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C A U L D R O N A N D C A N D L E #91 -- June 2008 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 [01] Cauldron News * New Avatar Design Challenge [03] Interesting Recent Cauldron Discussions * What Gender Deity Do You Respond to Most and Why? * How Long Have You Defined Yourself as Pagan? * Creating Your Own Divinitory System? * A Child's Right to Not be Religious? * The meaning of the word 'witch'? * Grounding and Circles and Such * Origins of Ritual Wear * Finding Peace? * Explaining Your Religious/Spiritual/Occult Symbols * Newbie Mistakes * Restrictions on Partner's Displays of Faith? * Religion Without a Moral System * The 5 Elements and Wiccan Ritual? * Shamanism and Witchcraft - What's the Difference Exactly? * Special Discussion: Nature and Pagan Religions [04] Flamekeeping: Life and Cycles [05] Support The Cauldron [06] 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 ========= We almost missed another month, but I'm getting the June issue out just in time to avoid it being the July issue. We have some good news and some very tragic news this month. The first item of good news is that LyricFox had her first post- radiation CT scan in early June, and the results show no sign (so far) of any recurrence of her oral cancer. The second item of good news is that Koi's life has returned enough to normal that she can resume some posting on the forum. This is great news as Koi has really been missed by many Cauldron members. Sadly, all of this good news has been overshadowed by some really awful news. Ocelot's 14 year old son was killed in tragic accident on June 23rd. Ocelot has been an active member of The Cauldron for years and has been very helpful as a member of TC staff. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Ocelot, his wife, family, and friends. If you wish to lend your prayers and support, there is a thread for this in our Prayer and Energy Requests board: * http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=6020.0 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 ========= ===== ===== NEW AVATAR DESIGN CHALLENGE ===== And after a long break the Avatar Design Challenge is back. The 6th incarnation of the challenge starts now and closes on August 14th (two months from now). After that all entries will be put up as a poll so folks can vote. The theme for this contest is Sacred Places and the winner of this contest will choose the theme for the next one. So please remember to post a theme proposal when you post your entry. Here are the rules (as originally written by Beachglass): Avatar Design Challenge Rules * Challenge begins today, June 14, 2008. You do not have to "register" or otherwise state your intent to play, but it's nice if you do so so I can see what kind of response the theme is getting. * The challenge theme will be chosen by the winner of the previous round. * Players have two months to submit their design (i.e., until August 14). Please submit your entries by uploading them to an image service such as Photobucket, and then inlining them into a reply to the challenge theme post (use [img] ... [/img]). Also, post your idea for the next month's theme with your entry, so we can keep everything on schedule. * Multiple entries are permitted, but please mark one "preferred" entry, in case there are many entrants and the list gets too unwieldy. * Voting will take place between the end of the challenge and the beginning of the next round(September 1). All interested members are encouraged to vote for their favorites. The winner and new theme will be announced on the first day of the next round. * Please review the Avatar Guidelines and be sure your entry meets them. Also, please do not use copyrighted images when making your entry, unless you have permission from the copyright holder. * By participating in the challenge, you are giving other members permission to use your entry as their avatar. Please don't enter avatars that you don't want others to use. Exception: you may enter your own personal avatar if it was made new for the contest. Alright then! Any questions just ask them here. * http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=5903.0 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++ 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! Read why we use Dreamhost for The Cauldron's web site: http://www.ecauldron.com/web/whydreamhost.php Plan Features * 500 gigabytes web space * 5000 gigabytes/month bandwidth * unlimited email boxes (POP3/IMAP) * unlimited ftp/shell accounts * host unlimited domains/subdomains * php4, php5, cgi, fastcgi, ssi * zend optimizer, ruby on rails * unlimited MySQL databases * announcement lists * discussion (aka mailing) lists * Jabber server * Crontab and Shell access * Web-based Control Panel * One-Click installs of the Wordpress blog & PhpBB forum * 1 free domain name * helpful tech support * and much more! All for $10.95 a month with a $49.95 setup fee. Pay for a year in advance (only 9.95/month) and there is no setup fee. Pay two years in advance and the price drops to $8.95 a month. (And there is a 97 day money back guarantee!) 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. ===== ===== What Gender Deity Do You Respond to Most and Why? ===== I was having a conversation with my friend the other day on Gods and Goddess and I asked her what gender deity she responded more towards and she said Male, she said this was because she liked more of the father figure. Myself I prefer female, I often gravitate towards Freyja more than Odin or Thor, and even when I was catholic one of the aspects I enjoyed more was Mary more so than Jesus. She asked why and I said I find it easier to communicate about Emotions with a female more so than a male. (You know because we are gruff testosterone guys grr (haha I am just playing around with that part)) This kinda dispells the notion to me that most people gravitate towards thier own sex as neithier of us did (though we may be the exception) Anyways which do you find more appealing and why? