Witch School on eBay: One Year Later

In April 2007, Witch School owner Ed Hubbard put the entire Witch School Website on eBay for sale. This sale began eliciting howls of anger and rage, accusations and even threats of lawsuits. Finally a sale was made, and the Witch School system had new owners. One year later, Witch School is better than before, with new students signing up and old students returning.

Witch School is one of the more controversial education sites on the Internet today. At its core, it is simply a place to learn about Wicca, Witchcraft, Magick, and all things metaphysical. Yet, Witch School is transformational as it takes subjects many feel are taboo and secret and exposes the whole world to ideas that are both ancient and modern, and relevant to a 21s century culture. Yet, one year ago Witch School suffered from internal and external pressures that sought to bring it down, and forced the owner Ed Hubbard to put the site on eBay in order to save it.

This was the end of a very difficult time for Witch School and their relationship with Hoopeston. The plight of Hoopeston and the impact of Witch School were captured in a film by independent director Tom Bender of Synydyne. This movie is about the effect of NAFTA and economic devastation that this American Midwest town faced the constant threat of Meth, and finally the coming of Witch School. It brought jobs, but also a faith that was much different from the town's own beliefs. The movie premières April 3 at the New York Underground Film Festival. The trailer is available online at www.Synydyne.com/hoopeston.

The core question that is asked of the former owner and current CEO is what happened and why did he put Witch School for sale? Ed Hubbard offers, "Witch School was facing extreme internal pressures from our own people, and one of them, who ran one of the Correllian Churches, wanted Witch School closed down, questioning the ownership and validity of the site. At the same time Hoopeston was making it much harder to operate and was also keeping good people from visiting Witch School. Together they created a loss of confidence in our system, and so it was put up for sale, very publicly, in order to prove ownership and the value of the site. When it sold to Don Lewis and a consortium of students and mentors, it proved the value of Witch School to the world. It saved Witch School from those who sought to destroy it."

So where is Witch School today? According to Chairman Don Lewis, Witch School International, Inc. is in great shape having become a private shareholder company with over 110 shareholders, a Board of Directors, and reestablishing itself as the leading public Wiccan education program in the world today in terms of numbers taught and community assistance. As Don often says, "By Hubbard allowing the school to be sold, it gave others the opportunity to feel the need for this site and a chance of personal ownership and self governance. Nothing less would have led to the success of today."

The success of Witch School is that they are becoming an American icon, and this is certainly apparent as they are bringing out Witch School 1st, 2nd and 3rd Degree textbooks this month with Llewellyn Worldwide, the largest metaphysical publisher in the world. This will be combined with audio CD's, DVD's of the lessons, and a whole line of products that will be displayed at the International New Age Trade Show this June in Denver.

Witch School leadership Don Lewis and President Debbe Tompkins are heading to Suffolk England this month for a conference and ceremony with the mentors and teachers of Witch School in Europe. Together, they will lay out a program to have the site translated into more than twenty languages including Spanish, French, Greek, Dutch, Portuguese and several more. In this way, Witch School will be able to help students globally.

While still considered controversial, Witch School International has survived and is developing a community that crosses across national, ethnic, and cultural barriers, because the belief in a better world is universal, and magic is still the greatest wonder of the world.

To find out more go to http://www.WitchSchool.com/main.asp.

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