Kitty working at her altar, Ostara 2010

Second Life is an excellent choice of learning environment if you’re of a Pagan persuasion. Even though there has been a huge surge of interest in Witchcraft since the 1970’s, Covens and Learning Circles are still very hard to come by in the real world. Plus, a lot of people find they prefer to work their craft as Solitaries, something I myself have a particular fondness for, but I still get a kick out of moots and other kinds of Pagan socialising. Second Life really does come into it’s own in these circumstances. In fact, go ahead and use group search right now and see how many hits you get for ‘Witch, ‘Wiccan’ or ‘Druid’. You’ll find that you’re swamped with thousands of results…It’s then up to you to be brave enough to make the connection and see how you fare. There are Witch Schools, Groves and Covens galore to choose from, but, just like in real life be cautious and selective in your approach. It may take you a while before you find the kind of ritual environment that you are most comfortable with, but if successful you’ll be blessed with a whole new way to work with the Gods and Goddesses via the comfort of your PC. I’ve been a practising Eclectic Witch in real life for a long time now, and I firmly believe that I’ve developed both spiritually and mentally in ways that I would never have considered previously because of my choice of path. It’s my true belief that faith is imprortant, a fact that I think only becomes truly apparent as you get older. Regardless of your choice of religion it is beneficial to have a set of set of beliefs to which you adhere.  That said, I’m certainly not a Neo-Wiccan Evangelist, of which I am afraid there are plenty.  I think people find their faith in the way that works best for them, by exploration of ideas and the seeking out of like-minded souls..something that you can easily do in Second Life.

One of the many stone circles in Second Life

Another blessing of Second Life is that you can own some seriously amazing Witchy Wares in world..the kinds of things that you couldn’t own in reality, or circumstance prevents you from doing so. For example,there are myriads of Cauldrons, beautiful Books Of Shadows, amazing Pentacle jewellery, wands by the dozen, all kinds of flying broomsticks and capes that the kids of Hogwarts would give their eye teeth for!

You may question how effective a ritual can be when held in a virtual world. Well, I challenge you to try it and see how it works for you because it can actually be a very immersive experience. Just like cybering takes practise but has lots of keen adherents in world, so does ritual, and you will find many keen participants engaged in Sabbat and Esbat celebrations across the grid. There are some truly evocative places to perform ritual in-world and lots of groves and stone circles erected and dedicated to the cause, and you can even use pose-balls specifically engineered for such tasks as ‘Drawing Down The Moon’, or even performing ‘The Five-Fold Kiss’. When accompanied by a thoughtfully type-written ritual or even by using the voice facilities available in world, you can find that Second Life rituals are an authentic experience in their own way. ( Kitty tip- light a candle and some incense in real life to make the experience even better) An issue that often rears it’s head is related to performing spell-work in Second Life. If performed in a virtual landscape, will your working be as relevant in the real world? I don’t see why it shouldn’t be, after all a vast proportion of Witchy workings rely on visualisation to enable a spell. To me, Second Life is an extension of those visualisations,butmore interactive..so why shouldn’t they work? The choice of course is yours. It is, after all, far more difficult to perform a working in-world than it is in real life, so I know a lot of adherents tend to use Second Life for socialising and group rituals, rather than pure spell working.

Attending an organised Ostara ritual in-world(It got VERY busy indeed!)

It was always my intention to use this section of the site to feature in-world content related to Paganism, but I’ve been rather lax at doing that, so I’ve decided that I’m going to feature all Kittywitchery articles on the main part of the blog from now on. After all, the blog is called Kittywitchin’, and it’s a huge part of who I am, so why shouldn’t I include articles about SL Witchery in amongst reviewing clothes and objects or publicising my wares?

Celebrating Imbolc 2010 at my outdoors altar

If you’d like me to feature your Pagan product then please feel free to drop me a line, referring to the review guidelines upon the ‘Kitty O’Who?’ page, and I’ll certainly get back to you, quicker than you can say ‘Eye of Newt..’