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=5867.0 ===== ===== How Long Have You Defined Yourself as Pagan? ===== Clarification for voting The poll voting is about when have you defined yourself as Pagan - not when you've started to be interested in Pagan stuff (without labeling yourself as one) nor when you came out of the closet with that label (but have seen yourself as one secretly before). Some points for discussion if you like What made you decide to define yourself as Pagan as opposed to someone who is just interested in myths, history, nature, meditation, esoteric stuff etc.? * Have you pondered that label for a while or did you suddenly discover it and had some sort of key experience that just made you think 'Yes, that is it what I was searching all along.'? * Did it give you a sense of belonging to a community or was it just a label for your own identity and you didn't care if you'd fit into the community? For those who are longer Pagan and have a lot of experience with the Pagan community: * Have you experienced a change in what the label 'Pagan' means inside and outside the Pagan community? * How has Paganism changed itsself since you started practicing? * Has your own view of Paganism changed over the time? * How did those changes affect your life and religious/spiritual practice? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=5831.0 ===== ===== Creating Your Own Divinitory System? ===== Well this is something I experimented with. It didn't work out as planned (I found that the "Runes" I created are not suited well for Divination at all...but they'd work very well for invoking certain things and for meditation) but it was an interesting exercise. I've been toying with the idea of creating a Tarot deck, but I lack the experience OR free time to embark on such an endeavor. Has anyone here ever tried something like this? What did you take into consideration? What was your process? How well did it work? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=5823.0 ===== ===== A Child's Right to Not be Religious? ===== So we've talked about raising children within faith, we've talked about exposing them to other faiths, and we've talked about raising children pan-religious in hopes that they will someday seek and find their own paths, without feeling we have coerced them into believing as we do for fear of parental or social disapproval. We're a very religiously/ spiritually interested bunch though, and I notice that this isn't the same for everyone. My husband for example has a 'relationship' with 'something bigger than he is' and while he experiences some energy connections and has had some unexplainables occur, he is not what I would call overly religious. My kids, seem to be following in dads footsteps. They enjoy the high energy of special events, but I can't say there is any real reverence there. It's a game to them. To bring them into sacred situations is to invite disaster, and cause things to be handled carelessly if not downright disrespectfully. When dealing with sacred objects, and things that cannot be replaced, this can be dangerous. This is pretty much the same result I got when trying to get hubbs involved in some spiritual pursuits. Blatant irreverence. They just don't seem to "get it" nor do they have the desire to slow down to try. When they do have religious or spiritual needs, they will come to me quietly on their own terms with their questions, but once those concerns are addressed, they are satisfied and don't seek out religious learning the way they seek reading, or music. Which leaves me asking, if a kid doesn't show any indications of religious interest, is it brainwashing to ingrain religion in them through teaching, creating ritual, habits and creating a psychological reliance on belief? Eg. using religious/ spiritual means as coping strategies for life stress without knowing if other methods would be equally effective for the individual in question. Why or why not? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=5820.0 ===== ===== The meaning of the word 'witch'? ===== The word 'witch' has a multiplicity of uses. It can be used to mean some one who practices magic, or it can be used to mean an evil sorcerer of some sort. It is also used to mean, quite simply, a 'hag'. Religiously, the word 'witch' crops up quite often. But what exactly is a 'witch' when speaking religiously? Does the word ?witch? still mean the same thing when putting either cottage, hedge or kitchen in front of it? 'Witch' is also commonly seen with the word 'craft' tagged onto it. But what exactly is Witchcraft? Is it as straightforward as it sounds: the practice of a witch, whatever a witch may be? And finally, what do you think about a religious group laying claim to the title of 'Witchcraft'? Do you think there is one that has a rightful claim, or do you think it is a practice that anybody can claim? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=5789.0 ===== ===== Grounding and Circles and Such ===== Some time ago I performed a healing ritual. I thought I had grounded myself well with breathing and focus beforehand but ended up basically in shock afterwards. There was a point where I could feel the energy of EVERY thing around me. I always do all my rituals outside so it was quite the flow LOL. I based what I did on a natural ability that I seem to have always had and it was the first time I had used it in a ritual sense. My questions are these. I obviously did not ground myself well enough so any suggestions on that would be great. I have done all my grounding by instinct for the most part so I am an open book. So where did I go wrong? Circles. From most of what I have read creating a circle for a ritual is a Wiccan thing, not that I am saying Wiccans are bad - just that I am not a Wiccan. Are circles that important to ritual and how does one go about creating a circle when you are not Wiccan. That may sound hopelessly dumb - but all the info I have found on them is Wiccan. * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=5775.0 ===== ===== Origins of Ritual Wear ===== Do you, or your ritual group, use special clothing or accessories (like jewelry, cords, head covering, whatever) during ritual? If you do not practice with others, why did you select the particular items you use? If you work within a group, do you know why you use those particular items instead of something else? For those that follow recon or recon-ish paths- do you wear or use anything related to the ancient culture you emulate? Why, or why not? How do you feel about those who have the opposite practice as you? (As in, if you wear jeans and they wear togas, or the other way around.) For those of you who don't have ritual clothing or accessories, was that a conscious choice or has it just ended up that way? If you chose not to demarcate anything as ritually significant, why did you do so? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=5699.0 ===== ===== Finding Peace? ===== One of the things that years ago attracted me to paganism ( I think thats a real word lol ) is that everyone that I had met that claimed to be Pagan had a real sense of peace about them. Not the butterflies and bunnies kind of peace but a calm that was almost soothing to be around. Very attractive to someone that has spent most their life pissed off at everything LOL. So my question to you all is - has your faith/practice/belief brought that kind of peace into your life? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=5695.0 ===== ===== Explaining Your Religious/Spiritual/Occult Symbols ===== An idea I got from Aisling's 'Describing Your Religion'-thread. I'm interested to hear how people came to their religious/spiritual/occult symbols and images and what they do represent for them. I've seen a lot of interesting things in avatars for example like sacred geometry (Moon Ivy?), Gods or animals/plants and other nature features. * Which symbols and images do represent your religion/spirituality for you or have a magical purpose? * Do you wear them, display them or work with them? Does your avatar or signature include features with religious/spiritual/occult meaning for you? * Are there any forms of sacred geometry in your symbols/images or do they symbolize or show Gods, animals, plants, nature features or any other beings or objects which are significant to you in a religious/spiritual/magical way? * Which personal meanings do you attribute to symbols/images with a variety of traditional meanings (for example a pentagram, the moon etc.)? Do your personal meanings vary from the traditional ones or is one meaning out of a larger variety more important to you than others? * Have you ever experienced misunderstandings of your personal religious/spiritual/occult symbols and images? Which? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=5678.0 ===== ===== Newbie Mistakes ===== This one is information for the newbies, as we all made mistakes when we were new, and I thought that newbies would benefit from hearing the ones we had made so they wouldn't make the same. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I thought you had to have a path and a deity. Now I've met people I've respected who don't have either. The really big one, which confused me for six months was thinking that all books are gospel. I have a Christian background, and Scottish Protestants believe that the bible is written through men by God. So I read the books I could get my hands on about paganism, and they were mainly wiccan books and thought that they were texts. Took me six months to find out that I didn't have to follow everything in the neo-wiccan books I'd read. If you'd asked me about a text then I'd've cited Scott Cunningham... * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=5675.0 ===== ===== Restrictions on Partner's Displays of Faith? ===== There is something I've thought about off and on, and it came to mind again while I was reading the 'Exposing Children to Other Religions?' thread. Egalas said: "I have been asked by my wife not to "flaunt" my beliefs/religion to my children as she wants them to be brought up Christian." Is there anyone here who has made a similar request of a partner? I've read it several times as a sentiment expressed by a Christian partner, but are there any, say, Asatruar who have asked their Wiccan partner not to flaunt their beliefs in front of the children because they want them brought up Asatruar, or Greek Recons who don't want their children exposed to their Kemetic partner's ways? Any Pagans who have asked their Christian partners not to say grace aloud because they are afraid their children will want to know why they don't tell the other gods when they're eating too? Or is this something that it is more reasonable for a more mainstream partner to ask of a less mainstream one? (Mainstream because I can't think of a better term.) * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=5619.0 ===== ===== Religion Without a Moral System ===== I have found however, that it is difficult for me to understand (grok?) the attraction to faiths that do not have a wide-reaching moral structure incorporated in them. In Judaism, the connection between morality and religion is almost inseparable. Every behavior that could be considered positive or negative can (and is) examined in a religious context. Yet frequently here, I see people saying that their religion has no bearing on their views regarding charity, mercy, sexuality, etc. What attracts folks to religions that do not address these moral questions? Is it simply a desire for contact with the Divine? What's going on? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=5598.0 ===== ===== The 5 Elements and Wiccan Ritual? ===== It is pretty standard in most Wiccan ritual that at some point during the Erecting of the Temple the 4 Elements of Earth, Air, Fire & Water are called, honored, summoned or what have you. Does anyone incorporate the practice of also calling upon the 5th Element of Spirit/Ether? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=5535.0 ===== ===== Shamanism and Witchcraft - What's the Difference Exactly? ===== I know both terms cover a variety of practices (including neoshamanism and Neopagan witchcraft), but how would you separate them? Like shamanism being concerned with spirits, but witchcraft with something else? Don't they overlap a lot? Is there a difference at the core? Are shamanism and witchcraft different magical techniques, different worldviews, different ways of life or maybe religion? Like shamanism being 'earth centered' and witchcraft not necessarily? Is there such a thing as shamanic witchcraft or witchy shamanism? Or do people who practice both (if such people exist) practice them separately? Or is it just two different names for basically the same thing, but with different associations? I have the impression that Christians and atheistic secular humanists do tolerate Shamanism more than witchcraft. Shamanism is just primitive nature religion (sometimes even in a romantic way) for some of them while witchcraft is superstitious or evil. Has 'witch' just become a derogative term for someone who practices magic in a nature religious context? If shamanism is used as a term for a variety of nature religious practices worldwide doesn't it automatically apply to a lot of witches too? I don't want to insult anyone. I know people use it as different terms, but how do you define the difference? If you practice shamanism and/or witchcraft, how do you call it and why? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=5526.0 ===== ===== Special Discussion: Nature and Pagan Religions ===== At TC, we've had many discussions over the years about "nature- based" religions. A major point of contention within the Pagan community involves attempts to define ALL Pagan religions as "nature-based," which simply does not work. However, emotions tend to run so high that discussions rarely advance beyond "ARE SO!" "AM NOT!" In all that, nobody ever really gets around to talking about what we *mean* when we say "nature-based": while everyone seems to agree that Wicca is nature-based and Christianity isn't, there's not much discussion of what we mean by "nature-based," of the various ways that "nature-based" can work within those religions that identify as such, of how nature is conceptualized in religions across the entire spectrum, and so forth. Since this is a Special Topics discussion, there are stricter rules for participation in this thread, especially regarding thread drift: while thread drift is perfectly fine within TC at large, in this folder discussions are to stay on topic. If you want to pursue a side issue that arises here, feel free to start a thread in the main forum. For more information on the special rules for this folder, please see here: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=57.0 In addition to the above rules, we have created some rules specific to this discussion. Since this is a highly emotive topic, we wanted to avoid the discussion getting bogged down in the usual places; here at TC, we have a real opportunity to have a genuinely meaty discussion about concepts of nature in Pagan religions, because we have such a wide variety of beliefs represented here -- including a large number of folks who do *not* identify as nature-based. So, to keep the usual problems from happening, here are the additional rules for this topic. 1) Paganism is not A religion, it is MANY religions, most of which have very little in common with each other. Pagans as a whole do not all believe any one thing. Understanding this is necessary to participate in this discussion. 2) Telling others what their religion really believes about nature when you are not a member of that religion is *expressly* forbidden. Don't make assertions about religions other than your own unless you have a demonstrable in-depth knowledge of that religion. This discussion will be difficult without some room for comparison between religions, but it needs to be done very, very carefully. When comparing other religion's practices/beliefs to your own, you *must* indicate that a) you are not a member of X religion, and b) where your information is coming from (prior involvement, dominant in your area, read some books (scholarly or otherwise), encountered a crazy at a festival, etc.). Sweeping statements are discouraged. And remember: you may be wrong. And since we have practitioners of a wide variety of religions here, you will almost certainly be called on it. Take correction gracefully, and refocus on your own religion. 