My Old Lady is a Witch

Does it really need pointing out before I start that I'm out of the broom closet? Maybe. So, I am, in every way, people know I'm a witch. That said, something came up in conversation last night that started me thinking about paganism/Wicca/witchcraft etc and how much more part of the 'common' vocabulary it is these days.

The Demon's standard line to those people he likes enough to invite to our house is "You know my old lady is a witch, right?" Which as you can imagine has been met with a number of different responses, none of them THAT bad - Demon is big guy, and as I said it only comes up to people he LIKES lol.
Yesterday he was telling me that he had that conversation with one of his apprenti, C, and was surprised when C turned around and not only said the fairly common "What Wiccan?", but also knew all about it. So I started thinking back on some of the conversations that I've had on the subject as well as those Demon has related and realized that while "What Wiccan?" is probably the commonest response, there seems to be a variance in the tone? setting? of the conversation depending on whether the person is older or younger. Younger people seem much more at ease and familiar with the idea and with talking about it as matter of factly as they might discuss the price of gas, whereas older people seem to feel the need to have the conversation in a corner in hushed tones even when the content of the conversation is the same.

Curious. A generational thing? While I can't quote Demon's conversations since I only ever get the secondhand summary, mine tend to run along a couple of similar lines.

Older: In hushed tones in a quiet corner - "So I hear you're a, um, ah, um....."
"Yes, I'm a witch"
"Oh." Pause. "A white witch? Like a Wiccan?"
"Yeah, something like that."
"Ok."
Depart older person to ponder that until next time.

Younger: Some lull in conversation, any time, any place, any company
"So you're a witch?"
"Yes."
"Cool," Pause almost always followed by specific questions - frequently involving reading tarot.

I really hadn't put it together until last night but that is generally how it runs, which suggests to me that paganism, Wicca and witchcraft really are becoming part of mainstream life these days. Apparently even among bible carrying Christians like those my roomie works with.

Roomie wears a pentacle, mine actually that I gave to him (a story in itself), and the first time his workmates saw it he got the usual reactions. Yes, including "You know that's a sign of the devil?" from Trent. Bless him.

Kev on the other hand asked Roomie if he knew what it was, Roomie said yes and said he got it from me. Kev was ok with that, then Roomie added that I'm a practising witch, again Kev was cool with that too. Poor Trent is probably still lifting his jaw off the floor though! Guessing Trent isn't going to be my biggest fan ;)

Anyway, that was what I was thinking about last night, figured I can't be the only one noticing something similar. Not sure if Paganism/Wicca etc is becoming part of the general vocabulary, or pop culture, or mainstream life or what, but it is nice to find people having half a clue when they have that conversation, even if they are often unclear, and sometimes plain wrong, on specifics. Ignorance can be fixed - stupid and prejudice can't ;) Besides, like everything else, we have so much specific terminology that only an 'insider' knows, I'll settle for roughly accurate generalities among those around me.