231 Sentences With "covens" | Random Sentence Generator

How do you believe covens facilitate an atmosphere of self-exploration?

Today, two separate covens—ahem, lab groups—report new brain ball recipes.

In your experience, have young people in covens tended to feel excluded by society?

Instead, covens that don't have any religious affiliations are usually formed on shared progressive politics.

The "Untitled" photographs evoke paintings by Ensor, Bruegel and especially the covens and rituals conjured up by Goya.

In this case,let us be guided by Lady Thompson, founder of the New England Covens of Traditionalist Witches.

To the giallo, Italian horror directors added surreal and supernatural elements: masked stalkers, witches' covens and blood by the bucketful.

Often portrayed as groups of outsiders and rebels, covens are able to support each other, and they draw their power from within.

Nearly 80 covens and pagan organizations operate in the New York Metropolitan area, according to the pagan networking site The Witches' Voice.

In 2015, a WITCH chapter formed in Chicago, and covens have sprung up in Portland and Boston in response to the 2016 election.

Like other '90s touchstones that are recirculating in the culture — stylized covens, Marianne Williamson — the book has returned at a slightly ironic distance.

An example of this modernity is found in Valiente's rewriting of The Book of Shadows—a text filled with magical teachings taught to covens.

Our friends are our covens; we're looking to astrology for guidance and bingeing shows about people with powers — whether they like it or not.

And then, uh, they also decide that there should be a vampire theme park based around Egyptian covens and, for some reason, Pacific Northwest tourism.

During this new moon, and really, all of Cancer season, pay attention to what happens in the groups, organizations, covens, or clubs you belong to.

Wiccanism doesn't necessarily play a huge part in all covens today, which is one way we can see the term's definition changing to fit modern-day use.

Although the dumb supper isn't intended to raise actual dead people and bring them to the table, some covens leave place settings open as offerings to spirits.

Maybe Trump is secretly deferring to his Silicon Valley adviser Peter Thiel in exchange for a shot at eternal life in one of Thiel's cyber-gothic vampire covens.

With their reduced presence, the teens actually get to indulge in some teen drama and weird comic-book-y shenanigans involving alternate dimensions, teen covens, and double-crossing.

Mostly, she just doesn't want to see the tradition die, and her and others in the Temple of the Spiral Path hope to see their covens maintain healthy growth.

We need only look to groups like Ravenous Craft, Moon Church, and the Anonymous-esque W.I.T.C.H. to see what contemporary feminist covens really look like and what they can do.

Aspiring witches, including the love-struck seeking charms, could consult the first such tome by a major publisher, the now-classic Mastering Witchcraft: a Practical Guide for Witches, Warlocks, and Covens.

The Temple of the Spiral Path, which includes the North Wyldewood and Stranger's Gate covens, has performed rituals in this clearing, known among the witches as the green cathedral, for 20 years.

Rarely solitary, they establish covens of fellow misfits and when they show up—in packs, like the characters in a World of Darkness game—the lights go out or lightning strikes the ring.

As American women circle up and prepare for the political changes (which have already started in full force), I'm convinced we can find comfort and strength in gathering ourselves into the ultimate female collective: covens.

In popular culture, from The Craft to Charmed to Macbeth, covens are depicted as sisterhoods in pursuit of a common goal — usually something they might not be able to accomplish alone within the confines of their society.

Earning the kind of raves for a horror movie not seen since "It Follows," the period piece "The Witch" takes audiences back to the days when people thought covens were not just the stuff of spooky stories.

Some argue that an organization like the Council is a "necessary evil" to having one's faith represented widely, and since individual groups of Wiccans (or covens) usually create their own spiritual guidelines, the Council's principles often provide inspiration.

"The Real Housewives of Orange County" kicked off the "Housewives" franchise in 2006, and has pollinated the globe with its little covens of housewife drama from Athens, Greece to Akron, Ohio (or at least that's how it seems).

