Source: Amanda of Witchy Ways. Originally posted to WynterGreene (no longer exists) in 2008. I'm tempted to repost everything. Her site is no longer active and I can't find a trace of her. There are 3 posts, one being a timeline.

It would be great if someone has updates to add to Amanda's research and documentation. Her timeline ends in 2007.

First, about Amanda, from her site.

About Me
I am an ecstatic Witch following an initiatory mystery tradition of North American witchcraft. My personal practice celebrates life and places a strong emphasis on personal responsibility and relationship with Mystery, including deity, the ancestors, spirits, nature, and our selves.

For the past fifteen years, I have been involved in various facets of Montreal and Canadian Paganism, including several years as the Managing Editor of WynterGreene, and more recently with the organization of Gaia Gathering, the Canadian National Pagan Conference.

I've been teaching publicly since 2001. Since 2006, I have been working with teachers in the United States, while maintaining spiritual ties on home soil in Montreal. I also belong to a Pagan peer teaching and leadership guild in New England. We meet several times during the year to share skills and experiences.

I strongly believe in having an extensive magical toolkit that complements real-world skills. I generally don't teach something until I have worked extensively with it myself. Magic is subtle, especially the magic we work upon ourselves.

History of Wicca in Canada - Timeline

This was the timeline that accompanied my articles published in 2008. I'd love to update it. If you have significant dates that you feel should be included, please leave me a comment with details.

• 1959: It is believed that Wicca comes to Canada through a Gardner initiate (Dayonis)
• 1960s: Roy Blunden, one of Gardner's Initiates (1960) emigrates to Canada and settles in southern BC
• 1972: Alexandrian Coven in Vancouver, BC, goes public (Sion Davies)
• 1972: Public coven in Victoria BC Mark Fedoruk (later Lion-Serpent Sun)
• 1973: Public 'flame war' in Green Egg magazine among Toronto-area Wiccans and Pagans; as well as a public debate about homosexuals in Wicca with Toronto HP Roy Dymond as a leading opponent
• 1979: Founding of Wiccan Church of Canada in Toronto
• 1981: Wiccan Church of Canada receives pastoral rights from Corrections Canada
• 1982: WiccanFest, Canada's oldest Pagan festival, founded north of Toronto
• 1986: Charles Arnold wins the right to take Beltaine as a paid religious holiday in the Ontario courts
• 1987: Founding of BC Witchcamp
• 1988: Kim M. of Winnipeg, MB, becomes the first declared Wiccan in the Canadian Military
• 1988: Lion-Serpent Sun libel suit versus David Maines and 100 Huntley Street 1988 
• 1988: Publication of Kate Sandilands study of Wicca and Neopaganism in Canada
• 1989: Kaleidoscope Gathering, Canada's largest Pagan festival, founded in Eastern Ontario
• 1989: Publication of the Law Enforcement Guide to Wicca by Canadian police officer Kerr Cuhulain
• 1992: Calgary court overturns decision to deny visiting rights to Wiccan George Gay because of his involvement in witchcraft.
• Date?: Temple of the Lady in BC is the first Pagan organization to get "Marrying rights"
• 1994: Human Right grievance, religious discrimination, against the BC NDP filed by Sam Wagar (settled out of court). 
• 1997: First National Pagan Census administered by sociologist Sian Reid
• Date?: Canadian Military Chaplaincy Handbook includes Wicca
• 2000: First festival in Alberta (maybe prairies), Panfest, founded
• 2000: Canada's first Pagan Resource Centre, the Montreal Pagan Resource Centre, founded
• 2005: Gaia Gathering, Canada's National Pagan Conference holds its first annual gathering in Edmonton, AB
• 2007: Wiccan ritual performed on the Canadian military base in Khandahar Afghanistan

History of Wicca in Canada

I realized recently that since WynterGreene is no longer in existence and its website no longer exists, that this series of articles that I wrote in 2008 are no longer available anywhere except in print. I think that they are worth re-publishing here to make them accessible. Please note that this work is copyrighted. I earn my living as a writer. I'm happy if you post a link to the article, or quote from it with credit. But please do not reblog it or republish it in its entirety without getting in touch with me first.

A Web in the Weaving: A Brief History of Wicca in Canada

It is fairly easy for us to learn about the history of the Wicca and contemporary Paganism in the United Kingdom and the United States through books like Triumph of the Moon (Ronald Hutton), Drawing Down the Moon (Margot Adler) and, most recently, Her Hidden Children (Chas Clifton). It requires a bit more digging to discover the history in Canada. Only one book, Witches and Pagans and Magic in the New Age, written by a non-Pagan journalist (Kevin Marron) really exists; and it is out of print. This article, to be published in two parts, aims to trace some of the roots of Wicca in Canada, as well as its history and growth. It relies primarily on interviews and newspaper clippings. The first part of this article looks at some of the early figures of Wicca in Canada.

