This site fills a void in pagan-targeted information which is often not even recognized to exist by most pagans. The average pagan—having found their way to their path by themselves or in the company of other adults—has probably not given much thought to how you raise a child in a pagan faith or setting. What ideas they may have often are derived from their own [non-pagan] upbringing, and this can leave them confused and unsure of what they could be doing. This site can help to step in and provide support to pagan parents.

One of the focuses of this site is to create a community of pagan parents who come together to talk over their problems and share their solutions. It contains a great deal of useful and valuable information contributed by the different members. The information is generally easy to understand and is relevant to people following a variety of paths. The site also contains information and activities targeted at the children, so this is a good destination for your children as they venture out on to the web. Unfortunately, good as the information is much of it is older and the site does not contain a great deal that has been added or updated recently.

The design of the site is obviously targeted at parents and their children, but from the point of view of someone who does not fit into that category it lacks subtlety and refinement. This is hardly a fair assessment given its targeted audience, though. My design complaint then is that the site could be made even more visually attractive to children while retaining the easy navigation and tools that their parents will want and need. While the colours are bright they are only the primaries and could benefit from more colours. A site for kids should feel morelike a box full of crayons, I think. The design also has a few “rough edges” which should be smoothed out.

All in all Pagan Parenting Page is a fantastic resource for pagans engaged in rearing a child. Unfortunately lack of newer content and a design that could be improved upon have lowered the overall score. While I went with the lower rating it could have scored an eight just as easily.

Link: Pagan Parenting
Score: 7/10
Originally posted by Gwynn Elessacar at Paganetwork

This is just a fantastic site. It’s easy to read, it’s easy to navigate, and it’s got some cool stuff!

The crowning glory of this site? The content, plain and simple. There are a ton of essays on various subjects by various people. And each and every one seems to be well-researched. While I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this site for the beginner, if you’re at a more advanced stage in your practices, I’d definitely suggest that you check it out!

Link: Journal of Eclectic Magick
Score: 10/10
Originally posted by Enyo Perseus at Paganetwork

Okay, so I’ve said publicly that I’m not a big fan of Silver RavenWolf. I’ve said repeatedly that she should have stopped publishing after To Ride a Silver Broomstick.

So, now I’m reviewing her web site. The site itself is pretty mediocre. The graphics are nice, and the background is pretty enough. It’s easy to read. The navigation could be better, rather than each page sending you back to the table of contents.

In her “educational” section, there are some bits that I disagree with. Unfortunately, I’ve not seen it written anywhere on the site that this is her views. Rather, it is portrayed as this is what all witches believe and do. This witch disagrees with that. Since I am a witch, and I do not believe or do all of these things, it’s clearly a fallacy. However, there is some good information in there. If one can learn to separate the wheat from the chaff, it can be a useful site.

Her lineage could be misleading. While Silver does say that she was initiated by Lord Serphant of Serpant Stone, the way she traces her lineage implies that she is Gardnerian. If she wants to list her lineage like that, I wish that she would make it clear that she is NOT a Gard, and as such, she is not writing from a Gardnerian view point.

Her links list some causes that are, in fact, detrimental to some pagans, such as a link to WARD (aka Witches Against Religious Discrimination… often mockingly referred to as “Witches Are Really Dumb”).

As a public pagan, I would think that Silver would be more careful about how she presents things. But, unfortunately, such is not the case.

Link: Silver RavenWolf
Score: 4/10
Originally posted by Enyo Perseus at Paganetwork

Encyclopedia Mythica is one of those rare sites which presents valuable information and content in a way which completely fails to be gaudy, cheap-looking and/or annoying. I cannot say whether the owner of the site is pagan or not. But I can tell you that they provide information that is vital to a honest understanding of paganism throughout all ages, and do so in a way which is as unbiased and fair-minded as journalists are supposed to be.

While plain, the site is very well thought out and is designed in such a way as to focus upon making the information it contains as readily accessible as is possible. It is easy to read and very easy to navigate, which in turn makes it sublimely easy to find the information you need.

And that brings us to the contents of the site. Encyclopedia Mythica is one of the most complete sources for information on gods, goddesses, heroes and spirits found throughout all manner of pagan peoples and pantheons from around the world. The odds that you will not be able to find what you want are vanishingly small, and if the information you want is there then chances are it will be complete and accurate. I would also like to applaud the owners of the site for keeping the contents to materials which can be verified by several sources. Missing from these pages are the speculation and unfounded assertions which make up so much of the pagan web.

Link:Encyclopedia Mythica
Score: 9/10
Originally posted by Gwynn Elessacar at Paganetwork

I’ll admit, I’m not crazy about the design of this site. But, then again, I’m not a big fan of some greens and most yellows, so I’d say it’s safe to say that it biases me a bit against it. That bias probably makes me fussier than usual about the fact that the external links are a little too liberally mixed in with the internal links, too.

But the information! Oh, wow, this is a great source. It talks about fair use and plagiarism, since Victor Anderson’s Feri Tradition has been plagiarized in the past. (For those unfamiliar with the story, do a Google search on Kisma Stephanich and watch the hits come in.) It also sends you to plenty of information on the Feri Tradition itself, which is (by all accounts, as I’m not an initiate) a wonderful tradition in its own right.

If you’re interested in learning more about a non-British Traditional Wicca path, this is a great place to start. I highly recommend Faery Gold.

Link: Faery Gold
Score: 9/10
Originally posted by Enyo Perseus at Paganetwork

During my recent visit to Amethyst’s Wicca, I browsed through the guestbook and found that I had signed it early on saying that “I enjoyed my visit”. That seems incongruous with what assaulted my eyes during my most recent visit. To be blunt, it’s an eye-bleeder.

In all fairness, there may be some original content of value hidden deep inside this site. It certainly has that potential, with the abundance of text links at the bottom of the main page. I followed one or two of them, hoping to find something a bit “calmer” visually, but to no avail. It seems Amethyst has been collecting animated gifs since my last visit and uses them in abundance, including for the tiled backgrounds.

Summary: any potential worthwhile content is offset by excessive animated graphics to the extent of making it unreadable.

Link: Amethyst’s Wicca
Score: 3/10
Originally posted by Red Cedars at Paganetwork.

Wow! This is a really nice traditional web site. It’s easy to look at, easy to get around, and it doesn’t generalize about what all witches think. It tells you about Georgian Wicca, and that’s it. The site also offers great tips on teachers, and how to make sure your teacher isn’t a fraud. If you’re interested in Traditional Wicca, this is a wonderful site to check out. Definitely worth going to!

Link: Georgian Wicca
Score: 9/10
Originally posted by Enyo Perseus at Paganetwork

Be warned: if you don’t have quick time and you don’t want it, you will probably get annoyed, since it asks you if you want it on every page.

However, once you get past that, the text that’s there is pretty easy to read, even if the background *is* exceptionally busy. Negative points for stating that all witches follow the Rede, though, because we don’t. (Not *all* witches, I mean.) I wish that they would have made it clear that this was in reference to their tradition, rather than something that is true for all witches everywhere.

They do have a ton of chants (some credited, some not) as well as a basic list of herbs. Overall, it’s not a bad site for your basic beginner, although there are some books on their books list that I have and consider only good enough to balance a table. So, like anything else, read it carefully and separate the wheat from the chaff.

Link: Another Circle
Score: 7/10
Originally posted by Enyo Perseus at Paganetwork