The planned casting of an anti-Kavanaugh spell, one of the more striking instances of politically disgruntled Americans turning to the supernatural when frustrated by democracy, has drawn backlash from some Christian groups but support from like-minded witch covens.

The lingering sense that some of it could have been true stuck around for years, subconsciously lending plausibility to the idea that Harry Potter and his friends were a subtle attempt to induct children into Satan-worshipping cults or witchcraft-practicing covens.

Fleming hired Wicca consultant Pat Devin, high priestess of Covenant of the Goddess, to help with the narrative, and she made sure the spells were common enough to be found in basic Wicca books, and she even consulted her Covens on the chants included.

As Democrats wring their hands and ponder research showing how more millennial voters would have changed the electoral map (it's very blue), they ignore the inconvenient truth that Trump's digital covens included a host of young, digitally savvy politicos who radically redrew the way young people engage with politics.

In these times especially, when we can't seem to escape the news that the world is full of bad people, predominantly men, who violate women in shadows and are never punished, there's something queasily poignant about reclaiming that violence and creating new institutions (or covens, if you will) to fight back.

Whether it's W.I.T.C.H. staging a public protest, in which they rally for intersectionality and radical change, or Ravenous Craft holding a meal in honor of the Equinox, covens today continue to challenge the status quo and defend the needs of the unseen — much like the more than 5 million women who took to the streets for the Women's March earlier this month.

It is a goal within many covens to explore female sexuality and sensuality outside of male control, and many rituals function to affirm lesbian sexuality, making it a popular tradition for women who have come out. Some covens exclusively consist of same-sex oriented women and advocate lesbian separatism. Dianic Wicca developed from the Women's Liberation Movement and covens traditionally compare themselves with radical feminism. Some of these covens reject transgender people who were assigned male at birth.

Indeed, many U.S. covens are far smaller, though the membership may be augmented by unaffiliated Wiccans at "open" rituals. Pearson noted that covens typically contained between five and ten initiates. They generally avoid mass recruitment due to the feasibility of finding spaces large enough to bring together greater numbers for rituals and because larger numbers inhibit the sense of intimacy and trust that covens utilise. Some covens are short-lived but others have survived for many years.

The coven thrived for a while in Wisconsin but is now located in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where it is incorporated as a church. Since then a number of covens have hived off and evolved into the Ladywood Tradition of Wicca. Ladywood covens are mainly initiatory teaching covens and provide an eclectic mix of training drawn from various Pagan traditions, including the provision of Wicca 101 courses. Covens celebrate the Esbats (full moon celebrations) and Sabbats (seasonal celebrations), which are generally open in their efforts to educate the general public about the Craft.

Covens and Mortier published many new maps but also kept the old stock, which ensured that the firm had a large fund of maps. Within the field of commercial and government cartography Covens and Mortier became the leading publishing company at the beginning of the 19th century.Marco van Egmond, Covens & Mortier: a map publishing house in Amsterdam, 1685-1866 (Houten 2009). Around 1816 the last volume of the atlas was finished.

Theitic (2001). The New England Covens of Traditionalist Witches. At The Witches' Voice. Retrieved 2008-04-07.

Wiccan covens are usually jointly led by a High Priestess and a High Priest, although some are led by only one or the other, and some by a same-sex couple. In more recent forms of neopagan witchcraft, covens are sometimes run as democracies with a rotating leadership.

Covens feature in the video game Dishonored, specifically in the DLC's Knife of Dunwall, and The Brigmore Witches.

In 1971, a Hungarian- American named Zsuzsanna Budapest, who had no connection to any Gardnerian or Alexandrian covens, mixed Wiccan practices with feminist politics, forming Dianic Witchcraft (although now it is better known as "Dianic Wicca"). She began this with a coven in Los Angeles, that she named the Susan B. Anthony Coven Number One. Dianic Wicca focused almost exclusively upon the Goddess, and largely, and in some covens completely, ignoring the Horned God. Most covens were women-only, and some were designed specifically for lesbians.

