Plagiarism within the Pagan community

Picture credit to: tilt.library.skagit.edu

Friends, I have recently been made aware of a pretty severe case of Plagiarism within the Pagan/Wiccan community by Edward Menton aka DAW. This goes far beyond just sharing pictures we find on the internet. I often share pictures I have found on the 'net, most often with their source links showing clearly in the pictures. Sometimes they are public domain or free share pictures. Very often, for pieces of art and photography, I try very hard to find who the artist is when I share something on my Facebook page (not always possible if not signed). For visual images, it is pretty clear to me what is not mine and I want others to know where the image came from to give that person due credit.

What has come to light recently has been the theft of Intellectual Property. This is where someone can take the words, ideas, and thoughts that someone has put down and claim them as their own. I'd always been aware of plagiarism in school...when students desperately copied the printed work of an established author to fill the pages of a term paper or thesis and claimed it as their own hard work. A serious infraction, this act has resulted in more than a few students being expelled as a result. It was never something I worried about because I would never have thought to use someone else's words without giving them proper credit. Technology has thrown another bit of complexity to this situation. And as a newbie to the world of blogging, this is incredibly disturbing to me. I never even thought that someone could or would take what I write here on my own little blog and present it as their own.

Courtesy of The Crabby Witch
http://thecrabbywitch.blogspot.com/2012/09/nightmare-on-emg-street.html

This feeling is especially true for me within the Pagan/Wiccan community. Perhaps, even as the skeptical, Middle-aged, Jersey broad I am, there is a bit more trust and naivete in me than I would care to admit. The thought that someone within the Pagan/Wiccan community would steal the words, thoughts, ideas and hard work of others to claim them as their own was-in my mind-not possible. While I have been exposed to a number of Witch Wars before, and witnessed the decline of many of coven or group due to battles for power and ego within those circles, I still hope that I would not witness more. There are no coincidences, only lessons to be learned.
When I was guided by God/dess grace to write my most recent blog about 'Ego and Elders', it was because this most recent case was coming to light and I was being prepared to deal with it. And so, it is now coming forward to the light...and I am ready to see the truth. There are still some who seek power, fame and name recognition at the expense of others. As disgusting as it sounds, there are still those willing to use the beauty of spirituality to get ahead in life. They are no better than the Evangelicals in their tents or snake-oil salesmen, trading what they claim as their own secrets to draw in crowds with energy, adoration and cold, hard cash. They claim what is not theirs, to advance themselves above those who they will not credit for the work. Oh how sad and angry this makes me! But I am sharing this with you, so you can see the evidence for yourself.

Click on the link below and visit the site. Read the proof of plagiarism of Mr. Menton and see how what he has done on his numerous blogs and on his page-Confessions Of Crafty Witches has broken a sacred trust within the Pagan/Wiccan community. Read for yourselves friends....I cannot and will not support him or any of his pages or blogs. He has been dishonest and I cannot support him, or any blind followers he has. I will not link my Karma to his, knowing now what I know of his actions.
Please....Read on and decide for yourselves...

Is a Plagiarist Revealed?