How to Become a Witch by Amber K. (large ebook reader txt) 📗

not easy to put things off when there are other people waiting for you at the covenstead—and once you get there, you’ll be glad you made the effort.

Also, many things are easier to learn in a group. You can cram your head with facts from all the books, but information does not equate to experience and skill. In a coven, you can read the tarot for others, watch someone make an herbal infusion, do energy work on your chakras under the guidance of an elder, and discuss what connection with Deity means with people who have experienced it in many different ways. Shared learning with others is both practical and enriching.

And when magick is needed for healing or spiritual transformation or making a better world, the power of a coven, joined in like mind and united will in a sacred circle, just cannot be matched by a Solitary Witch.

Why Coven Membership Can Be Good

A coven is a spiritual and religious support group of like-minded people. You help one another make sense of life and get through it with wisdom, strength, and compassion. Your covenmates encourage you to be the best person you can, using the tools and understandings of the Craft. And for those who are not terribly self-disciplined, coven membership makes sure that you do not ignore your spiritual life because of a busy schedule.

The coven is a tool for learning. Many covens provide a structure for learning through the degree system. There will be classes on the goddesses and gods, the nature of reality, and the skills of magick and ritual. You may learn about your spiritual and cultural roots, and how our ancestors lived and worshiped. The coven elders have a lot to share, and every member will have skills and resources for you. If your coven rotates ritual leadership and encourages creativity, you will be able to experience different styles of ritual and choose the best parts for your personal work.

If you plan to use magick to improve yourself, or your life, or the world, it is incredibly useful to focus goals and brainstorm methods with a knowledgeable group of fellow magick workers. Also, the power of magick intensifies as more trained people lend their energies; in fact, it seems to increase exponentially.

The coven provides a social group you can travel with to festivals and other Pagan events. You might hesitate to attend a conference, festival, or class by yourself, but having covenmates along makes it a wonderful adventure.

The emotional benefits cannot be measured. Most covens are more than a religious support group; they are a “family of choice.” Your covenmates become your sisters and brothers. If you do not have a close relationship with your family of birth, a coven may provide the unconditional love, companionship, and loyalty that are missing in your life. And even if your birth family is great, a few more close friendships can hardly hurt! Of course, no legitimate coven (or other religious group) will try to isolate you from your original family.

Dianic feminists and radical faeries

Most covens are mixed gender (although most have more women than men). However, many covens are designed as single-sex groups. Many of the all-women’s groups are Dianic Feminist covens, focused on the sisterhood and empowerment of women, and celebrating the Goddess aspects of divinity. Many of the all-male groups are Radical Faery covens, composed of gay men celebrating the “Queer God” in his many forms. Within the mixed-sex covens, usually, straight, gay, bisexual, and transgender folks work together as sisters and brothers. There is plenty of room for diverse orientations and lifestyles in the Craft, as long as everyone follows the Rede.

The Downside Of Coven Membership

So being part of a coven is like romping in a sunlit meadow, surrounded by bunnies, flowers, and butterflies—well, no. Membership in any group brings challenges. We are social animals, but none of us are flawlessly adept at it. We need companionship, but we sometimes get moody, stressed, angry, afraid, careless, irrational … rather—human.

In a coven, you take on responsibilities in order to get the rewards. You clear your calendar for coven events, and you show up unless you’re sick or out of town or there’s a family emergency. You do your share of planning, organizing, setting up, cleaning up, and ordinary chores that keep the coven running. Doing your share is a matter of honor. You may be asked to pay minimal dues to keep the covenstead in candles.

People have disagreements—even mature, intelligent people. If relatives annoy us, we might ignore them, especially if they live at a distance. If a coven member annoys you, you can’t ignore them without leaving the coven. You have to work it out, even if it means asking another covener to mediate an honest discussion about your differences. There is no time or space to let problems fester—they can wreck the whole coven in a matter of days, and you have no right to let that happen.

So when there’s conflict in the coven, you have to be an adult. That’s hard and demanding…but if you don’t run away, you’ll become a deeper, stronger, more responsible person.

There’s another challenge. Working solitary, no one ever has to know that you are Craft—assuming you don’t do loud witchy chanting with the windows open or wear big pentagrams to the supermarket.

Once you join a coven, you are formally associated with Witchcraft. Your covenmates will guard your privacy, and hopefully you’ll never wind up in some “official Witch” database, but no security is perfect. If someone sees you with a known Witch or walking into a certain house, they may guess your path. If that matters to you—if your children or job may be at risk if you get “whispered out of the broom closet”— then think twice about joining any coven.

Not every single coven is led by wise and benevolent people. Most covens are filled with honest people doing their best to follow a good spiritual path. But some have members