In the late sixties and during the seventies, a series of 'Wicca seeds' were planted across the country from various sources---including initiates of Gerald Gardner, Maxine Sanders and the Farrars who emigrated to Canada, bringing their Craft with them, as well as influences and initiates from the United States. In some cases these seeds grew into practicing groups and covens, who later came into contact with each other through similar interests, early Pagan magazines or occult shops; and eventually some of these groups or individuals became more public. These are some of the seeds.

Part I - The Early Years

Gardnerian Wicca arrived in Canada quite early, possibly even prior to its arrival in the U.S via Raymond Buckland.

Originally from the Isle of Man, Jim Davies was initiated into the Craft by Gerald Gardner and his High Priestess, D.P., in 1960. [i] He later emigrated to Canada settled in Toronto. A talented custom machinist by training, Davies was known for his ability to create some fine Craft tools. [ii]) Reports of his impact on the early Craft scene in Toronto are varied. By some accounts, it is through Davies that many seekers were introduced to Gardnerian practice; [iii] others describe him as a bit of a "lone wolf" with few initiates. [iv] In the early 1980s, Davies initiated an Italian woman, Raven, and for a short while in 1983 they ran an occult shop called "The Witchy Shop" on Harbord Street. [v] He remained visible on the scene for some time after the store closed. Davies died in the early 1990s.

Another initiate of Gardnerian Wicca who emigrated to Canada was** Roy Blunden**. His first encounter with Wica was in 1954 when he picked up a copy of Gardner's Witchcraft Today. It was another five years before Blunden was able to find a coven practicing in London, England, through a chance encounter in an occult bookstore. In the 1960s, Blunden brought his style of Wicca to the west coast, where he led a quiet life practicing as a solitary as well as belonging to various covens. A geoscientist, Blunden describes his approach to Wicca as pragmatic. He is also fascinated by "the complex symbolism used to express Wicca as a transcendental religious faith," [vi] and has spent close to 50 years exploring this in depth. Along with his wife, an American initiate, he taught and initiated many students. [vii]

If Gardnerian witches in Canada remained true to the epithet 'her hidden children,'** Alexandrian Craft was much less hidden**. Public Alexandrian witches and covens were well known in Vancouver, Toronto, and possibly Halifax.

Sion Davies was a very public witch in British Columbia who claimed Alexandrian initiation by the Farrars in Ireland. He was a merchant seaman with a broad Irish accent and a penchant for the "spooky side of things." [viii] Davies ran a public coven in the early 1970s in Victoria, and was in the news a few times during that period. He also held public rituals: A bit of publicity in The Georgia Straight, a well-known Vancouver weekly newspaper, (date unknown) invited the Vancouver public to join "witches and warlocks from the Vancouver area" to "celebrate a Black Mass at midnight" in Stanley Park in honour of Hallowe'en. Other bits of publicity included discharging lingering spirits from haunted houses. [ix] By 1981 his approach to publicity had softened somewhat. In an interview with The Ubyssey, ✅ he described as being "bothered by the lack of distinction between witches and satanists, [sic]" and cautioning that many symbols used by stereotypical Satanists actually come from the Wiccan faith. He is also quoted as saying  in 1981 that "All environmentalists are actually Wiccans who aren't initiated, because anybody who cares about mother nature is a witch." These days Sion Davies maintains a low profile, but he still runs a coven near Mission, B.C., where he has lived for the past 20 years. [xi]

Meanwhile, in the Toronto area, Roy Diamond, also known as "Cock Robin" or "Rob Roy" was the early Canadian face of Alexandrian Wicca. [xii] Originally an initiate of the Long Island (Buckland) Gardnerian line, [xiii] he later took an Alexandrian initiation and is better known as the 'grand-daddy' of most of the early Alexandrian initiates in the area. [xiv] It is believed that he took this third degree with Maxine Sanders herself. [xv] Dymond was not media shy and an article about him is said to have appeared in MacLean's magazine in the 1960s. [xvi] He also had very strong traditional beliefs, one of which was chronicled quite well in a 'Witch War' that took place in the Green Egg magazine in 1973. A traditionalist, Dymond believed that homosexuality had no place in a fertility-based religion, [xvii] which was not an uncommon stance at the time.  Many traditionalists perceived Wicca as a fertility religion requiring polarity and not necessarily a nature religion. [xviii] Dymond remained well-known and active on the Toronto Pagan scene until his death in 1983 or 1984. [xix]

