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Cauldron and Candle
Cauldron News -- October 2000

A Publication of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum
website: http://www.ecauldron.com/
mailing list/board: http://www.ecauldron.com/fregmb.php

With a little help from The Witches' Thicket
website: http://www.cros.net/soraya/
message board: http://forums.delphiforums.com/thicket/start


Return to Cauldron and Candle Archive

CAULDRON NEWS -- October 2000

Web Page: http://www.ecauldron.com/
      or: http://cauldron.cjb.net/
Mailing List Home: http://www.ecauldron.com/freggroup.html

               +*+*+ VERY IMPORTANT NOTE +*+*+
            WE MOVE FROM DELPHI  TO YAHOO/EGROUPS
       Our new ecauldron mailing list has now REPLACED
       our Delphi message board. See the first two
       articles for more info or just join by visiting:
            http://www.ecauldron.com/fregsub.html
               +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+

In this Issue:

 * Eulogy for a Delphi Forum
 * Sign-Up for our New Mailing List Today
 * The Return of Elspeth
 * New Articles on our Web Site
 + Food Folk Magick
 * New Web Poll
 + Healing Salves, Liniments, and Ointments
 * Support The Cauldron When You Buy at Amazon.com
 * Send A Pagan Postcard
 + Diana Honey Cakes
 * Cauldron Chats: Tuesdays, 10-11pm CDT
 * Please Invite Your Friends
 * Link To The Cauldron
 * Suggestions Are Always Welcome

EULOGY FOR A DELPHI FORUM

     We had joy we had fun
     We had seasons in the sun
     But the wine and the song like the seasons
     Have all gone.
                             ---Seasons in the Sun, Terry Jacks

On December 13, 1997 as a Yule present to Elspeth (starting
Delphi forums cost money back then), I opened "The Cauldron" as a
Delphi Member Forum. Delphi's automated forum setup didn't work
right and Elspeth and I were the only ones who could post for a
couple of days. Delphi managed to fix that, but never did manage
to get all our text side features working. We didn't care so long
as the message area and chat worked.

Within a few days, we decided that our name needed to tell people
what the forum was about, so "The Cauldron" became "The Cauldron:
A Pagan Forum." We invited members from Elspeth's Grove mailing
list to join on our new forum -- from its free web side if they
didn't want to pay for a Delphi membership.  Within 45 days, we
had a small web site for the forum and had just over 430 posts
(as you can tell by reading my "Problems with the Rede" article
on our web site). The Cauldron grew fairly rapidly through 1998.
We had over 22,500 messages posted by the end of the year and
lots of new friends. Delphi worked like a charm.

     Those were the days my friend,
     We'd thought they'd never end,
     We'd sing and dance forever and a day,
     We'd live the life we choose,
     We'd fight and never lose,
     For we were young and sure to have our way.
                             ---Those Were The Days (refrain)

In 1999, our forum grew even more, but the first signs of Delphi
problems started to appear. Delphi changed the web forum software
completely in early April 1999. With that change, the direct
links to text side disappeared. We could no long manage the
message board quickly and easily from text side, we had to waste
time on web side to delete or modify messages and threads.
Worse, Delphi went from a stable, if slow, web software base to
an extremely buggy software base -- and added bugs with new
features faster than they could fix the already existing bugs.
Text side outrages started occurring in the summer of 1999. They
seemed major at the time, but were minor compared to those to
come in 2000.  We talked about moving to a mailing list then, but
most of our active members were against it.

By the end of 1999, we had over 55,000 messages posted and were
still having a fairly good time in spite of the unending stream
of Delphi problems. In December 1999, we moved the forum's web
site from my premium account web space on Delphi to it's own
domain. But the writing was on the wall for text side Delphi.
Not only were the occasional text side outages still going on,
but Delphi made it clear that text side support was not something
they wanted to continue by dropping dial up access to text side
via X.25 networks (like Sprintnet) with the new year. Delphi
quietly stopped accepting new premium (paying) accounts a few
days later.

Thanks to our many wonderful members, The Cauldron continued to
do well in the last year of 2Oth century (remember: the 21st
century doesn't start until January 1, 2001 ).  We had many
more messages posted in some really great discussions, more
member contributions to our web site, restarted our chats (off
Delphi, however, since Delphi never managed to fix their chat
system), and generally had a great time.

