Raven's Reflections: Links

Favorite Essays

These are essays that I feel have something important to say and that are worth considering. I may not agree with them (or I may), but I feel their message is one that needs to be heard and discussed.

Christian-Republican alliance: Faustian bargain?

Why there is separation between Church and State.

A Christian Speaks on the Faith and Path of Wicca

An excellent article for both Christians and Pagans.

Christ's Real Passion Was Life

An Op-Ed about how The Passion misses the point.

Critical Thinking [PDF]

An oft underrated skill in today's society that should be required of everyone.

Eris, the Goddess of Confusion, Chaos, and Laughter

In the same vein as the essays on Loki, one on Eris (granted that I do not follow the Greek or Roman pantheons).

Fluffy Behavior 101

One of the best rundowns of what constitutes fluffy behavior and why such is not a good thing.

The Literate Pagan

The importance of literacy in the pagan community and what we need to do to get it.

Loki

An excellent article by an Ásatrúar on Loki and on being a follower of the Wolf's Father

Loki: A Paen in Progress

Another essay along the same lines. Talks about the character of the god vs. how he is portrayed and Loki's motives. Easily one of my favorite discussions of Loki. Also has excellent links at the bottom to more material on the site.

Lord, Lord!

Barbara Crafton is an Episcopalian minister and often has very insightful comments on the world around her. This article is about the difference between the trappings of the Christian fanclub--the music, voting for the right politicians, etc and walking a path in service to the Christ. The words are for Christians, but they apply to those of us of any path.

The Path of the Magician

An outstanding essay by Daven. Read this.

The Pentagram and the Hammer

An essay on Wicca and Ásatrú, trying to help them understand one another. While a bit out of date (and some of the authors' assertions on Wicca are no longer true of many Wiccan traditions), it is still an excellent read.

Recent Developments in the Study of The Great European Witch Hunt

A great essay with sources on what might have actually been going on and why we need to drop this burning times nonsense.

Respect and Responsibility

An essay by Zak Kramer (of 9LMM) on Oberon's Grimoire and the Grey School.

What Educated Citizens Should Know about Statistics and Probability [PDF], by Jessica Utts

What the title says. This should be required reading in today's schools.

What is a Warlock?

The etymology of the word warlock. Hint, it has nothing to do with traitors.

Who Cannot Hex Cannot Heal

Just because it involves harm does not mean that it is wrong.

Why Wiccans Suck

Love it or hate it, it deserves to be read and considered and makes some good points. Alpha makes some good points about how he could have been both more accurate and not stoop to rhetorical tricks, though I believe that (and evidently Alpha believes that) this site still has a lot of good things to say.

Witchcraft is Not For Everyone

Something we need to remember is that there are reasons that mystical traditions--such as Kabbalah and Sufi--are not taught to everyone in Judaism and Islam.

Wiccan Ethics and the Wiccan Rede

An excellent and much older version of my Rede essay.

Womenborn Women

Not all women are born that way.

Occult Websites

Daven's Journal

This is a phenomenal website by a practitioner who has more years of experience than I can comprehend. It has a huge amount of information and I check it regularly.

Lokahal

A culmination of Loki sites and resources.

The Ranting Witches

A fantastic site by some great practitioners of Wicca. It has many incredible and insightful essays as well as good links to primary and secondary sources. Highly recommended.

The Troth

Great source of information for those who follow or are interested in the Gods of the North.

Wicca For the Rest of Us

A countermovement to the fluffybunny pagans.

Webcomics

Filthy Lies

Satiric and biting, this one is a lot of fun. Updated Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Full Frontal Nerdity

Three (Four) Geeks. No Lives. Roll for initiative.

Megatokyo

The legendary geek comic. 'Nuff said. Updated Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Misfile

Everyone has a file up in heaven that describes who and what they are and, heaven being a bureaucracy, every file has a place where it is supposed to go. Enter a somewhat laid back angel who is a little too fond of marijuana, who one day accidently destroys two years of one young girl's life and files a young boy in the girl file cabinet and is kicked out of heaven for a hiatus before anyone finds out and before he can rectify his mistake. Beautifully drawn with an interesting premise, and great characters (particularly the main two humans). Updated Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Nine Lives, Many Masters

A pagan strip that was started, in part, because of Zak Kramer's feeling [t]hat the various Pagan communities are going through an ugly adolescence, and the decisions that current Pagans make about what our religion means to us, how it relates to the rest of the (non-Pagan) world, and how we transmit those convictions to neophytes will have a profound effect on Pagan religions in the future. Kramer tends to make excellent points and makes them well, though some it is occasionally a bit slow moving. No longer updated as of January 2005.

Piled Higher and Deeper

Whether you are a grad or an undergrad, there is a lot to love about this comic. Likes to updated Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but makes no guarantees.

Something Positive

Hillariously funny, often morbidly so, but at the same time touching and deep. This is a consistently good comic that rarely falls back on the same punch lines. Recently the author, Milholland, quit his job so that he could devote more time to the comic (albeit in response to his readers raising $22k). Updated (almost) every day.

Skyfall

Easily one of, if not the, best drawn online mangas I've seen. The story (as far as I've read) has been interesting and the characters don't blend together as they ware wont to do in so many other comics. Fantasy based. Updated on Mondays.

Queen of Wands

A great strip with characters that actually have (gasp) dimensions and depth. No longer updated as of February 2005, but is currently undergoing Rapid-Fire Reruns where the author comments on each of the stips, updating with new comments every day of the week.

Sparking Generation Valkyrie Yuuki

Magical-Girl Anime meets Misfile meets Norse Mythology. What could be bad? Theoretically updated on Mondays, but the update schedule is significantly more erratic than that.

Userfriendly

A tech-geek webcomic with a wide readership and some great strips. Updated every day.

Venus Envy

Really clever and cute comic surrounding the life of a MTF (male-to-female) transsexual in high school. I was just referred to it and it quickly became one of my favorites. Updated Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

The Wotch

A very clever and cute fantasy comic by Anne Onymous and Robin Ericson. Updated Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (nominally). Ka-girl!

Last Updated: 2 April 2005.