Other traditions of witchcraft also play a key role in the history of Wicca in Canada. Jean Kozocari was a hereditary witch living in British Columbia who claims that she can trace her family's witchcraft roots back to 1443. She was initiated by her grandfather at age 16, and sent her to study with a "teacher who had been a stockbroker with a seat on the Toronto Stock Exchange." [xx] Witchcraft, she says, remained quite underground until the 1960s and 1970s when "more liberal thinking allowed her to come out of the broom closet." [xxi] Kozocari, no stranger to being interviewed about witchcraft, was called as an expert witness during a B.C. Supreme Court libel hearing brought against the evangelical television show 100 Huntley Street by Wiccan and Gnostic priest** Lion-Serpent Sun** in 1988. [xxii] Four years earlier the show aired a segment where Pentecostal minister Len Olsen told how he had found Jesus after attending a ritual in 1972 where Sun (then Mark Fedoruk) tried to kill him as a sacrifice to Satan. Sun sued 100 Huntley Street for libel. [xxiii] During the trial Kozacari testified that witches must come 'out of the closet and say that we don't worship Satan," and that there is a lot of "garbage about witches" in the popular culture and media. [xxiv] "We are the only people still judged by Mother Goose and Walt Disney fairy tale standards," she said. [xxv] She spoke of the Wiccan Rede, expressed as "And it harm none - do what thou will," and said that Wiccans believe that "all gods are one - we just have a different view about him, her or it. It doesn't matter what name we use. We could call it Ralph." [xxvi] Kozacari currently lives a quiet life in Victoria. [xxvii]

One of Kozacari's initiates was well-known Canadian poet Robin Skelton.** Also known as "Canada's Merlin,"** Skelton was a very public witch and the founder of the creative writing program at the University of Victoria. He was also a professor within the department. Skelton was initiated by Kozacari in 1981, [xxviii] and at the time of his death in 1997 was generally considered an elder of BC neo-Paganism. [xxix] He was also known as a local 'ghost-buster' and regularly performed ritual cleansing of houses, ridding them of spiritual disturbances. Together with Kozacari, he authoured a book on the topic called A Gathering of Ghosts. A prolific writer, Skelton published several books on magic and witchcraft as well as over 70 volumes on other topics, ranging from "poetry to criticism, from short stories to Greek translations," during his lifetime. [xxx] He was described in the media as "peering out at the world from the midst of a majestic and unruly mane of grey hair and beard," [xxxi] and by his daughter following his death as "dramatic, [...] often wearing a black turtleneck and sometimes a black hat." [xxxii] He was certainly one of the most recognizable faces of contemporary Paganism in Canada.

In 1979, Richard and Tamarra James moved to Toronto from New York. They quickly opened the "Occult Shop" and became quite active on the Toronto Pagan scene. Shortly afterwards, they incorporated the Wiccan Church of Canada (WCC) to be a public face of Wicca as opposed to the less open coven structure that was prevalent at the time. It was also hoped that a bit of public structure would give Wicca a legitimacy in the eyes of the public and give Wiccans 'rights' afforded other religions. [xxxiii], [xxxiv] Richard James now says that the name was a mistake, but at the time it seemed appropriate. [xxxv] In addition to the classes offered by the WCC, the James' maintained a small coven. As the coven grew and hived off into smaller groups, a completely home-grown Canadian Wiccan tradition, the Odyssean tradition, was born. The name Odyssean is in recognition of the individual spiritual journal or odyssey, which is different for every initiate. Also, through the James, Toronto is also the official home for many of the artefacts from Gardner's museum of witchcraft, including his original Books of Shadow, which they purchased from Ripley's museum in 1987. [xxxvi] The documents are available to initiates and scholars to view.

These are not the only people who were practicing or teaching the Craft during the early years of Wicca in Canada. There were covens in Halifax, Montreal and Ottawa; and probably in other cities and communities across the country. This is only a small slice of our national Wiccan, and NeoPagan, story. I regret that I did not have the space in this article to touch on more of the individuals and groups that have played a part in our history. I hope to be able to explore their contributions in later articles. In the meanwhile, stay tuned for part II of this article: Rights.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: I am also enormously grateful to everyone who took the time to answer my questions and share their stories. I am especially indebted to Castalia, Hawk, Richard James, Shelley Rabinovitch, and Sam Wagar for their help with this article. This article would not have been possible without their patience and time spent with me in person or online, or the valuable resources and contacts they provided.

