Spells of Magic Revival!

I think if this was made into an app a lot more people would use it because a lot of people prefer mobile app nowadays and possibly spruce it up a little to make it look more appealing to others. Also adding a southern hemisphere option for when looking at the wheel of the year.

I'd love for this site to adapt and be revived, but most users don't want to put in that amount of effort [some see witchcraft as a hobby, it's a fad to some, and others are far too busy to spend a ton of energy with little reward] I feel some of this is because this is an older site. Not many people do forums these days. If we had a mobile app it might help, but I feel we could branch out into other social media to get our name out there [we have a Facebook which is seldom used, and a YouTube which isn't consistent. Don't know about TikTok, Twitter, Insta or other social media] Honestly, it's hard to get people to commit to conversation. This is a site to learn about magick and the average user is in their teens. Nothing wrong with that, but very few want to dive deeper than "the basics" and when it comes to prioritizing their lives, spirituality is lower down [again, not everyone, but I remember being that age, you're super hyped about the winter holidays, then slowly stop practicing as social events and exams ramp up until you feel that chill in the air and your brain starts thinking of Samhain and the cycle continues]

I try to log in every day. I check the spell's comments, article comments, then the forums. Occasionally, I have mail, but unless a conversation catches my eye, I log out. I've gone through the motions of planning out and writing forums which get 1 or 2 people going "wow, neat" but no real engagement [which is why I put that effort into articles] Most witches are solitary and prefer to lurk and observe [half because they're shy, half because they're afraid to say something silly. My advice is to ask, nobody's going to be mean, and if they are, they're just a troll you shouldn't listen to] Find where your energy can best be spent and do that.

Welcome. Suggestions.. let's see.
From memory, this site was popping with light and activity in 2013.
The members page and guest viewing page catch alot of users eyes. Keep it. It's kind of exciting to feel like you're working together on common topics.
A deterrent from users staying could be the content that is taken from TV shows and other nonsense.
Users can tend to be introverted. Conversation should be encouraged every so often, to check up on one another. Common courtesy?

An app sounds like the next big step. This would require other platforms representing the site to be more active and proactive on current social media.
Keep the sites versatility of its features.

If possible, make the site a 1st or top 10 search results when searching key words involving spells, witchcraft. I noticed back then, this site would pop up sooner than it does now.
Hope this helps :D

There might also need to be a rebranding.

In my experience, mobile apps like Amino and Discord draw a lot of people, and when those people ask about other communities, they are often discouraged from SpellsofMagic because we aren't seen as credible.

We don't delete fake spells and we don't seem to moderate the content on our website, so the knowledge of our user base and admin is questioned. Many people I've talked to assume the reason we don't delete the fake spells is because we believe them as well.

Most people glance at the covens and spells, they don't stick around long enough to see the forums (that tend to show we're more knowledgable).

At this point, our reputation precedes us, and even if we advertised we'd still be fighting against the reputation we have that's been built for the past 5+ years on the more active corners of the internet.

i only have a few suggestions.... first maybe we can make the artical page more user friendly and booming again with relivent stuff to this day and age as well as catering to those of us that find solace in the old ways.... two maybe we can re work this chat system a bit its way to touchy yet i feel the rules are there for good reason so maybe just weed out those that no longer apply and add a few new ones... three i will be adding a link to this page on my discordgroup for witches of all kinds if that is ok it might draw some people to your site and hopfully its ok.. because i can see many a benifit to free publisity and more trafic!!! thank you all for your time and blessed be to you all..

Well said, Nekoshema, and sorry for the lack of engangement.

I am a old, some might say crone, newbies who is still learning how to navigate the forum. After talking to my grandchildren it would seem Facebook and the like are more popular.
I am finding the site extremely helpful so thank you to all who have put in a lot of effort to make it what it is.

I personally enjoy the site the way it is, with the addition of some of the features that I believe Petrarca or Lark has implemented within the last two years.

One thing I miss is being able to see the other members and what they were viewing (if they were viewing specific spells or pages) I also miss the section that showed who was online and also the mini mobile tool that showed moon phases and percentage of the day. I believe they are still there but I have to load my mobile browser into desktop mode more often than not since it stopped being a regularly loaded feature on regular mobile browser some years ago (at least for me anyways)

I love Spells of Magic because of the memories and the types of spells I discovered. Some may argue that it's all fake but I would say otherwise as not all the spells are popculture based.

I know the site had some issues with roleplayers back in the day to which I'm actually glad that was cracked down on because there were many people I use to come across that seemed serious about Magick only to introduce themselves and start roleplaying in the chat/messages. And if I didn't confork to their expectations of roleplay suddenly I wasn't 'fun' or deemed 'worthy' to talk to.

Which was more of a them problem rather than a me problem.

I however disagree with erasing the sections of this site that were influenced by popculture that is to say (spell, incantations, hexes, curses, magical memoribilia from the shows ) not only due to their antiquity but I also truly believe that's part of what makes Magick so fun. Not everyone is ready to jump into 'authentic' Magick straight on. I would even say that pop culture Magick in itself is very capable of manifesting very real things. However, I already am aware there's much disagreeing opinions on that, I'm not here to debate it but simply to say we all started somewhere and those somewhere's have lead us down precise paths.