Australians celebrate the seasons based on Southern Hemisphere seasonal dates. Contemporary Paganism, including Wicca in various forms, Reclaiming (Neopaganism), and witchcraft, is a growing minority religious group in Australia. As in forms on Neopaganism elsewhere, some pagans work as solitary practitioners and others form groups such as covens. Covens may or not be hierarchical, depending on the tradition.

The Association of Universal Eclectic Wicca Clergy (AUEWC), is responsible for the ratification of Ordained Clergy. CUEW covens with eight or more.

Covenant of the Goddess logo The Covenant of the Goddess (CoG) is a cross- traditional Wiccan group of solitary Wiccan practitioners and over one hundred affiliated covens (or congregations). It was founded in 1975 in order to increase co-operation among witches and to secure for witches and covens the legal protection enjoyed by members of other religions. Member covens generally focus theology and ritual around the worship of the Goddess and the Old Gods (or the Goddess alone), which is general practice within Wicca. The Covenant of the Goddess operates largely by consensus and maintains strict autonomy for all members.

Like other Wiccans, Dianics may form covens, attend festivals, celebrate the eight major Wiccan holidays, and gather on Esbats. They use many of the same altar tools, rituals, and vocabulary as other Wiccans. Dianics may also gather in less formal Circles. The most noticeable difference between the two are that Dianic covens of Budapest lineage are composed entirely of women.

At the auction most of the atlas plates and some of the wall map were sold to Pieter Mortier (1661–1711), a geographer, copper engraver, printer and publisher from Amsterdam.Marco van Egmond, Covens & Mortier: A Map Publishing House in Amsterdam 1685–1866, (Houten, Netherlands: Hes & De Graaf, 2009) p. 125. After Mortier’s death, his firm eventually passed to the ownership of his son, Cornelis Mortier and Johannes Covens I who together founded Covens & Mortier on 20 November 1721. Covens & Mortier grew to become one of the largest cartography publishing houses of the 18th century. The 27 chart plates from his 1675 sea atlas were sold at the 1710 auction, to the Amsterdam print seller Luis Renard, who published them under his own name in 1715, and then sold them to Rennier and Joshua Ottens who continued to publish them until the mid-1700s.

By August, there were two outer court covens of the Welsh tradition in New York City, and one each in Philadelphia and in Hopewell, Virginia.

El Bailadero in Anaga. In this place were held covens, according to popular belief. The Witches of Anaga were (according to popular belief) women who were devoted to covens in the mountainous area of Anaga in the northeast of the island of Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). These rituals were held in an area in the mountains of Anaga in the dorsal between San Andrés and Taganana.

In television, covens have been portrayed in the U.S. in supernatural dramas such as Charmed, Witches of East End, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, The Secret Circle, True Blood, Once Upon a Time and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. The third season of American Horror Story is entitled Coven, and focuses on witches. The animated series The Owl House (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 by Anne Rice and the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, covens are families or unrelated groups of vampires who live together.

Historian Ronald Hutton states that he knew of three Wiccan covens founded in the 1980s who began to describe themselves as Traditional Witches in the 1990s.

This was re-released in 2013 as a new edition called Inner Mysteries. Their current area of work is in trance-prophesy, trance-possession and ecstatic ritual and they are currently working on a major book on the subject which they hope to release with Acorn Guild Publishing in 2014. They are also founders of The Alliance of Progressive Covens, which includes linked groups and covens in the United States, Ireland and Italy.

A magical organization or magical order is an organization created for the practice of magic or to further the knowledge of magic among its members. "Magic" in this case refers to occult, metaphysical and paranormal activities, not to the performance of stage magic. Magical organizations can include hermetic orders, Wiccan covens or Wiccan circles, esoteric societies, arcane colleges, witches' covens, and other groups which may use different terminology and similar though diverse practices.

