About PagansPath.com
About Our Site

Humble Beginnings Pagan's Path started on October 2nd, 1996, as a small education website hosted on a personal AOL screen-name/website. It was a modest attempt to share information on commonly asked questions in AOL chat rooms. It was initially part of what my ex-husband and I called the SpringIce Education Network. The name was merely a representation of our union and commitment to the site; I as Spring and he as Ice. After 2 years of working on the initial articles; it was evident this was a lone commitment on my part. And the "SpringIce" was dropped and replaced with my name only. Thus the SpringIce Spiritual Network was the humble beginnings of what has become SpringWolf's PagansPath.com.   As the site expanded to include more education information than just what was being asked about in chat rooms, the demand for this information also expanded. One of the biggest requirements I had for the articles on the site; was to provide the resources used to write the articles. To give readers the ability to look up this information and expand their knowledge beyond my words on the page. It was also my way of showing this information wasn't just from some crazy woman's head.   As more articles were rolled out in this context, visitors increased their requests for more information and the popularity of the site grew as those requests were met. This expansion gave rise to an increased need for technical space and features that AOL simply could not handle.   PagansPath.com Officially Rolls Out In March 1999 the official PagansPath.com and the site was officially rolled out on Ostara 1999. In February 2001 PagansPath.net and PagansPath.org domains were purchased to eliminate some issues other sites were having with copycats and negative sites that were an attack on pagan beliefs and practices. Today, the .org and .net domains are parked on PagansPath.com.   I added a guest book, to be honest because other sites I visited at the time had one as well. It's sometimes nice to see what people have to say. Through comments, questions and suggestions it gave me ideas for topics and expansion of information.   That idea gave rise to a corresponding bulletin board. A place where the topics listed on PagansPath.com could be discussed in further detail and through interaction with visitors and myself; as well as, between visitors. The Pagan's Path Message Board was established during the Mid-Summer festival on June 21, 2000.   PagansPath.com In 2006 I'm always amazed at the popularity of PagansPath.com. It has grown into something I never thought possible. The initial site had a total of 62,000+ visits on AOL. Through the initial roll out to August 2003, that number rose to 178,000+. At the time of this article (May 2006), our site statistics record an average of over 100 visitations a day. The average for a month exceeds 3,400; with an increase during some of the more popular Sabbats, such as Samhain and Yule. The site is accessed from all over the world. The guestbook has seen signatures from all over the United States, Canada and Mexico. As well as Australia, New Zealand, Africa, all over Europe and even from the Middle East.   The biggest thrill for me however has been the personal contacts through the message board and especially through the emails I receive from the site. The site visits and emails come from people from all walks of life. Not just pagans. I'm often amazed at how many Christian and Jewish Ministers email me asking questions. Often times our discussions move into detailed correspondences about our beliefs and comparisons of how alike we all really are.   PagansPath.com Sponsor's Store As with most things in 2006, the cost of keeping PagansPath.com has increased. As you can probably imagine, it takes a great deal of time, effort and expense to keep PagansPath.com up and running. Between the domain name registration, hosting services, and message board services the internet expenses are just part of the financial commitments. There's also lectures for adult groups and educational programs for children and community events. Book donations to libraries and soldiers serving over seas. Along with many other life changing events such as burials, weddings and paganings. Through the years I've always received requests for PagansPath.com materials. Things like t-shirts; cups and so on where people could show off their support and pride at being pagan. I never gave these ideas much thought until 2006 when financial support for these efforts increased. At the encouragement of family and friends I sat down and started to think. Then one day The GreatSpirits dropped a gem in my lap. Songwynde, a regular on the PagansPath.com message board dropped a little suggestion about an online retail service. After a little research, a lot of thinking, designing, tossing out and re-creating graphics and images; the PagansPath.com sponsors store was born on April 1, 2006. Yeah..what better day than April Fool's day.   Each purchase helps support the continuing mission to Spread Tolerance Through Education. Each item purchased provides a contribution to PagansPath.com and helps cover the internet expenses and services associated with these efforts. From T-shirts for children and adults, cups and mugs, mouse pads and magikal Grimoires; these products sponsor PagansPath.com.   PagansPath.com Moves Forward There are always a lot of plans in the works for expansion. Adding articles on the site, expanding services, adding lectures and classes and even building a community center. I'm a strong believer that everything happens in it's right time and place. Time and the blessings of The GreatSpirits will bring these ideas into reality if and when they're meant to be. So stay tuned!