To Our Readers...

Dear Reclaiming Community and Subscribers,

You may have noticed that some things have changed. If this is your first issue, we hope it is because your attention was captured by the new, lovely format and all of the thrilling articles, and you decided to buy this at your local store, or you picked one of the totally free and complimentary copies off a table at Witchcamp.

There have been a lot of changes in the past year. First of all, there is an almost entirely new group of folks working on the newsletter and the new group has lots of fresh energy. We have tried to learn from the old group instead of starting over! They worked very long and hard and we are grateful for their efforts.

Second, we have changed the Shape of the newsletter from a little one to a magazine.

Third, we are really pushing to include the entire national Reclaiming community as it is expressed in Witchcamps, political events, and all the diversity to be found among witches today.

From the old format we kept the class listings, events, and announcements (and we hope to expand them with your help!). Longtime writers such as Oak, Reya, T. Thorn Coyle and Starhawk will still be found in these pages.

What we are adding are music reviews, regular articles on consensus process, Kitchen Witch Corner, Forgotten History, and practical applications of magic. Of course, we will still be including articles and announcements reflecting our concern for political events that shape us and that we hope to shape or change.

What this means, (aside from getting a letter in the front of your publication, with you guessed it, a plea!) is that WE NEED YOUR HELP (you knew it was coming). We need your subscriptions, your advertisements, your feedback, your unsolicited articles, and your group announcements. We really want to know what is going on in YOUR community. We are even having a contest to decide what to call the magazine now that the format has changed. Just as important as your money (which is however ALWAYS VERY GOOD TO HAVE) is your participation. We dream of making this a nationally relevant publication, with articles about the work, experience, hopes, and successful spells (and failures) of the ENTIRE Reclaiming community, not just those of us in the San Francisco Bay Area.

So, What Can you Do? Simple instructions to follow:

1. Subscribe and pay for it. We are a quarterly publication, coming out on the Summer and Winter Solstices and the Fall and Spring Equinoxes. At $5 per issue, a $20 subscription would be the average. Your additional donations will help ensure that we can continue to publish this magazine.

2. Send in articles, poetry, photos, graphics, chants, and announcements (see our guidelines on the inside front cover for deadlines and submission guidelines).

3. Send in advertisements and pay for them. If you are planning an event, include us in your advertising budget -- our rates are Very Reasonable!

4. WRITE US with suggestions, feedback, and with PRAISE and criticism (gentle please!).

5. Share the magazine with people you know, especially outside the San Francisco Bay Area.