Text Side problems started in earnest in May with an eight day
outage (that's when we first tried a mailing list) and continued
all summer. In mid-August, Delphi announced that support for text
side would be dropped as of November 1, 2000. Reluctantly, we
started making plans to move to a mailing list. Given the hosts
need to work offline, that was the only (affordable) way to keep
the forum alive.

Text Side was out almost as much as it was working in early
September. On the morning of September 20th, it stopped,
apparently forever (as it isn't back yet) and we decided to start
moving to this list and to shut our Delphi forum on October 1st
instead of November 1st.

Much to my surprise most of our most active members have joined
us on our new mailing list.  Last night before I went to bed, I
uploaded the revised version of our web site.  It looks the same,
but the links on every page point people to our new home here on
Yahoo/Egroups instead of our old home on Delphi. This morning I
closed all the public topics on our Delphi forum to new posts and
pointed people here on our start page.

I felt sad. I've shut down a number of BBSes, online services,
forums, and the like in the last 15 years. Shutting the Delphi
incarnation of The Cauldron one was one of the hardest to do.
Then I remembered that like the Wheel of Life, The Cauldron is
rolling on, reborn in a new form with most of our old friends and
the chance to make many new ones in the future. Our fantastic
discussions and debates haven't ended, they've just moved and
transformed in new ways. It's life in action: change.  I think
Paul Simon said it best in one of the verses of my favorite song:

     After changes upon changes,
     We are more or less the same.
     After changes we are more or less the same.
                             ---The Boxer, Paul Simon

Thanks to everyone reading this for making The Cauldron's forum
on Delphi a wonderful place to be. May the Gods grant us more
friendship, learning, and good times in our new mailing list
home.

Randall Sapphire
Co-Host, The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum
October 1, 2000


SIGN UP FOR OUR NEW MAILING LIST TODAY

As mentioned in the September issues of Cauldron News, Delphi is
terminating support for its ancient and often broken text side.
Officially, support for text side was supposed to end on November
1, 2000. However, text side in The Cauldron's forum on Delphi was
broken more often than it was working in the first part of
September and apparently ceased to function completely on the
morning of September 20th.  Therefore, as you have probably
figured out from the above article, we went ahead with our move
to a mailing list style message board on Yahoo/Egroups a month
early and closed our Forum on Delphi to new posts on October 1.

Our new ecauldron mailing list has been available since
mid-September and over 125 people have signed up for it. Traffic
is currently picking up as regulars from our Delphi message board
join. It will probably pick up more as people get used to the
format. If you are a Cauldron regular, we urge you to give our
mailing list a try.

To sign up you can either send an email message to:

    ecauldron-subscribe@egroups.com

or visit the mailing list's subscription page at:

    http://www.ecauldron.com/fregsub.html

You can also read messages without joining from the ecauldron's
message board interface.  You will not be able to post unless you
join the list, however.

    http://www.ecauldron.com/fregmb.html

Remember, although this is a mailing list, you need not clutter
up your email box with lots of messages if you don't want to. For
example, there is a message board version of the mailing list
which many members use.  You can participate at our new home of
three ways:

 * INDIVIDUAL MAILINGS: Each message is sent from the list to you
   as it is received.  If the list gets 45 messages a day, you'll
   get 45 messages from the list in your inbox. This is the
   probably best way to get any mailing list if you intend to
   participate regularly by posting and replying to messages. All
   you have to do it press reply in your mail client to post.
   With modern email programs, getting lots of messages really
   isn't that bad as one can make a new mail folder for them and
   create a rule which sends all messages with "[ecauldron]" in
   the subject line directly to that folder as they are received.
   One can then read them at one's leisure.


 * DIGEST: Egroups sends out bundles of messages to you in a
   single large message, generally 20 messages in a bundle. It
   sends you at least one bundle of messages a day if less than
   20 messages are received, however. Receiving the list in
   digest form is good if you are mainly going to lurk, because
   replying is a bit harder than with individual emails.  You
   still just hit reply in your mail client, but you have try to
   remember to change the subject line AND you have to check to
   be sure your email program does not include a quote of all 20
   messages in the digest at the end of your reply.  You can also
   post from the POST option of the web site, giving you messages
   delivered in handy packets to your email box, and a very easy
   way to occasionally post.

