Why hello again, internet. It’s been awhile.
In the meantime, I’ve made contact. Yes, I showed my face (in public!) to meet up with a small group of fellow Pagans. I’ve met them three times now. They’re very nice.
I would say more about my fellow Pagans and my thoughts upon meeting them. But this leads to the more pressing issue of just how specific I ought to get on this blog. You can see that I’m speaking English, and probably have a good shot at guessing which country I’m in. But should I tell you for sure? Should I hint at which region of my country I live in?
Ha! I just noticed that in my first post I mentioned that I am American. There’s one detail I can’t hide anymore.
I suppose any blog by a Pagan ought to have nature pictures. And I suppose that some of the astute naturalists among you may see my pictures, recognize the living things in them, and figure out roughly where I live.
Look, I just showed you that it’s cold here. I just revealed a bit more than I needed to.
It’s not that I’m scared that people will find out that I’m a Pagan. My immediate family would probably not be surprised. My extended family certainly would be surprised, but I don’t intend to tell them any time soon. I think my friends and colleagues would be surprised to find me embracing any sort of religion, and that Paganism is not especially more surprising than any other. In fact, I think a full-throated endorsement of Christianity would be more surprising to most who know me.
You’ll note that I’m using “Paganism” as if it were a single religion and not a broad category of religions. That’s because I haven’t yet been initiated into any particular tradition, and in any case I’m not ready to reveal which tradition I’m studying. There, I just refrained from revealing something worth revealing.
This whole “making contact” thing is tricky business. I need contacts, I need friends. But I also feel the need to be discreet. Every time I go sit at Starbucks with members of the local Shrine, I take the risk that someone I know will see me at a table full of people wearing pentacles. Every word I write on the blog, I take the risk that it will somehow link the blog back to my real identity.
But it’s worth the risk if it means making contact.
