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C A U L D R O N A N D C A N D L E #84 -- June 2007 A Publication of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum website: http://www.ecauldron.com/ message board: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/ newsletter: http://www.ecauldron.com/cnc/ shopping: http://www.ecauldron.com/mall.php http://www.ecauldron.com/doxysbazaar.php In this Issue: [00] Editorial Notes: Better Late Than Never [01] Cauldron News * NEW Full Membership Requirements * Quoting Guidelines * New Staff Members: Marilyn [02] Interesting Recent Cauldron Discussions * Close Encounters of the Fundy Kind * Are Your Gods from a Familiar Pantheon? * Spell Craft and Children * Why the Numbers Agenda? * Pagan Homeschooling? * The Whole of All * Healthy Body Healthy Mind * Druid Organizations: ADF and FoDLA? * Mountain Biking Meditations -- Deity in Unusual Places * Just Going through the Religious Motions? [03] Articles * How to Keep Your Coven from Being Destroyed: Part IV * Where Was I When The Magick Changed? * The Craft - A Movie Review Through The Eyes Of A Witch * Review: Ascension Magick * Review: How It Is * Review: Footprints in the Snow * Review: Autumn Equinox [04] Flamekeeping: Dichotomies of Pleasure and Happiness [05] Software Gadgets: The Column * YouTube Downloader * IE Pro -- Ultimate Addon for IE * SideSlide -- Dockable Desktop Extender [06] Grimoire: To Ease Pain and Renew Hope [07] Recipe: Szechwan Shrimp [08] Support The Cauldron [09] Newsletter Information (Including How To Subscribe/Unsubscribe) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++ Please support our sponsor +++ LOOKING FOR PAGAN SUPPLIES? Visit The Cauldron's Pagan Supply Store (An Affiliate of Pagan Shopping Online) http://www.ecauldron.com/esesf.php +++ Please support our sponsor +++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [00] ========= ========= EDITORIAL NOTES ========= Welcome to the June 2007 issue of Cauldron and Candle. You are receiving this issue because you subscribed. To learn how to unsubscribe, see the last section of this newsletter. It's June. In fact it is almost mid-June. As you can tell, this issue is a few days late. Unlike April, at least, it isn't so late that we just skipped the month. The Cauldron's message board move has had some hiccups -- like the problem with quoting -- but it has gone well considering the format is completely different than what we used for nine years. After about three months of use, the new board has over 700 members and over 21,000 posts in over 1400 topics. If you haven't tried out new SMF board, please consider joining us. We've even reduced the minimun number of posts you have to make to apply for Full Membership. This issue has the usual articles and major features. We hope you enjoy them. Randall Sapphire Editor and Publisher, Cauldron and Candle Co-Host, The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum [01] ========= ========= CAULDRON NEWS ========= by The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum Staff ========= ===== ===== Cauldron Message Board Info: ===== FULL MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS ===== When you register for The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum's message board, you become a what SMF board software calls a "Regular Member." Regular members on The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum have limited posting rights: they can only post messages on boards in the About the Cauldron and Cauldron Basics categories. Regular membership gives full posting access to those areas of our board specifically designed for newcomers. This gives new members a chance to show that they understand and will follow our rules and guidelines while giving them a chance to get used to this board's style and attitude in fairly "safe" areas of the board. The default regular membership may satisfy many members -- especially those new to Pagan religions and magic. There is no requirement to qualify for Full Membership. However, doing so will open up the all the public areas of the board for posting and provide access to many additional features of our community areas. See the Standard Membersgroups and their Privileges message for a list. To be eligible to apply for a Full Membership you must: * Be at least 18 years old (if you are 16 or 17 and very mature, you may be able to qualify for an exception, see below). * Fill out at least the following fields in your profile: Bio, Birth Religion, Birth Year, Gender, Country, Religion. * Show by your posts that you are willing and able to follow the Cauldron's rules and guidelines. * Show by your posts that you are not a clueless newbie with respect to Pagan religions and magic. We have nothing against complete newcomers (and have several boards set up just for newcomers that any member can post in), but this forum is aimed at those who are no longer complete newcomers. Once you have moved beyond the "clueless and/or misinformed by bad 101 books" stage, you will be ready to think about posting in Full member parts of our board. * Have a post count of at least 10 posts -- good solid posts. (So don't post just to increase your post count, your request will just be rejected.) OR have made at least 25 posts on the Main Board of our old Beehive Forum. * Have been an active member of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum's message board for at least one week. Please read the this message to find out how to apply for Full Member status. http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=45.msg197#msg197 SIXTEEN AND SEVENTEEN YEAR OLDS If you are 16 or 17 and wish to apply for full membership even though you are under 18, you need to do the following: Warning about "Teen Exception" Full Membership Applications: There is a good chance your application will be rejected. If rejection is going to upset you, please do not apply. Only teens who basically post so much like an adult (when outside the Teen board) that the Senior Staff and Hosts can't tell they are teens without checking their profile will become full members under this exception. * Be sure you meet all the qualifications for adults listed above (other than age), however, more posts are required to evaluate possible teen exceptions so will need to have been very active outside of the Teen board for a longer period of time: At least 30 posts outside the Teen board spread over at least a one-two month period will be needed. The senior staff and hosts will carefully consider and discuss teen requests and they may take a week or two to consider. Please read the this message to find out how to apply for Full Member under the Teen Exception (Note: join to form a single line before pasting into your browser): http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic= 45.msg17453#msg17453 ===== ===== Cauldron Message Board Info: ===== QUOTING GUIDELINES ===== Quoting, and quoting correctly, is considered very important here at the Cauldron to help others follow the flow of conversation through a thread. There has been much confusion in the past over exactly what the staff expect of posters as regards quoting. Hopefully this guideline, in combination with the May 2007 removal of certain features in the SMF software that made it too easy to forget to quote from our message board, will clarify how to quote properly. Under most circumstances, the proper way to start a reply is to click on the "Reply/Quote" button on the specific post you are replying to, this will but a copy of the message being replyed to in special quote bbcode in your reply (or into the Quick Reply area if you use Quick Reply). Quoted text that is not relevant to your reply may and should be removed, just be sure to leave the opening and closing special quote bbcode intact. If you are making a general reply, though, you may remove the quote bbcode and the quoted text entirely. Here are examples of general replies that do not need a quote: * "Thanks, guys" or similar posts that are clearly aimed at everyone who's responded. * New stories in a general news thread, new jokes in a post a joke thread, or similar. * Replies to the general shape of the thread, where there's something you want to say about the topic but there's genuinely nothing you can quote that your reply would make sense in response to. (You may want to start out the post with a statement indicating this, to be sure those not following along closely understand what you're doing.) Note that replies to the first message of the thread are not replies to the general shape of the thread and must quote a few sentences of that first message in the thread. If in any doubt about whether or not a message needs a quote, include a small quote. === === NOTES === Many people think is it silly to have to quote the message they just read as they believe that it should be obvious to later readers what message they are replying to. Unfortunately, what seems "obvious" to the the poster is not necessarily "obvious" to someone reading the thread at a different time. For example, if someone who read part of the thread a day ago comes back into the thread and the first new message they see they is your post, without rereading the rest of the thread would they be able to tell what you were talking about without a quote? In most situations, the answer is "no", because they won't necessarily have the context of the post you're replying to immediately at hand. (Even if it's the one right before yours, or the first one in the thread.) That's part of why we require so much quoting. (The other part is that if one wants to go back and trace the context of the conversation through the thread, it can be time- consuming and confusing without the link-backs the special quote bbcode the Reply/Quote button inserts provides. These linkbacks are especially important to the staff when moderating problem situations.) The hosts and staff are aware that our quoting rules are significantly different from the way other message boards do things. Nevertheless, they have decided that this is what we need posters to do in order for our particular forum to function properly. Please do not complain that our quoting rules are different than other boards. When you are posting at The Cauldron, you need to do it The Cauldron way, and that way is not going to change just because "everyone else" does it differently. ===== ===== NEW STAFF MEMBERS: MARILYN ===== Marilyn (Absent-Minded) has joined our Message Board staff and will be helping to ride herd on the thousands of messages posted on our board every month. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++ Please support our sponsor +++ PAGAN-FRIENDLY WEB HOSTING http://www.ecauldron.com/web/zdreamhost.php Dreamhost offers high-quality, low cost web hosting with a dedication to free speech. Pagan sites are welcome! 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Visit Dreamhost for Affordable, Pagan-Friendly Hosting http://www.ecauldron.com/web/zdreamhost.php +++ Please support our sponsor +++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [02] ========= ========= INTERESTING RECENT CAULDRON DISCUSSIONS ========= Recent Discussion Topics on our Message Board ========= In an average month, over 200 new discussion topics are started on The Cauldron's message board. Here are a few of the more interesting recent discussions. It's not too late to join in. Thanks to Feedburner, you can now receive an email every night on days we post new site news items to the main page of The Cauldron's web site. These emails contain a link to the new item and the first couple of lines of the news text. You can sign up for Feedburner's free news delivery via the form at the end of the site "News and Updates" section of The Cauldron's main web page. ===== ===== Close Encounters of the Fundy Kind ===== Have you ever matched wits with a fundamentalist (of any religion)? Lived to tell about it? I met my first one quite recently. We're both students at the same university and we even have some courses in common but I never really talked to her until one morning, we just started chatting on the bus. I was reading something for class and she whipped out her Bible. When we got off to transfer routes, she started asking me questions about what I believe. At first, I skirted the issue and said Protestant, born and raised but then decided to be honest and identified as a polytheist. As we got on our way, she whipped out her Bible again and tried to make me read certain underlined passages aloud, on a crowded bus, and could not accept that I found that vastly inappropriate. So, she put it away and we got to the trick questions portion of the event. "How do pagans get saved?" "What do you think will happen when you die?" and all that Sneaky Deep crap. I was too surprised to be offended and I answered the best I could. Eventually, we went our separate ways for different classes and that was the last time I talked to her. In hindsight, it was probably Someone's influence that kept me as surprised as I was. Looking back on it now, I'm really irritated with her and anything I say now is probably going to reinforce her negative view of non-Christians. Oh well, I have until September to get past the urge to taunt. * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=1331.0 ===== ===== Are Your Gods from a Familiar Pantheon? ===== For those of you who have had contact with gods in some way: Did your gods come from a pantheon you were already familiar with, or did they come from a completely unexpected direction? I am much more familiar with the Greek pantheon than any other. Part of this may be that exposure to Greek myth in school might have been more common than exposure to the mythology of another culture. Yet I have always been interested in Greek religion, even before I identified as pagan, from a historical perspective. It?s possible that I just happened to retain the Greek stuff, but I don?t remember learning too much about myth from other cultures. I?m wondering if my perceived nudges from gods appear to be from the Greek direction because it is the pantheon I am most familiar with, or if I became familiar with Greek religion over the past several years as a result of unrecognized nudges. Did your exposure to a particular pantheon from an early age push you in the direction of the gods you work with, or did you come across a less familiar pantheon as a result of later contact from a certain god? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=1309.0 ===== ===== Spell Craft and Children ===== I was flipping around the internet and stumbled onto a discussion between a couple gals who were looking to start working with their young (4-6) children on spell craft. While this is a pretty common happening as pagan parents go, it got me thinking of some things. Magic is the art and science of causing change in conformity with will. We as adults and young adults go through huge amounts of background work to get our will and our visualization on track to increase our possibilities and effectiveness. With this in mind, is is recommendable, or even possible to teach a child spellwork without a solid background in associations, and the process of raising energy? I've considered and in the past have let the boys (4/6) participate in some minor workings one was a banishing, and the other a cleansing; but for the most part don't feel that they have the ability to focus for the time frame that I see as required for magical intent. (ten-15 minutes or more of intense purpose related focus) Is it ethical then, to direct their energy in your own workings that you choose for them? For example one of the suggestions that the gals were going to make use of was making a dream catcher as a spell against bad dreams, or a wish spell that involved the releasing of a balloon. For me, without putting intention into each stitch, the dream catcher would not be a spell. It would be a craft masquerading as a spell. Same with the balloon. There is no 'process' being taught. While I believe in starting small, and breaking things down into simple concepts, I don't see much of a break down of concepts at all. Just 'ask' and 'get'. What parts of spell work would you see as necessary before starting to teach a child? What kinds of checks and balances would you put in place to give a child a feeling of security against others who might use magical thought against them, or times when they have used their words or directed energy in anger or haste? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=1304.0 ===== ===== Why the Numbers Agenda? ===== In the ADF and FoDLA thread, Gothicdruid said: "FoDLA is built largely on face-to-face instruction and worship (though there is a distance learning component to its Druid clergy training program). This is intentional and is a response to the issue I've experienced over more than a decade in practice of the Internet serving as a vehicle for would-be leaders to inflate their abilities (and backgrounds) by being rather different people online than IRL. Consequently, my expectation is that FoDLA is going to be a long time in developing. One of my intentions, frankly, was to avoid the "numbers agenda" that plagues many organizations and focus on appeal to sincere polytheists." Gothicdruid brings up something I have never understood in Paganism: the "Numbers Agenda" and I'd like to discuss it here. Many of the Pagans I know seem almost obsessed with the numbers game: how many Pagans there are; which Pagan religion is biggest, which local group is largest, etc. I've never understood this, especially as many of the Pagans with this numbers obsession come from religions that don't actively proselytize. Some of the most numbers-obsessed Pagans I've met come from religions that simple do not allow proselytization. In its extreme form the Numbers Agenda leads some Pagans to complain about the large number of Pagan religions and loudly wish that all the non-Wiccan Pagan religionss would just come to their senses and become part of Wicca so Wicca would be larger and Paganism would be united. (Note: one gets the impression that if Nose-Picking Paganism were currently the largest Pagan religion, these folks would be demanding that all other Pagans unify as Nose-Picking Pagans instead of Wiccans.) We had one person come on our old Delphi Board (or maybe it was on The Thicket?) who wanted every Pagan to convert one person to "Paganism" every year so "Paganism" would double in size each year until it would become the largest religion in the US. In less extreme forms, it the Numbers Agenda leads Numbers Agenda Pagans to judge the "success" of even local Pagan groups mainly (if not solely) by their size: Coven A with 10 members is better in their eyes than Coven B with 7 members even though coven B has been working together for 6 years and coven A formed 3 months ago and has that four changes of leadership in that time. I've known Pagans who were obviously drawn to a smaller non-Wiccan religion decide to become Wiccan instead because it was the biggest Pagan religion and all those people can't be wrong. Why the Numbers Agenda? Biggest doesn't mean best. Even if all Pagans were members of nice cleaned up form of Wicca designed no to offend conservatives with things like nudity or any hint of sex and there were several million Wiccans, folks like Pat Robertson would still proclaim Pagans as evil followers of Satan. A larger group does not mean better -- the Southern Baptist Convention, for example, is the largest