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Within the last decade the advent of the internet as common to the homes as cable TV has opened up opportunities for people in ways that many of us cannot live without now. For those who are "shut-ins" for medical or psychological reasons, it has created a world outside their bedroom or home where they can interact with relative safety. For the busy homemaker it creates a release from the doldrums of everyday life and for the busy career person, it creates a relaxation from the stresses of work. For the person to busy to attend school, it creates classes on a time schedule fitting anyone's personal or work life. And for pagans, or those who practice witchcraft, it has opened up a community where they can share and learn without persecution.

It has been said that "no one chooses" to be pagan. A person either is or isn't; it is something that comes from within. However, I believe that a person still has the choice to allow themselves to be pagan. Once that choice has been made and a person has declared, at least to themselves, that they are pagan and are going to live a pagan lifestyle the next step is the next most daunting: where do I go from here?

There isn't any formal head of church; there aren't churches unless one considers a Unitarian Universalist Church. Going out and announcing to others that a person is pagan will have mixed results and quite often adverse ones. So, many pagans turn to the internet. If I tell someone in a message board or online group that I am pagan and I get shunned or rebukes, I can either block them or leave the group. This is much easier than ignoring someone in town or moving to a new town. A person who practices witchcraft can open up many doors to online communities and have a place where they can go and relates to others who are like-minded.

Acceptance of different pagan religions or different followings of witchcraft also tends to be better than other types of groups. For example, Mind-N-Magick (www.mind-n-magick.com) and Witches' Voice (www.witchvox.com) are two excellent resources for information and online communities. There is also Coven Space (www.covenspace.com) which is similar to Face Book, Caf Mom, or My Space in which a user creates a profile and then can blog, join groups, post messages, and make friends.

A person who follows or practices witchcraft can also use the internet as a learning tool. When I decided to start practicing paganism I read the few books I had at home, and when I exhausted that collection I turned

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