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Set Up a Pagan Kids’ Altar
If you have a family altar, that’s great! It’s a nice thing to have, whether you keep it up all year round or just bring it out seasonally. However, if you’re a Pagan or Wiccan parent, you may want to go ahead and let your kids have their very own altar. After all, an altar is a place where we keep things that are sacred to us — but what is sacred to children and what is sacred to adults can be two very different things. This is why it’s a great idea to encourage your kids to have an altar of their own in their bedrooms — it becomes a…
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Samhain Rite for Kids
If you’re raising kids in a Pagan tradition, it can sometimes be hard to find rituals and ceremonies that are both age appropriate and celebrate the aspects of the particular Sabbat. Factor in that small children tend to have a shorter attention span, and the days of standing in a circle for an hour watching someone chant are pretty much out of reach. That said, there are plenty of ways you can celebrate the different Sabbats with your children. This ritual is designed to celebrate Samhain with younger kids. Obviously, if your children are older, or you have younger kids who are very focused and mature, you may not need…
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The Silly Sacred School Supplies Celebration
This is a ritual that I originally posted on my About.com site, but it has vanished into the aether, after About became ThoughtCo, and eventually LearnReligions. However, school is starting up again for a lot of us, so I wanted to share this, because it’s ridiculously fun, and it’s a great way to transition your kids into a new year with a new teacher, and celebrate your spirituality in a goofy and irreverent way. The Silly Celebration of the Sacred School Supplies In many Pagan traditions, it’s customary to consecrate your magical tools before beginning your practice. This creates a magical link between you, the tools, and the divine, and…
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Teaching Minors About Pagan Spirituality
Here’s a quickie preliminary disclaimer: Keep in mind that for the purposes of this discussion, we’re NOT talking about teaching your own kids. This is a question about teaching spiritual principles and practices to someone else’s child. Anyhoo, away we go. One of the emails I get a LOT goes along the following lines: “I’m really excited to learn about Paganism, but no one will teach me! By the way, I’m thirteen–can you help me?” There are some pretty important implications of teaching Pagan religions (or any other religions, for that matter) to someone who’s underage, and a number of points that need to be addressed. Particularly when it comes…
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Can I Lie to My Parents About Paganism?
This is an older post that was originally on my AboutDotCom page, but has vanished into the aether thanks to reorganization. I wanted to share it here, because when I go to festivals and other events, I talk to a TON of people, many of them teens and young adults, who have issues with family being… less than supportive. If you’re a Young Seeker and mom/dad/grandma/Aunt Thelma are struggling with acceptance of your beliefs, this one’s for you: ———– A reader asks, My parents don’t think I should study Wicca because our family is Christian. I’m thinking about just telling them I’m not studying Wicca, but doing it anyway and just…
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10 Things To Study In Addition to Paganism
This is an article that originally was published on my About Paganism page, when it was part of the AboutDotCom network, but has since vanished because of changes and weird restructuring. ———————————- I know, it stinks. You finally sat down and had The Big Talk with your parents and they still won’t let you practice Wicca — or any other form of Paganism — in their house. It’s not fair, you might just hate them for a few minutes, and they’re the meanest parents ever. Take heart — there’s a positive side to this. If you can’t practice Paganism while you live under their roof, that means you’ll have all…
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Celebrating Beltane with Kids
Every year, we talk about Beltane and fertility and the horned god and the warm earth and blah blah blah, and every year I get messages from parents who are like “My kid is four, do I really have to talk about the erect phallus of the god?” Well, nooooooo, of course not, because this is modern Paganism and you can celebrate anything you like in the way that best suits you and your family. A lot of people don’t focus on fertility for Beltane at all, because it excludes a lot of relationships, but that’s a conversation for a whole ‘nother post. So, what’s a Pagan parent to do,…
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Samhain Ritual for Families with Kids
If you’re raising kids in a Pagan tradition, it can sometimes be hard to find rituals and ceremonies that are both age appropriate and celebrate the aspects of the particular Sabbat. Factor in that small children tend to have a shorter attention span, and the days of standing in a circle for an hour watching someone chant are pretty much out of reach. That said, there are plenty of ways you can celebrate the different Sabbats with your children. This ritual is designed to celebrate Samhain with younger kids. Obviously, if your children are older, or you have younger kids who are very focused and mature, you may not need…
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The Celebration of the Silly Sacred School Supplies
This is a ritual that I originally posted on my About.com site, but it has vanished into the aether, after About became ThoughtCo. However, school is starting up again for a lot of us, so I wanted to share this, because it’s ridiculously fun, and it’s a great way to transition your kids into a new year with a new teacher, and celebrate your spirituality in a goofy and irreverent way. The Silly Celebration of the Sacred School Supplies In many Pagan traditions, it’s customary to consecrate your magical tools before beginning your practice. This creates a magical link between you, the tools, and the divine, and even the universe…
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Pagan Kids & Jesus Stuff
If you’re a Pagan parent, there’s a good chance you’re raising your kids as Pagan as well. And if that’s the case, you can be assured that at some point, one of your children is going to start wondering about Jesus. It may be something perfectly innocuous, like “Why is that naked baby in the manger at Christmastime?” or it may be something with a bit more depth, like, “My friend Sam told me Jesus loves me, and I don’t even know who that is.” Either way, at some point, you’re going to have to sit down with your little ones and discuss Jesus, Christianity, and the fact that your…