 * WEB ONLY: Selecting Web-Only means that you will NOT receive
   emails from the mailing list.  Instead you'll read them from
   Egroups' somewhat featureless web board.  It's fast, but it's
   a single message at a time. Unlike Delphi, the board does not
   send out notifications of new messages, but Firefly reports
   that contrary to what we've said before, it apparently does
   track what messages you've read if you have cookies enabled --
   or at least it does on her Mac. Replying and posting is very
   easy, however. You just press the button and use a reply form
   similar to what you are used to at Delphi. Many people who use
   "webmail" accounts for email prefer to use this interface as
   it is faster than many web mail interfaces. You can also set
   your account to this option when you go on vacation to avoid
   having messages delivered to (and filling up) your mailbox
   while you are away.

You can change between these different options as often as you
wish by returning to http://www.ecauldron.com/fregsub.html -- you
are not stuck with your first choice if it does not work out.

IMHO, you'll probably get the best "mailing list experience" by
signing up for individual messages or digests and using a POP3
style mailing account instead of a web mail account. Using a POP3
style account will allow you to use a real email client (like the
free Outlook Express or Eudora Pro) to manage, read, and reply to
email messages.  You can get free POP3-capable email accounts
just as easily as you can get free web mail accounts.  This site
tests free POP3 accounts and lists its top five:

    http://www.iopus.com/guides/bestpopsmtp.htm

(Note: From reports, none of these free POP providers work as
reliably as POP mail from the average ISP. Don't use Crosswinds
as according to it's News page it is has been blocking mail from
egroups.)

Note that almost all messages from this mailing list will have
"[ecauldron]" (without the quotes) in the subject line. This will
allow you to create (in your email program) a mail folder for
this mailing list and create a rule that will toss all messages
with "[ecauldron]" in their subject line into that folder. That
way all ecauldron mailing list messages will be in one place and
not cluttering up your main inbox.

Egroups combines a proven and reliable mailing list with a number
of features which make management easy with a single message at a
time web message board version of the list for those who want to
participate without a flood of email. Egroups also provides us a
calendar, a links list, polls, a database, member profiles and a
file area.

For more information on mailing lists and how to use Egroups'
many features, check out egroups Help and FAQ page:

    http://www.ecauldron.com/fregfaq.html

If you signed up for the old, short-lived mailing list in May,
you'll still need to sign up for this new list. Even though it
has the same name, ecauldron, it's a different list.  The old one
is long gone.

As we have closed our old Delphi message board to new posts,
PLEASE JOIN US on our new ecauldron mailing list TODAY:

    http://www.ecauldron.com/fregsub.html


THE RETURN OF ELSPETH

Now that we've switched to a mailing list and Elspeth's computer
and phone have migrated to a more convenient location (i.e. a
location where she can use it more than once or twice a month),
we should be seeing a bit more of our "missing Co-Host" online.
In fact, she's already posted.

Forum regulars have all missed her and are happy that she'll be
able to participate again, even if her health may not allow that
participation to be as frequent or regular as she'd like.


NEW ARTICLES ON OUR WEB SITE

Since our second September issue, we've added a few new articles:

 * Signs that your coven is getting older in our Humor section.

   http://www.ecauldron.com/humor24.html

 * Wicca has undergone a large number of changes since the days
   of Gerald Gardner. In his "Pseudo History, Fluff Bunnies &
   Wicca" editorial, Tony argues that some of these changes have
   not been for the best.

   http://www.ecauldron.com/wiccarant.html

 * Faerie K. provides us with a humorous editorial on newbies
   encountered on Pagan forums entitled "All Those Lovely
   Newbies..."

   http://www.ecauldron.com/newbietypes.html

 * Five additional sample rituals are in our Rituals section:
   three for beginning life and two for comfort at life's end.

   http://www.ecauldron.com/ritualindex.php

 * Three new articles in our special Samhain section:

   + A Cymro-Norse Samhain Ritual

     http://www.ecauldron.com/samhainnorse.html

   + Samhain Recipes

     http://www.ecauldron.com/samhainfood.html

   + Traditional Wiccan Samhain Ritual

     http://www.ecauldron.com/samhaintrad.html


FOOD FOLK MAGICK

Place ears of Red corn in baskets on the floor to protect the
home.

