A coven () is a group or gathering of

witches Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

. The word "coven" (from Anglo-Norman ''covent, cuvent'', from Old French ''covent'', from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

''conventum'' = convention) remained largely unused in English until 1921 when

Margaret Murray Margaret Alice Murray (13 July 1863 – 13 November 1963) was an Anglo-Indian Egyptologist, archaeologist, anthropologist, historian, and folklorist. The first woman to be appointed as a lecturer in archaeology in the United Kingdom, she wo ...

promoted the

idea In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of be ...

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

Beech_trees_in_Mallard_Wood,_New_Forest_-_geograph

Wicca Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and w ...

and other similar forms of modern pagan

witchcraft 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 u ...

, such as

Stregheria Stregheria () is the root form of witchcraft originating in Southern Europe, but also includes Italian American witchcraft. Stregheria is sometimes referred to as ''La Vecchia Religione'' (" the Old Religion"). The word '' stregheria'' is an arch ...

and Feri, a coven is a gathering or community of

witch 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 u ...

es, 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 A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words 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 An online school (virtual school or e-school or cyber-school) teaches students entirely or primarily online or through the Internet. It has been defined as "education that uses one or more technologies to deliver instruction to students who are ...

. 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 Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

by Becca Gordon for women in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

to gather, hike, and howl at the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width ...

. It meets monthly and is estimated to have almost 3,500 members. A January 2016 gathering at

Griffith Park Griffith Park is a large municipal park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The park includes popular attractions such as the Los Angeles Zoo, the Autry Museum of the A ...

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 The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

prints depicting witches and to the three "weird sisters" in

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

'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 Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who ha ...

poem " Tam o' Shanter" (1791) and in the

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

play ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The wiktionary:erudite, erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a ...

'' (1832). Films featuring covens include '' Rosemary's Baby'' (1968), '' Crowhaven Farm'' (1970), '' Suspiria'' (1977) and its 2018 remake, '' The Witches of Eastwick'' (1987), '' Four Rooms'' (1995), '' The Craft'' (1996), '' Coven'' (1997), ''

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld ...

'' (2003), '' Underworld: Evolution'' (2006), '' The Covenant'' (2006), '' Paranormal Activity 3'' (2011), ''

The Witch A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft. Witch, WITCH, or variations thereof may also refer to: Animals * Witch (lefteye flounder) (''Arnoglossus scapha''), a Pacific flatfish * Witch (righteye flounder) (''Glyptocephalus cynoglossus''), a Eur ...

'' (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 infor ...

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

The Vampire Diaries ''The Vampire Diaries'' is an American supernatural teen drama television series developed by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, based on the book series of the same name written by L. J. Smith. The series premiered on The CW on September 1 ...

'', '' The Originals'', '' The Secret Circle'', ''

True Blood ''True Blood'' is an American fantasy Horror fiction, horror Drama (film and television), drama television show, television series produced and created by Alan Ball (screenwriter), Alan Ball. It is based on ''The Southern Vampire Mysteries'', a ...

'', '' Once Upon a Time'' and '' Chilling Adventures of Sabrina''. The third season of ''

American Horror Story ''American Horror Story'' is an American anthology horror television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the cable network FX. The first installment in the ''American Story'' media franchise, each season is conceived as a ...

'' is entitled '' Coven'', and focuses on witches. The animated series ''

The Owl House ''The Owl House'' is an American animated fantasy television series created by Dana Terrace that premiered on Disney Channel on January 10, 2020. The series stars the voices of Sarah-Nicole Robles, Wendie Malick, Alex Hirsch, Tati Gabrielle ...

'' (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 ''The Vampire Chronicles'' is a series of gothic horror novels and a media franchise, created by American writer Anne Rice, that revolves around the fictional character Lestat de Lioncourt, a French nobleman turned into a vampire in the 18th ...

'' by

Anne Rice Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien; October 4, 1941 – December 11, 2021) was an American author of gothic fiction, erotic literature, and Christian literature. She was best known for her series of novels ''The Vampire Chronicles''. B ...

and the ''

Twilight Twilight is light produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, when the Sun is below the horizon, which illuminates the lower atmosphere and the Earth's surface. The word twilight can also refer to the periods of time when this ...

'' series by

Stephenie Meyer Stephenie Meyer (; née Morgan; born December 24, 1973) is an American novelist and film producer. She is best known for writing the vampire romance series ''Twilight'', which has sold over 100 million copies, with translations into 37 differ ...

, 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 ...

''. Penguin Books. *

Miriam Simos Starhawk (born Miriam Simos on June 17, 1951) is an American feminist and author. She is known as a theorist of feminist Neopaganism and ecofeminism. In 2013, she was listed in Watkins Books, Watkins' ''Mind Body Spirit'' magazine as one of the ...