[i] www.thewica.co.uk/wica/wica.htm Accessed April, 2007.

[ii Richard James, interview at Gaia Gathering, May 21, 2007.

[iii] Rabinovitch, personal correspondence.

[iv] Richard James, interview at Gaia Gathering, May 21, 2007.

[v] Richard James, interview at Gaia Gathering, May 21, 2007.

[vi] http://www.wiccanweb.ca/wiki/index.php/Roy_Blunden. Accessed April 2007.

[vii Paragraph adapted from http://www.wiccanweb.ca/wiki/index.php/Roy_Blunden. Accessed April 2007.

[viii] Sam Wagar, personal correspondence, May 11, 2007.

[ix] Georgia Straight, date unknown; received from Sam Wagar.

✅ The Ubyssey, Friday October 30, 1981.

[xi] Sam Wagar, personal correspondence.

[xii] Shelley Rabinovitch, personal communication.

[xiii] Castalia, interview at Gaia Gathering on May 20, 2007.

[xiv] This changed in the late 1990s, when another line of Alexandrians came to South Western Ontario via the United States, and started initiating students in their own line, and hiving off covens. (Castalia, interview at Gaia Gathering on May 20, 2007)

[xv] Castalia, interview at Gaia Gathering on May 20, 2007.

[xvi] Rabinovitch, MA thesis and  personal correspondence.

[xvii] Green Egg, 1973.

[xviii] For Wicca as a fertility religion versus nature religion, see Chas Clifton. Her Hidden Children.

[xix] Richard James, interview at Gaia Gathering, May 21, 2007; Castalia, interview at Gaia Gathering, May 20, 2007.

[xx] History of witchcraft told by expert witness. The Vancouver Sun, June 15, 1988. pg A10.

[xxi] Rabinovitch and Lewis, p141.

[xxii] History of witchcraft told by expert witness. The Vancouver Sun, June 15, 1988. pg A10.

[xxiii] See part II of this article for more on this trial.

[xxiv] History of witchcraft told by expert witness. The Vancouver Sun, June 15, 1988. pg A10.

[xxv] Witches not devilish, trial told. The Vancouver Sun, June 16, 1988. pg E15.

[xxvi] Witches not devilish, trial told. The Vancouver Sun, June 16, 1988. pg E15.

[xxvii] Rabinovitch and Lewis, p141.

[xxviii] TV preacher names 3 more as Satanists. The Vancouver Sun. June 30, 1988. pg. A17.

[xxix] Rabinovitch and Lewis, p251.

[xxx] The problem with ghosts? -- they think they're alive; Witches give advice. The Vancouver Sun. September 8, 1989. pg. G4.

[xxxi] The problem with ghosts? -- they think they're alive; Witches give advice. The Vancouver Sun. September 8, 1989. pg. G4.

[xxxii] Remembering poet Robin Skelton as only a daughter can. The Vancouver Sun. Vancouver, B.C.: Aug 30, 1997. pg. B3.

[xxxiii] Richard James, interview at Gaia Gathering, May 21, 2007.

[xxxiv] Note, in Canada, religion is a freedom not a right. All religions are 'legitimate' in Canada. The practices of a religion, however, must conform to Canadian law.

[xxxv] Richard James, comment made during a panel of church models for NeoPagans at Gaia Gathering 2007.

[xxxvi] http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos324.htm. Accessed May 22, 2007.

History of Wicca in Canada - Rights

It is fairly easy for us to learn about the history of the Wicca and contemporary Paganism in the United Kingdom and the United States through books and scholarly articles originally published in those countries. It requires a bit more digging to discover the history in Canada. Only one book, Witches and Pagans and Magic in the New Age, written by a non-Pagan journalist (Kevin Marron) really exists; and it is out of print. This article, the second in a series that traces some of the roots of Wicca in Canada, was originally published in the magazine WynterGreene in 2008. It relies primarily on interviews and newspaper clippings. The first part of this article looked at some of the early figures of Wicca in Canada. This second segment looks at Wicca in the Canadian courts and public opinion.

Part II -- Rights

Marie Joséphine Corriveau. In** 1763** she was the first woman to be tried and found guilty of Witchcraft in Canada by the military courts after New France fell to the British. She was suspected of at least one other murder, before being convicted for the death of her husband. After her execution her body was left to rot in a cage at the crossroads to the city. It is believed that her trial was as much political as it was about la sorcellerie. This was not the only witchcraft conviction in early Canada, but it is believed to be the first.

