A coven () is a group or gathering of

witches Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have use ...

. The word "coven" (from Anglo-Norman ''covent, cuvent'', from Old French ''covent'', from Latin ''conventum'' = convention) remained largely unused in English until 1921 when Margaret Murray promoted the idea that all witches across Europe met in groups of thirteen which they called "covens".Murray, Margaret (1921). ''The Witch Cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology''.

Modern paganism

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In Wicca and other similar forms of modern pagan witchcraft, such as Stregheria and Feri, a coven is a gathering or community of witches, like an affinity group, engagement group, or small covenant group. It is composed of a group of practitioners who gather together for rituals such as Drawing Down the Moon, or celebrating the Sabbats.. The place at which they generally meet is called a covenstead. The number of people involved may vary. Although some consider thirteen to be ideal (probably in deference to Murray's theories), any group of at least three can be a coven. A group of two is usually called a "working couple" (regardless of their gender). It can also unofficially be called an "Obaven" by some members of the community, derived from the Scottish Gaelic word "obair" meaning work, a tribute to the more official term "working couple", a portmanteau with the word "coven". Thus creating the word, "Obaven". Within the community, many believe that a coven larger than thirteen is unwieldy, citing unwieldy group dynamics and an unfair burden on the leadership. K, Amber (2002). ''Coven Craft: Witchcraft for Three or More''. Llewellyn Publications. When a coven has grown too large to be manageable, it may split, or "hive". In Wicca, this may also occur when a newly made

High Priest The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious caste. Ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many gods rever ...

or High Priestess, also called 3rd Degree initiation, leaves to start their own coven. Wiccan covens are usually jointly led by a High Priestess and a

, although some are led by only one or the other, and some by a same-sex couple. In more recent forms of mddern pagan witchcraft, covens are sometimes run as democracies with a rotating leadership.

Online covens

With the rise of the Internet as a platform for collaborative discussion and media dissemination, it became popular for adherents and practitioners of Wicca to establish "online covens" which remotely teach tradition-specific crafts to students in a similar method of education as non-religious virtual online schools. One of the first online covens to take this route is the Coven of the Far Flung Net (CFFN), which was established in 1997 as the online arm of the

Church of Universal Eclectic Wicca Universal Eclectic Wicca (UEW) is one of a number of distinctly American Wiccan traditions which developed following the introduction of Gardnerian and Alexandrian Wicca to the United States in the early 1960s. Its corporate body is the Church ...

. However, because of potentially-unwieldy membership sizes, many online covens limit their memberships to anywhere between 10 and 100 students. The CFFN, in particular, tried to devolve its structure into a system of sub-coven clans (which governed their own application processes), a system which ended in 2003 due to fears by the CFFN leadership that the clans were becoming communities in their own right.

Other contemporary forms

The Urban Coven is a group founded on Facebook by

Becca Gordon Becca is a feminine given name, often a short form of Rebecca; however, it is also a name in its own right. People In arts and media Music * Becca (Singer, Songwriter), (Born 1994), Venezuelan Urban Singer * Beca (musician), American singer *Be ...

for women in Los Angeles to gather, hike, and howl at the moon. It meets monthly and is estimated to have almost 3,500 members. A January 2016 gathering at Griffith Park drew nearly 1,000 women, and was described as follows:

A lot of the women ... were there in groups — mothers and daughters, friends, colleagues. Some arrived solo and struck up conversations with other women or hiked in solitude.

In popular culture

In popular culture, a coven is a group or gathering of witches who work spells in tandem. Such imagery can be traced back to Renaissance prints depicting witches and to the three "weird sisters" in Shakespeare's ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'' (1606). Orgiastic meetings of witches are depicted in the Robert Burns poem " Tam o' Shanter" (1791) and in the Goethe play '' Faust'' (1832). Films featuring covens include '' Rosemary's Baby'' (1968), '' Crowhaven Farm'' (1970), ''

Suspiria ''Suspiria'' () is a 1977 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Dario Argento, who co-wrote the screenplay with Daria Nicolodi, partially based on Thomas De Quincey's 1845 essay ''Suspiria de Profundis''. The film stars Jessica Harper as ...

'' (1977) and its 2018 remake, '' The Witches of Eastwick'' (1987), '' Four Rooms'' (1995), '' The Craft'' (1996), ''

Coven A coven () is a group or gathering of witches. The word "coven" (from Anglo-Norman ''covent, cuvent'', from Old French ''covent'', from Latin ''conventum'' = convention) remained largely unused in English until 1921 when Margaret Murray promote ...

'' (1997), '' Underworld'' (2003), '' Underworld: Evolution'' (2006), '' The Covenant'' (2006), ''

Paranormal Activity 3 ''Paranormal Activity 3'' is a 2011 American found footage supernatural horror film, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. It is the third (chronologically, the first) installment of the ''Paranormal Activity'' series and serves as a p ...

'' (2011), '' The Witch'' (2015) and ''

Hereditary Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic inform ...

'' (2018). In television, covens have been portrayed in the U.S. in supernatural dramas such as ''

Charmed ''Charmed'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Constance M. Burge and produced by Aaron Spelling and his production company Spelling Television, with Brad Kern serving as showrunner. The series was originally broadcast ...

'', '' Witches of East End'', '' The Vampire Diaries'', '' The Originals'', '' The Secret Circle'', '' True Blood'', '' Once Upon a Time'' and '' Chilling Adventures of Sabrina''. The third season of '' American Horror Story'' is entitled ''

'', and focuses on witches. The animated series '' The Owl House'' (2020–present) also focuses on witches, and interprets covens as required organizations of witches with specialized magic. In vampire novels such as '' The Vampire Chronicles'' by Anne Rice and the '' Twilight'' series by Stephenie Meyer, covens are families or unrelated groups of vampires who live together.

References

Bibliography

* Margot Adler (2006) ''

Drawing Down the Moon (book) ''Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today'' is a sociological study of contemporary Paganism in the United States written by the American Wiccan and journalist Margot Adler. First published i ...