Coven

A gathering of witches, typically coming together to practice rituals such as Sabbats1 and to teach the Craft to newer initiates.2 The concept of a coven was popularized in 1921 by Margaret Murray,3 where Murray states that historically, witches met in covens of thirteen members across Europe.4 In modern practice, there are online covens, such as Missing Witches, or websites to help solo practitioners find covens such as Mandragora Magika. Every coven is unique, with differing beliefs and traditions, and there is no absolute authoritative source or structure that all covens follow.

  1. Wikipedia Contributors, “Coven,” Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation, November 28, 2021), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coven. ↩︎
  2. Yvonne Aburrow, “Coven Structure & Roles,” Dowsing for Divinity, April 24, 2022, https://dowsingfordivinity.com/2022/04/23/coven-structure-roles/. ↩︎
  3. The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, “Coven,” Encyclopedia Britannica, 2007, https://www.britannica.com/topic/coven. ↩︎
  4. Wikipedia Contributors, “Coven,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coven. ↩︎