But Wicca is not the witchcraft of La Nouvelle France. When Wicca started to arrive and be openly practiced in Canada in the 1960s through to the early 1980s, there was very little distinction between the different kinds of Wicca. Craft was simply Craft. Initiates recognised each other through shared ritual 'markers,' and it was not uncommon for an Alexandrian, Gardnerian or other High Priest or Priestess to borrow a partner to perform ritual or initiations if no one else was available. Wicca was also much less distinguished from Satanism and other form of witchcraft that it is these days. This is quite evident from a couple of highly publicised court cases of the time.

Perhaps the best-known court case is the libel charge that Lion-Serpent Sun brought against David Maines and the evangelical television program 100 Huntley Street in 1988. Four years earlier, the show had aired an interview in which Pentecostal minister Len Olson told the tale of how he found Jesus: He claimed that in 1972, Mark Fedoruk (now Lion-Serpent Sun) had tried to kill him and his wife during a satanic ritual in Victoria, BC. Sun sued. His version of events was that in 1972 he was practicing Wicca, not Satanism, and that on the night in question Olson had smoked a significant amount of pot following a ritual and simply had a 'bad trip.'

The case offered Canadians a fascinating, if somewhat slanted, look into the beliefs and practices of witchcraft in BC in 1972, as well as at the time of the trial. Among the evidence presented was Sun's own Book of Shadows. As well, during the testimony of Gary Gage-Cole, a coven-mate of Sun's, a photograph of the ritual room on the night in question was brought into evidence. The room had a pentacle with symbols around it painted onto the floor. During his testimony, Cole explained that the symbols in the darker shaded ring between the inner and outer circles were Hebrew letters that stand for names of God, but also are symbols of fire, water, wind and earth. He also said that some of the symbols were for angels and bats, or devils. "It's a balance, or a blending of opposites. As with everything in life, there is a duality," he testified.

Several prominent BC witches also testified at the case, including Jean Kozocari and Robin Skelton, a professor of English at the University of Victoria. Skelton was the first witness in the trial to refuse to take his court oath on a bible, suggesting it would be inappropriate. After 15 hours of deliberation over two days, the jury decided that Sun did not attempt a human sacrifice, but that it was also substantially true that Sun was a Satanist. With their verdict, hey awarded Sun $10,000 in damages, plus court costs to be paid by the 100 Huntley Street. The verdict was both a victory and defeat for Sun, who said after the trial, "I do resent being called a Satanist in the sense that it's been explained in so many ways as being such a negative thing. [...] I find that difficult.'' Later, a judge over-ruled the jury's awarding of damages and ordered that since there was "divided success" on the allegations of libel, that the costs be split between to two parties. This was a decision that ultimately left Sun out-of-pocket financially.

Elsewhere in Canada, courts were busy trying to decide if Wicca was a religion. In 1986 Charles Arnold, with the support of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, filed a grievance against the Ontario Labour Relations Board. Active in the Wiccan Chuch of Canada, and an initiate of several traditions, Arnold was employed as a secretary at Humber College in Toronto. In April 1986 he put in a request to take Beltaine off work as a paid religious holiday. The request was denied on the grounds that Wicca was merely an excuse for "frivolous and morally-questionable acts." The case went to arbitration in 1987 and Arnold won his case. In its ruling, the court stated that "Wicca is obviously a religion," and in so doing set the first tangible precedent of a government body in Canada recognising Wicca as a legitimate religion.

A similar challenge in Calgary in **1992 **involving visiting rights in a custody battle also put Wicca on the centre pedestal. In a court hearing, George Gay was denied visiting rights with his son because he was "involved in black magic". In his appeal, Gay admitted to practicing Wicca, which he described as a religion involving worship of nature and pagan deities. Testifying on behalf of the defence, Rev. Paul W. Newman of the Toronto office of the United Church of Canada's Division of World Outreach, said in a letter of support, "I wish to testify the Wiccan religion is an authentic, respectable religion that works for the health and well-being of its followers." Gay won the appeal his visitation rights were restored. In their ruling, the Alberta Supreme Court said that religion could not be considered a factor in deciding custody of a child. This ruling is one of many that solidifies that ultimately it is behaviour rather than belief that is important to the Canadian courts.

