Another beautiful site by Wolfrose!

The Den contains some awesome essays by Wolfrose, Lynna Landstreet, Eran, and others. It’s easy to navigate, easy to read, and beautiful to look at.

If you’re interested in Traditional Wicca, specifically the Gardnerian tradition, this is a great place to look. This Priestess of the Wicca has put a lot of hard work and dedication into her site, and it shows!

Link: Wolfrose’s Den
Score: 10/10
Reviewed by Enyo Perseus

Let me start by saying I really love the background used on this site. I’m not sure how much I like it for a website, but that’s certainly something similar to a trim I’d like to use in the bathroom. The navigation is also a pain; to get around, you have to go back to the index page. Just thank the gods that it’s a small site.

Coven of the Rose Moon is an eclectic coven out of Virginia. They apparently also favor bad history, as they state in their What Is Wicca page that Wicca comes from the stone ages.

On the plus side, they have some decent links in the link section, as well as some decent recommended reading. So, it’s not all bad…. But there are other sites out there that offer the same information, and they offer it better.

Link: Coven of the Rose Moon
Score: 2/10
Reviewed by Enyo Perseus

Hmm… The colors on this site are pretty much cliche at thist point. It’s a navigational nightmare. There are a lot of pages that don’t work, which the webmistress attributes to sudden host change. Some links in the index navigation (which is the only page that has any navigation around the site at the moment) take you out of the site without any indication that it will do so.

Still, it has its good points. It offers a non-yahoogroups mailing list, which is always a plus. The Wicca information is… well, it’s okay. It’s got some information that’s wonderfully accurate, and some that’s not-so-accurate in my opinion. (Keep in mind that I don’t consider any non-initiates to be Wicca, which makes me ultra conservative for a non-Wiccan initiate.) Like many sites, it offers an Amazon bookstore. Some of the titles are fantastic, while others I consider worthy of nothing more than balancing a wobbly table.

The links section is fantastically huge. It’s got over 6000 links, which is probably more than Avatar Search offers. It also seems to attempt to reinvent the wheel (also known as Witchvox) with a contact section.

It has a lot of information (some good and some not-so-good), if you’re willing to attempt to swim through it. Unfortunately, the “lot of information” part is lost to the not-so-plentiful navigation.

Link: Wicca Chat
Score: 5/10
Reviewed by Enyo Perseus

I was asked months ago to review this back when I was still reviewing on Paganetwork, and I just now got to it.

It’s easy to get around. It’s thoughtful. It’s insightful. It’s also inciteful and filled with the gratuitous use of “f*ck”. Largely for shock value, I suspect, but it will (for some) overshadow the webmaster’s message.

The site offers essays (sometimes rants, sometimes really great analysis of stuff… and some of which I agree with, some of which I don’t), a few web site reviews, the ever amusing Stupid Site Awards, and more.

Chances are, if you liked Why Wiccans Suck, then you’ll probably get a charge out of this site.

Link: The Obsidian Mirror
Score: 9/10
Reviewed by Enyo Perseus

I’ve seen this site in a couple of locations over the years, and I’ve always loved it. Sannion is a Hellenic Reconstructionist, and he’s absolutely brilliant.

Sannion’s Sanctuary offers some absolutely fantastic editorial essays (which he aptly calls “Pagan Rants”), a phenomenal section on Hellenic Polytheism, and more. It’s wonderfully organized, well-written, and well-thought.

And I absolutely adore the fact that he cites his sources.

As for the look and feel of the site, it compliments the content. It’s pretty, but not too graphics intensive. The graphics that *are* there are clearly there for a reason, not just because “it looks kewl”.

It you’re interested in any information on Hellenic Recon, or just any work by intelligent Pagans in general, stop by Sannion’s Sanctuary for a while.

Link: Sannion’s Sanctuary
Score: 9/10
Reviewed by Enyo Pereus

Where to begin? When I first got here, I was really leery of what I’d see. Usually, when I think of pagan schools, I think of the scam artists that offer initiation into whatever tradition for a few hundred dollars.

I was pleasantly surprised. The fees for the coursework aren’t terribly steep at all. In fact, it’s relatively reasonable, I suppose. It just comes too close to the “craft for money, not for love” thing for my taste. One thing that does concern me is that it talks of courses “required for initiation”. Initiation into what? Are those courses the only framework? Or does getting to know the student count (since it’s a face-to-face teaching program, not some mass online one)?

The site itself is designed well, and it’s highly navigable. It’s simple, it’s non-graphics intensive. Even the slowest connection should be able to surf this site without a problem.

The only reason for the medium rating is because the entire premise of the site concerns me.

Link: College of Wicca and Old Lore
Score: 5/10
Reviewed by Enyo Perseus

When I first got here, I was pretty impressed. It’s neat. It’s clean. Unlike some sites, it downloads almost instantly on my DSL connection.

Echoed Voices is a monthly e-zine that’s been around for quite some time. If I recall correctly it initially started out the same way this site did: as a free page on the now-defunct PaganVillages.

I was quite disappointed to see a few things, though. It doesn’t appear to have been updated since May 2003. I’d gotten quite interested in a blurb of Celtic info on the first page, and when I clicked to read more, I got a 404 error. (Too bad. I really would have liked to have read the rest of that.) Another annoyance: when clicking on an internal link, a new window pops up. It’s bad for slow connections/older systems, and it’s a pain while surfing with Mozilla.

In spite of the overload of windows popping up, I moved forward and braved the annoyances.

I went for their book reviews, and, well, I was disappointed. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out that the individual books didn’t have links, but instead, it was the book genre. Once I finally got in, I felt like I was reading something excessively unrealistic. Every single book review that I read had a happy review. Come on, there’s no one book that’s entirely perfect. Honestly, I’d have felt more reassured if there had been some less-than-idealistic comments. Then I’d believe that these people actually read the book.
The world news is up-to-date, but I’m guessing that it’s due to a script, since the rest of the site seems to have been forgotten. In its day, this looks like it was a pretty good place to see. But now, it’s a domain, sitting and collecting dust.

It could again become a worthwhile source if it were cared for again.

Link: Echoed Voices
Score: 3/10
Reviewed by Enyo Perseus

My first impression of this site? Eh. It really didn’t impress me. I felt that the background was too pale or the title graphic was too bold, but either way, they didn’t go together. If you click on the site menu to get around, rather that bothering with the drop down menus (who needs a drop down menu about oneself, anyway?), your selection will open up in a new window. I didn’t like that.

It was, however, rather interesting that each successive selection will open within that same new window.

In “The High School Pagan Student Handbook” (which I’m pretty sure I’ve seen elsewhere), there’s some good information for students. There are, however, many points of the FAQ that I vehemently disagree with. Wicca and Witchcraft are used interchangably.

In other sections, there are some items that I have copyright concerns over, as a mailing list is credited for the information, rather than the individual who wrote it. The Wiccan Rede is listed as 8 words, and it’s incorrect. Then there’s the “Long Rede” after it. The Threefold Law is described in a way that implies that *all* Pagans/Witches/Wiccans (since it’s all the same thing, according to this site) believe in it.

There are far too many issues with this page for me to consider it a terribly valuable resource.

On the plus side, however, it is easy to get around, and she does have some original poetry on there. In short, it’s another beginner site that does the same thing that hundreds of others do, but not quite as well.

Link: The Firegrove
Score: 4/10
Reviewed by Enyo Perseus