Wandering Lighthouse
The Wandering Lighthouse rolls through the digital wasteland guiding me home.
Wander Free
Once upon a time the internet was a vital place filled with strange sites curated by people as shrines to their passions. Keyboards and monitors were a portal beckoning us into a wondrous new dimension where distance melted away and a kingdom of strange lands were kept by their curators. You wandered or ‘surfed’ the pathways between quirky URLs wherever curiosity took you.
It promised expression. It promised the connection and community that comes from finding your niche.
More often than not it was a happy place.
Then something changed.
The algorithms came.
We consumed digital junk food.
We abandoned those vital, creative spaces. Algorithms fed us brain candy that kept us in a scrolling trance seeking that little dopamine hit. Snackable bits of short content. Eight-second videos, memes, and hot takes we mainlined like digital junk food.
We stopped wandering, and plugged into the feed.
Instead of meandering along the bright pathways that led us far and wide across the netscape, we locked ourselves in platforms and are passively fed the infinite scroll by a shadowy algorithm. A creation never meant to nourish, but to addict. To surveil. To sell.
We're lonely in the crowd.
The internet became crowded but lonely all at the same time. Where we once saw what our friends were up to, now they’re drowned out by the voices of the loudest and angriest. Trapping us in an endless hamster wheel scroll while it harvested our most precious resource: our attention.
We're seeking a way out. A rewilding of the internet.
More and more people have begun a return to smaller online communities, and 'digital gardens' where hobbies, ideas, and small shiny snippets are collected and curated in a space for you to wander again. These are sacred virtual spaces.
Mine is the Wandering Lighthouse.
Lighthouses have always stood for the steady presence in dangerous places. They don’t chase after anyone, they simply shine their light, beckoning ships away from rocky shores and promising a welcoming place to land. Those who need them find them.
The Wandering Lighthouse wants nothing from you. Not your undivided attention. Not your wallet. It is a gift here for you to explore on your own.
Hi! My name is Molly J Stanton
I'm the lighthouse keeper, I leave breadcrumbs on various sites to lead you here, if you landed on this shore, we probably have something in common.
Inside the Lighthouse you’ll find shrines to Krampus, neon gods, and other ephemera. Perhaps a playlist or two featuring symphonic metal, Depeche Mode, ABBA, and more. You’ll find quotes, half-formed thoughts, blog posts, even digital dust bunnies no one has fed for an age.
If you love mythology (especially Celtic), ecology, science, psychology, spirituality, fantasy, Fae, pre-Christian religion, stoic philosophy, and maybe even some hopeful takes on collapse; we should hang out.
Since the Wandering Lighthouse is not designed to sell to you I won't be. But I offer you a pathway to my Celtic urban fantasy books here, a link to my author newsletter in the footer, and the link to my Substack (which is always free, no paywall) in case you like those things or want to read the more finished fruits that grow out of this digital garden.
You can find out more about who I am and meet my cats on the About Me page.
Or do none of that and wander free in the garden! Either way, I am happy to meet you here!