Most people probably have no idea what a Psi Ball is unless they learned or it from a piece of Consumer Media like a TV show or Movie, maybe even a music video. When they see and learn of the concept and look to see the resources around them, they might find little about that topic and perhaps turn to the internet to find out more.

I feel like this site is an archive of everything it's been through the years that helps people learn and grow.

There were many a time I utilized strength spells or visualization techniques in the instructions from a TV show (if the spell mentioned it) that helped me tap into the realm of possibility and allow my energy to work through more than one mode of delivery.

I'm not being a 'fluff bunny' I'm relaying my perspective on what Magick is capable of.

Although it would be cool to be able to transport myself to the world of Pokemon instantly I can say at least with my attempts it hasn't happened much (nary a dream in sight sadly) however I am one to hold the belief and insight that kids and those who realize imagination and intuition share the same realms of connection utilize these concepts to push their energies beyond the normal use and means of 'Recognized' Magick.

I'll be the first to say, I believe there are powers that be and elements beyond the typical 4 or 5 of most cultures. (I'm aware about the 6? In Chinese Medicine) and that there are multiple avenues of discovering those elements and attributes and the inherent lessons within discovering sacred or higher forms of knowledge that may not be easily accessible from our current viewpoint. We can all sit here and ridicule eachother but the simple fact is all our systems are different and don't reflect one another accurately, there are so many ways of interpretation to any one witch, wiccan, energy worker, pagan, coven or magickal/occult group out there which is not just including our own viewpoint. Now I don't suggest we turn the site into a cesspool where just anything is allowed such as dinosaur wielding with lords with laser light weapons who are capable of teleporting to super Mario land in the main chat or even a playground for darker types of Magick to play with people's lives willy nilly, but I am suggesting that implementing more understanding to what's out there and possibly taking an insight into what works for different people will go a long way. It's a matter of let's not totally get rid of everything that isn't considered serious. I know you may be thinking 'Person just told us to be serious about not so serious things, what a contradicting fluff bunny and roll your eyes' but I urge you to look closer at the realm of possibility. Just some years ago we had the pinnacle of creation at our finger tips, able to share vast amounts of knowledge with one another until Google shut down GeoCities and NeoCities and archived most of our beloved informational occult pages. Some of them are still able to be found but there's not many good pages out there like there use to be. I truly believe SpelledOfMagic is a website or antiquity that holds not only great knowledge but much reputation as a holder of everyone that has been part of it throughout the years.

That doesn't mean we can't improve it or suggest things be added or edited.

At first I didn't like the strict chat rules either but eventually I learned my lesson that from the Admin and Moderators side of things it was the easiest and less stressful thing to do.

And if anything it holds the age old addage, don't be rude, use common sense and consequences won't happen. Which I think a lot of us are forgetting in this day and age.

Could the chat rules be reviewed and edited to accommodate more situations or restrictions be slightly pulled back to not mean an instant ban? I'd say yes and would heavily suggest that (I believe there was a moment where up to 3 mutes were attempted to any one member for violating site rules before being permanently banned but then they changed it to immediately my guess is maybe cause people kept trying to get their way with being slick or sly?) But ultimately it's up to the site owner and admins of the page on how to go about that.

If they'd like to listen to us at all?

I think Petrarca is busy these days and I know Lark is active but she has her own life and I'm not to sure on the other admins but I know they do check in from time to time.

Yes. I’ve been on here for like 1 month now but I hope it gets revived. I think it used to be very popular but now it’s dead. Maybe if it’s an app people will like it more?

There are a few things that could be done to give this site a chance of coming back. This is coming from someone that used this site many years ago that came back to see what changes happened, which wasn't much besides more ads.

1. First I think the layout needs to be updated. I understand people who have been using this for many years love the layout as it brings back good memories but if you want to bring in more people you will have to change it with more QoL features and easier to read and use functions.

2. Let this site be more than a forum based site. Right now this site main function are the forums. I can see it tried to spread out more with videos and a shop but if you want to give this site a chance to come back it will need to offer more to new users.

3. Covens need to be brought back and more active. Covens are a wonderful idea and used to matter more back in the day. This site needs to have the covens matter more and be more active than they are. If the owners are AWOL for years then remove them, have the members sort out who the leader be. If there are no members then archive the coven.

4. Have special events to get the members more active! We still have our holidays to consider that will have new people to the religion be better introduced as well involved and informed. Then we can have covens do their special events to make the calender more useful on here.

5. Clean up the spells side of the site. I know people want to keep them all so they can look back in memory lane but honestly it does make this site look pretty silly. I know this opinion may cause people to dislike me but I think it needs to be considered. At least for me I want my beliefs to be taken a tad bit more seriously and I cannot honestly see that happening on here when there are spells to change your eye color laying around.

For now I think these five suggestions would be a good start. I honestly do not believe it is up to the users to make the site great again, it is up to the site owner and anyone working under him.