This might present difficulties for you. Some parents just won't get past their fear and listen. I've had lots of letters from teens who tell me that their parents refuse to even carry a logical conversation on the subject. My response usually sounds something like this:
I sympathize with you, but since they aren't behaving in an adult manner, you've got three choices: Step up to the podium and start a personal PR campaign, practice in secret, or pack up your Witch goodies and wait until you're older. The smartest move, in my mind, would be curtain number one — introduce the subject slowly, and ask them to make correlations for you between their religion and the one you're interested in. Hey, maybe they're Jewish and you want to be Catholic. It can happen.
Of course, there is the sneak attack. Start studying all the major religions of the world, past and present. Actually, this idea carries a great deal of credibility and you might find enjoyment in understanding how the human creates his or her idea of God through the ages. This might help you in your search of what is, and is not, right for you.
Then we've got the double sneak attack — working only with angels. Angels, angels everywhere and Mom or Dad won't even care. Sure, because everyone likes angels. Here again, this idea isn't a bad one at all, because angels transcend all religions and, in actuality, create bridges between religions. Angelology contains lots of information on religions past and present. Not a bad topic to delve into, if I do say so myself.
It's best not to drop the "I'm a Witch, Mom" bomb under any circumstances. Some parents laugh at their teens when the subject of magick and the Craft comes up, hoping that if they find humor in the idea, you'll lose interest. These parents know better than to overreact. Yep, some parents are very slick indeed. A few parents get foolishly hysterical. These people irritate me. Sorry. Others say, "Okay, talk to me about it. Let me see what you are reading." Ah, a planned course of action. brilliant parental move. They're sure to win points with this one.
Like I said — start slow. Talk about God. What would it be like, Mom, if God was really a woman? Her eyebrows ought to shoot up on that one. What do you think about the scientific evidence that everything on this planet is made of energy? Ohh, good opening for Dad. Did you know that gorillas perform funeral rites? Who do they pray to if they aren't Christian? Did you know that all religion was either matrifocal or hedonistic (duo-divinity) before the arrival of Judaism, and that even the early Jews had a female divinity? Here's one that will really get them rolling; if you're lucky, it will at least get them thinking. In the Bible, it says that Cain slew Abel, then left his parents, Adam and Eve, and went to the Land of Nod. There, he married a girl of another tribe. If Adam and Eve were the first humans, who or what did Cain marry? An antelope? A cheetah? He had children, so I guess he picked a woman. She couldn't have been Adam and Eve's daughter, stolen from the Garden of Eden Hospital, because we'd all be insane by now. Genetics have taught us a great deal in the last hundred years, particularly the fact that you can't intermarry. After a few generations, the genes will break down and produce sickly or insane children. Finally, the piece de résistance — did you know that Mary Magdalene was not a temple prostitute? The word "Magdalene" is a title of leadership, not the woman's last name? And that the Mary Magdalene of Bible fame ran a temple to the Goddess, designed to educate the rich girls of Jerusalem? True, true — all true. And, the reason the men hated her was because she believed in the Goddess, and they wanted to get rid of the Goddess. Eventually, these men told the people that women had no souls and were no better than property, like a chicken or a mule. Sad but true just the same.
It is facts like these that you will discover if you seriously research the religions of the world. Try Barbara Walker's two books titled Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets and Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects.
Back to Mom, Dad, or your guardian. Be easy on them. They're only worried about your welfare. I'm sure if you give them a chance, and at least meet them halfway, they will try very hard to understand why you are interested in the Craft.
If they still don't budge, pray.
The Mother will hear you.