In many covens, the summoner is always male, and is considered the masculine equivalent of the maiden. Historically, the summoner was the person who would let members know about covens, and who would find new members in the community.Nevill Drury The Watkins Dictionary of Magic 1780283628 2011 Fetch In Wicca, a witch – usually male – sent on a confidential mission by the high priestess of a coven. The fetch is also known as a summoner or officer.

ABC-CLIO, 1999. p. 279. Fallingstar founded her own first coven, Kallisti, in 1975;Holzer, Hans. Witches: True Encounters with Wicca, Wizards, Covens, Cults, and Magick. Black Dog Publishing, 2005. p. 85.

The Summoner, sometimes called a fetch, is a position in many traditional Wiccan covens. The primary, or at least most evident, function of the summoner is to call other coven members to a meeting or ritual. The summoner is also responsible for all inter-coven communication, and traditionally is the only member of a coven who will know where other covens reside. (This tradition is generally not followed today, and there is argument about to what extent it was ever followed).

The publisher is mentioned at the frontispieces of eight of the nine volumes with the following text: Table des cartes etc: de I. Cóvens et C. Mortier contenues dans ce volume. Also, most of the maps in the atlas were published by Covens and Mortier. When the last volume of the atlas was finished around 1816, the publishing house was led by Cornelis Covens (1764-1825). He worked for his family’s firm from 1790 until 1825, bringing it innovation and success.

Membership in the Covenant is open to covens and individual members that meet the requirements. Requirements include: subscribing to the Covenant's code of ethics, worship of the Goddess and the Old Gods, pledging to abide by the charter, bylaws and policy of the Council, and agreeing to "hold harmless" any committee or committee member of the Covenant.Covenant of the Goddess Bylaws 2007, Article 2: Membership and Affiliation, pages 4–5. The Covenant is a confederation of member covens and solitaires.

Also supporting Liddell's claims was the Wiccan Ralph Harvey, who, following the publication of Liddell's material, publicly declared that in the 1950s or 1960s he had been initiated into one of Pickingill's Nine Covens, located in Storrington, Sussex. Following the publication of Liddell's claims, a number of covens appeared in both the United States and Australia claiming to be practitioners of a tradition originating with Pickingill. Liddell himself has been critical of such groups, expressing his regret that the material he published led to their formation.

Gardnerian Wiccans organise into covens, that traditionally, though not always, are limited to thirteen members. Covens are led by a High Priestess and the High Priest of her choice, and celebrate both a Goddess and a God. Gardnerian Wicca and other forms of British Traditional Wicca operate as an initiatory mystery cult; membership is gained only through initiation by a Wiccan High Priestess or High Priest. Any valid line of initiatory descent can be traced all the way back to Gerald Gardner, and through him back to the New Forest coven.

Folklore, 105:1-2: 89-96. Simpson noted that the only contemporary member of the Folklore Society who took Murray's theory seriously was Gerald Gardner, who used it as the basis for Wicca. Murray's books were the sources of many well-known motifs which have often been incorporated into Wicca. The idea that covens should have 13 members was developed by Murray, based on a single witness statement from one of the witch trials, as was her assertion that covens met on the cross-quarter days four times per year.

Gardnerian and Alexandrian covens tend to be hierarchical, with coven led by a Priest and High Priestess. Reclaiming covens and working groups practise non-hierarchical modes of group dynamics, with group members co-creating rituals and events, although there may be 'facilitators' and other roles allotted at a given gathering. Ceremonial magicians of various traditions are also a growing group within Australian alternative religion, however they generally do not identify as 'pagan'. Nevertheless, there is considerable crossover between the interests of, and membership in, pagan and magical groups.

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. One of the first online covens to take this route is the Coven of the Far Flung Net (CFFN), which was established in 1998 as the online arm of the Church of Universal Eclectic Wicca. 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.

Council of Magickal Arts website Starting out as a joint camping event of several covens and some solitary practitioners, as of 2012, CMA had a membership of nearly 1000 people and festival attendance of 500 or more at each festival.

