feels right for me. I graduated from Bible College with a BA in Bible and Theology and I graduated from Seminary with a MA in Christian Education. One of the school books I read (and actually agreed with and deeply connected with) shared that experience is often more important than intellectual memorization when it comes to personal formation. That's why ritual is so important. Unfortunately, many of my experiences in the church and in these Christian environments has been harmful and distasteful. I've been a hospital Chaplain (Pastor/Minister) for 5 years. I've worked with countless patients and families experiencing the worst day of their lives. I've been at the bedside of over 50 baby deaths and over 200 adult deaths. There's been some truly traumatic days. During a day off, I was walking with my family at their place of work, which supports missionaries. They met a coworker -- a missionary -- and introduced me to her. They told her that I was a hospital Chaplain. Rather than seeing me as a partner in ministry, she turned up her nose and with disgust asked rhetorically, "Do they even let you preach the Gospel there?" I was shocked and hurt and deeply angered. She didn't give a damn about the people I met. She didn't know a single thing about me or the emotional/spiritual scars I carry from my work. All that mattered to her was whether or not the Gospel was preached. Ugh. When I read the Bible during my studies, I learned that the whole point of the Gospel was to share good news -- to bring healing and hope to people who were hurting. The majority of Christians I know don't give a damn about people, hope or healing. They want to be right and have power over others, and they use their beliefs to manipulate and subdue. It's disgusting. Hearing the stories in this video gives me a sense of community. I know I'm not the only one who has been mistreated. I doubt I will EVER disclose to my family my interest in the pagan traditions.

I've had some very interesting reactions to my religion. I think my personal favorite was when I was having a conversation with an individual who was preaching at a Walmart. I spoke with him for a time because I never pass up an opportunity to have these conversations (I'm some kind of masochist like that). At one point I decided to reveal that I'm a Polytheist. A disappointed look fell upon his face and he lost all interest in preaching to me. Fishers of men indeed...

I appreciate your content. I'm new to being a Norse Pagan. I'm not sure ifni can even call myself that or earned the right. I'm still learning alot. However I already about the broom closet. One day I hope to be in a stable and comfortable place where I can be open about being Norse Pagan and know enough to argue my beliefs in a structured and logical manner. I already for a fact I'll be ostracized from the family, as most are from the southern states (The Bible Belt) and below. But converting from Christianity as you said (to me) wasn't really a choice but I'm called and drawn to it.

I don't know if i am in the broom closet per say, I wear pagan stuff all the time, I have an entire shelf for my alter (I live with my parents), my mom actully bought me the Prose Edda, but I am Autistic/ADHD and I have special interests/ hyperfixations on things and religons have been past a common hyperfixation of mine. Greek, Egyptian, Celtic, even Norse when I was in elementry school but now that I know myself more I this I am drawn to in a religous way not in a hyperfixation way. But I really think unless I say it my family and people around me who know me will just think I am athiest. But funny story my very Christan Grandma and Aunt actually complemented my rune necklace I was wearing then had me explain runes to them and were actully intristed so thats pretty cool for me, but also my Aunt gave me an angle statue so you never know. I'm probabally unintentionally in the broom closet for my whole family and most my friends i havent told even though i'm quite open lol.

Also, if you're near any POC communities, you definitely know at least some Polytheists, if not Pagans (I make the distinction because Buddhists consider Asian tribal beliefs to be Pagan)

I'm still in the closet but being norse pagan is still very new to me. I come from a Catholic family so I'm unsure how to approach such a conversation. A lot of my friends are also very judgemental so I feel like I'm definitely going to lose friends over it when I do get the confidence.

Wow! I'm so glad I just happened upon this chanle of like minded thought and fellow Heathens!