Protestant group in the US, but a few outside that group think that means it is the best. So please clue me in on the Numbers Agenda and why it is stressed by so many Pagans. * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=1252.0 ===== ===== Pagan Homeschooling? ===== I don't have children, but hope to one day have at the very least, a child. I would reeeally like to homeschool this future child and am curious if anyone on his board homeschools their children and how they do it? Are there Pagan places to get homeschooling supplies? ((I have no idea how homeschool really works either! so some of what I say may not even make sense)) I would like to also avoid raising children with the Christian holidays.....I mean I don't mind taking them to grandparents and whathaveyou who do celebrate those holidays during those times....and I want my child to go on their own path.....but I would still like to instill the holidays which I celebrate with them and for them to not think that Christian holidays are the "only" or the "main" holidays and whatnot. me having a child is way off in the distance, past the horizon.....but I often think of homeschool, as it is the only option I would even want to delve into with concerns to schooling them. * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=1227.0 ===== ===== The Whole of All ===== I've recently been struggling with the reconciliation of the understanding of "All is One" with the actual physicality of reality that we are presented with through sensory experience (sorry, if this sounds technical, I've been reading Mircea Eliade all night.). Although I realize that "All is One" can be seen as true on a biological level -- being that all known DNA is inherently made up of the same four base pairs --, and can be seen as true on a Quantum Physical level -- in the sense of non-locality --, and in the sense of Alchemy and Yin-Yang -- in the sense that we are all but one part of the Whole, which is the All of Creation ( and I'm sure that the concept has many other understandings that I've not even come close to uncovering yet), I've not yet figured out how to reconcile that understanding with the fact that it seems reality is divided and classified. If one takes an image, and creates a grid over that image, and then works out a classification within that grid to explain what is in each little box, no matter how complex that classification system is to explain each individual segment of the grid, underneath the grid still remains "the whole picture". I find this synonymous with the "All" in relation to physical reality, yet I'm not sure if those classifications and divisions exist because we approach the world in a conscious way which creates these divisions, or whether there is something inherent in the process of passing into physicality that creates those divisions. Any answers or thoughts from others is greatly appreciated. * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=1200.0 ===== ===== Healthy Body Healthy Mind ===== This is an interesting one for me, and I have been discussing it at length on another forum I belong to. It started off as a discussion about how should a christian tenet of "your body is your temple" apply to a pagan path. It was posted by a 1st BTW whose HPS suggested they might like to sort themselves out a bit more before they were admitted to 2nd. Now a few years ago I might have shrugged it off, used the "but it's christian" excuse, but of late I have become totally addicted to "crossfit" see www.crossfit.com and have the luxury of having one of the first UK crossfit gyms a short jog from my front doorstep. And all of sudden I have more time for life, for research, for family, for magic. Lol I'm almost evangelical about it as it changed my life profoundly and I'm not talkng just the stone in weight and the 2 clothes size drop I have incurred as a nice side benefit. I still drink, I still smoke although not the the extent I used to do; but what I have done is become very profoundly aware of me. So I suppose I am interested in hearing other people point of view, does your physical wellbeing affect your spiritual and/or magical practises or do you think it doesn't make a jot's worth of difference? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=1193.0 ===== ===== Druid Organizations: ADF and FoDLA? ===== Of these two NeoDruid organizations, does anyone have experience in either? What do you think of them? I find myself more and more drawn to a NeoDruidic path. I read Bonewits a very very long time ago and so am going to refamiliarize myself with his works since he is respected by so many in the Druid community. My main problem right now is that I want to attend an ADF grove here in my town but I am ridiculously shy and they seem to be in private homes a lot and I just can't do that. So I want to explore more on my own about NeoDruid societies before stepping out, waaaay out, of my comfort zone. * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=1165.0 ===== ===== Mountain Biking Meditations -- Deity in Unusual Places ===== Mountain biking is an incredible sort of 'communion' for me. I get out on the trails, and am amazed by the whirl of butterflies that seem to spin up from the grass to float and tumble along next to me, the deer crashing through the brush and the hawks that soar above, seemingly racing me as I struggle to remain upright and speeding over the ground often at rates that leave me thinking how badly it would hurt were I to be unseated. An occasional wild turkey startles and confounds. I hear my Ladys voice the most clearly at these moments, and direct questions are usually answered in animal omens, or through other signs on the trail. What kinds of unusual places do you find yourself close to your Gods? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=1101.0 ===== ===== Just Going through the Religious Motions? ===== What do you do when religious ritual feels like going through the motions and there's no real point to it? Have you ever had a "long night of the soul", and what happened when you came out the other side? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=1081.0 [03] ========= ========= ARTICLES ========= ===== ===== HOW TO KEEP YOUR COVEN FROM BEING DESTROYED ===== Part 4 (of 7): Why Trolls Like Covens ===== by Eran ===== This series explores how to deal with destructive people within your Coven or Pagan group. There is a class of people who are driven to tear down things which others have built. Sometimes such people can get into, or come into contact with, your Coven. I've called these people "trolls", making use of the very powerful and very old European image of forces which are destructive and chaotic - yet easily outwitted, if you know a little about their ways. The problem of trolls has been endemic in Paganism for decades. Looking back at tales and correspondence and other evidence from as early as the 1950's, one can detect the peculiar scent of trolls wafting up even then. What is it about Paganism and the Craft which seems to attract trolls so irresistibly? === === Vulnerabilities === Trolls look for particular traits and situations which they can use to their advantage. There are common aspects to Pagan groups which make them attractive targets for trolls, and which make it difficult for such groups to respond to troll attacks. For one thing, as discussed in the previous article, there are aspects of Pagan philosophy which trolls find it easy to manipulate in their favor. If uncovered, trolls will defend themselves with inappropriate recourse to concepts such as subjective realities, the Wiccan Rede, running one's own recovery, constructing one's own ethical code, counter- accusations of authoritarianism, and so on. The previous article discussed ways of dealing with these misapplications of Pagan principles. Here are some more weak points which Paganism presents to trolls: * Small groups. Trolls like small groups. It's relatively easy to become a big fish in a little pond. Since trolls are driven to feel important, a group of a dozen or so people is ideal. * Anti-authoritarian. Pagans have a natural distrust of authority, and a great deal of independence. Trolls can use this to breed suspicion of a group's leaders, suspicion which a troll can feed and nurture. * No bureaucracy. Often, there are no checks and balances within a Coven structure, and very few within larger Pagan organizations. For example, there often are no formalized rules of evidence or fairness. This means trolls can start unsubstantiated rumors, and can often be believed without ever being asked for any kind of proof. * No ethical standards. There are very few Pagan elders' councils or ethics committees. There is no centralized place to whom to bring complaints about trolls. There is no body with the power to stop, or even impede, their activities. And, since Pagans dislike authority, if there was such a body, most Pagans would go somewhere else! * Tolerance. A tolerance of differences is one of the hallmarks of Paganism (or at least, that's one of its goals). Trolls can present themselves as simply being "different" from other people. They can present themselves as being "picked on" because of those differences. They can accuse others of being inflexible for holding to opinions which differ from theirs. They can generate a great deal of sympathy this way. * Self-help. Many Covens are set up to assist the personal growth of their members. If caught in their dishonest and destructive actions, trolls can pretend to acknowledge personal problems, commit to dealing with them, and then simply continue doing what they've been doing. After all, you wouldn't kick someone out who had promised to try to do better, would you? These are some of the points which make