Merry meet!
The Spells8 Staff Team has been hard at work over the past few weeks doing some tidying up and making improvements to welcome in a fresh new year of magickal fun here in the forum.
It has been brought to our attention that there is some confusion around handling more mature themes in the forum- so we’ve put this guide together to help shine a light and hopefully offer more clarity! 
The Spells8 Forum is primarily a place to discuss magick and share resources for magickal education. In order to provide these resources and share encouragement with as many people as possible, members here may be as young as 13 years old (the minimum age required to create an account). With minors in our community, we must be mindful and respectful about the type of content we are posting.
As such, we strive to maintain the equivalent of a PG-13 rating here in the forum.
There may come a time when certain topics of a more mature (but non-explicit) nature are relative to a discussion and are necessary for context. In response to those situations, there are guidelines in place around sharing mature content within the forum.
Talking About Mature Topics in the Forum
Any content of a more mature nature can be stressful and even harmful to certain members of the community. Out of respect to minors and those who do not wish to view certain potentially triggering material, mentioning certain mature subjects requires a written Trigger Warning as well as the trigger-warning tag.
What is a Trigger Warning?
A Trigger Warning is a written warning added to posts that contain content that is known to be triggering (upsetting) to certain groups of people (such as minors, those dealing with PTSD and/or mental illness, those who have recently suffered the loss of a loved one, those sensitive to the energies of others, etc.)
Trigger Warnings are as simple as writing “Trigger Warning” or the abbreviated version “TW” in the title of your discussion or within your post. Please also include the name of the trigger you are talking about.
Example 1: Talking About Summerland (Trigger Warning: Death)
Example 2: Making Offerings to My Deity - TW: Blood, Alcohol
Why do we use Trigger Warnings?
Trigger Warnings provide a friendly heads up to those who are sensitive to certain materials. It gives people fair warning about what to expect so that they can make a decision for themselves about whether this discussion is something they want to view, or something that could be potentially harmful for them.
Trigger Warnings help us walk that fine but important line between open and honest sharing in the forum while still protecting the more vulnerable members of our community. They are an important safety feature - thank you for using them!
→ You can learn more warnings and how to use them in the Trigger Warning Tag & How to Use Trigger Warnings Guide
Additionally, all sensitive content should be housed in the more private A Sacred Space category that is only viewable to logged-in members (and cannot be accessed by the rest of the web).
Category I 
Mature topics that can be explored in the context of magickal practices. These topics can be mentioned by name without a TW. Further details and respectful discussion of these topics is allowed when labeled with a required TW.
- Death
- Alcohol (such as for offerings)
- Blood (such as in sigil work, offerings, etc)
- Mental Health (in the context of healing spells, recipes, meditations, etc)
- Partial Nudity (in an art or spiritual context)
- Sex Magick (non-explicit and strictly in the context of educating about a magickal practice)
Category II 
Mature topics that can be mentioned in general when labeled with a TW. Brief, non-explicit details are also allowed, but must be hidden beneath a protective blur (like this) and cannot be promoting or encouraging others to engage in their use/activity.
- Alcoholism
- Nudity
- Abuse
- Violence
- Murder
- Sex
- Mental health issues
- Suicide
- Self-harm
- Rape
- Drugs (including tobacco, marijuana, and substances deemed illegal by the US Federal Government)
Category III 
Topics not allowed anywhere in the forum at any time.
- Gore
- Trauma dumping
- Excessive profanity
- Insults and hate speech (including racist, homophobic, and other aggressive comments)
- Political debates
- Other explicit content
Please be aware that Moderators may add protective warnings and blurs and relocate mature content to the more private A Sacred Space category if deemed necessary. And as always, any content that does not follow the Forum Guidelines will be removed from the forum.
Spells8 is a magickal sanctuary for witches and practitioners from age 13 to 100 and beyond. The Coven community is a very friendly place, thanks to all of the wonderful folks who spend time in this space! We want to continue to offer a safe and welcoming place where everyone is encouraged to share openly and honestly, while still protecting and respecting the more vulnerable members of this community. Hopefully this guide will assist with this by serving as a helpful point of reference going forward!
As always, if you have any questions at all please feel free to reach out in the comments below (or message the moderator team)- we are here to help you! 
May the dawn of the new year light the way forward toward a continued prosperous time for each and every member of the Infinite Roots Coven 
Wishing everyone a very safe and blessed start to the New Year! 
For more information about staying safe and following the rules of the forum, feel free to explore the following related discussions and resources:
