I'm never quite sure how to respond to that comment. It usually happens after someone has visited my office a few times. They see all of the things you would expect to see - a computer, a phone, business books arranged on a non-descript bookshelf, a whiteboard with the next quarter's projections - and then one day they notice the other things.
The comments and questions start innocently enough, "Is that a picture of your wife?", "Wow! Your son looks just like you", "Your daughter is a cutie. How old is she?"
It moves quickly to "Is that lavender I smell? Most guys don't keep dried flowers in their office. Are they from your wedding or something?"
The really brave or observant visitors quizzically ask "I like the bark, seashell, feather, candle and little statue. What are they?"
And it's about that time that I start doing those mental gymnastics. I ponder on how I'm going to respond. The Direct Approach. The Tap dance around the subject approach. The oh boy! you're not going to like this answer approach. Much of it depends on who is sitting in front of me and what I know of them and what I might reasonably expect their reaction to be.
I never shy away from the actual, true answer. I do give it when asked. I colour the answer with shades of grey sometimes but the Truth of the answer is always completely evident and open.
"I'm Pagan and these items help me focus throughout the day. They remind me of what is important and, when I'm really having a tough time of it here at the office, I think about each of the items and what they represent."
Sometimes that's it. Sometimes I get the that nod that usually translates to "Ahhh...I'm pretending I know what you just said because you are the Vice President of the company but really I don't know what your talking about. I think you said something about meditating, right?"
And ever so occasionally, the person sitting across from me reaches for the chain around their neck, they nervously trace the outline of the cross beneath their blouse and say "You're a Witch?"
And that's when the work really begins...
