The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

Hi! So I have a question, How would someone start practicing a pagan religion in the closet? Like setting up an alter, praying, meditating, performing rituals, etc. I probably won't be starting to practice until I tell my mom, but everything religion related has been going faster than I expect, so I am working out a back up plan.

So, any ideas?

 
When I was a teen, I worshiped in the closet. My parents are both very strict and Catholic, so I wasn't really "allowed" to deviate from that. When I brought it up to my mother that I didn't want to go through with Confirmation, I was pretty much told I do it or suffer the (dire as hell) consequences (dad had some temper issues at the time, I'll just say). I wasn't allowed to have anything that was obviously "witchy" or "pagany" because of this, even though at first I never mentioned converting to paganism, just that I didn't feel comfortable being Catholic. Anything from any other religion was considered contraband at that point, so long as it was something my parents considered a "valid" religion.

However, I was able to get my hands on candles, bowls, and other items to 'decorate' my room. I used those in rituals on my nightstand. Also the fact that I had been obsessed with Ancient Egypt since I was a kid, so I was able to get little statues of deities that way without alerting my parents to anything "suspicious" since to them they didn't consider any of that religious, since it was so old and "no one does that anymore; it's not a real religion". I just didn't organize them in any specific way unless I was specifically praying or doing a ritual. My bedroom didn't have a door on it, so I had to save doing rituals for when my dad wasn't home because he would have been able to see what I was up to if I did it while he wasn't at work. Prayer I just did quietly before bed.

My parents are the variety of Catholic that do a shrine, so they knew what a religious space looked like. This is the main reason I had to be especially sneaky with my statues and offering bowls. If your mother is not the shrine flavor of Catholic, however, it might be easier to hide an altar in plain sight it an altar is something you really want. A permanent altar is definitely not required, though. I had a small travel altar I would take with me to parks, the woods, wherever I really felt was a good place to be alone with my thoughts and with the gods.

Incense was another thing I could get away with because my mother liked incense and tended to use it fairly often, so it seemed natural for me to get into it, too. My parents couldn't really use the computer (they don't know how), so I could research as much as my little heart wanted. Books were out of the question, though, unless I read them in the actual bookstore while with my friends or read my friends' copies at their houses.

Now, I'm out to my parents completely, they are aware of my choice and have mostly accepted it by this point. I have an altar in my living room since I live alone, but I didn't have one for five years while I still lived with my parents. It's hard to not be able to practice exactly as you want, but it is definitely doable, especially if you keep in mind that it's only a temporary situation. That mind frame really does help to make the situation more bearable.

It's very easy to hide a shrine or altar in plain sight. Pick a normal piece of furniture for the surface, like a dresser or an end table. Make sure the ritual objects you choose are all "pretty" and look decorative (this is surprisingly easy), and arrange them in an artful fashion. This last bit is a lot of fun, actually!

It works best if all the objects on the altar/shrine look like they're part of a concerted effort to be decorative - if they "go together" aesthetically. You could have lots of dragon-themed items, or everything could match the color scheme of your room. I hope that makes sense?

 
The antique dressers I use (first one, then the other) both have kinda crappy tops, so I bought a couple yards of nice crushed velvet to cover it. My first altar (on the dresser with the mirror) had purple velvet, then after I'd bought black for mourning the loss of my dog a couple years ago and moved on (for lack of a better phrase), I started using that (and still do) on my tall dresser for my shrine to Quan Yin.

(Unrelated note: the purple velvet lives on as the headliner on my Jeep. It looks like a pimp truck. )