Pentacles and College Mix Well in Texas

About a month ago, I bought a cute little pentacle choker necklace at the Scarborough Faire down here in Waco, TX.

Now, I have been out with my family and friends for a great many years and I used to own a beautiful pentacle when I was younger. I have been out with them for about 6 years now. However, I let go of my old necklace and have been without one for the past 4 years.

My pentacle necklace I bought at Scarborough Faire

So, I was kind of worried about the reception at school and work about my new pentacle and stressed about it over the weekend. I even started thinking about what I would say to someone if they asked me. Should I tell them about what the pentacle means itself, or about my religion as a whole, or maybe this, maybe that, maybe maybe maybe? I saw online that someone had said their pentacle had been mistake for a Star of David and their response was, "Well, it used to be a Star of David but I ate bacon and a point fell off." (I am totally going to use this if I ever get the chance.)

But come Monday, no one said a negative word about it. In fact, I even got two compliments! I was surprised, and after a week of nothing but weird looks my fears abated. Even my co-workers and boss didn't mind about my new outness. My boss even gave me a magazine of the Pyramid Collection (http://www.pyramidcollection.com/default.asp) and told me that she had gone to the Renaissance Fairs when they had just started up.

I am young -only 20 years old- and going to a community college for an AAS in Interpreting. In the community that I will be interpreting for the majority of people are Christians and very involved with their churches. My professor is even a pastor's wife. Despite the overt influence of Christianity, my reception pretty much went the same way, but there was absolutely no talk of my necklace. The "worst" that had happened was two different discussions of religions, both unrelated to the pentacle I am wearing. For these people, I am sure they kept their opinions to themselves, not because they are Christian but because they are typically very vocal about other religion issues, even in class. For instance, in class we had to explain why the removal of religion in schools had caused the young in the community to have no manners.

Maybe the reason I haven't gotten a bad reaction may well be because I am in a community college.  I am not too sure about that simply because when I was out in High School, I still didn't have any bad reactions. There were people who would come up to me and ask questions or ask for a tarot reading (I would sometimes bring my cards to school) or ask for me to teach them what I knew (which I admitted wasn't much). Most of the time, people just didn't care so much.

The non-reactions may well be because the two things you don't discuss are Religion and Politics. Perhaps the people I am surrounded by really don't care one way or another who or what I worship. Perhaps I have made such an impact on those around me that they don't think poorly of me. Perhaps my "normal" dressing style also has an impact because I am not the stereotypical Goth. Possibly, all of these are true. Whatever it is, I haven't experienced any ill will in this conservative state of Texas and that is a surprise in and of itself.

Perhaps the day that all the Pagan Elders have dreamed of has finally come, a day in which being a pagan has no influence on how people view or treat you, a day which your personality is the key and not your religion. Perhaps we are more accepted than we previously thought. Or perhaps people are so tired of arguing that they keep their mouths shut and just go about their business. Either way, it turns out as a good day for us.