A couple of years later in BC, Wicca was once again publicly challenged. In 1994, Sam Wagar had won the nomination as the provincial New Democratic Party candidate for Abbotsford, in BC's 'bible belt.' His nomination was later challenged on the basis that he was a witch and that he failed to declare this during the nomination process. Wagar had been quite visible as a public witch for over 15 years and felt that his religion was irrelevant to the nomination. He agreed to a second nomination race, but lost. Wagar** filed a human rights complaint against the BC NDP on the grounds of religious discrimination**. The case was settled out of court. It also appears to be last time that Wicca has been publicly challenged I the court or in the media.

While some Wiccans and witches were busy defending their rights and freedoms in the courts, other individuals were using the power of networking and the written word to take a more pro-active approach to securing acceptance for their religion.

Not long after the Lion-Serpent Sun and Charles Arnold trials, the The Law Enforcement Guide to Wicca by Canadian Wiccan policeman, Kerr Cuhulain was published in 1989. This book was "an important Canadian first step towards normalising relationships between Pagans and the police," according to Professor Lucie Dufresne of the University of Ottawa. It has also become a classic text and widely distributed around the world in many languages. Cuhulain also founded the Wiccan Information Network (WIN) in 1989 to help counter the negative public perception of witchcraft, after having become involved a few years' earlier with the Witches' League for Public Awareness. It is believed that he is the first police officer to come out of the broom closet.

In 1994 the Pagan Federation Paienne Canada was founded as a multitraditional organization to "protect and promote the reputation of Pagans and Paganism in Canada." It later incorporated in 1997 as federal nonprofit organization. Over the years the PFPC has provided Federal and Provincial governments with an understanding of contemporary Pagan religions, and been instrumental in getting Wicca and other Pagan paths included in the Canadian Military Chaplaincy handbook, as well as initiating chaplaincy programs in a variety prisons and hospitals. They have also been advocating for a repeal of the witchcraft law, which still exists in the Criminal Code of Canada (section 365).

These cases, as well as the efforts of many others too numerous to mention in this brief article, have opened the doors to the acceptance of Wicca as an almost mainstream religion in Canada. Wicca is currently one of the religions listed in the Canadian Military Chaplaincy Handbook, and indeed, earlier this year a** Canadian military chaplain gave permission for a Wiccan Ostara celebration to be held outside the Christian Fellowship Centre at the NATO base in Kandahar, Afghanistan**. One Canadian and six American Wiccans participated. Wiccan clergy have been allowed to visit Canadian prisons since 1981 to offer pastoral care to inmates, and several Wiccan or Neo-Pagan temples in BC have managed to meet the requirements for religious establishments, complete with 'marrying rights;' although attempts in other provinces have met with much less success.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: I am also enormously grateful to everyone who took the time to answer my questions and share their stories. I am especially indebted to Castalia, Hawk, Richard James, Shelley Rabinovitch, and Sam Wagar for their help with this article series. These articles would not have been possible without their patience and time spent with me in person or online, or the valuable resources and contacts they provided.

Endnotes: 1. In Canada, religion is a freedom and cannot be contested in court. However, religion cannot be an excuse for behaviour that is excessive, dangerous or contrary to Canadian laws. (Lucie DuFresne. Lecture on Religious Rights in Canada, Gaia Gathering, 2007.)

I had started a site to post about Sims4 and then changed my mind about the whole thing. Not because of the turmoil going on now with the new owners. But, because in the end, I would just be promoting someone else's product (the game itself and CC and mods from others) and not really doing anything of my own. It just feels kind of feeble, for lack of a better word.

This is what I wrote for my introduction/ about page. I thought I would save that much.

I bought this domain with the impulsive idea to make a site about bad gift choices I found online. But, it never quite found its way. I lost track of exactly the idea I had in that moment. It's not the first or the last time (likely) that I have bought a domain on impulse. Still, after having it hanging around over a year, I decided it would be an ok domain and name for a site about The Sims 4. My own experiences, ideas, CC finds and so on.

I had started writing for a site which posts about The Sims 4 and other related games. It didn't work out. A month or so afterwards, I started getting back to posting about Sims4 finds on my bluesky social media account. Then, I starting thinking about the posts I had planned to write and didn't finish (for that other site). Also, those I did write. I decided not to repost them (as they were/are) Simpler to just rewrite them, same ideas and information but written fresh, with updates and new perspectives. After all, I still have me. I can come up with more ideas and find more content to add to those original posts.

I enjoy shopping for new CC for The Sims. I plan to post my shopping highlights here. But, I will post more finds on social media (see the link above). It's just so much easier to post quick, short bits there than come back here and load images, choose categories and tags, etc. I will work to have good tags so you can (maybe) find something you are especially looking for. But, I'm not a great source for knowing where something in particular is. I have my own favourite lost swimsuit CC file which I've never been able to find again. Deleted by mistake.

