What Are Covens?

Thirteen is the traditional number of people to form a coven of wizards. Ideally, a coven should be made up of six men, six women, and a leader.

However, this does not mean that a cult group of wizards cannot function unless it is made up of thirteen people. You can form a coven by being less than thirteen; but a coven should not exceed thirteen members. When it exceeds this number, the coven should split and form another new coven. Thus Art is propagated and perpetuated.

There is an old wizarding law that a league (3 miles = about 5 km) should separate the meeting place of one coven from another, in order to avoid any conflict of interest. There is also another traditional rule that says covens should not know too much about the private affairs of other covens or their members. Only leaders should stay in touch with each other. The reason for this rule is related to the time of the persecutions, because what people did not know they could not talk about.

Types Of Covens In Maryland?

The use of “eke-names” (ndlt: it is a Middle English term, which literally means “an additional name”. It is at the origin of the English word “nickname”), or nicknames, for the members of the coven, comes in part from the same source; although this is also an ancient and universal custom, people who go through a significant religious ceremony take on a new name, to indicate a permanent change in personality. We can even see a reminiscence of this within the Christian church, where people are allowed to change their Christian names upon Confirmation, if they so choose.

The 13-person coven is the most well-known of the wizarding cult groups; but there is also a much less famous formation, the coven of eight people. It is made up of initiates more experienced than the coven of thirteen. In fact, the latter can be called a ‘fertility coven’, he invokes and worships the powers of life and luck in general; the coven of eight is the magical coven, it focuses on deeper things and is particularly interested in reaching higher states of consciousness. The people who make up a “coven of eight” are probably older, and much more reserved and secretive, than those who belong to a “coven of thirteen”.

Apart from these two types of coven, there are lone wizards who do not organize themselves into a coven and prefer to work alone. Such wizards are usually older people and often have a lot of background, as well as more powerful occult powers than members of covens. However, it usually happens that they received training in a coven when they were younger; and know where to find other wizards and, occasionally, join forces for some specific purpose.

History Of Covens In Maryland?

In recent years, estimates have been made of the number of wizarding covens operating in the British Isles. Most of them are pure fantasy conjectures; because not all witches follow the same witchcraft rule. Because of the years of persecution, Art has fragmented and its different branches have followed their own ramifications, “they have closed in on themselves”.

The well-intentioned activities of Gerald Gardner’s later years to advertise witchcraft have arouse great indignation among many old wizards. In fact, they would agree with whoever said that today there are three types of witches - white witches, black witches and commercial witches! They consider the activities of people who call themselves “Kings” and “Queens” of witches to be just theater. These old men do not take a favorable view of the version of witchcraft practiced in the covens that Gerald Gardner founded, which to them seem more “Gardnerian” than traditional.

To this, the “Gardnerian” retort that Gerald Gardner’s motives for publicizing witchcraft were good and sincere, and that they thank him for it. The Art of the Sages is experiencing a real renaissance today. They claim that their practices are as traditional as anyone else, and that their beliefs and philosophies bring joy to many, who without Gerald Gardner would never have heard of witchcraft as a religion and a path. of life.

They agree that advertising was a complete break with the old custom; but they say times have changed and the public debate on witchcraft has allowed ancient traditions to come together and be preserved, which otherwise would have faded and been lost.

They also agree that the renewed public interest in witchcraft and the occult in general has brought with it its share of highly questionable activities. However, they point out that this is a recurring problem for any serious occultist, and that time allows us to sort the good from the bad, to separate the wheat from the chaff.

The number thirteen has long been perceived as possessing special magical properties, reflected by the cult group with its 12 members and its leader. According to astrology, which dates back to the pre-Christian era, we have the sun and the twelve signs of the zodiac. In addition, and this is probably the thing that has the most connection with witchcraft, there are thirteen lunar months in the year; a measure of time older than the twelve calendar months we have today. Thus, there were thirteen Full Moon Esbats each year, celebrated by the witches.

Throughout history we find worship groups of 13 people; that is, 12 people and a leader. Romulus, the hero who founded Rome, had 12 companions, called lictors. The ancient college of the Arvales brothers formed a body of 12 priests, who danced around the statue of Dea Dia, symbolizing the thirteenth member. The Danish hero Hrolf was followed by his thirteen Berserks. Some versions of Arthurian legends tell that at King Arthur’s Round Table stood the King himself and his twelve knights. In medieval legend, King Charlemagne had twelve Paladins. In some stories, the Robin Hood Band (Robin Goodfellow in English) from Sherwood Forest consisted of twelve men and a woman, Demoiselle Marianne.

The old Celtic stories tell us about the Thirteen Treasures of Brittany, which the magician Merlin took with him when he disappeared from the world of men. The same concept of the thirteen saints appears in legends of the Vikings, which depict Odin ruling over Ásgard and a group of twelve main gods and goddesses.

We have a survival of the holiness and the power of the number 13 in our legal system, which requires thirteen people, presided over by a judge to whom they render their verdict. There is also an old belief, often found in English lore about ghosts, that twelve clergymen acting together could banish a troublesome spirit, or at least compel it to no longer disturb the living. In this case, the ghost represents the thirteenth.

Because of these associations with witchcraft, the number thirteen has come to be called “the Dozen of Devils”. Old images of assemblies of witches often depict twelve people and a thirteenth. There is, for example, a very charming 15th-century French miniature in the Bodleian Library at Rawlinson College, which depicts a meeting of witches being held just outside the village. In the foreground, three women and a man worship a goatee and hold lighted candles in their hands. Behind them, two couples kiss. Three witches on broomsticks fly merrily above them, and another witch has just emerged from the fireplace of a nearby house. So, there are twelve witches in this picture, and the God Goat is the thirteenth.