This site was originally intended to be a repository of material gleaned from the twenty-eight printed editions of ye olde Shadowplayee magazine. Then we thought to ourselves: 'Selves,' we thought, 'How boring is that?' I mean, not that the archival stuff is in any way, shape or form irksome. It just seemed a waste of the effort of making a website to use it solely as a museum.

The site's called Shadowplayzine (admittedly, only because someone else had snaffled shadowplay.com already) so we decided that it might as well double up as a proper (well, intermittently proper) little webzine with new bits being added on a not too irregular basis. Which is where you come in (or, alternatively, where you decide to surf off in the opposite direction at very high speed). While many of the old Shadowplay people will be adding new material to the site when so moved by Prolysikome (the Muse of Internet Pontification), nevertheless, in the immortal words of Keith Richards: 'Some new blood would be nice.' So, potential contributor, what sort of digital outpourings are we after precisely? In the equally deathless words of Marlon Brando: 'Waddayagot?' To put it less concisely, here are a few suggestions of things we'd be particularly chuffed to receive from you:

Articles

A bit self-explanatory really, but we're especially interested in material on:

• Wicca, Paganism and magic in the Arts;
• the development of the Craft and other magical traditions in the nineteenth, twentieth and, I suppose, twenty-first centuries; the state of Wicca and Pagan religions in European countries (and Asian and African too if you know of any activity there);
• Practical how-to kind of articles, for beginners
• Advanced practicum and discussion of techniques for those of us who've been around for a while
• Scholars position of studies on matters pagan and magickal
• Articles about nature, celebration, life as she is lived

Since we're relatively text-heavy for a site of this nature, we like to bung an illustration on most pages, so if you have one that you feel suits the article, please send a copy along with your contribution.

Forums

Good for sticking your oar in without having to get organised enough to write an article. We've at least two Forum sections up and running already and will be adding more in coming months. Topics include:

• Initiation;
• Polarity Magic and Sacred Sexuality;
• The Pros and Cons of Group and Solitary Workings;
• The Roles of Talent and Training in the Craft;
• Teaching techniques for traditional and non-traditional groups;
• Magickal mythology - good stories you've been told;
• Magickal tools - new and old;
• High tech special effects for large scale ritual;
• Priestess and Priestcraft;

If you'd like to add your thoughts to a forum, just note on your email which topic your piece is for. Yes, it should be blindingly obvious by the content, but after ten years of Pagan publishing we've learnt not to make assumptions (because when you make ASSUMPTIONS, you make an ASS out of both U and MPTIONS ... or something).

Fiction, Filk and Poetry

Filky bits and relevant poetry are always nice to publish and we're especially interested in any (more or less 'on topic') short fiction you might fancy sending - short in this context meaning not much more than 3,000 words tops. We used to put in some slightly longer pieces in the print version of the magazine but have a feeling people are less inclined to read longer stories online than they are in bed or in the bath or wherever else people used to read the hard copy version of the magazine.

Interviews

Interviews were always a big part of Shadowplay and we're happy to add to those already archived. We're principally interested in nattering with the following sorts of Wiccan, Pagan or magicky/occulty/whatever people:

Artists who express their spirituality through their work

Authors and others working in the PR side of the magical community

Individuals well acquainted with the Craft or other magical movements in countries other than the British, North American and Australian/New Zealandish parts of the planet.(There's no national prejudice here - we're just interested in the places we don't hear about so often.)

So if you fall into one of those categories, pick yourself up, dust yourself down and drop us an email. While interviews are generally pleasantest in person, the tyranny of both distance and frequent flyer points might well decree that an email interview is more feasible.

It might be a global village these days but some of the huts are still a hell of a way away.

Liturgy

Doing anything at all innovative with ritual that you'd like to share with other readers? If so, we can almost certainly guarantee you some space on the site. (All right, an 'almost certain guarantee' is a tad useless, but if someone sends us a ritual involving the compulsory kissing of goats' bottoms, we do need an ethical out.)

News

No news isn't necessarily good news. If you've just made up a News Page for your website, no news is bloody awful news. So keep us posted with Witchy, Pagany, magickish happenings in your part of the planet. Festival reports, Pagans in the press, archaeological happenings, bookshop openings, book launches, whatever...

Civil rights issues, however, aren't quite what we're after - not through a lack of compassion, but simply because numerous other sites do the job much more thoroughly than we could hope to.

Reviews

Music, books, movies, telly programs, esoteric emporia - if it's faintly relevant to the site and you have an urge to express your enthusiasm (or utter lack thereof), you know where to write.

Links

We're happy to exchange links with other sites, so we'll show them yours if you'll show them ours. As it were.

Who, What, When, Why and Whither

If you're a former contributor to the print version of Shadowplay and/or have contributed to the funky webby version, congratulations! You are eligible to have yourself plastered all over our Cast and Crew page.

If you wish to take full advantage of this generous, umpteen times in a lifetime opportunity, just include a head'n'shoulders type picture (up to you how many shoulders you squeeze in but the deal is strictly one head per person) and some biographical bits and pieces with your contribution and we'll paste you in somewhere with a nice view.

Gallery

Suitably themed artwork's very welcome in the Gallery, as are photographs of contributors, visitors (to the site, I mean, not just anyone who pops by your house one afternoon for a cup of tea and a jam butty), magical places and esoterically inclined events.

Dramatic poses, silly expressions, frivolous behaviour and extravagant costumes are all to be encouraged. Skycladdishness to any degree is fine as long as everyone in the image is over eighteen (or whatever the legal age of being a Real Person is in your part of the world).

If your pictures clearly depict anyone but yourself, please be exceptionally good about getting their permission before submitting the image. We'd hate anyone to be unwillingly 'outed' by a picture on this site.

As to formats, JPG's seem the way to go for preference but, as Shadowplay now seems to have about the same number of computers as NASA in the mid-sixties, we can probably handle most formats. We may even be able to put a man on the moon (though only a woman can draw it down - or so I've heard in some circles).