I am a Witch, in my own way. So I do like finding Witch content for the Sims but not the goth/ costume content so much. Some of it is fun, and some is just wrong. Upside down pentacles shown as Witch CC kind of annoys me. But, people just don't know enough to understand the mistake. If you get funny ideas - I do not worship the devil. I will have a special category and tags just for Witch related finds, mods and CC.

I do wish The Sims had more evil/ bad options. What we have now seems sadly comical versus what it could be. I'm not saying I want extremes (I tried some of those mods and didn't like them enough to keep). But, Sims should be able to lie, be selfish jerks, make out with someone without being in love, and all those everyday sort of things.

Yes, its all a virtual dollhouse world with paper dolls to dress up and mess around with. But, no one is that perfectly good and altruistic all the time. I like finding others who torment their Sims, at least a little. Playing with Sims is like never having to say you're sorry.

Note: I am not going to filter my opinions about biological women, in particular our safety and privacy. If you don't know what I'm talking/ writing about, don't worry about it. It's not something I get focused about with The Sims but it sometimes pokes its head up. Its one thing that rubs me the wrong way about The Sims. I won't get started right now.

I hope this site will be in markup/markdown, not HTML. I've been learning to use it on my personal site. Also, it seems like a way to avoid the WordPress editor which wants to create so much extra HTML in blocks. More is not always great.

• Markup Markdown
• HTML to Markdown Converter

That's all for now.

Laura

Posting and saving information about mail art and artists. It doesn't seem like it will be around in another generation or two. Like so many interesting art forms which evolve or devolve with technology. I used to collect postcards and write letters to pen pals from all over the world. At that time I was making mail art and finding interesting things which could be sent in the mail to friends. I haven't created any mail art in awhile. I liked learning the limitations and finding what could be done to work around them or find a new idea to work with them. Like a puzzle.

MailArt 365 - Twitter - Facebook - Flickr

International Union of Mail Artists

The site for the Envelope Collective is gone and so is a page which had been on Wikipedia.

The Envelope Collective is an ongoing collaborative art project that uses mail as a medium. The Envelope Collective was founded by Garrett Miller and Adam Morse on November 3, 2005. Anyone can send anything to the Envelope Collective; people from all over the world have sent in everything from boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese to handmade paper envelopes.

Source for the post below: Lisa Vollrath

The Art is in the Mail

The simplest definition of mail art is that it is any art that's created with the intention of sending it through the mail. Mail art can include postcards, faux postage, decorated envelopes, friendship books, and the ever popular naked mail. If you have to mail it to complete the creative experience, it's mail art!

Mail Art Culture

When it comes to the making of mail art, there are very few rules. However, most mail art projects have these similarities:

• No money exchanges hands. In general, mail art is exchanged between artists, not bought and sold. There aren't usually fees involved to participate in mail art projects.
• Mail art is given freely, without the expectation of something in return.
• No judgements are made about the artwork or its quality. You get what you get.
• Once the envelope has been dropped into the mail, forget about it.

Postcards

Postcards are probably the most popular form of mail art. Handmade, altered, or trash postcards are often exchanged between mail artists, either one on one, or in organized swaps or exchanges. Perhaps postcards are so popular because they are already a type of mail, and are so easily sent, without packaging, and with minimal postage.

Postcards are often used in mail art exhibitions, with are organized through mail art calls. The project organizer puts together a theme and a venue for display, and posts the call to creative groups focused on mail art. Interested artists mail in a postcard, to be included in the exhibition. Sometimes, they receive another postcard in return, or a visual listing of the pieces in the exhibition, known as documentation.

One of the most well-known postcard projects is Post Secret. Since 2005, the project organizer has asked readers to mail him an anonymous postcard with a secret written on it, to be posted on the Post Secret blog. Hundreds of postcards have been sent in and posted, and the project has spawned several books.

Postcrossing is a site designed for those interested in sending and receiving postcards. Rather than matching senders and receivers, the site is set up so that your postcard is assigned a number, and when your card is received and logged by the recipient, your name is put into the queue to receive the next postcard sent.

Artistamps

Artistamps go by several different names: faux postage, postoids, or cinderellas. These terms are used to describe an artist-created stamp that is not used as real postage. In fact, one of the rules of using artistamps is that they must not be substituted for real postage, or used in any way that attempts to defraud the Post Office.

