This is but a simple opportunity to share my experiences with the never ending awe of magick.

When I was first introduced to the concept of choosing a magickal name, I was empowered. I thought long and hard about my first name and finally decided upon Silverfox. This name seemed appropriate as my wisdom is well beyond my years, as those who know me and have met me can attest to. At a tender age of 15, I could easily rival the maturity and worldly knowledge of those three times my age.

I was reading about fakery in Biblical-era artifacts in museums, and one museum director said that Christians and Jews have a deep need for physical artifacts that re-enforce their faith . . . and I want to ask, "Why?"

Why would anyone need a piece of the "True Cross of Jesus" to strengthen their belief in Him? According to what they tried to teach me, the Holy Ghost is supposed to come to His followers and fill them. Why would they need a bit of wood to strengthen that? What could be more powerful than being filled by the Spirit of God?

Hmm...look at the entire planet. Go ahead, I'll give you a minute or two.

Done yet? Ok, if you are, you may have noticed a few things. If memory serves me correctly, last time I checked, Naturalism was the thing on this planet. Of course I get updated as often as the ecological status of Antartica, so I may be a few thousand years behind the times.

What happened? A few wars, an Inquisition or two, about a million young people betraying the traditions of their elders, and poof, the belief in this planet going the way of parachute pants.

Why? Now thats up to interpretation. Maybe the whole "I'll cut your hands off if you don't worship." and the "Hey, look, when we die there isn't an abyss of lost dreams, there's some crazy place full of mutant trees and Romanesque buildings where all your ancestors play Backgammon." finally weeded out all the scared little sissies into faiths other than their grandparents'.

Maybe they just outnumbered them and took all the resources, like some plague of upper-middle class neighboorhoods. That Social-Darwinism thing might have happened and the people who knew how to abuse the natural order the best got to live while all the people who knew how it worked died out. (Meh, they'll get there vengence when those people turn the planet into Venus 2. Haha, hey look, acid rain...in a flashflood...roflmao)

Maybe they just gave up. I could see that.
"Hey Earmere, do we really need to fight these Roman guys?"
"You talking about the guys with the big swords, Gogai?"
"Yeah, them, the phalanx guys."
"Meh, nah, that'll teach Maradin to break up with me."
"Haha, yeah, but what about my wife Hesa?"
"Beats me, guess you can go and try asking nicely or something."

But I digress, about time too cause this could be considered a boring tangent by now. WE are not those piss-ant sissies of long ago. (Except you spoiled brats who are just in this to get attention from your parents, and you know who you are.) WE are people who have lived in the nightmare they created.

I read that the President, in a Memorial Day speech, said that we owe a debt we cannot pay.

Yes, we can, but it is a debt we must pay "forward," not "back."

We owe a debt to the people who fought and died in the Revolutionary War; and we pay that debt "forward" by defending the freedoms that war was fought to gain for each of us.

We owe a debt to the people who fought and died in the War Between the States; and we pay that debt "forward" by our work to keep our country whole and strong.

We owe a debt to the people who fought and died in World War I, and II, and we pay that debt "forward" when we oppose tyranny and genocide any- where in the world.

The simplest definition of a Crone is a woman who is menopausal or post-
menopausal. A Croning is a Rite of Passage honoring that time in a woman's
life. That's it . . . a Rite of Passage . . . no more, or less, than
any other Rite of Passage in a person's life. Becoming a Crone does not
mean we immediately acquire wisdom.

The PhoenixPhyre Phamily has treated the PhoenixCrones with respect and
courtly manners for many years, and we appreciate such treatment. But
we must always remember that such treatment is given to us out of love;
it is not something we can demand of others. We owe our Phamily the same
courteous behavior they show to us. "Just because we are Crones" gives us
no right to be rude to others.

by Morgan Willowmoon
Email: fluteangel78@hotmail.com


"Come, come to the dark side." That is a statement holding little appeal for many Pagans. In this controversial essay, I will argue that the term "fluffy bunny Wiccan" should be seen as a term of endearment, not one of disrespect, because they may have slightly altered views of Pagan concepts such as Nature, deity, negativity, and death. (Disclaimer: I am not referring to "weekend Pagans" who exhibit uncivilized behaviors and disregard rules at gatherings, having the immaturity to call themselves Pagan because it's cool.)

I don't intend to change any attitudes, but rather to raise questions and viewpoints for consideration. If you choose to read this, I politely request that you do so with an open mind until I have spoken. Afterwards, you are free to state your case, since we all have a right to our opinion.

Clarification of Terminology: Here are some words and the definitions I will use when referring to them...

