Beginning one�s college years is one of the most exciting and scariest times of your life. Many are moving away from home and their close friends for the first time. For college pagans, this can be a doubly stressful time, as finding positive relationships accepting of your practices and beliefs can be much more difficult than when forming common friendships.

Often times, the danger in being a young witch away from home for the first time is not in finding accepting friends, but in finding worthwhile friends. It is this issue I would like to address before the fall semester starts for those of us arriving for the first time or returning to school.

The first year of attending school far away from home can be a very lonely time. You don�t know anyone, you�re meeting a variety of people you aren�t accustomed to being around, and you�re long held views of the world are changing in the face of your new experiences. It is a very vulnerable time for any individual to be in this environment.

When faced with these issues, college students jump into any relationship, whether is be friendship or membership into a group, with little thought other than to escape loneliness and find acceptance. For a witch, it seems a no-brainer to grasp on to the first group of pagans you meet, happy to find individuals who not only understand your beliefs, but practicing them as well.

I cannot emphasize how potentially negative this kind of situation can turn out to be for you unless you are careful. Yes, it is true that there is nothing innately wrong about making friends or about making new pagan friends, but you must remember that just because the individual says they are pagan does not mean that they are necessarily knowledgeable people or good people.

There are a number of things to consider when forming relationships on campus among pagans on campus:

1. Think about why the people or person you have met has decided to be a pagan. Are they in it for the spirituality, the power, or maybe to just find a new identity?

2. Is the paganism or magic the others are practicing similar to yours or are the foundations different?

3. Are you being pressured by an individual or a group into doing things or believing things you feel are wrong?

4. Are some of your personal practices being ridiculed or not accepted by the group or individual? Know-it-all witch syndrome is pretty common among college pagans.

5. Is there a tension within a pagan group on campus?

6. Is the campus pagan group trying to be an informal coven without actually having the proper knowledge and leadership to do so?

These are just a few questions you should ask yourself when meeting people on campus.

There is nothing wrong with making pagan friends, but do not stay in a negative relationship because they are pagans and you�re afraid to be left alone. It is alright to join a pagan student association, but beware the pseudo-covens you often find on campus. And, remember that your time in college is not a permanent situation. Feel free to make friends with a local established coven, but do not disrupt them by trying to join them unless you will definitely be in that location for a few years.

I would advocate taking your time spent away at school to be a time for cultivating yourself as a solitary witch. Explore your beliefs and magic, and become confident in your own abilities. Go out, meet people, and make friends, but remember this: You do not need the acceptance of others to be a pagan or a witch. Guidance and support are wonderfully positive and helpful energies in your life, but the ultimate responsibility for your spiritual cultivation is up to you. (butterfly)