On the plus side, this site is actually quite pretty. Yeah, it’s stereotypical black, but the white text on the background is easy to read, and the moon graphic that’s used for navigation is quite lovely. On the downside, the front page is too long. And there’s burning times stuff about actual folks that were killed. (Didn’t click, but I hate those things since the majority of the people burned/hanged/etc weren’t actually witches. And I’m just plain sick of burning times stuff.) Also mention of Tempest Smith, which, while quite sad, isn’t something completely unexpected. But here’s a good thing: they actually seem to value copyright and make mention of Fair Use.

Let’s take a look at “What is Wicca”. *headdesk* The Rede is Law?! It most certainly is not. Rede means “advice”. And if you read the whole thing, instead of four lines (which is an improvement from the usual 8 words…), you’ll realize that it doesn’t say anything about what you can’t do. Just what you can. (If it doesn’t hurt anyone, do whatever you want. However, there’s no injunction in that lovely poem about if you can/can’t do something that does hurt someone.) There is no rules? So, does that mean that Wicca is whatever you want it to be, and if you worship the toilet bowl, you can still claim to be Wiccan? Feh.

“You choose what works for you and spit out the rest”?! The problem with this is that you end up with these rabid bunnies who attempt to call… say, Kali and Eris into the same circle. There’s so much cultural pillaging and god-shopping that one ends up with a hopeless mess that makes no sense and can actually be offensive to the gods. Not to mention the fact that the one who cobbles this mess together learns nothing beyond “this looks kewl!” without understanding the how’s and why’s behind it.

Fluffy. Very fluffy.

It is now with great trepidation that I click on “What is Wicca”.

(more…)

This is another site that showed up in my logs, so what better excuse to review it?

At first glance, I’m not terribly impressed. Mostly because I don’t like the green color that’s being used under the text, but, then again, I’m really not a fan of most light greens. But, on the plus side (getting over my color bias), the site is easy to navigate, and it’s heavy content. Content is far more important to me than liking the color any day (as long as it doesn’t hurt my eyes, anyway, which this site most certainly does not.)

As for the “What is Wicca” article, I hate it. The writing is good, but Keitha says, “Many practitioners choose beliefs on the basis of what ‘feels right’, and you will find those who practice a mix of Celtic, Greek, Native, Sumerian, Hindu, Buddhist, and other beliefs. Wiccans have a high regard for the beliefs and practices of others, and for the individuals right to find their own path. As such, almost any combination of beliefs and practices is possible.” I use one of the more conservative definitions of what constitutes Wicca (initiatory, mystery-based, oathbound priesthood), so, to me, this is pure rot. If this were explained as “eclectic Wicca”, then I would find it less objectionable. Keep in mind, though, that it’s not the ideas itself that I don’t agree with, just the terminology. Well, except for the idea that the Rede is the law. That is an idea that I do disagree with. Violently. (more…)

I came across this site because someone searched for it in my logs. Upon getting to the site, I found a PHPNuke-type site. Now, before we all collectively groan about the existance of yet *another* Nuke site, this one seems to be different than the norm.

Now, let’s start with the con’s. I’m having a “glass is half-empty” type of day, so let’s just get those out of the way. The one thing that sucks is that it requires membership. I’ve gotten to the point where I *hate* things that require that I become a member. It’s just one more thing to keep track of. Yes, of course, I understand that it’s a community type thing. That’s what I was shooting for with Paganetwork when I was using Nuke. It’s just… meh. No more memberships for a while. The other thing is that when I clicked on the “about WiccanWeb”, it opened into a new window. I hate it when things open in new windows. Largely because I surf in Firefox, and there’s no command for “open in a new tab”, I guess. The only time, IMO, that someone should have a link open in a new window is if it’s an external link.

But there’s some good stuff. While it’s another Nuke site, it’s not another news site, it’s not another attempt at being everything in the world. There are a *ton* of book reviews, written by a variety of people. The “Wicca for Parents” thing I don’t quite agree with, but I understand why it is written as it is. The goal is really to ease the minds of parents whose wee ones are developing an interest in paganism, not to be a Wicca 101 lesson for those who want to practice. (And, as always, I have a quibble with the “Wicca is not a cult” thing. If it was good enough for Gardner, it’s good enough for me.) (more…)

First thought? Oooh, pretty…. A couple of years ago, Red Cedars reviewed this site. Back then, it was on a free server.