Louisville is home to a strong and vibrant Pagan community, including Wicca and other neopagan religions. There are over 60 Kentucky pagan groups listed at Witchvox, including over a dozen in Louisville. (Witchvox listings are voluntary, and usually represent only a small portion of the local pagan groups. Many or most covens and other pagan groups still prefer to remain private, as a way to avoid religious persecution.) Local networking for Louisville pagans is organized in various ways, not only through local covens and groves, but also through Louisville Pagan Pride, local pagan meetups via meetup.

The series creates its own terminology: vampires call the transfer of vampirism to a human the "Dark Gift", and refer to the vampire bestowing it as the "maker" and the new vampire as a "fledgling". In ancient times vampires formed a religion-like cult, and in the Middle Ages, believing themselves cursed, dwelt in catacombs under cemeteries in covens which emphasized darkness and their own cursed state. Vampires are largely solitary; Lestat's "family" of 80 years is described as unusually long. There is no organized society beyond covens, religious bodies, and small groups from time to time.

Lineaged Wicca is organised into covens of initiated priests and priestesses. Covens are autonomous and are generally headed by a High Priest and a High Priestess working in partnership, being a couple who have each been through their first, second, and third degrees of initiation. Occasionally the leaders of a coven are only second-degree initiates, in which case they come under the rule of the parent coven. Initiation and training of new priesthood is most often performed within a coven environment, but this is not a necessity, and a few initiated Wiccans are unaffiliated with any coven.

Some Wiccan groups also modify the religious calendar (the Wheel of the Year) to reflect local seasonal changes; for instance, most Southern Hemisphere covens celebrate Samhain on April 30 and Beltane on November 1, reflecting the southern hemisphere's autumn and spring seasons.

It is not unusual to find that earlier initiates did not receive the same books as later ones although they obtained all the information in dictated form, Sander's preferred mode of teaching. Alexandrian covens meet on new moons, full moons and during Sabbat festivals.

The following year, in 1973, Raymond Buckland, who had brought the Gardnerian craft to the USA originally, ceased to practice it, and formed a new tradition, known as Seax- Wica. Seax used the structure of traditional Gardnerian covens, but used the iconography of Anglo-Saxon paganism, so the God and the Goddess were represented not as the traditional Horned God and Mother Goddess, but as Woden and Freya. Seax was virtually unique amongst Wicca at the time as it did not work on an initiatory basis of covens; Buckland deliberately published all its rites and rituals in a book, The Tree, so that anyone could practice them.

Berger 1999. pp. xvi-xvii. Throughout her 11-year period of fieldwork, Berger had to use snowball sampling to retrieve her data on the Pagan community, something that she attributed to the "secrecy of groups and practitioners". She conducted formal interviews with over 40 practicing Pagans, and over 60 others instead were informally interviewed during conversations at Pagan events, following which Berger recorded their responses in her fieldnotes. She participated in rituals with ten different Wiccan covens, two of which were all-female covens, and the other eight of which were mixed-gender in structure, but all of whom assembled in the Northeastern United States.

When asked to present this photograph for public scrutiny in 1977, Liddell claimed that it was "not available"; when independently asked again in 1983, he asserted that it had been stolen by "interested parties". Further, Liddell stated that one of Pickingill's covens was the New Forest coven, a Wiccan group which Gerald Gardner—the founder of Gardnerian Wicca—claimed had initiated him in 1939. However, Liddell did later state that he was not certain whether this was true. He also asserted that Gardner later joined another of the Pickingill covens, based in Hertfordshire, through which he received "the Second Rite of the Hereditary Craft".

In 1991, police in Perth linked Scott Gozenton, a self-professed Satanist, with organised child sexual abuse. His lawyer claimed 13 Satanic covens existed in the area, holding bizarre orgies involving children, and that Gozenton had been followed and threatened by "coven" members throughout the court proceedings.

With two Celtic goddesses vying for his affections and allegiance, as well as two covens of witches hell bent on destroying each other O' Sullivan will need more than a magic sword and a quick wit to fend off evil. The novel blends elements of mythology and urban fantasy.