Pagan groups vulnerable and attractive to trolls. These are things which are very deeply embedded in Pagan culture and the structure of Pagan groups. We're not likely to change most of these: Pagan groups are not suddenly going to become ten or twenty times larger, we're not going to start trusting authority, no one is going to construct a PanPagan Ethics Council in the foreseeable future - and if any of these things did happen, Paganism wouldn't be Paganism any more. So we have to find ways of dealing with trolls in spite of the weak points. What would be better still is to turn these weak points into advantages, and use them to strengthen a Coven rather than make it vulnerable. === === Some Helpful Features === Paganism also has some strengths which make it possible to respond effectively to trolls. In fact, many of the aspects mentioned above also make it easier to deal with them: * Small groups. Working in a small group make it more difficult for trolls to stay hidden for long periods of time, especially if the people in a Coven work together closely and often. In larger organizations, it's easier for trolls to get lost in the crowd, or to hide their true nature, and so to spread rumors underground. * Anti-authoritarian. Though a Pagan distrust of authority often makes for a receptive audience for trollish attacks on Elders, this also makes it a bit more difficult for trolls to gain the power they crave for themselves. Even becoming a Coven Leader is seldom very satisfying for a troll. * No bureaucracy or ethical standards. Though the lack of checks and balances or ethics councils means you can't call upon wider authorities to help deal with a troll, this also means you as a Coven Leader have much more of a free hand. You don't need anyone else's permission to take the steps you feel are needed, and you don't need to deal with any red tape or formal procedures. Trolls tend to burn their bridges and then move on fairly rapidly. * Tolerance. Though trolls can use Pagan tolerance to defend themselves, this goes both ways. The unjustified slanders which trolls level at other people really won't generate as much hatred toward their targets as the trolls like to think. Few people will really care, writing it off as "differences," even if they believe the trollish tales. * Self-help. If a troll tries to use a Coven's "self-help" orientation as an excuse to avoid changing, the Coven's Leaders can just as easily call upon the concept of "tough love." You don't condemn an addict for backsliding; but you also don't enable the addiction. And in dealing with trolls, there is at least one aspect of Pagan theology which gives us a great advantage over some other religious paths. Pagans do not feel there is any need for "salvation," and we feel no requirement whatever to see to the "health" of other peoples' souls. Some other religions discourage ministers from ejecting parishioners, believing that people who don't follow their sect will go to Hell - or will be subject to some other impediment. They also feel that a person ejected is a soul lost, and kicking someone out marks a failure on the part of the minister. It is a very serious thing to be separated from such a church, and it may be nearly as serious for a minister to resort to these steps. Excommunication is really much less common than one might think. Pagans, however, don't have this handicap. There is no doctrinal reason to avoid getting rid of troublemakers. Pagans do not believe you have to belong to any particular sect or Coven in order to be "saved," nor do we believe there is any particular advantage in associating with people who want to harm you. Ejecting someone from your Coven does not count against you in the Race to Save Souls, since we don't run in that race. And being ejected from a Coven does not condemn a person to the Christian Hell. It merely gives them the opportunity to find a path elsewhere which is more suited to their own goals and temperament. This is a Good Thing. === === Oathbound Aspects === In general, I've been dealing with general Pagan groups and Pagan topics, and not with topics specifically connected to Oathbound traditions. That's because the problem of trolls is a general Pagan problem. Most of the features of trolls, most of the ways they cause damage, and most of the techniques for handling trolls, are common throughout Paganism. The concerns and patterns apply in nearly any Pagan environment, and that includes the Oathbound trads. There are some specific problems and opportunities, however, within tightly-knit and Oathbound Traditions. Here are a few thoughts on that. One of the things which draws trolls to Oathbound groups in general is a trollish love of secrecy. The game of "I know something you don't know!" is almost irresistible to a troll. It may well be that Oathbound trads get more than their fair share of trolls for this reason alone. Add to that the mystique which some of the big-name Oathbound trads seem to have among the general Pagan populous, and it's probable that established Covens in these Traditions become targets of trolls more often than most any other Pagan path. A fear in kicking someone out is that the person may no longer feel bound by Oath. Members of Oathbound traditions are very protective of their Secrets, and the idea that a former Covener might publish or otherwise spread sensitive material around is a very real fear. But in general, the tendencies of a troll are to hurt people, not institutions. Few trolls see any advantage to Oathbreaking, especially since revealing Oathbound material means they can't play their secrecy games anymore. Besides, most traditions have ways of handling Oathbreakers; if yours does, don't let the fear of someone saying too much prevent you from ridding yourself of a troll. One advantage the larger and longer-lived Traditions have today is their stability, which allows them the luxury of being cautious. There was a time, not so long ago, when the Craft was hard to find, and seemed on the verge of dying out. No more; today, the number of Covens and active Elders is great enough that there need be very little fear of Witchcraft dying out any time soon. These long-lived Trdaitions can begin to be a lot more picky about whom they train and how they train them, and they can take a lot more time in assessing someone's suitability for their Path. If it's made plain that someone has to wait years before they can even think about being a Coven Leader, a lot of trolls will get bored and move on - the power they crave won't be handed to them for a long time. And if Coven Leaders move people along slowly and take the time to get to know them well, a troll will find it very difficult to keep his or her trollish features hidden. On the downside, this very stability makes the established trads into attractive targets in another sense. Trolls are forces of chaos. They instinctively hate and fear anything which looks firm and stable, and they'll examine such a structure closely for any possible weaknesses. A Tradition's Elders who have been around for a while are particularly juicy tidbits, and a troll would consider it quite a coup to bring such people down. Remember, troll attacks are generally directed against people, not groups. The groups end up being hurt because Pagan and Craft Covens are usually built around the Coven Leaders. But the trolls set their sights on the Elders and Leaders, and their hatred of authority figures means that if someone has been active long enough to be respected, that's exactly the sort of person a troll would want to hurt. This means Craft Elders are people against whom trolls often direct their attention. This means it's vital for Elders to learn how to handle trolls. Learn to recognize trolls for what they are; learn to respond to trollish activities with decisiveness and surety. Your confidence will shake the troll's confidence. Trolls like impressive targets, but only ones which they think they can hurt. Throwing themselves against a brick wall makes them look silly, and that robs them of all their power. That's a death knell for a troll; most of their strength comes from intimidation, and it's hard for someone who looks silly to seem intimidating. Large and established Traditions have another potential advantage. They tend to be close-knit and clannish, they gossip and talk amongst themselves. They have the potential to allow Elders to lend each other confidence and advice. When someone is being targeted by a troll, it's an incredibly painful and draining experience, in ways which someone who hasn't been targeted may find it difficult to understand. It would be very useful to form a Society of Survivors of Trolls (SSoT) to give aid and comfort to those in need. The support of one's peers is the best source for the confidence which is needed to handle a troll. Such a group could also help to inform others in the Tradition about the dangers of trolls, and the techniques for handling them. This sort of general education in the theory of trollhandling would be of enormous value. According to legend, sunlight turns trolls into harmless lumps of rock. Throwing light on trolls renders them powerless. Knowledge and forewarning is the light which robs trolls of their ability to cause damage. A few years back, our Coven had the misfortune of having to deal with a troll, but without the benefit of knowing very much about them. As experience is by far the best teacher, the lessons we learned are etched deeply. From that perspective, it was a valuable thing to live through. Still, there were people who had dealt with this particular troll before, and it would have been nice to have had a strong warning. Another possible function of a SSoT would be to warn others about specific trolls. There's