Five Years of Offerings

Well, gosh, our little magazine is five years old! Offerings has come a long way since its early days, playing a key role in Pagan Society history as well as being a feature to attract online visitors from around the world.

Once upon a time, we decided that a magazine would be a great way to showcase some of the talented people in our membership, as well as providing a Pagan voice in Cardiff and for students. “Let’s put it online too,” I said, and sure enough up went the first issue, black text on plain pages, very much a “minimum required to make it work” job.

Back then we even thought of producing paper copies – but we soon realised the power of the online medium. Next to no production costs, practically unlimited publishing space, and worldwide instant accessibility meant that by Issue 2 we had all but given up on the idea of a physical magazine. Oh, and it helped that Issue 2 ran to a full 72 pages as we tried to cram in all the great contributions that were provided to us.  Fortunately we’ve settled down into a more consistent size for the magazine, though there’s still variation with some issues full of poetry and fiction, some bursting with articles, and still others packed with reviews galore.

Our reviewers can really about rave about music they love (and bands they want to kidnap), books they admire and films that inspire - but they should be feared by those who turn out poorly researched tripe, triple-distilled bullshit or manage to turn gold into lead.  And where else could you read reviews of both the good book and Satan's gospel?

As our writers have pointed out, good quality information can be hard to find, and sometimes utter rubbish gets published in the name of Paganism.  From articles that almost traumatised me to ones that inspired me to read philosophy,  we'd like to think Offerings has educates and informed on important Pagan subjects, from well-known practices like the book of shadows to the darker subject of hexes.  We've spoken about gods and goddesses near and far, from universal concepts like Death to the mythology of aborigines, from ancient Egyptian deities to the living lwa of the evolving Vodou religion.  Opinions have run high about the God and Goddess, and whether we even need these figures at all!

Modern priests rub shoulders with famous occultists and notorious magicians in our pages.  We've also covered the history of Paganism and its practices, not to mention some of the popular misconceptions and real history of mediaeval times.  Sometimes we've been a Pagan travel guide, and other times we've documented personal spiritual journeys.

It's not all serious though.  We hope you've chuckled along with us at slip-ups, tongue-in-cheek horror and the occasional "who am I?" quiz.  We've also had short stories galore and beautiful artwork from our talented contributors.  Creative writers have explored the manufacture of magical tools both serious and silly, and the mysteries of body and beauty.  Opinions run riot here too, from our Editor's virulent ranting and raving to, well, yet more ranting. 

Flicking through the hundreds of fantastic offerings made by our contributors, it's been hard to pick just a few to show how awesome the past five years have been.  We've had excellent authors through all our issues and we owe much gratitude to them all.  Special thanks go to our regular writers, whose knowledge, curiosity and wisdom we are delighted to share with the world.  And we have our dedicated editor, Kim Huggens, who has stuck with this magazine through 19 issues.  Well done Kim, for putting in all the hard work of writing articles by the dozen, scores of opinion pieces and of course editing hundreds of articles!

[The website officer raises a glass of rum in toast:]

Here's to another five years of Offerings magazine - may it bring enjoyment and understanding to many!