My friends? They’re Christian actually. I actually don’t have any friends who are Wiccan. There’s a gal at work who used to be Wiccan, now she’s agnostic. There’s another gal at work I talk to who is Pagan. But no Wiccans. 
I don’t know why no Wiccans, but no Wiccans. To me that’s all right, as I am a solitary anyways.
My friends are tolerant of me, although a couple of them are less tolerant of my faith than others are. My best friend still harbors hope that I will return to the flock of Christianity. She’s surprised that so far that hasn’t happened. I’ve been studying Wicca for 4 years now and I’m happy. I think she’s finally starting to see that.
However, I do admit, sometimes it would be nice to talk about Wicca with someone who understands it because that’s who they are as well. That’s right people, being Wiccan is not WHAT you are it’s WHO you are. Being Wiccan means embracing all that is YOU and celebrating all that is YOU. You aren’t afraid to be different, you aren’t afraid to be yourself, for THIS is how the Goddess & God created you. You are doing what you do best, you are being YOU.
Well, at least that’s MY perception of it anyways.
Continue reading And Your Friends Are?
You know, being of what some people like to call an “alternative faith,” I have noted that in some cases there can be a problem when it comes to having a job. For instance, although it is not actually legal to deny someone employment based on their religion, there are a few companies that do it anyways.
A local trucking company is one of them. A friend of mine went for an interview there and during the course of the interview, the owner of the trucking company asked him about his faith. Now my friend is a Christian, so he told the owner that he is Christian and what church he attends. The owner told him that was good, that he only hired good, God-fearing employees. If you didn’t have ties to a church, you wouldn’t be hired.
Businesses like Chick-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby also have a stand towards faith…. both are closed on Sundays with the purpose of giving employees “time for worship and family.” Last time I saw the sign on Hobby Lobby’s doors, worship was literally before family. But both businesses make sure they are closed on Sundays to allow their employees time for church. But what about those of us whose holy days aren’t just on Sundays? What about those of us who have our days scattered throughout the week? We have to ask for our holy days off, and you don’t have to give them to us. While you can’t legally fire us for asking for a day that is a holy day for us, you can still deny us the day off. I know this because it’s been done to me.
Another sticking point is that I have seen several cases of workplaces telling one employee to remove their pentacle necklace, yet allowing five or six others to keep their crosses or stars of david on their necks. I remember clearly my ex-roommate’s supervisor telling her boss that she wasn’t comfortable with Nich wearing the pentacle necklace. Her boss was actually smart about it though and told the woman that it was a religous symbol, a symbol of Nich’s faith, and that legally they could not ask her to remove it. At least he made sure he followed civil rights laws.
I’ve never had any problems relating to my faith at work. I count myself lucky. I’ve been reading about people creating “safe haven” communities for Wiccans and Pagans. I often wonder why. I’ve never experienced anything that has made me fear for my life or anything else when it comes to my faith. Have you?
Continue reading Working with Alternative Faith
Now frankly, they can’t be too harsh about religions because their patients are certainly not all Catholic. However, they can be a bit on the annoying side. When you register as a patient you have to give a religious preference. If your faith isn’t listed, or you don’t have one at all, you’re listed in their system as non-denominational. I know this for a fact because that is how I am listed in their patient system. Wicca and Pagan are not options.
Working there however, was pretty straightforward. I wore my pentacle necklace on many occasions. Rarely did anyone actually understand what it was, and those who did just shrugged it off as if to say to each their own. One would have thought that someone of my faith wouldn’t have been able to work in a Catholic run hospital, but really, I don’t think the church has as much to do with it as it used to. Sure, they have the priests and the nuns, but they also have Native Americans who come in there and perform various rites and ceremonies over ill or dying patients who are of Native American descent. Nothing is said to these people. Then again, they aren’t employees.
The only problems I ever encountered was trying to get my holy days off. Very rarely was I able to take a day off on the day of a Sabbat and frankly, since they weren’t recognized as holidays, with the exception of Halloween which wasn’t technically a holiday to them, I usually had problems getting the nights in question off. Other than that, I never encountered any problems with being employed by the hospital and being of an “alternative” faith.
Continue reading Working at the Catholic Hospital
