Most real Witches' covens contain relatively few people -- traditionally no more than 13. In the past, villages had few adepts and small circles. During the Burning Times, keeping the number of Witches small afforded us protection; the fewer who knew the Secrets, the fewer might be killed. Some Witches today establish Wiccan "churches" with large audiences. In our experience, the more a coven grows beyond the traditional bounds, the more it tends to lose its close-knit, family-like intimacy, becoming a kind of crowd -- more typical of Christian congregations.
Coven work includes individual and collective spellwork, leadership training, public-ritual construction, and the pursuit of deeper levels of magical understanding. Each Coven member is a "Priestess (or Priest) and Witch" who has undergone initiation into the Mysteries following at least a year and a day of studying the Craft intensively. (The High Priestess & High Priest are so called because they preside over this gathering of fellow Priestesses and Priests.)
Witches traditionally have made themselves known to each other by using our special, magical names. We might take the name of a Deity, a sacred plant, animal, object, or mythological figure, etc. This is traditional partly for the sake of anonymity (to protect ourselves from persecution) and partly for sacred purposes, to draw a distinct, ritual boundary between our mundane and our magical personae. Some names may initially stike you as strange, but they have been chosen or in some cases given to witches for specific, magical reasons.
Here are pictures and bios (click on the picture) of a few
of the initiates of Coven Oldenwilde.
Return to top of page.
Return
to Coven Oldenwilde's home page.
