Saturday, August 25, 2001

 
Created a splash page for tucots.org -- a clickable image that goes to the homepage. The image for right now is just the UnCoven banner I use for banner exchanges & my Top Sites listings, but I may have something fancier in the future.

I'm thinking of a Flash presentation, but that'll take some time to do . . .
posted by Persephone 6:30 PM

 
I finally took the plunge and registered a domain name for the UnCoven website -- tucots.org -- with the registration good for the next ten years.

I'll register some variants on the name in the next couple of days, just to be on the safe side . . .
posted by Persephone 6:24 PM

 
Sent out my first announcement to my new students -- an intro to the course & gave them their first assignment -- an essay about themselves, why they enrolled & what they expect to get out of my class. The due date is October 1st.

I'm so excited!
posted by Persephone 5:21 AM

 
I just got my first students! Not one, not two but THREE people want me to teach them about paganism!

I'm feeling good about this . . .
posted by Persephone 5:14 AM

Friday, August 24, 2001

 
Put all my top site listings onto one separate page (with links to & from the UnCoven's homepage) and updated the Awards page with my new award -- :) -- yay!! Thanks Centauri!!!
posted by Persephone 12:58 AM

 
I just found out something rather unpleasant -- the Delphi homepage I had the "what is the UnCoven?" info on has changed over to a charge service. It's not worth it for me to cough up almost $50 per year just to keep up a homepage when I have lots of free space elsewhere, so I created a new UnCoven info page on one of my other servers and updated links accordingly.

Somewhat more than mildly annoying but better than coughing up cash . . .

Grump, grump, grump . . .
posted by Persephone 12:44 AM

Thursday, August 23, 2001

 
Hurrah! I received my first award for the UnCoven site today, courtersy of Centauri, for "Excellence in Pagan Content" -- I'm feeling very good about this & will put the award on my Awards page as soon as she lets me know exactly what kind of HTML she would like (i.e. image URL, link, etc.) for the award to have.
posted by Persephone 11:30 PM

 
I also decided to upload Aromatherapy (a bookware shareware demo something like the aforementioned Book of Religions) -- parts are disabled but the program is still very informative. Likewise for an herbal encyclopedia called Herb Power -- partially disabled bookware, but still useful. Unlike most herbals, Herb Power goes into the chemistry of herbs, as does Aromatherapy for that of essential oils. This is something I really appreciate, given the fuzzy-mindedness of many sources of information in cyberspace.

So now I guess I can teach both Mythology AND Herbology & Essential Oils.

Is that knocking Professor Dumbledore with a job offer?
posted by Persephone 4:38 AM

 
I've been busy modifying the "look and feel" of my mini-Hogwarts, changing color schemes, adjusting settings, etc.

I've also uploaded several items to the Handouts section and created folders to organize them. I've uploaded mostly mythology e-texts -- Homer's Iliad & Odyssey, the Mabinogion and Bulfinch's Mythology, to start off with -- I'll add Le Morte d'Arthur, the Aeneid & various other mythological texts later, after I locate the Zip disks I stored them on.

I've also uploaded the shareware demo of the Book of Religons, a very nice bookware program. The demo version only has the sections on Hinduism & Judaism functioning, but I found them to be quite informative and clearly written, while avoiding being simplistic. I think they will provide a nice introduction to Hindu religious practices & philosophy and to the cultural background of Kabbalah & ceremonial magic's roots.
posted by Persephone 3:05 AM

 
Well I finally decided to do something I swore up, down & sideways I'd never do -- teach a class for baby pagans.

I've created a site called So You Want to Be a Pagan . . . on Yahoo Education Courses.

Despite my having posted in innummerable places on the UnCoven site that we are a SOCIAL group, not a TEACHING group, time & time again I receive emails requesting that I teach someone, usually someone wanting to be taught some variation on Wicca 101.

So I caved . . .