a danger here, though. Trolls become very skilled at manipulating the rules of any organization to their advantage. They are very good at causing factionalization and argument, very good at getting people to stop communicating with each other, and very, very good at making spurious accusations against their targets. Any group such as our theoretical SSoT might well itself fall prey to trollish attacks. Trolls would be only too happy to use such a group to savage one of that group's own members. That is, a troll would eagerly join any SSoT and use it to start rumors about other people. This is part of a more general problem of handling trolls in Pagan organizations larger than a single Coven - legal Pagan churches, umbrella organizations, festival committees, even trolls who go public on the Internet or in published books. I'll explore some of those issues in the next installment. === About the Author Copyright (c) 2002 David Petterson May be recirculated as long as this information is included ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++ Please support our sponsor +++ PAGAN FRIENDLY WEB HOSTING AT DREAMHOST http://www.ecauldron.com/web/zdreamhost.php Dreamhost offers high-quality, low cost web hosting with a dedication to free speech. Pagan sites are welcome! Read why we use Dreamhost for The Cauldron's web site: http://www.ecauldron.com/web/whydreamhost.php $9.95/Month Plan Features: 160 gigs web space -- 1600 gigs/month bandwidth -- 3000 email boxes (POP3/IMAP) -- 75 ftp/shell accounts -- host unlimited domains/subdomains -- php4, php5, cgi, fastcgi, ssi, zend optimizer, ruby on rails -- unlimited MySQL databases -- announcement lists -- discussion lists -- Jabber server -- Crontab and Shell access -- Web-based Control Panel -- One-Click installs of the Wordpress, PhpBB, and many more -- One FREE domain name -- 1 free domain name -- helpful tech support -- much more! Visit Dreamhost for Affordable, Pagan-Friendly Hosting http://www.ecauldron.com/web/zdreamhost.php +++ Please support our sponsor +++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ===== ===== WHERE WAS I WHEN THE MAGICK CHANGED? ===== by Alan Sapphire ===== That question insists on creeping in my mind -- usually at the worst of moments, the darkness of spirit. It mars the stillness of the quiet times. It tumbles through my activities, distracting my focus. I seems like only yesterday I stood in the sunlight, tall and strong -- oh, so young! My magicks hummed through my every hour. They were woven through my words and I shone! Now I prefer the shadows, the fringes where the webs dwell. My body, once so straight and tall, now moves painfully through the dark. My magick, instead of running through me, now surrounds me -- clouds of power that is both greater and different than anything I've known. Where was the line I crossed? The one that took me from youth to age in a blink of the eye. It truly bewilders me. Still -- I went from strength to a even greater strength. For to my surprise not only swollen joints come with age. With the years come wisdom. Despite twisted limbs and failing eyesight, I can reach farther and see clearer than I ever had been able. Sometimes what I see leaves me sad, the people hurt in body and mind. But I also see hope for the future in the small children and people working for change. That knowledge makes me happy. When you get older, one can hear this faint song. It takes time to realize that you are hearing the clash of the past hitting the present. They blend to carry on and help form the ebbs and tides that become our future. However, just like the silver strands of a spider's web, there are many ways for the notes to combine. Are we going to be lost on the edges, the final strands? Or are we working our way to the middle and the spider's lair? Only time will tell.... Meanwhile, I think I will sit in that wooden rocker, a warm shawl across my shoulder. As I rock, I will think on all the changes and what good I still can do. === === About the Author === Alan is Elspeth's husband. Unfortunately, he does not have time for message boards, but he makes up for it by occasionally writing an article like this one. ===== ===== THE CRAFT - A MOVIE REVIEW THROUGH THE EYES OF A WITCH ===== by Xander Trotter ===== It was 1996 when I first saw the preview to this film. I remember sitting in front of my television at the young age of 13 and wanting to see it badly, but my Christian conservative parents wouldn't allow me to. They called the film "devilry" which in my case wanted to make me see it quicker. When I did eventually see it I didn't see it for what it was but instead I saw it as nothing more than another horror film. It wasn't until I became a Witch in 2004 that I saw this film for what it is. Now some of you might be wondering why I am writing a review of this film almost 12 years after it was released. Well, I am writing a review, in hopes of opening up some eyes about this film. I have many Pagan friends who haven't seen this because they are afraid its going to make Pagans look nothing more than evil doers. I want to share to the world of Witchcraft that this film is a Pagan wonder disguised as a horror film. The story is simple: A young girl named Sarah, played by Robin Tunney (who by the way was bald when shooting this film and was wearing a red wig due to the fact she was shooting another movie on the side) moves to a new city and begins school in a completely different environment. She is warned to stay away from three young girls because people claim they are witches. Like in every movie when your warned against something it means it'll happen. She begins to befriend these girls and does find out they are truly witches, something that scares her at first. Sarah begins to embrace it and the three of them start performing magick, not knowing the consequences that lead with the stuff they do. As a movie critic I want to say its a brilliant film, scary and engrossing. I like the way one critic put it, "It's Clueless meets Carrie". But to me it seems that most critics didn't see the point to this film. Some people just go to movies to enjoy them and don't come out with a positive message. One might ask themselves, "How can a horror film have a positive message?" Well, around the time this film was released was around the same time that teenagers began to dabble in the arts of Witchcraft. They didn't see it as a religion as much as they saw it as a way to curse people who angered them: ex-boyfriends, ex-girlfriends, teachers, parents, bullies. And who are we to determine their fate? This film, all the while entertaining us and scaring us, is warning those teenagers about the dangers of curses. Throughout the film you can see three-fold taking its course. The characters even mention it, yet the audience seems to just let that slide. Like I stated earlier, when I first saw it I saw it as a horror film but now that I am a Pagan I can see the brilliance in this film. The lesson it teaches on karma is amazing. Yeah the magick might be a little outrageous, but that doesn't take away from anything amazing about this film. As a Pagan I think its a positive film and highly recommend it!!! ===== ===== REVIEW: ASCENSION MAGICK ===== by Mike Gleason ===== Ascension Magick: Ritual, Myth & Healing for the New Aeon by Christopher Penczak published 2002 by Llewellyn Paperback 561 pages ISBN: 0738710474 See this book on Amazon: http://www.ecauldron.com/cncbook.php?asin=0738710474 I need to be complete honest at the start of this review (I am writing this introductory paragraph before I get beyond the first couple of pages). I got this book, not because of an interest in ascension magick, but because of the author. I have read a bunch of Christopher's earlier books (although not all of them). I don't always agree with them, but I have learned something from each of them. I got this book to see what I would learn from it. The first section of this book deals with the roots and underpinnings of the Ascension movement. If you know noting about the precedents of modern magick, this will be a revelation to you. If you know those precedents, this will serve as a simple reminder. In any case, it is a must-read to bring you up to speed for the rest of the book. Normally I can get through a book of this length in a bit over a week. I didn't even try to stick to that thinking with this work. The concepts contained in this book need careful reading, thoughtful reflection, and a sharp intellect. If, while reading this book, you find your attention waning - STOP, put the book down and divert yourself for a while. This is NOT a book to read at the end of a long day, although the ideas contained within may slip more easily past your conscious censors. If you are only mildly interested in the subject of ascensionism, you may find Mr. Penczak's work to be overly long and daunting. If, on the other hand, ascensionism and light working are ideas which call to you, this book will be an invaluable aid. I am not sure, on a personal level, whether I should recommend this book whole-heartedly. There is no doubt that I would recommend it to the serious seeker but, not having read a lot of ascensionist literature, and being shaky (due to passage of the years) on Theosophical writings, I'm not sure how Chris' take on the subject fits into the general overview of the subject; hence my personal reservations. Even though 500+ pages is long for an introductory work, the subject covers such a diversity of topics and details that it does not seem, to me, to be overly lengthy. Christopher has made no attempt, in my opinion, to "pad" this book. It serves as a good, basic text to provide an understanding of the subject and a foundation for further personal work. Christopher covers topic