3) Keep the focus on YOUR religion, not on others' misrepresentations of it. This is a discussion about the concept of "nature-based," how the idea of nature functions within your personal path, and the like; the purpose of this discussion is to move beyond kneejerk responses, and really explore what "nature-based" *means.* As annoyed as you may have been when that NeoWiccan told you that your (non- NeoWiccan) religion WAS SO nature-based, or when that Recon snarked that you don't really worship the gods, this is not the place for those stories. Put them aside, and think about what nature means TO YOU within the context of YOUR religious beliefs and practices. 3b) At the same time, also remember that, if you identify as a member of a particular religion, you are not the spokesperson for that religion as a whole. There's a lot of potential for variation within many religions, so frame your responses accordingly. For example, "Greek Paganism, in general, is not really nature-based" is a fair and reasonable statement. "No Greek Pagans are nature-based" is not -- GPs whose personal practices focus upon Demeter, Pan, or Artemis in their nature-y aspects are likely to object. Without further ado, then, here are some questions to think about; you don't have to answer them all or in any order, certainly -- they're just some thoughts to get the ball rolling. * How important is the idea of "nature" within your religion? * How is nature conceptualized within your religion? * How does nature -- concepts, imagery, attitudes toward -- function within your religion? * Where do things like agricultural festivals fit into your religion overall? * If you practice magic, how is nature figured -- is it *the* source of power, *a* source of power, totally irrelevant, what? Etc. etc. etc. * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=5523.0 [03] ========= ========= FLAMEKEEPING ========= LIFE AND CYCLES ========= 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/ ===== ===== Life and Cycles ===== Death and Life We are born only to die, only to cease to exist as we are. Knowledge of that ending, of a time to come without us, is terrifying to many people. So we search for immortality, guarantees, anything to predict what will come when, and how to plan for or against it. But our daily life offers no guarantees, no promises of the future except that it will come. Promises of the future can only come from faith. How we handle the knowledge of mortality defines us in many ways. We spend our lives striving for immortality, hoping for survival against all reality. Yet in truth many of us desire certainty even more than immortality, desire to know the date and time of our death, and to know how it will happen and how to pass painlessly and with grace. Such knowledge cannot exist, of course, because even if we knew our own body's original time limit, we constantly do things to change that and shorten and lengthen our timeframe. This uncertainty and brevity of life, far from the apparent curse people see it as, is actually a great blessing in disguise. Only because we do not know the time of our death can we risk it, always in the hopes that it won't be this time, won't be us. We strive and struggle against the unknown, to learn, and grow, and become better than we were. This drive for immortality, not in the body, but in the minds of others, drives both the best and the worst of human behavior. We seek the immortality of opinion, of remembrance, and that seeking can guide us in many directions of life. We exist, and strive, for a reason. As part of the Divine, we are separately-willed individuals that work to improve ourselves and the Universe around us when we are at our best. These drives to strive, to grow, to change and improve ourselves and others, push us only because we have a time limit, because we cannot put these desires off indefinitely, but must work at them from a young age if we hope to achieve them. All words, however, are cold comfort when faced with mortality and the mortality of our loved ones. The Divine can seem cold and uncaring compared to personal pain and hardship. Yet, the Divine suffers, as we do, with each death, and rejoices with us in each life. Our Flame is that of the Divine, never lost or forgotten, even when we leave our bodies and cease to be separate, and are again one with the Universe. The loss of ourselves, of our individuality, is scary to many people. We value our identities, our separateness from each other, even as we bemoan it. Anything that threatens our separateness, our knowledge of self, is a potential threat even as it is a potential gift. And so we fear death, knowing that we will no longer be ourselves when we do not wear our bodies, and fearing what we might be without them. We try to find ways to save our individuality even beyond death, beyond all knowledge into the realm of hope and faith. But the Universe does not conform to our will and desires, much as we wish it did. Our lives end, but we are never forgotten or lost, but instead returned to the greater Universe. ===== ===== Questions: ===== * What do you do in fear of death? Does it help? Hurt? * What blessing has mortality brought to your life? * How can you live without certainty? Would life be better if we knew of how we would die? [05] ========= ========= 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.) [06] ========= ========= 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) 2008 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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