Questions & Answers
Editorial help from Rev. Arielle Smith.

What is your group all about?
     We began as a student tribute to the woman who taught us, Sister Ani Eden, who had died August 12th 2003. Since then, because I have worked with so many groups and individuals over the years, it has grown into what you see today... page after page representing individual women who believe in a supreme being and are open minded enough, to allow others to believe as they will without recrimination of thought... and who wanted to share in a place where they could all come together and try to uplift other women.
     I had also hoped to add in my own religious studies and notes but have not had time to get to that particular work as yet. Perhaps someday?

Why the heavy Christmas decorative influence?
     Because I love the bright colors and gay spirits of the Yule/Christmas season. At the Winter Solstice and shortest day of the year, almost all religions have some kind of celebration. Some of these celebrations many thousands of years old. For me, it is a delightful time of the uplifting and renewal of the Soul and our Spirituality. I wanted this site to be a place where visitors came and found their own heart 'uplifted'. So the chapel work that I first put together was heavily influenced by Christmas clipart. Since then, you can see that the other women joining in, have used their own ideas for pictures but many have followed my lead, and also used Christmas-themed art for their chapel pages. In short, it makes me feel good.

Why the use of the red, green and weird blue?
     Blood Red is for Life. Green is for Mother Earth and conservation efforts. Blue is the Father. And you find it rare use of standard Black, simply because it is hard on my eyes. In my usual writings I use a Dark Blue, for this reason... my eyesight.
    But almost always, colors, specific names, and/or titles will have special meanings for those who know what to look for. In a way, you could say it is 'code'. If you know this code, then you take away even more meaning from that chapel page.

Why can't people use whatever they want, it is their page after all and they have the right of free speech.
     Actually, "no they don't own 'their' page"... I purchased this space myself and pay the 'rent' for it; thus I am the one to set the standard of what appears in my project, on my purchased space. In the private sector, of which all my works are part of, there is no such thing as the First Amendment or 'free speech'.
     I am the one who says what is offensive, or not, and what my own conscious can or cannot abide by. No pornography; although you will see what I feel are tasteful nudes. No rants of vicious manner; although you can find controversial subjects. No excesses of foul language; although sometimes a mild cussword is applicable for the impact of it.
    There is a multitude of other places on the internet, where an individual can freely take such expressions of their 'freedom of speech' that I have rejected for here. Sometimes I myself, break my own rules as I just mentioned but then, you often can see a reason why at the bottom of that page.

Why do you discourage people using their real names, what are you/they trying to hide?
     I don't want people using their real names or photos of their families, children, or pets because anybody can see these pages --without restriction-- and the internet is full of 'not nice' people who at the least, will steal anything that is not nailed down.
     However I didn't begin this practice -- Sister Ani Eden insisted everybody use a 'nom de plume' when we organized the online study group because she didn't want people knowing they were speaking with somebody they might feel star-struck by. "Everybody has to be on equal footing!" she'd say. It was a good thought except the participating students soon learned which of us were 'staff' by what we'd post or knew, etc.
     I myself, do not want to even know their 'real' names of these women, nor where they live exactly, or anything else personal. Furthermore, once they have given final approval of their entry, I delete their email address from my computer unless we are close friends. From my end, each woman is quickly and completely... untraceable. If she ever wants a change, each one knows how to email me and the password. So what are we hiding? Our true ID's, as is only prudent to do on the internet, so we can't be victimized in any way.
     However, those chapel names at the top of the page, usually those are the names chosen by that person and watch them carefully because they can reveal a wealth of thought and depth, about this person that I find just fascinating.

Do you actually know all these people?
     Not exactly. Over the years I have been part of a lot of groups, many I moderated or was list leader of, etc. Thus in each group I often had a few close friends, many people simply knew me by name and as the bossy one who kept things in line. I think it safer to say more people know me, than I do they... and for that I am sorry we didn't have the chance for me to know each person more personally.
      I can say this... there is not  single woman on here, whom I do not like and have fond feeling for. I know them all, well enough for that. And I guess they must know me well enough and like me well enough, to trust their thoughts and ideas to this project. And for this, I am really deeply honored and humbled. You can ask my dearest Sister-Friend, when I hit that #1,000th chapel page, I wept for three days at the sheer magnitude of it all. You see I have never asked anybody to do this, excepting the six special contributors there on the first page under the heading stuff... my daughter and some dear people who really kept me going, at a time I needed it. There you will find the only 'man' this project will ever have. This Brother-Friend, literally did make ShiAbbey possible, as well as the continuation of my other web-projects.

What drives you?
     I have been told that I am a visionary, perhaps it's that I had a 'vision'... had a dream for ShiAbbey? I had an idea of something very specific. I wanted a bunch of women (or those who live as women) to come together, whose common factor was that they both believed in a Supreme Being(s)... and that they allowed others to believe however they felt called.
     It is really as simple as that. Thus it goes back to that 'freedom of speech' thing, those few people have tried to use, to post something I objected to. Because what each woman wants to post here... it must comply within my dream. Now a person may have an issue with my objection and we can discuss it but honestly... in the long run, the 'buck' stops with me. I want people to read here and feel uplifted in some manner, or to laugh, or to say "wow, I didn't know that", or anything similar. I want them to feel positive things! I want them forced to think! I do not want anybody to ever come here and say "Ewwwww!" with a cringe. However those who are close-minded and intolerant in their own religious beliefs, will have a problem because we have many, widely varied religions represented here in the Chapel pages.

