The Witches' Voice wants Your Voice!  

The Witches' Voice is actively soliciting editorials and essays on a variety of topics on interest to both Pagan and mainstream audiences. These essays will appear on our "Words From Witches" page, and will be rotated on a periodic basis.

With this in mind, we want to suggest a number of titles and topics that all writers and would-be essayists can draw upon. Feel free to directly adopt these titles and topics, or to adapt them to your own needs. There are many approaches and writing styles that would be appropriate, including: Personal Experience; How-To; Inspirational; History; Opinion; Seasonal; "Aftermath"; Investigative/News; Human Interest; Profile; or perhaps some category that cannot be defined.

We would like for any outside sources to be credited and listed; formal bibliography notation is not necessary, but a book or article's general publication information, so readers can find it, is desirable. Any graphics or images should also be credited.

All authors should also include a short (100 words or less) biographical statement, which might include someone's magical experience or tradition, their occupation, their current projects, articles they have already published, their likes and dislikes, or whatever else they want readers to know.

Editorials should be between 1500 and 2000 words.
It is easiest for us if it is in a program like MicrosoftWord or Claris; if you know html coding, so much the better! This will save Fritz, our Webmaster, a lot of work!

You will retain copyright to all your work, However we do request 30 day exclusive use of your submission. If work has been previously published elsewhere, please indicate where and when. We also retain the right to do minor edits for spelling and formatting. Should a major edit be necessary, you will be contacted.

All editorials to be considered for a given month should be submitted by the 15th (we will try to put new editorials up by the 1st of the month). Let us know if you cannot quite meet the deadline.

Please put your name and e-mail address on upper left corner of document and the topic name, title suggestion and approximate word count in upper right corner.

Below are the listings by month and topic. Use the questions under each topic as a guideline for ideas, however you may write on any aspect of the topic that may be of interest to our readers.

JANUARY '98:
Publication Date: Dec. 27th
Submission Deadline: Dec 20th

Topic: Witches-Are They Born or Made?
Are there really "Natural Witches" in the world? Can someone be "born" a Witch? Are these "traits" passed along through multiple lifetimes...or is it all in the training and decisions that one makes here and now?

Topic: Imbolc/Candlemas
How do you celebrate the Holiday? Tell us about your altar decorating ideas, rituals or family traditions.

Topic: Rituals-Simple, Elaborate or Ecstatic?
How simple or elaborate are your rituals? Are your private ones different than your group rituals? What part does ecstasy play in ritual practices?

Topic: Pagan Politics
What role should Witches play in the political arena? Does politics and religion mix? What are your thoughts on the Religious Freedom Amendment?

Topic: Pro-active or Reactive?
Is it time to stop telling the media what we are NOT... and time to start explaining to them who we ARE? What do we have to say? Is the "victim mentality" really valid anymore? How should we prepare for the next decade?

Topic: Where Do We Come From?
What do you know about the history of Witchcraft? Is it really a resurgence of an old religion...or the beginning of a new one? Is it necessary to be "older than Christianity" to give the religion that we practice today credibility? What do we REALLY know about our roots?

Topic: Why Can't We All Just Get Along?
What are the factors that divide us and can we "get over' them somehow? What experiences have you had that you either could-or couldn't resolve with other Pagans? How are we alike...or are we? Does it really matter?

Topic: Reincarnation v Transmigration
What are your views on reincarnation or transmigration? Are they the same concept? Have you experienced the memories from a past life? What effect did that have in your life this time around?

Topic: Beltaine
One of our favorite holidays! What do you do on this wonderful day? Ritual ideas? History of the Maypole? Love stories?

Topic: Pagan Ethics
What ethical guidelines do you personally find important? Do you see differences in how Pagans view this topic from one group to another? What role do ethics play in today's society? Should we have a "Pagan Standard"?

Topic: Religious Interaction
What dialogue can we have with other religions? Should Pagans join in interfaith conferences...or should we keep to ourselves? How would you feel about working on a community project with those of other faiths?

Topic: Midsummer
Celebration stories, rituals and poems! Yay! Summer's here! What will YOU do on your "summer vacation"?