LadyCatW asked this question on 2/26/2000:

I have had discussions - both on and offline - in regards to a crisis of faith within Wicca.

In my experience, it very much relates to what you believed as you grew up. One who was raised a Christian, but follows another path in adulthood may tend to "fear hell" - whereas someone raised as an athiest or agnostic will more "fear delusion."

What are your experiences? And how do you deal with them?

VintageMama gave this response on 3/8/2000:

When I discovered Wicca, I realized it was who I was all along. When I finally had the name for the love in my heart, the reasoning of my decisions, everything seemed so GOOD. It was my path, my way, my reason. I was raised Christian, and I remember as a child having such faith that God was a Good God. I didn't understand all the fear stuff, although the whole idea of hell was a bit scary. My joy in discovering my path was absolutely impossible to hide. I wasn't afraid to show my love for nature, wasn't afraid to speak about God and Goddess in a loving manner. And it freaked my whole family out. I didn't preach, I just wasn't afraid anymore. My friends would raise their eyebrows, My (former)fiance thought I was going through a faze. And I started to doubt myself. I had nothing to fall back on, no one to talk to, (Being a solitaire)and a family who thought I was turning into a "flake". This was my crisis. Was my son going to think I was a flake? Or would my family convince him that the path I chose was wrong? That the way I saw the world and taught him about the world was "strange". I've always been an active dreamer. BIG dreams all the time. One of those things I didn't talk about growing up, because it didn't sit well with the fam. I decided the answer would come there, if I could focus! And my Goddess came to me, in the dream,She was in a polaroid picture. Someone said "She's your mother". dressed in green flowing and billowing material, She walked down a church isle, as if to be married. Her face was pure joy, she was health. She held a crystal ball in her hands, as if offering it to me. This dream revealed that she was with me, going through the transition from Maiden to Mother with me. All I had to do was gaze into the future with her, we would be joined. So, though this crisis wasn't the last or the biggest, it gave me a template for dealing with doubt in my faith. Inner contemplation, and complete trust in Goddess and God.

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