Mortier was born in Leiden. According to Houbraken, David van der Plas worked with him on etchings for Bybelsche Tafereelen (Bible stories), published in Amsterdam in 1700. Pierre Mortier Biography in De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (1718) by Arnold Houbraken, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature Pierre Mortier, Situation du Paradise Terrestre, 1700 According to the RKD he was the father of Cornelis Mortier (1699-1783), who in partnership with Johannes Covens I (1697-1774) began the map publishing company Covens & Mortier (1721-1866).Pierre Mortier in the RKD He travelled to Paris in 1681-1685 and won the privilege in 1690 of publishing maps and atlases by French publishers in Amsterdam.

He co-facilitated, with Margi Curtis and Graham Wykes, the eclectic Reclaiming (Neopaganism)-oriented witchcraft covens MoonsKin (2006–2011) and Black Swans (2014–2016). He has been an early active member of the organising collective for Witchcamps held by Australian Reclaiming. and also served a year on EarthSong's Conflict Resolution Committee.

Lady Gwynne, the New England Covens of Traditionalist Witches website. Retrieved 2008-04-07. The threefold rule is referenced often by the Wiccans of the Clan Mackenzie in the S.M. Stirling Emberverse novels. This rule was described by the Dutch metal band Nemesea, in the song "Threefold Law", from the album Mana.

An annual Grand Council is held to make decisions for the whole organization, and members also cooperate in local councils which have at least three covens. Decisions at all levels are made by a formal consensus process.For detailed information on the consensus process, see Formal Consensus: A Model for Management and Community Organization.

Liddell added that Pickingill proceeded to introduce many new innovations into the English witch-cult by applying concepts borrowed from the Danish and French witch-cults, namely the idea that the coven should be led by a woman. Liddell asserted that Pickingill then established nine covens in England, spread out in Essex, Norfolk, Hertfordshire, Sussex, and Hampshire; he further added that two of those covens, based in Hertfordshire and Norfolk, survived into at least the 1970s. According to Liddell, Pickingill was propagating witchcraft in a reformed, female-oriented form because the oncoming Age of Aquarius would be more receptive to this form of spirituality. In Liddell's account, Pickingill travelled widely and joined a variety of cunning lodges, gaining access to their grimoires and libraries.

Georgian Wicca is therefore similar to Alexandrian and Gardnerian Wiccan practice, in that it is an initiatory line and oath-bound. Georgian Wicca, however, is not a recognized member of the BTW, as it lacks an important requirement - initiatory lineage back to one of the BTW covens in England. Therefore, it is considered BTW-derived.

Tens of thousands of students have begun the School's twelve-lesson course in Wicca, although only a few thousand have finished it due to the rigor of the course. In 2006, the Wiccan journalist Margot Adler suggested that the School of Wicca may have been responsible for the formation of as many as one hundred covens.

By 1965 he claimed 1,623 initiates in 100 covens. He proclaimed himself "King of the Witches". His alleged magical feats included creating familiars; he also claimed to be able to heal warts, illnesses, and physical deformities. Sanders apparently joined other esoteric and chivalric orders beginning in 1968, which numbered 16 in 1974, and possibly more before his death.

She founded many covens, among them there were two which were particularly successful: the one in south London in the early 1960s and the one in Brighton. Among her initiatory down-line in London are Madge and Arthur Worthington, who went on to found the well-known Whitecroft line of Gardnerian Wicca.Elders of the Wica. Retrieved 2007-02-05.

The CoG began in 1975 when Wiccan elders of various traditions gathered to form an organization for all Witchcraft practitioners. At this meeting, they drafted a covenant and bylaws. That same year on the Summer Solstice, 13 covens ratified the bylaws. It was incorporated on Halloween (or Samhain) 1975, as a non-profit religious organization in California.

