Life and Witchcraft Advice
From the Fabulous Heather Feather

This is where you will receive my expertise advise (because I'm so full of it) about any question or problem you may have. I can give you info on witchcraft, spirituality, relationships, basically just about anything except science or math.

If you are on a website that has banners hopping around at the top of the page distracting your attention, you can click the STOP button on your browser to make it stop (Internet Explorer only.) I'm not sure if it works on Flash banners, but it works for animated gif banners, which is what most of them are.

Here are some general rules:

The most important advice I can think of is DO NOT PUT MUSIC ON YOUR WEBSITE. Who can read your intelligent commentary when there is MUSIC playing in the background. It's a mistake many new website owners make, so don't feel ashamed... JUST TAKE IT OFF. Did you ever think maybe I was listening to some Stevie Nicks music while I browsed your site?  Yep, that's right. I really didn't need to hear your non-music midi-file playing over top of the Queen of Rock. Get rid of it. Also keep in mind that there are people who surf the internet from public places, like the library, work or school, and music could be very embarrassing for them.

Don't disable right-clicking on your site. People use right-click for other reasons than to steal content from your site. Plus, if I wanted to steal something off of your site, all I would need to do to get around your super-cool script would be to go to Tools, Internet Options, Security, Custom Level, Scroll down to four options from the bottom, and DISABLE SCRIPTING. Then, your dumb little message, "Are you trying to steal from me?" won't pop-up anymore (after refreshing the page) and I can take whatever I want. Please, all I wanted to do was open one of your links in a new window so I didn't have to leave your site. You forced me to leave your site because I didn't want to go to the trouble to turn off scripting. I only go to that kind of trouble if I want to steal something from your site (that you probably didn't own anyway.) I see these same images all over the web (nice ones - they are on my hard drive too), then I go to some sites, and these dummies have copyrights on it, like it's theirs. I can tell by looking at your site that the images don't belong to you anymore than they belong to me. Your bad web design skills give you away. You can't copyright what isn't yours. And you're just being very annoying when you disable right-clicking on your site. I know, you just like using every cute script you can find to put on your site to make it seem fancier. Everyone knows all you had to do was copy/paste a little snippet of html code, so quit trying to show off and give me my right click option back. Thank you kindly.

Here is some advice I wish people would follow (someone besides me): Please answer your email. I don't write a letter to you telling you I like your site or asking you to exchange links, just so you can ignore me like I don't exist. Why don't you answer your stinking email? Just write me back. One word, maybe two. Whatever. Just don't ignore me. I've written to so many pagan/witchcraft sites asking for a link exchange and they just ignore me. It's not like I have some puny little homepage that isn't worth linking to. I have a big site with lots of cool stuff on it with a great Google PageRank and high search engine rankings. I can't think of any pagan site that wouldn't benefit from being linked with me. You can say no if you want, but please say something. It's just so rude to not answer at all.

More advice:

You don't have to be Wiccan to be a witch.

Just let me repeat that... You do NOT have to be WICCAN to be a WITCH! I'm serious. You have probably gotten the idea by surfing the web or looking at witchcraft books that Wicca is your only option. But it's not. Wicca is a complicated religion with lots of rules. They have set beliefs for you to follow. I know it seems cool, but there are other ways. Wicca has only been around for about 50 years, whereas witchcraft has been around for thousands. I don't claim to be an expert on Wicca, but I'm just saying that I realize the reason many of you want to be Wiccan is simply because that is what you found first and it seemed like the right thing to do. You don't have to be any religion at all to be a witch. Plus, there are so many people that make fun of Wiccans. You don't need that. Visit www.WhyWiccansSuck.com to see what I'm talking about. And the sad part is, the web site is right. Way too many Wiccans go around telling other witches what they should and shouldn't do. 'Don't do love spells.' 'Harm none, do what ye wilt.' That's fine for you, if that's what you believe, but it's not fine to tell other people what to believe. I think many Wiccans are just regular witches like me who are calling themselves Wiccan, not really knowing what being Wiccan really entails. I hear there are over 100 rules that you are supposed to follow. That's insane. If I wanted that many rules (or ANY, period) I'd just go running back to Christianity. The two religions seem very similar to me in a "Love your Neighbor" type of way. I suppose that's a good thing, right? Well, it's a little overkill sometimes.

