Reach out and Poke Someone

Posted on March 17, 2008 by Isaac Bonewits

I’ve just spent a few hours removing all the links to purchase MP3s of my songs directly from Neopagan.Net and instead installing the SNOCAP Music Store widget on the lyrics pages and elsewhere. Now people won’t be driven crazy by only being able to buy and download one at a time!

The task would have gone faster, except that none of our Macs are fast enough, or have enough memory, to run DreamWeaver or some other modern HTML/CSS editing program, so I’m stuck using PageMill 3 in Mac OS 9 for the foreseeable future.

Real Magic School seems to be off and flying, with 900 or so students signing up for the free introductory classes so far. Even with the economy going into another Depression, people will still want to learn about magic!

I’ve been opening accounts on a number of social network sites recently, trying to spread the word about Real Magic School but also to get feedback from people about our books, music, and other activities. Right now I have pages/profiles on Facebook, MySpace, Classmates .com, hi5, Linked In, and elsewhere — just run a search on my name to find me at any of those sites.

It’s been interesting. I’ve been running into old friends and colleagues I haven’t seen in years. However, I’m also discovering just how dangerous to free time those sites can be — and I have friends urging me to get a Second Life! I have enough problems getting extra hours into the one I’ve got now…

Posted in Neopagan.Net changes, Personal Happenings, Tech/Geek | 4 Comments

I’ve Got a SNOCAP MySpace Music Store

Posted on March 10, 2008 by Isaac Bonewits

Today I finally went through the process to set up a SNOCAP music store to sell MP3s of all the songs from my first two albums, Be Pagan Once Again! and Avalon Is Rising!, plus a couple from the not-yet released She Said.

So now rather than people having to pay for and download one song at a time from my website, they’ll be able to buy several at one time—why not collect the whole set?

If you’re one of my musical fans, feel free to copy the source code using the button on the store header, so you can post it on your own blog, send it to your friends via email, etc.

Once more, I am clawing my way slowly into the 21st Century!



By the way, if you want to visit my Myspace page, feel free. I’ll be there a couple times a week, just as I’m at Facebook, posting to my Amazon blog, etc.

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Real Magic School Unveiled at Winterstar Festival

Posted on March 5, 2008 by Isaac Bonewits

Phae and I had a wonderful time at Winterstar this year. Not only did we get to present workshops on healing and liturgy, but also one officially opening our Real Magic School. There was a great deal of interest from the audience, with several participants saying they would sign up as soon as they could.

Ed Hubbard and his techmeister Michael showed us how Phaedra and I could use the site to post new classes, set up quizzes, and manage a staff of teachers (though there’s only us at the moment). While there are still a few glitches to be ironed out, the site is looking pretty good.

So far, nearly 800 people have registered as students — and that’s just in the first two weeks! We think as the word spreads, we may have several thousand by the end of the year.

Right now we have introductory classes in a couple of departments started, one on Spheres of Comprehension (approaches to magic), an Introduction to the Laws of Magic, an Introduction to What is Paganism, and one on Basic Vocabulary people should know. Others on different topics have been written and will be online soon.

After we finish these introductory, non-credit classes, we’ll be doing advanced, for-credit ones. This should keep us busy and out of mischief for a while!

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Real Magic School opens February 29th

Posted on February 26, 2008 by Isaac Bonewits

Phaedra and I are very excited to announce the upcoming opening of Real Magic School at www.realmagicschool.com on February 29th. This will give us the opportunity to teach both beginning and experienced students of the occult arts, Wiccans, Druids, and other Neopagans.

Here’s the official press release, which we encourage you to pass around (along with these comments):

Real Magic School to Open Leap Year Day, By the Most Unique Teacher in America

In a world of uncertainty, Real Magic School offers certain answers to a mysterious subject. Brought to you by the only person to ever earn an accredited degree in Magic, P.E. Isaac Bonewits, this online academy offers more than an ordinary education.

Rossville, IL (PRWEB) February 25, 2008 — America and the Western world have always been fascinated by Magic, both in theory and the practice. Some people dream about the magic arts and other spend their lives studying the skills. Yet only one man has ever received a degree in Magic and Thaumaturgy from an accredited Western university and that individual is P.E. Isaac Bonewits, in 1970 from the esteemed University of California at Berkeley.

While very controversial when awarded, it foreshadowed a movement that has swept the nation and world. On February 29th, 2008, P.E. Isaac along with his wife Phaedra take another unique step and are opening a online academy called Real Magic School (realmagicschool.com) with the purpose of teaching magic in it’s various forms and gaining accreditation for its future degrees.

While the Harry Potter Phenomenon swept the world and has offered a fictional view of a magical academy, Isaac is not Dumbledore and Real Magic School is not Hogwarts. Real Magic School is definitely real world and has a truly academic and educational philosophy unmatched in today’s world. Isaac Bonewits is a serious teacher, along with Phaedra, with lifelong experience, and is one of the most respected voices in the Pagan world today calling for academic truth and excellence in the study of magic and thaumaturgy, history, and Paganism.

Real Magic School, named after Bonewits first ground-breaking book, begins with a purposeful program of study that offers a pathway to an Associates degree in Magic. Further, the school begins immediately the process to seek academic accreditation, a process that is both difficult and demanding but according to the school founders, worthwhile. P.E. Isaac Bonewits has chosen to take his degree, his lifetime of experience, and his driving energy to create an academy that is truly a benefit to its students and future alumni. This will be a life changing experience for everyone who gets involved.

If you want to learn more and study magic, check out Real Magic School at RealMagicSchool.com, or call 217-748-4078 for more information.

We’re not really sure if I’m uniquer(!) than any other teacher, but I have been around the Neopagan and occult movements for a few decades, as has Phaedra, and have taught tens of thousands of readers and students.

We are grateful to the founders of Witch School, Ed Hubbard and Don Lewis, for coming to us and offering not just to handle all the technology and record keeping, but to provide a steady income as well. This means that we will be able to concentrate on providing good study materials and writing new books for the foreseeable future.

The website for Real Magic School isn’t finished yet, but you can surf on over there and read the official Welcome letter, get an idea of what we’ll be doing, and even sign up!

bright blessings,
Isaac

Posted in Pagan Stuff, Personal Happenings, Tech/Geek | 1 Comment