Yahoo makes it easy to do, I'll admit, so I figured, "Oh, why not . . ." I haven't quite decided what I'll teach, other than making sure my students get a DAMN fine background in world mythologies and a practical understanding of the folk practices of various cultures & religions. I plan on this being more than a bit intellectually rigorous & I'll probably require one or more essays before students can pass the class. I'll probably create some kind of diploma or certificate of completion graphic for those so inclined to display on their websites.

I feel like I've just opened "The Entwife's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" -- Hogwarts' New World competitor -- I hope I don't get any nasty letters from Rowling's solicitors . . .
posted by Persephone 1:10 AM

Wednesday, August 22, 2001

 
In case you were wondering, yes I AM an owl -- I prefer to say "nocturnal by nature" personally . . .

The sun is rising -- time for me to crawl back into my crypt . . .

~~smacks head~~

Oh, wait -- I'm supposed to be a WITCH, aren't I?

Ok, then -- time for me to go back into the broom closet. Don't worry -- there's a Murphy bed in there . . .
posted by Persephone 5:53 AM

 
Joined a few RingSurf webrings in addition to the one run by Yahoo -- the Yahoo ones no longer have the nice graphics from when they were owned by WebRing, but the RingSurf ones can be pretty. I have to wait for approval on these too -- grump, grump, grump . . .

I did get accepted to one of the other rings I'd joined.

Build traffic, build traffic, build traffic . . .
posted by Persephone 5:47 AM

 
Submitted the UnCoven site to the WitchVox Coven/Group list. Also got the approval from 1 of the 2 solitary-oriented rings I joined yesterday.

Build traffic, build traffic, build traffic . . .
posted by Persephone 1:28 AM

Tuesday, August 21, 2001

 
Ok so I'm not in bed yet . . . I decided to adopt a witch from the Fairmoon site. Unlike other cyberspace "adopt a witch" sites, this is not some cutesy concoction of someone's imagination -- these are real people who were burnt or hanged or beheaded as witches. Many are from Germany, a lot from France, and quite a few from England & Scotland. Other places such as Italy & Ireland are also mentioned, as well as places in the New World OTHER than Salem.

I chose to adopt Melchior de la Vallee, burned in Nancy, France in 1631. My guess is he was probably accused because he was the wrong religion for where he was -- at that time there was a lot of religious conflict in France between the Protestant Hugenots and the Roman Catholics. Areas would vacillate back & forth between Hugenot & Catholic control, and those unfortunate to be on the wrong side could lose everything, up to and including their lives. Accusations of witchcraft were an excellent pretext to ruin someone whose property was coveted or who had enemies. It is quite possible M. de la Vallee was one of these unfortunates.

And then again, perhaps he really WAS a sorcerer . . . dabbling into the occult & astrology was fairly commonplace among the upper classes in that time period. Ceremonial magic was not unknown to those who were better educated -- there was even a Doctor of the Church, Albertus Magnus, who wrote various treatises on the subject. Nostradamus, a contemporary of Monsieur de la Vallee, was well known and under the protection of the Queen of France herself.

Melchior de la Vallee, however, was not so lucky . . .

Presuming my adoption will go through, as I'm sure it will, I will see what information I can gather about Monsieur de la Vallee and put it on a page on the UnCoven site.
posted by Persephone 3:21 AM

 
Did a lot of revamping -- re-did the altar & chapel pages completely, changed the main graphic & color scheme on the links page & created a chapel for the Chinese god of prosperity Ho T'ai. I fixed some links & added a link to an interactive witch hunt based on the Salem trials. I also made some changes to the HTML for Persephone's Pagan Picks (my Top Sites list page) -- I'm kind of pooped now, so I think I'll just toddle off to bed . . .
posted by Persephone 2:02 AM

Sunday, August 19, 2001

 
I have just received notification that I've been approved for 2 of the 4 webrings I applied to join yesterday. Webrings page has been suitably updated.

Woo hoo.
posted by Persephone 6:26 AM