When I first decided to journey down the pagan pathway, I knew it was not going to be something I would regularly talk openly about. Its as if were still in the midst of a Renaissance inquisition…maybe not as severe or deadly, but the amount of ridicule and odd looks certainly deters the desire to have such a conversation. Despite the fact that countries like the United States are supposed to have religious tolerance, there are too many people stuck on mainstream religion that social persecution â€" even mildly â€" persists. What makes it a bit frustrating for me is that I am a very vocal person â€" I love to participate in deep discussions as well as in healthy debates â€" debates that are not arguments, but a give-and-take interchange of ideas for the purpose of arriving at a mutual understanding of each other (and certainly not to get the others to give up what they believe in or to try to convince them they are wrong). The bottom line for me is that Im very expressive and usually am quite comfortable in letting you know about who I am.

But we know there are too many people out there who flat out refuse to accept who we are much less make an attempt to understand why we believe and follow the Old Ways. This is due to fear, of course. Fear of what? Letting go? No one is asking them to do that. That they might be wrong? But thats their choice to make, not ours. Fear that their god might punish them or that their devil might take over their souls? Could be, since thats what seems to be propagated by their church leaders. At any rate, its because of these people that many of us pagans are leery about letting the world know who we are.

A few years ago, it suddenly occurred to me the number of people I have met throughout my life who have given up their religious beliefs and turned to spirituality. Many still cling to their Christian perception of God, but do not desire to go to church or belong to any religious organization any longer due to the same reasons many of us turned away. One such person, a family friend and an amateur pilot, who used to be a devout Catholic, would take me flying in his four-seat Grumman touring plane. Once we got up to a few thousand feet, on a clear Saturday morning, feeling as if the plane was simply floating peacefully in the crystal blue sky, hed say to me, "This is where I find God."

There were those, too, that came into my life now and then, even if momentarily, that followed pagan pathways of all sorts â€" not just Wicca, but Neo-Druidism, Hellenists, Reiki, Yoga, Zen, to name a few â€" and have told me about their ways. Whether they heavily focused on meditation, crystals, energy healing, etc. they all felt comfortable with telling me about themselves and what they follow and why.

These people were messengers, of course. I know that now. But how did they know that it was OK to talk to me? I wasnt pagan then, however nor was I a Catholic anymore. I no longer believed in the Christian god, but I was quite skeptical about many of the things I saw around me, even of new ideas. Still, they knew they could talk to me without fear or ridicule. Why? How? Intuition! Thats how.

Ive always been intuitive, but I just didnt know it until about 9 or 10 years ago when a good friend, a Reiki apprentice (shes a master now) explained it to me. My mother always said I was "just too sensitive"…well, true. I was. My friend, however, explained that what was really happening to me was that I constantly pick up on other peoples emotions and states-of-mind, and incorporating these emotions as my own without realizing it…therefore, crying or suddenly becoming angry for no reason at all. She taught me how to control this and how to protect myself from being bombarded by outside emotions, especially the negative ones…and yet still be able to sense things about people around me. Now that I look back on it, this was the point I began walking down the pagan path. I didnt turn to Wicca until a little over 3 years ago, but during this time I did a lot of studying (of all sorts of ways), meditating, balancing, and practicing energy flow. Sure, I was undisciplined and very much inconsistent in my practices â€" Wicca gave me the focus I needed. But the one thing â€" the one gift â€" I consistently explored, developed and strengthened was my intuition. And still do.

We are intuitive and, regardless of what many people in the world might think, we all use it. Its a question of how much we should rely on it and accept that intuition, when understood and followed, never steers us wrong. Its that part of us that I believe connects us to the quantum spirituality Ive recently begun to hear and read about (I should say that I knew the quantum was there, but didnt know what it was called). It serves as a scout and a guide…going out ahead of ourselves, so to speak, to let us "know" what to expect or whats really going on.

And thats how I meet people like us…and avoid people I know would not be willing to share and learn from each other. It works for me like this: my words flow easily and freely when the person Im with is open to learning and sharing …and theres a hesitation or a pause, almost as if my words dont want to come out, when the person Im with isnt receptive to new ideas. This has always happened to me, but before I learned what was going in, I would force the words out…and end up stumbling and sounding uncertain and confused. Unfortunately, because I had ignored my "gut feeling", I often got into trouble or became an object of ridicule. And those times I refused to share because of this fear…people often mistook my silence (unwillingness to share at all) as shyness.

It was during a Wicca Full Moon ritual that I came to understand how my intuition worked for me in this sense. It began by wanting to know how I could tell if a woman was the "right one" for me…how to tell if she was my soul-mate. I asked the Goddess for guidance. After the ritual, I went to sleep. The next morning I began to write...no reason…just suddenly started writing. I found myself not only describing what I desire in a soul-mate…but how I would know it was her when I met her. One phrase, which I kept referring to, said it all: "May my words flow with ease when…"

This powerful tool of ours is definitely a gift from the gods. With the world heading towards the next level of spiritual awakening, it is increasingly important that we find and meet others like us â€" especially those who are not sure what is going on but are curious about what we follow…those disillusioned with the mainstream traditional beliefs. Follow your intuition â€" in whatever way it speaks to you. Your intuition will guide you to others like us.

And you know whats really amazing? There are so many more people out there like us then we realize!

About the Author: Kevin PJ McCaully has studied Wicca for several years and resides in Costa Rica.