The Wiccan/Pagan Times writes that A Year of Ritual presents "a basic handbook of very generic rituals focusing on individuals and covens", describing rituals for The Sabbats and The Esbats; the information is "easy to understand" and the rituals are "ready to go", to the extent that "the experienced practitioner will become bored quickly with the material".

In the late 19th century, variations on this hypothesis were adopted by two Americans, Matilda Joslyn Gage and Charles Leland, the latter of whom promoted it in his 1899 book Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches. The witch-cult hypothesis' most prominent and influential advocate was the English Egyptologist Margaret Murray, who promoted it in a series of books – most notably 1921's The Witch-Cult in Western Europe and 1933's The God of the Witches. Murray's books were the sources of many well-known motifs which have often been incorporated into Wicca. The idea that covens should have 13 members was developed by Murray, based on a single witness statement from one of the witch trials, as was her assertion that covens met on the cross-quarter days four times per year.

In 1978, she joined the Temple of the Pagan Way in Chicago, and received her initiation and ordination there. The Pagan Way was formed in the early 1970s in response to the high demand of people wishing to join established covens, and in this they provided an alternative to the intensive screening programs and year-and-a-day probationary periods required by traditional covens. After joining and advancing through four of their five degrees, in 1980 Amber moved to Wisconsin with her then-partner Catelaine and was later ordained a Wiccan High Priestess in a separate ritual.George Knowles' biography of Amber K Moving to Wisconsin, Amber worked first with the Pool of Bast and then with New Earth Circle before co-founding with Catelaine the "Coven of Our Lady of the Woods" in 1982.

Fire and water are also the elements most associated with Sun and Moon, and thus the Horned God and the Goddess within Wicca. For this reason, covens that associate the athame with air (and the wand with fire) may decide to use the wand to bless the wine chalice, instead of using the athame. A union of air and water does not carry the same symbolic significance of the "conjunctio oppositorum" (union of opposites) that the union of fire and water does. Also, covens that regard the athame as air and the wand as fire may choose to cast the ritual circle with the wand or staff, instead of the sword or athame—if they conceive of this casting in the traditional way, as a casting of etheric fire via a projection of psychic energy.

A theory advanced by Bill Liddell is that the New Forest coven derived from a set of covens created by the nineteenth century cunning man George Pickingill, who lived in the Essex village of Canewdon. This claim is not widely accepted, although it does focus attention on the well documented and widespread "cunning folk" and their contribution to the history of British witchcraft.

The "witches" allegedly held their covens on the Auld Kirk Green, part of the modern-day North Berwick Harbour area. The confessions were extracted by torture in the Old Tolbooth, Edinburgh. The main source for this story was published in a 1591 pamphlet Newes from Scotland and was subsequently published in King James's dissertation on contemporary necromancy titled Daemonologie in 1597.

The protests also involved turning loose several white mice at the event, which Fair attendees began scooping up off the ground. The event resulted in negative media coverage for W.I.T.C.H., and some dissention among members over goals and tactics. In February 1970, the Washington coven (W.I.T.C.H. chapters were called "covens") held a protest during a Senate hearing on population control.

Melinda Taylor-Kelly. What is NROOGD? Witch Grass Coven website. Retrieved 2010-2-4 The NROOGD tradition co-founded by Kelly in 1969 continues to operate in California and has covens in other states, Canada and the UK. As one of the co-founders of the Covenant of the Goddess (CoG), Kelly helped write the organization's charter and bylaws in 1975.

Inventing Witchcraft labels "the Craft" as a new religion, founded by Gerald Gardner "in 1947, give or take a year." (p. 33-34) This theory obviously conflicts with Gardner's own claim to have been initiated in 1939 into one of England's last surviving witch covens. Kelly's book identifies the initiation of Gardner as "the foundational myth" of Modern Witchcraft. (p.