The following types of breads have diverse energies and magical
uses.  Visualize accordingly while baking:

   Twisted breads - protection. The more twists, the more
           protection.

   Egg breads - fertility.

   Saffron breads - spirituality. To a lesser degree, also
           round breads.

   Sprouted breads - psychic awareness.

   Pita breads - spirituality.

   Seven or eight grain bread - money attractant.

   Dill Bread - love.

   Garlic bread - protection.

For a morning love enhancer fill a teaspoon with ground cinnamon.
Carefully pour it out in the shape of a heart on a piece of
toasted bread. While visualizing, spread it out with a knife and
eat.

Contemporary magicians in Louisiana prescribe magical parsley
baths to attract money. Place about 2 cups fresh parsley in a
square of doubled cheesecloth. Tie it to make a bag, add it to
your bath like a tea bag, and visualize while you soak.

In Japan, some restaurant owners place small piles of salt at
either side of the entrance to their businesses to attract
prosperity, customers and business.

Bury a fresh egg under your threshold on May Day to guard your
home against evil.

Various magical energies in ice cream:

   Blueberry cheesecake - protection
   Butter Pecan - money and employment
   Cherry Vanilla - love
   Chocolate (any form) - money, love
   Coffee - conscious mind
   Cookies and cream - money
   Macadamia Nut - money
   Neapolitan - love, money
   Peach - love, health, happiness, wisdom
   Peanut Butter - money
   Peppermint - healing, purification
   Pumpkin - healing, money
   Praline - Money
   Strawberry - love
   Swiss Almond - money, love
   Vanilla - love


NEW WEB POLL

Our new polls are working nicely and without all the problems we
had when they were hosted offsite. You'll find them on their own
web page at:

   http://www.ecauldron.com/pollindex.php

Our newest poll, opened October 1st, asks:

 * Which popular Wicca 101 book is best for a promising newcomer?

   http://www.ecauldron.com/cldpoll7.php

Make your opinion known, take this poll today!


HEALING SALVES, LINIMENTS, AND OINTMENTS

Here are some traditional herbal healing salves, liniments, and
ointments. They are for external use only, should not be used by
those allergic to an ingredient, nor should they be considered a
replacement for modern medicine. In other words, all the standard
disclaimers to keep the medical and legal professions happy
apply.

Pain Reliever:
Mix together 1 ounce of chickweed (reduces inflammation and aids
in healing),  1 ounce of wormwood (a great pain reliever), and 1
ounce of yarrow (an anti-bacterial agent that also helps to
relieve pain). Add the mixed herbs to 2 pints of olive oil and
simmer 3 hours. Strain and add 3 ounces of beeswax and 1 teaspoon
of tincture of benzene. Test for consistency before pouring into
wide mouth containers.

Aloe Vera Salve:
Pour 1 cup of boiling water over 1 teaspoon of pekoe tea and 1
tablespoon of Irish moss. Allow to sit until cool. Add 3
tablespoons of aloe gel. Mix well and store in labeled jar. This
salve can be used to heal minor burns, including sunburns.

Chickweed Salve:
Add about 1 pound of chickweed to 1 pint of olive oil. Heat for 3
hours in an  oven set at 150 degrees. Strain and add 1 and a half
ounces of melted beeswax to the mixture. Stir mixture while it is
cooling, as it will thicken. Place in a wide mouth jar and label.
Great for healing minor cuts, burns, and abrasions.

Liniment for Colds and Chest Tightness:
Add 1 cup of finely chopped garlic to 1 cup of boiling lard.
Reduce heat to simmer and cook for 2 hours. Remove from heat and
strain the garlic from the oil. Place in a container with a
tight-fitting lid.

Rheumatic Pain Ointment:
Place a half cup of rosemary leaves and 1/2 teaspoon oil of
cloves in 1 cup of vegetable oil. Simmer gently for 20 minutes.
Strain well and bottle. Make a poultice and use as often as
necessary for rheumatic pain.

Liniment for Aching Body:
Add 2 ounces of powdered golden seal to 1 quart of rubbing
alcohol. Let set for 2 weeks, shaking daily. Use as a massage for
aching muscles.