Fluffy Bunny - Pagan, Wiccan, or Witch who chooses not to acknowledge, work with, or honor the darker aspects of their religion.
Negativity - Any situation or emotion that we don't enjoy experiencing.
Dark Side - Undesired self-discovery of our imperfections and challenges.
Perfection - The absence of negativity.


Bearing all this in mind, let's begin.

Having been a member of the Pagan Community for nearly two decades has taught me how to “fly beneath the radar” when needed. However, never had I dreamed it possible, that a business would discriminate against me strictly because their quasi-Judeo Christian beliefs estimate pagans to be hooded figures who dance around a fire chanting and preparing sacrifices. Even more outlandish, is the fact that this “profiling” occurred on the Internet, a veritable Dodge City of everything that the FBI controls like “bestiality” and “water-sports” to things they should control, but don’t - like child pornography.

1. Homosexuality is not natural, much like eyeglasses, polyester, and birth control are not natural.

2. Heterosexual marriages are valid because they produce children. Infertile couples and old people cannot get legally married because the world needs more children.

3. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children because straight parents only raise straight children.

4. Straight marriage will be less meaningful, since Britney Spears's 55-hour just-for-fun marriage was meaningful.

5.Heterosexual marriage has been around for a long time, and it hasn't changed at all: women are property, Blacks can't marry Whites, and divorce is illegal.

It's been Two years.

We have managed to come together as a country, then split apart further along traditional party lines. We've managed to go to war with two countries, and pick a fight with at least two more. We argue about whether the men who sent us to Iraq have are heros or villians We continue to argue about what is "right", about whether America is liberating the people or imposing our values. We will continue to do so in the future.

But on this day, at this time, we, as Americans, can stand as one.

We can Honor those Policemen and Firefighters buried under tons of steel and concrete that was once a pair of magnificent towers, while trying to do the job they commited their lives to. We can Honor the brothers and the sisters of those men and women, they that make that same pledge every day.

We can Honor the men and women of our armed services who have given their lives to defend our country. We can Honor their brothers and sisters who are, even now, defending your right to read this comment, and mine to make it.

It isn't about politics, nor who is "Right." It is about
individuals. It is about people who, on a daily basis, quite literally lay their lives down and say to all the criminals, fires, deseases, terrorists, all the various "Bad Guys" in our world:

"You will have to go through me to get to those I protect"


From Me, I say to all of those HEROS

"Thank You! I DO know you are there and what the cost is."


-- Wade Berlin, 9/11/2003

June first is the Beginning of the Atlantic Hurricane season. It's an arbitrary sort of date, since most "a" storms occur more along the lines of June 28th. However, I wonder how many of you realize that the First Named storm of the Season has already happened? and it happened 6 weeks ago.

I'm sending the following exchange to as many people as I can.....if you find that you can agree with me, please help me in this energy working on Solstice night.....I changed my correspondent's name to protect her....Ardy

Belle wrote: I won't live to see the analysis of this period in our history. It will take many years for the secrets to be uncovered. I wish I knew now. I hope it is not the undoing of our democracy

Ardeith writes: Last month a little thingy went around the Wiccan/Pagan community. Due to the sniper attacts in DC, we thought "shining a light" on the culprits would be a good thing. Not knowing exactly who was doing the shooting, we simply worked toward "exposing" them.....shining a light on whoever it was, so that the authorities could locate them. That was around Full Moon, and groups all over the country were working on this. Seems to me it was just the next week that the men authorities claim were the snipers were caught. Did we make a difference? I dunno.....maybe. We like to think that with so many of us focussing our energy on that one thing, it made a difference. At least we have the satisfaction of feeling good about it.....and thinking we made a difference

"Value" noun:
1 : a fair return for something exchanged
2 : relative worth, utility, or importance

I've been thinking a lot about value lately especially as it relates to pagans, and our particular views of the world. Or, more precisely, where pagans continue to make the same mistake over and over again. We each talk a lot about "of like mind" and there lies a lot of the problem. We don't have "like mind", that's an illusion we've woven around ourselves. What we have is enough similarities of opinion to reinforce that illusion. I hear talk from "Like minded" pagans who define their path as a "nature based religion" (I define my path that way, in fact) but, I hear those same people include any number of non-nature based pagan paths with thier own (Ceremonial Magicians, come to mind immediately, though there are many many others.) I hear Eclectic Wiccans including themselves with strict Gardnarian wiccans although there can be major differences in their belief systems.

Contrary to rumor, inuendo, and outright Lies, here is the REAL story.

Phoenix Festivals Exists to support ALL paths in the community, we are not favoring any path. We are actively soliciting Workshops and Rituals from many paths and though this includes VooDoo, and other African based religions it also includes Norse, Fairy, Druid, Eclectic, Wiccan and the myriad of other paths both known and unknown who function under the term PAGAN.