Faux postage stamps are created in a variety of ways, but the most popular method to create them is using a computer for design and layout, and then either printing on paper that is pre-perforated, or perforating the printed sheets afterward. Stamps can be created in sheets or individually, or even to mimic the commemorative issues put out by the Post Office.

Decorated Envelopes

The tradition of sending decorated envelopes has long been practiced by mail artists. The envelopes themselves have evolved into their own form of mail art, often sent through the mail with little or nothing in them. Integrating the sender and recipient addresses, and the postage required to send the envelope, is often an integral part of the envelope's design.

One of the longest running decorated envelope project is The Graceful Envelope, sponsored by the Washington Calligraphers Guild. Each year since 1995, artists have decorated envelopes according to the annual theme. The best envelopes selected in several categories are put on display in Washington, DC.

Naked Mail

Sometimes known as extreme mail art, naked mail is the sending of odd items through the mail without any packaging. In my years as a mail artist, I've received beach balls, flip-flops, a plastic severed hand, a giant plastic crayon bank, a large pink piggy bank, baby bottles, and liter and two-liter bottles filled with all manner of items.

One of the objects of naked mail is to surprise postal employees. Taking the items to the post office window to be weighed and have postage attached, and receiving the naked mail items from your regular postal carrier are part of the naked mail experience.

One of my favorite types of naked mail is the plastic bottle mailgram. A clear plastic bottle is filled with items the recipient might enjoy, and mailed without packaging. Instructions for making plastic bottle mailgrams that fill easily, and will pass through most US post offices are posted here at Go Make Something.

Artist Trading Cards

Artist trading cards, or ATCs, are small-format artworks exchanged between artists. Unlike other types of mail art, artist trading cards do have a few rules. They must be created on a 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" surface, and must fit into a trading card sleeve, which is a clear pocket designed to hold baseball trading cards.

Although artist trading cards originated as a way for artists to meet face-to-face to exchange work, with the rise of the Internet came endless numbers of groups where artists can exchange cards by mail. One of the largest groups online focused on exchanging artist trading cards is ATCsForAll, where you'll find dozens of open swaps at any given time, and thousands of people willing to do a one-on-one exchange.

Trashpo

Trashpo is short for trash poetry, a concept that originated with visual poet Jim Leftwich. In 2005, Leftwich dumped a wastebasket onto a scanner, and posted photos of the random poetry this created. Trashpo is a form of visual poetry, based on random, found arrangements of letters, words, and images. In its very broadest sense, trashpo is art made from garbage.

The trashpo community has its own words to describe the types of work this concept has spawned, and they are as unique as the artists who create them. For example:

• Cerealism is trashpo made from cereal boxes.
• Listpo is list poetry made using found lists, like shopping lists.
• Scannerbed composition is a method of creating trashpo by dumping trash on a scanner and scanning it.

IUOMA

The International Union of Mail Artists (IUOMA) was founded in 1988 by Dutch artist Ruud Janssen. IUOMA has been the center of the online mail art universe for many years, moving from site to site, but keeping many of the same core members and ideals. There are currently over 3,500 members online, and the web site is one of the largest repositories of mail art calls and images of mail art. New members are welcomed heartily, and there is no charge to join or participate in the many projects going at any given time.

Mail Art on the Internet

Examples of various types of mail art are abundant online, but seem to move around and disappear quickly. This collection of sites represents the links I was able to capture the last time this page was updated:

• Mail Me Art is a mail art documentation project. Viewers send mail art, and the recipient blogs what has been received. The project has spawned several exhibitions.
• The Mail Art Pool on Flickr has gone silent in recent years, but people are still adding their photos to the pool.
• The Electronic Museum of Mail Art has several galleries of mail art, including a small collection of artistamps by various artists.
• Com`post Mail Art displays the work of German artists who have participated in mail art projects for over 20 year. There isn't much text to describe the collections, but there are lots of photos.
• 1000 Journals was an art journal project that happened by mail. The project's originator sent out 1000 blank journals, and they were passed around using an online queue system. The project is finished, but the photos of journals remain posted.
• Mail Art Projects is a blog maintained by 100 members of IUOMA. It posts mail art calls from all over the world.

I've got two links to share:

• Markup Markdown
• HTML to Markdown Converter

Both have been great. The Markup Markdown plugin could use some tweaking. Mainly, the editing window does not keep the editing toolbar in view. So, if I need something I have to go all the way back up on my screen and then all the way back down again. Mostly this is when I'm typing in a URL, because it is still easier to have the software/ editor add the code than type it in myself (I don't always catch typos in the code when I do it myself).