Covens are collectives of witches, a sort of co-operative, extended family or club. They can have any number of witches, but usually have at least 3. You will hear people talk about 13 witches in a coven, but it is unlikely that at any point in history you would have conveniently had just 13 people who wanted to be involved. I do not know of any tradition that has only 13 witches or tries to get 13 witches in its covens. The story probably comes from a leader and 12 others as in the new testament group, and this probably comes from the 12 houses in astrology.

Many covens have an inner and outer circle, this is nothing to do with the magic circle we covered before, but a way of saying inner circle members can take part in all rituals, while outer circle ones are usually trainees or young members that are only allowed to take part in some.

Some traditions that started in the country have a rule that any new coven has to be at least 3 miles from an existing one. While in the countryside the population within a 3 mile radius in not that great, in a city the numbers of people would be considerable, so I doubt if any now enforce this. Of course this is only in any event within that tradition, and there are many traditions.

Anyone, including you can start a coven or your own tradition. I in fact often suggest new members think about starting their own coven, and many do successfully. Basically you just need you and two others and you can get started.

As every coven, can have its own rules, book of shadows and tradition if they like, the variation in just about everything is huge.

However lets start with the likely common features.

Most covens meet at around the time of the major and minor Sabbats, 4 of each, so 8 in total, these are major celebrations. In addition many covens meet once or twice a month for routine meetings often at the time of the full moon, and sometimes the new moon. There are 13 moons a year, so you can see they may be meeting a 34 times a year ceremonially, and in addition to this they may have sessions for trainee's or to discuss topics to help other members.  With many large covens however, not everyone attends every meeting. 

A coven is like an extended family every person being able and willing to help and support each other. Or should I say they are like an extended family was historically, rather than today where we all tend to have moved off and created our own independent lives. 

Most covens are organized along similar lines, with each person having a role, and all knowing what is expected of them. 

Many covens pair up witches into pairs, often male/female pairs for working, however as usually there are more females then males in most covens, some pairs are all female. The pairing may be permanent, or a period or  for an individual session only. Witch pairing is different to hand fasting which is a form of marriage. 

Most covens work in some sort of robes, in many countries including the UK, you would have to do an enormous amount of prancing about outside to keep warm if you went skyclad (nude). Some covens go half way and use tabards, so people are warm and covered. 

Some covens have specific focus, ie are naturists, into green politics or women's rights,  in these cases they may have a slightly different setup to the norm. Most covens are however not involved in politics and have people of all parties and beliefs.

Levels of members

Witches are both male and female and her we want to look at the levels and some of the titles you may hear of.

Most traditions have three levels, a trainee, priestess and high priestess for women and trainee, priest and high priest for men.

In many the first level, the trainee, who is often given a more interesting title, carries out a self initiation, while the other two levels require a gateway ritual, involving someone from a senior level. There is no set time in most traditions as to how long you have to be in each grade.

The normal full member is therefore the priest or priestess and this is often what most of the coven members are. 

The role of the high priestess or priest is to lead the ritual, initiate full members and advice all their members.

You may come across working titles like the maid, who assists the high priestess in some rituals.

Most members of the coven in addition also become proficient in one or two craft areas, and so can help others with these, as you try to get a range of skills covered within the coven, you can get a wide range of skills represented within the full coven.

In some instead of going along the ceremonial route, go on the in effect become professors or a specific craft, maybe a medical area or a specific aspect of magic. They teach others these skills and act as a consultant to others. These are known in some traditions only as wizards, and again can be either male or female. You may also come across a person with the working title of Merlin, named after the role that was said to have been taken by a number of great wizards over time, but today within a coven these are usually the training officer, who organizes who is to get what help and encourages people to extend their skills in various ways. I was a Water Witches Wizard, specializing in vibrational medicine and trance based sciences like hypnosis prior to moving on to my current role.

You may also come across someone with a title of Queen Witch or King Witch, these are the coordinators of a number of covens that work together, and then there is in some traditions a High King, who advices all groups within that tradition. Today there is just one High King across all the groups that belong to the Traditional Craft Association, and this is the high king of the Water Witches, a role I currently have. To many used to other structures this looks like a leader or boss of many craft orders, but it is an advisory role, no coven has to do what I tell them, they have my advice and can choose to follow it or not. Most of the groups just recognize the role I undertake but with Power Wicca, a sizable order in its own right, I had to go through all their training and rituals in addition to what I had done within the Water Witches to be sworn in as their high king specifically. They have not yet committed to the longer term and retain the right to have their own high king at a later point should they choose.

You don't have to worry about levels at this time, but it helps you to understand what the various titles mean. The important point to remember is that they are all working titles, not military ranks, so you as a trainee can speak with people at any level and are welcome to give your views to anyone. Likewise later when you have some years of experience, you will offer helpful advice to those setting out on the path and respect their right to make their own mistakes if they choose to.

There is also no advantage in rushing through the grades, you will find it is  quite natural development to move from discovering and learning to also teaching and sharing. 

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