One lady wrote me the other day and said, "Some of the links you have aren't right....like the ones you have for pregnancy or to ease pain during labor. Any Wiccan witch like me knows not to do any magick while pregnant or even the chance of being pregnant. So I won't be visiting your website anymore."

If you've ever read any of my ramblings here on the site, then I'm sure you know I didn't take to that comment very well. How stupid can you be to think that a Pregnancy Spell that tells you to hold some crystals or rub an apple on your belly and then eat it could possibly hurt you in any way? I'm talking about major DUH here. Of course, she never wrote me back either after I told her what I thought about that. And then a lady signs the guestbook telling me that my site was the only place she could find a "Spell for a Healthy Baby". I wrote her back a personal letter (like I do for most guestbook entries) and told her thank you for visiting, blah, blah, and told her the story about the other lady and what she said. This woman never wrote back either. I'd say 9 out of the 10 people I write to or write back to, never write anything back to me. I guess I shouldn't complain because I get so much email that I can barely answer it as it is. But I guess I just wish they'd at least write back and say, "Thanks for writing back to me because most sites just ignore you completely when you write to them or sign their guestbook." But I guess it's not just most web sites, it's most people, period. By the way, I've stopped personally writing back to people who sign the guestbook unless they write something very interesting or something that needs an answer. If you actually want a reply, just email me instead.

More cool advice:

Read up on reincarnation, if you haven't already. A wonderful book to start with is "Journey of Souls" by Michael Newton, Ph.D.

As far as physical looks are concerned, LESS is always MORE, and the kind of men who are looking at you when you wear those revealing clothes may not be the kind that you want to be with anyway. And why would you wear high heeled fancy shoes with daisy duke shorts anyway? Mariah Carey can get away with it, but she is very beautiful, not to mention a superstar. So can Beyonce Knowles (Destiny's Child) Trust me, you are no Beyonce. I come close, but you need to stop trying. (Just kidding, I don't even come close.) Haha.

Alright, I thought I'd add this little tidbit... I get a number of letters from people who want me to teach them how to be a witch. These are generally 13-15 year olds. Here's what I'm going to tell you if you ask (so you don't have to ask)... Read as much as you can on the subject. Read books (I read all the alternative spirituality books at my public library when I first starting learning.) And you can also read pagan web sites. There is a wealth of information on the Internet. Probably one of the best places to go is Witchvox.com. Click on Info there to get to the info pages. Witchvox also has a directory of witches and pagan stores and clergy where you live.

I do understand that Wiccans don't practice black magick or any magick that affects other people without their permission. I personally believe that's a good thing, but I'm not Wiccan, so there is no need to write and tell me what Wiccans do and don't do, because I've read enough about them and I know it already. Several Wiccans have written me (and signed my guestbook) to let me know that Wiccans don't do love spells. lol. That's great. I don't believe that ALL Wiccans are against love spells though (even though they should be). Most of the hits on my web site are from people looking for love spells, and since many witches are Wiccan, I'm guessing there are lots of Wiccans looking for love spells. Anyway, it's not against Wiccan rules as long as you aren't singling out one particular man (or woman) and casting a spell on them. You could do a spell to find your soul mate or something like that. That's not against the rules. This site has a ton of Love Spells. Get this... I just received another letter from a 14 year old warning me against the love spells again. Guess what kids? I don't care what kind of spells other people cast. It's not my business. And it's not your business either.

So my advice is, don't go around telling other witches what they should or shouldn't believe. (Or any person besides witches for that matter.) I can tell you they probably won't appreciate it or care and it won't change how they believe, especially if your grammar is all whack and they can tell you're only 13. lol. And if you're in some AOL chat room for witches with your little clique of friends preaching to everyone else about the Wiccan Rede, you're acting as dumb as a Christian. Many of you know already that there are cliques of witches out here on the Internet that for some reason feel they are better than the "newbie" witches. I'm no newbie, but I do feel for these people that are getting a snobby reaction from other witches when they ask a simple question. Let's all live in peace and harmony <snicker>. The world will be a better place. Remember this stuff, for real, and if you are a new witch, don't let others get you down by what they say to you. You really don't need any Internet witch friends. I don't have any. You can do any kind of witchcraft on your own, without a coven, and without chat room buddies.

Click this link if you want more mean advice and opinions of mine. You'll also get to see many of the stupid emails I've received from people. You will get a good laugh from it if you have a sense of humor.

I've also recently added a pagan message board to the site and it is really cool with lots of really nice, helpful people. (I guess I have some friends now after all.) :)