Well, it is a strange thought, that this material would be showing up on a Pagan page, of all places. But there is a certain logic to it, so here goes ...

After our friendly visitor left Judaism, he examined a number of religions. And, some might say, what better way to examine a religion, than to get to know those who live by it? One particular religion, we're afraid, came up looking unusually bad by that score, a few years back. It's a nature centered faith called "Wicca", and these are the stories of his (and our) first encounters with some of its practioners ...

1. The Railroading of Raven Blackbane

An account of the online behavior of some of the members of the community who attempted to have an unpopular participant in a Wicca oriented group put in prison on a trumped up charge, and their reaction when thwarted. Later, will add some thoughts as to what went wrong, here, and why it so often continues to go wrong, elsewhere.

2. Saying Goodbye: Our Publisher Meets the Acolytes

Meeting the community, in all of its glory.

2a. CHU: A Crank with a Cause

Conspiracies are where you find them? We guess. The names have been changed, but the events are real, regrettably.

3. Meeting the Pharaoh

This one is harder to classify. The story of a good group in the process of going very bad? The characters don't tend to be as colorful as those in "The Welcoming Committee", but there is more to discuss, philosophically.

Historically this group, the House of Netjer, is a rival to the "community" that is the Reader Circuit (the people you see mentioned above).

4. ... and sometimes we stumble

(Also known as Curmudgeon's Corner)

The page this is all an introduction to, with, no link back to this material. Once the story is told, there is no need to dwell on it. Just move on. But, in doing so, let us see what we have learned from experiences like these, and think about what it is that we can do, to see to it that they aren't repeated. We've already mentioned some ideas as to how online communities can be made to work. In this page you are about to enter, the people here will discuss how it is, that they intend to make their community work in real life. The issues raised here arose in a Pagan setting, but I think that you'll find that they are of general relevance, as are the ideas mentioned here, of how it is that these issues are to be resolved.

5. The Almond Jar

The homepage for the group maintaining for this page. The Shrine is a sychretic Christo-Hellenic group, with some admixture of Roman material in its rituals, and Near Eastern in its mythology. "Late Hellenistic" might be a good label.

Note : the next update for this page, and the subdirectories it lies in, is due on March 10, 2005.

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