ranging from sacred calendars to secret histories; from Theosophy to Left hand Initiations; and from individual progress to planetary (and galactic and cosmic) ascension. It is the story of his journey to arrive at who and what he is today. It is not so much a guide book as a travelogue. It may resonate with you; it may inspire you; but it is not intended to stifle your own experiments. You can compare your results to his but you need to be constantly aware that, as some folks remind us, "Your mileage may vary." You need to find what is right for you. Is this an essential book for the average reader? No, but it is a valuable resource for those who are looking for certain answers. It won't provide those answers, but it will help to guide you on your search for them. ===== ===== REVIEW: HOW IT IS ===== by Mike Gleason ===== How It Is by George D. Stewart published 2007 by BookSurge Paperback 114 pages ISBN: 1424324068 See This Book at Amazon: http://www.ecauldron.com/cncbook.php?asin=1424324068 How do you relate to a book which states on its second page: "This is not a religious book, but one of science and reality. It neither raises nor lowers any religion or set of beliefs." And then states, three pages later; "Slightly less than 14 billion years ago, all matter, and energy came into existence. In that beginning, the universe was confined to a sphere slightly more than 62 centimeters in diameter, with a mass in excess of 5.925x10 to the 70th power kilograms.It had consciousness. This was God." I am sure that there are large numbers of folks who might feel that statement is more religious than scientific. How does the author know that the sphere was slightly more than 62 centimeters in diameter? How does he know it had consciousness? These statements smack of dogma, and religious dogma at that. How does the author know that the contents of his book are reality? In a footnote on page 8 he writes: "As I wrote these words, God spoke to me saying.", so he has his knowledge as a result of direct revelation from the Universal Source. For those with a Gnostic approach to divinity that is an unimpeachable source of reality; for those with other approaches questions remain. Thanks to the author we now know that "God learned more than 99% of what there was to learn in the first 20 hours of His existence." After about 50 hours of existence God became very bored (short attention span?). It then took God ".close to 300 million years to formulate a plan for what God would do next." "Within a few moments of when God felt that planning was completed, He spun up to nearly 160 revolutions per second, and used the resulting angular momentum to assist in greatly expanding His own size. Then, He collapsed to subatomic size, which resulted in the greatest explosion ever known. The entire expansion-compression maneuver lasted less than two seconds. Ever since that moment, the universe has been expanding." Although that may be an attractive theory, I have not seen any proof offered other than personal revolution. Additionally, the statement (on page 13): "We are like pets to Him." will undoubtedly offend a great many people. I have to admit that before I progressed very far into this book, I had already begun to dismiss the author and his conclusions. I am sure that there are readers for whom this work will resonate. I am not, however, one of them. By the time he stated that a brain is not ".for any other purpose than the download/upload of information to/from the organism's spirit." I was ready to put the book aside and move on to other reading. However, in fairness to the author, I finished the book. I did not change my opinions or feelings in the least. Personally, I did not find this book to be beneficial. For a book of science and reality, it is far to involved with sin, time spent in hell, and other topics more suited to a religious work. Statements are made which appear to be scientific but which are inherently unproveable (e.g., ".all the spirit life combined has a mass no greater than 50kg (in effect nothing). God's spirit mass slightly exceeds 21,000kg, a small amount when considering the mass of the rest of the universe.") How can you prove a statement like that? ===== ===== REVIEW: FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW ===== by Mike Gleason ===== Footprints in the Snow: True Stories of Haunted Russia by James L. Choron Published 2007 by Zumaya Paperback 268 pages ISBN 1934135062 See this book at Amazon: http://www.ecauldron.com/cncbook.php?asin=1934135062 Okay, here is a head's up for the potential reader. IF you are of the few people who actually read the copyright page, disregard the fiction disclaimer on the top of the page. It slipped by the publisher's notice until it was brought to their attention. This book is NOT fiction. This is a collection of local ghost stories ("Tales of Haunted Russia" as the subtitle explains). The author is an American who has resided in Mother Russia for nearly two decades and who has become familiar with the people and their attitudes towards the paranormal. The stories he has collected for this book are not "big name" stories - no Tsars or royal families, no high Party officials, just men and women (and occasional children) living their lives - or perhaps outliving their lives. They are not scary, but they certainly qualify as unusual. Being a production of a smaller publisher, I wasn't surprised by a few errors, but one which stood out was on page 84: "If at first glance this story does not seem paranormal, please see the photo section." Oops, there are no photos in this book. The story itself has no paranormal elements, so I must assume that there should have been a photo which showed a ghostly figure. There are a few accounts in this book which deal with individuals who were "silent powers" during the Soviet regime; a few men whose names were the cause of feelings of dread; but they form a very small part of this collection. In most cases, however, it is not those individuals who are the subject of the stories. More often it is their deeds which are recounted. Most of the accounts in this book are the sort of family "ghost" stories almost everyone has heard at one time or another. That is what makes them ring so true. They are everyday occurrences. Okay, maybe not "everyday," but often enough that they are not threatening. Many of them are of individuals looking out for their descendants, or for those they were charged with caring for before their death, or for a particular location. There are no chain rattlers in this collection of stories. I do not hesitate to recommend this to all readers. You don't need an over-riding interest in ghostly phenomena to enjoy these stories. And enjoyment is the keynote here. These stories will not frighten you, nor will they overwhelm you. If you want some enjoyable stories about "Haunted Russia", this book is for you. ===== ===== REVIEW: AUTUMN EQUINOX ===== by Mike Gleason ===== Autumn Equinox: The Enchantment of Mabon by Ellen Dugan Published 2005 by Llewellyn Paperback 208 pages ISBN 0738706248 See this book at Amazon: http://www.ecauldron.com/cncbook.php?asin=0738706248 I hadn't planned to get this book for review. In fact, I had reviewed a similar book several years ago (Mabon, reviewed in 2003). I made the mistake of loaning that book out, however, and it never came back, so I decided to replace it. That book was out of print, so I decided to get this one to replace it. Then, it only seemed fair to review the replacement book. This wonderful book is easy to read and appreciate. Ms. Dugan has arranged things in an easy to use format and has included spells, charms, and rituals throughout. Most importantly, to my way of thinking, a large amount of this book is not Pagan- specific. It is family-friendly, so it is applicable whether used for your coven-mates or your more conventionally oriented "mundane" family members. She gives ideas for decorations (many of them easy enough to make that children can help), as well as the background on the deities associated with the season. She gives suggestions for gardening, as well as uses for fruits and grains in the celebrations. She includes almost twenty pages of delicious recipes that will have family and guests enjoying your meals and talking about them long after the table is cleared. She ends the book with lists (and details) of deities, stones, and plants associated with the season. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and it will definitely be well- used over the years. There are other books out there with a lot of the same data, but this one was real pleasure to read. It may not be the best book on the topic, but it definitely in the top five or six. [04] ========= ========= FLAMEKEEPING ========= DICHOTOMIES OF PLEASURE AND HAPPINESS ========= by HeartShadow ========= HeartShadow is following her own religious path. She calls it FlameKeeping. This regular column will present articles on FlameKeeping, many taken from HeartShadow's FlameKeeping blog at: http://flamekeeping.blogspot.com/ ===== ===== Dichotomies of Pleasure and Happiness ===== Humanity has always had a love-hate relationship with pleasure, especially "fleshy" pleasures, or pleasures of the body. On the one hand, pleasure is enjoyable and sought after, and for good reason. Every pleasure that the human body has comes with advantages, within reason. On the other hand, though, is the problem that pleasure, in and of itself, does nothing. It is an end, as opposed to happiness, which is more often a product of life. Pleasure and happiness are often confused, considered similar if not the same thing. But pleasure is like a paper: thrown into our Flame, it gives a great flash of warmth, but is then gone, leaving us colder than before. Happiness is a log, placed carefully in our Flame. No great heat, no moment of astonished warmth, but a long growth of warmth that lasts as long as it is nurtured. Of course, the flash of pleasure is more dramatic, more noticeable. It's much easier to seek, and indeed a search for pleasure may well be genetic, as well as the desire for happiness. But pleasure is easy, too easy. When sweets were hard to come by, sugar was a pleasure that could be safely indulged in, were there enough money to afford it. But over-saturation cheapens pleasure, like taking an occasional piece of chocolate and making it a daily habit makes that chocolate taste not nearly as good. As one becomes accustomed to pleasure, old pleasures become boring, no longer enough. So one must seek new pleasures, casting old ones aside in the heedless search for stimulation. One might ask, so what? What difference does it make if we need to seek new pleasures? If it makes us happy, what's the problem? The problem is, pleasure doesn't lead to happiness. Pleasure leads to desire, and desire leads more often to sorrow than happiness, because everything is wanted and not had. Pleasure and desire are not wrong, but they must be understood for what they are, and weighed against long-term happiness, when one desires what is not had. In many ways, happiness is learning to desire what it is we already have, as opposed to focusing on that which is out of reach. We consider ourselves happy when we have what we desire, and unhappy when our minds are occupied by thoughts of those things we lack. Isn't happiness selfish, one might ask? By what right do I have to seek happiness, when I could be doing things, making things, creating wealth, whatever the excuse is. In truth, however, happiness is our gift to the Divine, as well as our gift from the Divine, if we are capable of simply grasping it. What we do and who we are reflects and changes the Divine. When we are happy, when we live simply, having good relations to those around us and the world we live on, we better the world around us and the Divine. Instead of happiness being selfish, it can be the most unselfish thing one can do. Happiness is not easy, however. It must be maintained, must be nurtured, must be cared for. It is easy for desire to blow through the mind, a mental wind that carries beliefs of inadequacy and false needs, and such winds are hard to dispel. As long as we hold to happiness, however, as our goal, we can help ourselves, and slowly bring this concept to those around us as well, bettering their lives. ===== ===== Questions ===== * How does pleasure differ from happiness? How can the desire for both be balanced? * How do we overcome our desire for pleasure? * Why is happiness unselfish? How would you define being truly happy? [05] ========= ========= SOFTWARE GADGETS: THE COLUMN ========= Interesting Items From The Software Gadgets Blog ========= http://softwaregadgets.gridspace.net/ ========= The Software Gadgets Blog aims to present a different "software gadget" every weekday. A software gadget is a program or addon that is both interesting and useful -- and often free. This column highlights three of the programs listed recently. Many more were listed and you'll find more gadgets like these added every week at the Software Gadgets Blog at: http://softwaregadgets.gridspace.net/ ===== ===== YOUTUBE DOWNLOADER ===== This single function program lets you plug in a youtube video url and it downloads the video to the folder of your choice in an .avi or .mpeg format that can be played in Windows Media Player. No need for a special player. From the YouTube Downloader web site: YouTube Downloader is a free tool that downloads videos from youtube and saves it as Avi file to your local computer. Simply paste the URL of a video into the program, press Start, and the AVI or MPEG file will be downloaded into the selected folder. Operating System: Windows Price: Free Web Site: http://youtube-d.com/ ===== ===== IE PRO -- ULTIMATE ADDON FOR IE ===== If you use Internet Explorer 7, but would like some of the many features in popular addons for Firefox (like adblocking, greasemonkey scripting, etc.), give IE Pro a try. It is still in beta, but already adds a lot of features to IE as this feature list from the IE Pro web site demonstrates: * Easier Tab Management * AD Blocker * Super Drag and Drop * Mouse Gesture * Save Page to Image * Proxy Switcher * Crash Recovery * Greasymonkey alike User Script This may work on Vista, but I can't find whether it does or not on the web site. Operating System: Windows XP and IE 7 Price: Free Web Site: http://www.ie7pro.com/ ===== ===== SIDESLIDE -- DOCKABLE DESKTOP EXTENDER ===== SideSlide looks interesting. It is like an extra desktop that you dock to the side of your screen that can hold shortcuts, notes, etc. that stay out of your ways until you need them. From the Sideslide web site: Dock SideSlide to any screen edge; keep shortcuts to files, folders and URLs you frequently visit; execute various commands quicker than ever; add multiple notes; multiple, sizable, pictures; schedule reminders; save web snippets and more... Customize it to emphasize the things you use the most and make more information accessible without occupying precious screen space. By using containers you can shrink and fold, linking containers to actual folders on disk, launch groups that allow you to start multiple programs at once, shortcut tags, zooming in and out of shortcuts, keyboard navigation, different skins, different size pictures, picture containers and colored notes; SideSlide is designed to make a great deal of content instantly accessible Operating System: Windows 2000/XP/Vista Price: Free Web Site: http://www.northglide.com/sideslide.html [06] ========= ========= From the Spell Grimoire: ========= HEALING FLAMES SPELL ========= Draw a picture of the target with the disease, wound or condition. Clearly point out the problem in the picture: a large hammer against the head to represent a headache, black worms for a virus, a broken limb, a sore, etc. Charge a red candle with healing energy. light the candle's flame. Hold the tip of the picture in the flame. After the paper is lit, drop it into a heat proof container. Now, with the red candle still burning, draw another picture of target without the headache, free of the virus or sore, or with a healed limb. Place this picture under the red candle and let the candle burn itself out. === === About This Spell === This spell is taken from The Cauldron's Spell Grimoire, a collection of basic spells available on The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum's web site. You'll find more spells at: http://www.ecauldron.com/spells/index.php [07] ========= ========= From the Cauldron Cookbook: ========= SZECHWAN SHRIMP ========= submitted by Texas Red ========= === Ingredients 1 1/4 pounds fresh or frozen medium-size shrimp 4 teaspoons reduced-sodium soy sauce 4 teaspoons grated fresh ginger or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1 tablespoon dry sherry or water 1 tablespoon Oriental chili sauce with garlic 1 teaspoon cornstarch 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 1 1/2 teaspoons reduced-sodium soy sauce 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch 4 teaspoons canola oil 3 cloves garlic, minced (1 1/2 teaspoons minced) 2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced 1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces 2 cups fresh pea pods, trimmed 6 cups shredded Chinese (Napa) cabbage 1/4 cup dry-roasted peanuts 2 tablespoons sliced green onions (scallions) === Directions Thaw shrimp, if frozen. Peel, devein, and rinse shrimp; pat dry with paper towels. For sauce, in a small bowl combine the 4 teaspoons soy sauce, ginger, dry sherry or water, Oriental chili sauce, the 1 teaspoon cornstarch, sesame oil, and the 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt. Set aside. Place shrimp in a medium bowl; sprinkle lightly with additional kosher salt and black pepper. Stir in the 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce and the 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch; set aside. In a wok or 12-inch skillet heat 2 teaspoons of the oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic; stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add mushrooms; stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add bell pepper; stir-fry for 1 minute. Add pea pods; stir-fry for 2 minutes. Remove vegetables from wok. Add remaining 2 teaspoons oil to wok or skillet. Add shrimp mixture; stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until shrimp turn opaque. Stir sauce; add to wok. Cook and stir until boiling; cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Add mushroom mixture and Chinese cabbage. Toss to coat. To serve, sprinkle with peanuts and green onions. === === About This Recipe === This recipe is taken from the Cauldron Cookbook, a growing collection of recipes submitted by members of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum. You'll find more recipes at: http://www.ecauldron.com/cookbook/index.php [08] ========= ========= Cauldron Info ========= SUPPORT THE CAULDRON BY VOLUNTEERING TO HELP ========= The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum was founded in December 1997 to provide a friendly but serious discussion area for Pagans on the Internet. We've grown a bit over the years. We now have an active message area, a large web site with around 700 pages of information (including over 300 book and divination deck reviews), and a monthly email newsletter. To continue to provide and expand these services, The Cauldron needs lots of volunteer help from our members and supporters. Here are some of the things members and supporters can do