Kthonie L.

Spells of Magic positions itself as an online information network on subjects such as the occult, paganism and witchcraft. It hosts what used to be a fairly well-sized witchcraft/magical community, but has seen a decline in recent years, and also a store selling things like cheaply produced tumbled crystals and Nag Champa joss sticks that you can purchase in any New Age shop.

I haven't used the store, they don't sell anything original or handmade, so my review is solely on the quality of the content and of the community.

Content - Spells and rituals can be added by members of the SoM community, with nothing in the way of quality control being exercised by the site admin. Spells are added instantly. This mean that the vast majority of the material is plagiarised from other authors. Anything that is original is usually very poor quality, and in some cases dangerous (such as spells requiring blood-letting). There are a large number of "fantasy spells", such as spells to turn someone into a vampire, werewolf, mermaid, or whatever is most popular at the time. While these aren't inherently harmful, they do give the impression that magical practitioners are a bunch of morons who believe in such tripe.

Community - SoM has seen a drop in numbers over the years, probably due to the decline in popularity of Wicca and witchcraft in teenagers. There is a forum, though posts to it aren't as regular and mostly consist of newer members asking for help with some aspect of their lives. Many members are under 18, SoM having an age limit of 13 and older, and the lack of good manners and common sense shows. A lot of members demand answers to their questions, give nothing in return and are extremely boorish.

The site is rife with con-artists plying their "phenomenal cosmic powers", for a hefty fee. However the most disturbing thing are the perverts and predators that contact random members with sexually suggestive or explicit messages. I reiterate that most of the site's members are under 18 years or age. There is a system to report inappropriate messages, however nothing is really done to prevent these sickos from contacting vulnerable young people.

The site is supposedly moderated by an administration team. In reality, this is a group of folks in their 20s on an ego trip. Members can be banned for even disagreeing with the moderators on subjects of magic, making debate impossible. They do nothing to actually moderate the website at all, except from removing members who don't parrot them or who make them look bad, which isn't difficult to do. The most common response to any question asked is "Meditate on it", which is shorthand for "I don't know, but I'm not going to let anyone think I'm stupid so i'll say something that sounds vague and wise".

On the whole, avoid. There are many, many decent books out there on paganism, witchcraft and magic and it would be nice to see actual authors get some of the revenue for their work instead of it being ripped off and uploaded to dross like SoM.