What Makes a Coven?

What Makes a Coven?

Moots

Firstly, a room of witches or magick uses does not a coven make! Most often these groups or meetings are know as that, Moots, or meetings. Sometimes they may hold space for rituals, sometimes they market the season with orchard blessings (Wassailing) or Bilberry picking, some might be just sitting around in a pub. A light hearted moot can be a lot of fun, especially if child friendly.
Down sides are that anyone can turn up and say they are anything. Some might have the stuff to back it up but that also doesn't mean they are trust worthy or a good person. Also at least in this country/area most moots are held in pubs at night.

Open Circles

From social gatherings small groups from different paths and ideologies might want to explore a ritual, rite or have a need for some healing, or even some teaching.Some maybe a regular thing, more often it is a response to something one of or many need. These groups fulfill a need within an area or community.  Again these groups can have problems with the power hungry, weirdo's, untrustworthy folks, but they can also be breeding grounds for cliques that can ruin great moots too.

While doing any kind of magick with someone else weaves your magickal essence with another's, this kind of group is often young in experience (if not age). They fail to see that Carl (who is summoning demons on the weekend) is using their magick to do so, and that the consequences of that magick happen to everyone. They spring up quickly and often die or implode quickly too.

Circles

A slightly more formal group that may meet once a month, or even once a week. Their paths are similar (no two paths are exactly the same) and they know each other well, though may or may not socialize outside of the circle. This may be because it is a secret (in the broom closet) or to do with time. While is has the same opportunity for abusive situations, cliques and so on, there tends to be a closer bond. More trust and less interest in outside magickal meets, moots and so on. Teaching circles are quite common as are circles who have a specific design or function. (Healing, protection of a place, worship of a kind of spirit or Deity.) Circles tend to be quite stable but have the problem that they tend people over periods of transitions in their lives. This leads to core members and those who join, get what they need and leave.

A Coven

A coven can start in a few different ways. Again it can be an organic process from running regular circles that the core members decide they wish to work more closely and intensely with each other. They might not have a goal in common, except to do magick with each other on a regular basis. What is regular for one coven (meeting once a week) is smothering for another (two or three times a year).

The other way is the more "traditional" form that a group or family have been working within a coven structure and over time some people leave, some people join. There are always roughly the same amount of people and they are highly vetted before new people are added (or at least should be). When covens work, they are beautiful, and powerful, uplifting and satisfying. Covens can last years, generations in fact. However if it implodes (couple meeting and or cheating, a sudden illness or departure, even a death or birth) they really implode. 

A coven is a decision to do magick with each other, for each other (and your extended connections). It is a magickal contract, quite a binding one. Most of a coven is quite different from each other (rather than quite the same) and fulfill different but important roles and the like.

Over View

I have at one time or another been involved with, taught in or been a part of all of these kind of groups. I enjoyed all of them at one time or another too. Yet the coven is by and far my favourate. I like the routine. I like the family of magick not blood aspect to it. Being part of a team doesn't mean you won't practice magick alone (daily practice people, daily practice!) it means you have a family when you need one.

Internet covens tend to be more like open circles than physical covens. The internet is great but it can to hard to get the measure of people properly without sitting in a room with them, looking them in the eye and so on. Yet they have an increasing large presence and as such are more than worthy of note.

All of the same problems found IRL can be found on-line with added bonus of catfishing too!

Yet they do give some fantastic places to learn about new things, old things and how you could be.

You are likely to make mistakes. Learn from them. Other people's eyes on a subject allow us to see things from a different perspective than simply our own. This in it's self is why connecting with others is a great idea.

Bright Blessings xxx

Don't forget to buy my book The Key Opening the Doorway to Magickal Practice or visit the Etsy shop (while you still can), or even check out some of my g+ groups too!