SUPPORT THE CAULDRON WHEN YOU BUY BOOKS AT AMAZON.COM

If you wish to purchase books or other items at Amazon.com, you
can help fund The Cauldron's web site by using this link to
access Amazon.com when you make your purchases:

    http://www.ecauldron.com/fradambooks.html

Just use this link to go to Amazon.com via our web site and
almost every purchase you make that visit will earn The Cauldron
a small amount to help pay for our web page -- at no extra charge
to you. You can also use the Amazon link on the menu of every
Cauldron web page and not have to remember this long link.

Unlike the Amazon link listed in some prior issues of this
newsletter, you can simply visit this site and save the link in
your bookmark list.  If you then use this bookmarked link every
time you wish to visit Amazon.com, any purchases you make while
there will help fund The Cauldron's web site.


SEND A PAGAN POSTCARD

We reactivated the postcards on our site in April when our
postcard provider apparently fixed the problem with their servers
which kept erasing our postcards. We've recently added two new
Pagan Postcard categories: "Samhain and Halloween" and "Wolves"
and we've enabled a much larger number of regular (non-Pagan)
postcard categories. These non-Pagan categories are available for
selection near the bottom of most of the pages in our Postcard
section.

You can send a Pagan Postcard from the menu of any of our web
pages at http://www.ecauldron.com/.  If you haven't tried our
postcard site, give it a try.  It has quite a few nice features.


DIANA HONEY CAKES

According to the Leland's Aradia, "You shall make cakes of meal,
wine, salt, and honey in the shape of a (crescent or horned)
moon, then put them to bake." The Aradia chapter includes the
invocations to Diana that accompanied the baking. No quantities
are given, but the ingredients are similar to those of oat
fingers or flapjacks; so we suggest you experiment with the
following:

4 oz. (120 gm) coarse porridge oats
2 oz. (60 gm) butter
Enough honey to bind
a pinch of poppy seeds
A little wine
Salt

Melt the butter with a teaspoonful of the honey in a saucepan,
then add the oats and poppy seeds, a dash of wine and a pinch of
salt. Add more honey till the consistency feels right, and stir
together over a gentle heat for a few moments. Turn into a
buttered baking-tin, and bake till brown (fifteen to twenty
minutes) in a moderate oven. Cool in the tin, turn out and then
cut into crescents.


CAULDRON CHATS: TUESDAYS, 10-11PM CDT

Cauldron Co-Host Randall Sapphire hosts a one hour general chat
almost every Tuesday evening from 10pm to 11pm Central (Daylight)
Time in our channel (#thecauldron) on the PaganPaths IRC server.
We usually have a pretty good turnout.  Discussions cover a wide
range of topics, depending on what the folks present want to
discuss.

You'll find all the information you need to connect to our chats
either with your own IRC client or via the Java IRC client on our
Chats web page at:

    http://www.ecauldron.com/cmchats.html

You can open a Java chat client directly to #thecauldron by
clicking on the "IRC Chat" link in the menu of any of our web
pages, but we strongly suggest you visit the above page first and
read a few paragraphs on how to use it.  This page is also
available from the "[Info]" link right next to the "IRC Chat"
link on our web page menus.  If you have your own IRC client
program, the address of the main PaganPaths server is:

    madison.wi.us.paganpaths.org  (port 6667)

If you'd like to host a chat for members of The Cauldron: A Pagan
Forum on a regular, weekly schedule, please let us know.

If "Central Time" doesn't mean anything to you, this an online
time converter at http://sandbox.xerox.com/stewart/tzconvert.cgi
might help.  I think Central Time is listed as something like "US
- Central" in the drop down box.


PLEASE INVITE YOUR FRIENDS

If you have Pagan friends who you believe would be interested in
The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum, please invite them to our forum. You
can either drop them a note yourself or -- better yet -- send
them one of our email postcards with the information.


LINK TO THE CAULDRON

If you like The Cauldron and have a web page, we'd really
appreciate it if you put a link to The Cauldron's web site on
your web pages.  If you'd like some graphic buttons to use to
link to our web site, check the following URL:

http://www.ecauldron.com/linktous.html

Thanks in advance.


SUGGESTIONS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME

Don't forget that your suggestions for the forum are always
welcome, either posted on the message board or via email to
Elspeth Sapphire (asapphire@aol.com) or Randall Sapphire
(rssapphire@ecauldron.com). Typos are, as usual, courtesy of the
Goddess Eris.

Merry Meet, Merry Part, Merry Meet again!
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