Now? Desiree has sprung for her own domain. And it’s beautiful. The splash page (which I typically hate) is a thing of beauty and simplicity. When I went into the main wing (which is the only part that I’m reviewing), it stayed beautiful. Only downside? Something’s off in the code. Mozilla Firefox keeps telling me that it’s transferring data from the site even after the page is complete.

There’s this little iframe thing going on in there that’s so lovely to look at, I could cry. The content is original, it’s fresh, and it’s written by someone who knows what she’s talking about.

I can’t say enough good things about this site. It’s beautiful to look at, it’s easy to navigate (with beautiful navigational tools), with marvelous content.

Desiree’s old geocities sites were pretty, especially considering that she was in high school when she built them. With her own domain, she’s created a site that is not only truly a beauty to behold, but also reflects the maturity that she’s gained over the years.

Score: 10/10
Link: Desiree’s Musings
Reviewed by Enyo Perseus

Hm. Shadow Master’s World. Not really sure how I came across this one, but I thought it was worthy of review.

Starting with the front page…. It loaded almost instantly on my broadband. The background is lovely. It’s not distracting. It’s not hard to read against. The color of the text against the patterned background is lovely. Only downside is, the title graphic doesn’t fit with the background. I don’t think the Celtic knot horizontal rule serves any real purpose, either, but it just doesn’t fit.

First page content: Not bad. The author points out that Wicca does not equate witchcraft. Only quibble I have (aside from the odd typo here and there) is that she says “Most Wiccans are Witches, But there are many Witches who have never been part of Wicca Practices.” I would have said “All Wiccans are witches, but not all witches are Wiccan.” But, then again, I also periodically get called a pagan fundamentalist. (more…)

Maybe it’s because I’ve been sick and I’m starting to feel better. Maybe it’s because I’ve got a really cool RSS feed. But for some reason, I’m feeling the need to review a second site today. So, here I am at a Geocities site. I don’t recall how I found this gem, but it was tagged in my bookmarks for review.

Let’s start with the URL. http://www.geocities.com/wiccen06/page1.html. Okay. “wiccen06″? What’s up? Were there already five other users who don’t know how to spell “Wiccan”?

On the first page, I am informed that “The site that has information that will help you on your path to becomming Wiccan.” I’m not even going to touch the spelling error in there.

Background? Purple satin-y texture. Very five years ago. I’m always surprised when people are still using it. Ho-hum. I’ve also been challenged by the web page: “So, you wanna be a Wiccan or a Witch?…
Enter if you dare…”

(more…)

Hmm… I swear, this site didn’t look like this when I marked it for a review. Oh, well.

Now, it’s a PHPNuke site. Just like Paganetwork used to be. In fact, it uses the exact same theme that Paganetwork used to use. This is exactly why Paganetwork doesn’t use Nuke anymore. Too many other sites use it and look exactly the same.

I’m kind of peeved with the first article. It tells me how to use the site. Now, come on. If I need to be told how to get around your site, then most likely you a.) think your viewers are stupid and need to be hand-held or b.) have a poorly designed site and your viewers need help getting around so they don’t get lost.

It’s a nuke site, for gods’ sake, so it’s not like it takes a lot of design effort.

Unfortunately, most of the site is locked down to members only. And what I’ve seen isn’t enough to make me want to take the time to join.

Ho-hum. Another beginner’s site with spells and stuff, only this time put in a content management system. It’s pretty much a yawn site.

Link: White Wicca
Score: 3/10
Reviewed by Enyo Perseus

At first glance, it’s not too heinous. Okay, so it’s got a black background. Negative points for entering into the cliche. The text is centered and has no margins, which sucks, because it’s hard to read. The text reads more like a “Wicca” infomercial, which tells me right off the bat that this person is not an initiate. I’ve only seen infomercials from eclectics.

But scrolling down? Now that just pissed me off. What do I see? This: Important Note: I strongly encourage all visitors to my site who wish to purchase books and other products about Wicca and Paganism to shop on Amazon.com directly from my site, as the commission I receive will help me keep this site up and running. That section of my site, linked below, can also be reached here. Each book and other product available on that section of the site has an accompanying mini-review that I wrote, and all are highly recommended by me. Or, if you regularly vistit my site and also regularly shop online at Amazon.com, please shop there via the general link down below (directly above my Dreambook). Thank you for supporting my site!

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