If the first group of chapel pages was from that original study group, why do pages in every other section quote you?
     They are there and about mostly because we didn't find each other at the time the original section was put together. There are students from that group, still finding me because they hear about my project from others or find it online etc.
     Then there are some people who didn't want to conform to the basic layout I had in mind for those specific pages either. Note these mostly use the Arial font and are right-justified. I was also much stricter about not repeating sentiments in that first group.
     Furthermore, you see, I found that I can handle 100 pages per section pretty easy. So I made it easy on myself and just added them in as I worked along... BUT if a woman specifically asked to be in the original group, I of course did so! Although on the last day of 2009, Dec.31st... I had just finished the last 20 or so pages that fit into the original sisters Group.
     But until that point -- Most didn't care about where their page was 'placed' because those original women were studying as solitaries anyway, and knew nothing about any other student... excepting those who were participated in the online study group and thus knew some of each other that way. So if they didn't care, I placed them just 'next in line', so I didn't have to edit/work within a group of nearly 400. And am glad to have that section now filled and 'closed' because it was quite cumbersome, computer code/file speaking wise.

Do you ever go back and read all these pages?
     Oh yes, I am constantly going back thru re-reading and checking how things are looking and checking for any mistakes that might have so-far escaped me. But mostly, these make me feel better, they make me laugh, they make me smile... yes, I am constantly going back thru what these women have put together and thinking "What a Blessing!" These chapel pages and sections are an important inspiration to me.

You constantly mention about editing your files, why?
     First off, it's because my entire website was hacked in November of 2008, as I began uploading these sections again (to a new provider), they needed work. It took approximately 5 months to bring everything up to current computer code standards. You see, much of my 'books' had never been updated, in all the years since they had first been shared. I might add to them but I never brought them up to modern code techniques.
    Secondly, as I learn new insights to make my websites appear nicer, I apply them. The thing is, because of the nature of my work and my visitors, I must not make my sites look too slick and 'professional', while making it look good, but comfortable to my audience... this delicate combination balance is what the majority of my visitors prefer. However as people are forced to buy new computers and update their software, I can get away with being more modern in my presentations.
     Thirdly, people change their minds. About once a month I have a few pages that just need tweaked a bit for somebody. Of course, a couple times I found the exact same entry very close to each other, and one of the people catches this and change theirs to something else. As the ladies began seeing what I meant about employing red & green, for example, they might want their page changed to conform to this ideal... things like that.

I noticed you are spelling "briAr" as "briEr" now, why is that?
    Because the domain names I was able to purchase when I began to rebuild my website in the spring of 2009, were with the 'E' spelling. I wasn't sure anybody would even notice, ha!

What is the most common comment you hear concerning your ShiAbbey project?
     "I should have listened to you in the first place." <wry grin> Most people do not trust me to fit their vague ideas into a conforming layout that fits with everybody else's. They have their own idea which I work with until they are happy... then very often, they see the whole section or group, and realize their own page needs adjusted in some manner. I understand this though, that the greater majority of these women have never had their own webpage, blog or any similar web presence. They can not picture what they have not experienced and it is a hard thing to trust me in a field of expertise they are unfamiliar with.

Do you ever get tired of helping these woman from scratch, then have to edit their page repeatedly?
     "No." I understand they have nothing for a reference. Such women have never been on the web much, can barely do email. They don't have web pages, don't surf, no online purchases, don't do chats or blogs, or what-have-you. Coming from no reference at all and not knowing me in this content. It's actually very brave of them, I think. <smiling fondly> I'm rather proud of them even trying stuff like this.

What is the best aspects of this project? What are you proud of? What made you happy?
      There are several things I have enjoyed about this work and why I haven't quit yet. First is that so many women from various beliefs were willing to come together. That so many women actually have gone ahead and made their own private chapel, in some manner and become more spiritual in doing so. And more personally, the kind words directed my way, have made me feel I have done something worthwhile. It never fails to shock me when somebody quotes me... I find that almost scary that I, me, myself... am the one being quoted.

What is with all the names leading back to you?
      This is a problem that came up as people quoted me in this project, while taking reference of something I may have said in another project. I had to keep in mind that some people know me as one name and others as a different name... thus there was the potential of thinking one name plagiarized from another, when 'both' are 'me'.
      But you know how people join different groups on the Internet and use a different name for each one... that's simply what I have done and meant nothing sinister about it. Let's face it, it is confusing and its my own darn fault! <laughter>
      For the original study group I was "Sister Margaretta Nicodemus". Pagans and Tarot users know me as "DenElder". "Lyn Black" is on nature photography and copyright notices. "Clair Negley" writes my poetry. "Alatariel Ti'wele" (Den Elder in Elvish) also shows up at odd moments. "Dragon Butterfly" does spiritual meditational-type thoughts and poetry. For me, each name causes me to think and feel in a specific manner, that relates to the subject matter. It's like 'setting the mood' for that work.

Blessings!  Sister Margaretta Nicodemus

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