to help The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum thrive: ===== ===== Actively Participate In Our Message Board ===== While our new message board welcomes readers, we encourage members to actively participate by posting their comments and views in our discussions. One of the easiest ways to help The Cauldron is to actively participate in our message board. The staff especially appreciates members who start new topics for discussion based on their own questions, opinions, or interests. http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/ ===== ===== Articles! Essays! Tutorials! ===== We are in constant need of original, well-written and accurate articles, essays, tutorials, and other written items for both our web site and for our Cauldron and Candle newsletter. There's no real limit on length for web site articles. Here are a few areas in which we always need articles: * information on the beliefs and theology of the various Pagan religions, especially non-Wiccan religions * information on holidays and festivals of the various Pagan religions, especially non-Wiccan religions * recipes for oils, incenses, and food for the various Pagan holidays * magick, spells, and ritual information * herbal information * positive articles on dealing with other faiths * information on historical pagan cultures * editorial/opinion pieces Non-Wiccan material is stressed not because we don't want Wiccan material but because good non-Wiccan material has been hard to find. We have a web form you can use to submit an article for consideration: http://www.ecauldron.com/bnbarticleform.php ===== ===== Book Reviews ===== While The Cauldron receives some review copies from a couple of Pagan publishers, there are many books that can only be reviewed on our web site if a member has a copy and writes a good, objective review. The Cauldron is interested in reviews on the more academic books used by reconstructionist Pagan religions as well as on the books one finds on the Pagan/New Age shelf in the bookstore. We have a web form you can use to submit a book review for consideration: http://www.ecauldron.com/bnbbkreviewform.php ===== ===== Graphic Assistance ===== The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum is purposely a low graphics site as we value page download speed over flashy graphics. However, we are always willing to talk with artists who have ideas for well-designed small graphics (small in both physical dimensions and file size) that might enhance a specific article or page. ===== ===== Invite Your Friends ===== If you have friends or acquaintances who you believe would find The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum useful, please tell them about our site. If you are active in our message board and have friends who might enjoy them or have information to contribute, please invite them. ===== ===== Link To The Cauldron ===== If you have a web site where linking to The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum would be appropriate, simply providing a link to this web site is a big help. Our Link to this Site page explains how you can do this if you need help or want some simple graphic buttons to use: http://www.ecauldron.com/linktous.php ===== ===== Donations ===== As The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum uses as many free services as possible, our need for money to operate our site is currently lower than our need for the many items we list above. However, if you have a few dollars to spare, we would be honored to have your help in paying for our web site. You can donate by using either PayPal or the Amazon Honor System links below (we get about 85% of what you donate). Donate via PayPal http://www.ecauldron.com/donatepaypal.php Donate via Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/paypage/P3903JRFVQVDN ===== ===== Amazon Purchases ===== The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum also receives a small percentage (usually 5%) from most items purchased from Amazon.com when you go to Amazon.com from one of the links to Amazon on our web site. If you purchase a lot of books, CDs, and other items from Amazon.com as many members do, going to Amazon.com through one of our links when you are going to make a purchase there is a painless way to help fund this web site. http://www.ecauldron.com/zamazon.php If you are a regular user of the US version of Amazon, you can help The Cauldron by replacing the URL of your ebay bookmark in your browser with the above link so that TC gets credit every time you visit Amazon.com. To do this in Internet Explorer or Firefox, find Amazon in your bookmark list. RIGHT click on it and select Properties from the popup menu which will appear. A dialog box describing your bookmark will appear. You'll see the standard Amazon url -- probably http://www.amazon.com/ -- in an edit box (labeled "Location" in FireFox and "URL" in IE). Erase that url completely and replace with one listed above, then click on OK. If you use Amazon UK, you can use this address http://www.ecauldron.com/zamazonuk.php If you use Amazon Canada, you can use this addess: http://www.ecauldron.com/zamazonca.php ===== ===== Ebay Purchases ===== Are you an Ebay user? Ebay has a new program that pays affiliates a small percent of the winning bid if the winning bidder enters ebay from an affiliate link (some like how our Amazon.com affiliate program works). So if you visit the US version ebay via the following link, the Cauldron will get credit for your bids: http://www.ecauldron.com/zebay.php If you are a regular user of the US version of ebay, you can help The Cauldron by replacing the URL of your ebay bookmark in your browser with the above link so that TC gets credit every time you visit ebay. To do this in Internet Explorer or Firefox, find ebay in your bookmark list. RIGHT click on it and select Properties from the popup menu which will appear. A dialog box describing your bookmark will appear. You'll see the standard ebay url -- probably http://www.ebay.com/ -- in an edit box (labeled "Location" in FireFox and "URL" in IE). Erase that url completely and replace with one listed above, then click on OK. ===== ===== Have Questions or Suggestions? ===== If you have specific questions, proposals or other ideas we haven't mentioned here, please email them to rssapphire00@ecauldron.GETRIDOFEME.com. (Unfortunately, Randall has to answer general "Tell me more?" type questions with a request for a more specific question. He's not trying to be rude, he just can't think of anything general and useful to say that isn't said here.) [09] ========= ========= NEWSLETTER INFORMATION ========= (Including how to subscribe and unsubscribe) ========= Cauldron and Candle is a free publication of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum. The Cauldron intends to publish this newsletter once a month and often actually succeeds in doing so. We tried to publish it twice a month for a while, but real life interfered too often. This issue of Cauldron and Candle as a whole is copyright (c) 2007 by The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum. Copyrights on individual items in this newsletter are retained by their author, please contact the editors if you need to contact an author for permission to reprint an article and the editors will do their best to put you in touch with him or her. The opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of newsletter, The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum, or its staff. Publication of an article in this newsletter is not an endorsement of the authors position or any products and companies mentioned therein. No one involved in producing this newsletter has any money to speak of so suing us if you don't like something we do is a waste of time and money. ===== ===== HOW TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE OR CHANGE EMAIL ADDRESS ===== You are receiving a copy of this newsletter because you signed up to receive it. You can subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter via your web browser at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cauldronandcandle/join Or you can unsubscribe via email by sending a blank message to cauldronandcandle-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Be sure to send this message from the email account actually subscribed to the newsletter. If you have trouble unsubscribing by email, please use the web browser method mentioned above. If you need to change your subscription to a new email address, unsubscribe your old email address and subscribe your new email address. Note that you have to make these changes yourself. Yahoo Groups does not allow the list owner to make them for you. ===== ===== NEWSLETTER WEB SITE AND BACK ISSUE ARCHIVE ===== The Cauldron and Candle web site contains information on this newsletter and an archive of back issues. http://www.ecauldron.com/cnc/ ===== ===== PLEASE INVITE YOUR FRIENDS TO SUBSCRIBE ===== If you have Pagan friends who you believe would be interested in Cauldron and Candle please invite them to subscribe. You can either drop them a note yourself or -- better yet -- send them one of The Cauldron's email postcards with the information. You are also welcome to forward a copies of this newsletter to interested friends and associates provided you forward the entire newsletter. ===== ===== SUGGESTIONS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME ===== Don't forget that your suggestions for this newsletter are always welcome, either posted on the message board or via email to LyricFox (lyricfox01@ecauldron.GETRIDOFME.com) or Randall Sapphire (rssapphire01@.ecauldron.GETRIDOFME.com). Typos are, as usual, courtesy of the Goddess Eris.

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