For a long time, I thought a coven was a group of people who practiced magick together. It didn’t occur to me until embarrassingly late in my practice – in a coven, mind you! – that there was more to the coven than people getting together a couple of times a month for celebration and fellowship. A coven is a magickal entity, a web of connection among all of its members, the forces of nature, and the Divine. It is a repository of collective power, a defense against unwanted influences, and a spiritual family. In short, it is far more than a very small secret society.
Magickal Entity
When I say that a coven is a magickal entity, I mean precisely that. It has a being, an essence, that is uniquely its own, even if it descends from a tradition of similar covens. Its magickal fingerprint is made up of the energies of the people and spirits working in it, as well as the vision of its leadership and the will of the specific deities called upon during its rituals for protection, guidance, and inspiration. The synergistic blending of all these energies brings forth what is called an egregore – a distinct entity created by a collective group who consciously share the same motivations. This egregore is the soul of the coven, and maintaining the integrity of that soul is of great importance when considering who to admit into the coven. This is one reason why some traditions hold to the adage that a candidate must first be a Proper Person and then must be Properly Prepared in order to be initiated.
Web of Connection
The coven is also a web of connection. It connects initiates to one another, to past initiates both living and dead, to the initiates who come after them in the future. In traditional initiations, there is a Passing of Power from initiator to initiate that allows the initiate to join this web of connection. Every initiate’s magick then directly or indirectly affects everyone else in the coven’s web, which is why it is exceedingly important that the person be right for the coven and the coven be right for the person. Dedicants and other non-initiates have limited access to the web of connection as they interact with their teachers and can be brought under the protection of the coven’s power.
Repository of Power
Because a coven is an energetic entity as well as a voluntary association of people, it can serve as a repository of power much like a practitioner’s tools are. This power is built up through conscious effort of the coveners as well as through the contribution of power by the spirits and deities, the repetition of ritual power raising techniques, and the use of a single set of coven tools which are imbued with the coven’s power. All initiates have access to this stored battery of power, which is why it is so important that the coven and the candidate for initiation are right for each other, sharing similar morals, ethics, and goals.
Defense Against Unwanted Influences
Some covens are dedicated to the service of a higher power – a deity, an old and powerful spirit, or a concept like wyrd or geas. Deities and spirits can bestow their protection to a coven and its coveners under certain conditions – for example, a coven dedicated to the service of the Wiccan Goddess Aradia might bestow protection from mundane authorities as long as the coveners are actively teaching the Craft and defending the innocent against what Aradia would view as corrupt institutions and people. Similarly, a land guardian might protect the coven in exchange for the mundane and spiritual care of a certain area of land. Likewise, a coven built around the goal of ensuring the survival of humanity might find itself making decisions with that central concept in mind, thus collectively steering clear of decisions that aren’t in alignment with the primary goal. Over time, the boundaries become more palpable and the coven’s egregore will warn coveners before they’ve strayed too far from the goal. Also, given that a coven is not just the egregore but the people who contribute to that egregore, coven members serve as accountability partners for one another, helping one another contribute to the Great Work before them and not stray too far from the path.
Spiritual Family
A coven is a family of choice – complete with all the imperfections that family has. Contrary to popular assumption, an initiate doesn’t have to be best friends with every member of their coven. However, it is true that there’s usually one or two or maybe even three people that each coven member feels especially close to – perhaps in a parental, romantic, or deeply platonic way. These trusted friends often spend time together outside of coven events. They also may be co-parents, godparents, polyamorous partners, healthcare proxies, powers of attorney, executors on wills, and beneficiaries on insurance. They may be officiants at weddings, baby blessings, funerals, and other rites of passage. In a time when it’s still common for a deceased Wiccan to have a Christian service for family and a Wiccan service for coven and friends, the benefit of having a spiritual family cannot be overlooked. For those practitioners who have a complicated relationship with their natal family and the religion of their upbringing, the spiritual family of the coven can be a sustaining force and an encouraging environment in which to thrive.
Weaving the Magick
In traditional covens, when a group “hives off” or “spins off” from an existing coven, there is a ritual to acknowledge the separation and create the nucleus of the new coven. This ritual varies among traditions, and sometimes the ritual is actually two rituals – one to separate the energies of the departing coven members, and one to create the new coven and tie the coven members to it. I was taught that the energetic part of the coven must have an anchor in the mundane world, and, as you might imagine, that anchor is sacred and must be protected to ensure the energetic health of the coven. The coven’s anchor is the gate between the coven’s astral temple – the collective “inner temple” of the group – and the mundane covenstead. The key to that gate is initiation. And the gate can be walked through both ways.
The process of creating that anchor is deeply intuitive and takes a great deal of forethought and planning. There are several major questions to consider in that process, including what deities or spirits the coven will serve, what purpose the coven will organize for, what energetic forces are welcome in the astral temple and magick circle, and what magick will be acceptable by the leadership. The choice of the coven’s physical anchor is probably the least of a new priestess’s worries when compared with these considerations. Nevertheless, it is an important decision, as the anchor symbolizes everything the coven stands for and everything the coven hopes to accomplish.