The handle of the athame is usually black and is required in most covens which practice some variant of British Traditional Wicca, including Gardnerian and Alexandrian. The handle may be inscribed with particular symbols dictated by the tradition.Farrar, Janet and Farrar, Stewart. The Witches' Way (1984) (published as Part 2 of A Witches' Bible, 1996) Custer, Washington, USA: Phoenix Publishing Inc. p.

Georgian Wicca is a tradition, or denomination, in the neopagan religion of Wicca. In its organisation, it is very similar to British Traditional Wicca groups such as Gardnerian Wicca, however, it does not trace its initiatory line to one of the old English covens. The name "Georgian" refers to its founder, George Patterson, who founded the tradition in 1970 in the United States.

Covens in the Reclaiming tradition are often single-sex and non-hierarchical in structure. Coven members who leave their original group to form another, separate coven are described as having "hived off" in Wicca. Initiation into a coven is traditionally preceded by an apprenticeship period of a year and a day. A course of study may be set during this period.

McNallen, Stephen The Twelve Days of Yule – 2005 In most forms of Wicca, this holiday is celebrated at the winter solstice as the rebirth of the Great horned hunter god, who is viewed as the newborn solstice sun. The method of gathering for this sabbat varies by practitioner. Some have private ceremonies at home, while others do so with their covens.

In most branches of Wicca, a person's status as trans- or cisgender is not considered an issue. Transgender people are generally magickal people, according to Karla McLaren in her Energetic Boundaries study guide. Transgender people are almost always welcomed in individual communities, covens, study groups, and circles. Many transgender people were initially attracted to Modern Paganism because of this inclusion.

El aquelarre, Francisco Goya. Akerbeltz or Aker (from the Basque language: Aker, billy goat and Beltz, black) is a spirit in the folk mythology of the Basque people. It is said to live inside the land and is believed to have as many elves as servants. In Christianity, Akerbeltz is considered the live image of the devil, performing sexual abuses against members of Christian covens.

Harrow was a regular contributor to PanGaia, writing a column entitled "Mind and Magic." Her first book, Wicca Covens, was published in 1999. Her second book, Spiritual Mentoring, was published in 2002. Harrow also edited (and contributed to) Devoted to You: Honoring Deity in Wiccan Practice, which was published in 2003, and coordinated the 50th Anniversary reissue of Witchcraft Today by Gerald Gardner, published in 2004.

They interrupted Texas Senator Ralph Yarborough's testimony by chanting and throwing pills at panel members and people in the audience galleries. Spin-off "covens" were founded in Chicago, Illinois and Washington, D.C., and W.I.T.C.H. zaps continued until roughly the beginning of 1970. The "zap" protests used by W.I.T.C.H. may have helped inspire the zap action protest tactics adopted shortly afterwards by LGBT activists, and still in use.

It seems likely that Gardner told his three subsequent initiatory lines that the book should be copied word for word, and Wiccans descended from Eleanor Bone, Patricia Crowther and Monique Wilson have widely believed that the book was of ancient provenance. North American Gardnerians of the Long Island line allow covens to add rituals and teachings to the book, but nothing may be removed.

In Wicca, ritual tools are used during rituals which both honour the deities and work magic. The general idea is that the tool directs psychic energies to perform a certain action. In modern-day Wicca, there is an encouragement of solitary practice of rituals and study. Covens are still a part of Wicca and related doctrines but there is now insistence that solitary practice is permissible.

By 1986 the land held by the Silver Chalice Land Trust was sold, and all the covens that originated with Silver Chalice were referred to as Universal Eclectic Wicca. 'Universal' because "Wicca is universal because it can be used by all, and anything can be used in Wicca"; and 'Eclectic' because "UEW is based not on one or two sources, but an infinite number of sources".

Map of the northern part of Overijssel (1743). Who the collector of the Atlas der Neederlanden was or for whom it was made remains unclear. At some point in the 19th century the book found its way to the University of Amsterdam where it is now part of the Special Collections of its University Library. It is assumed that the atlas was composed by Covens and Mortier.

Dante's Cove takes place in the same fictional universe as another here! original production, the vampire series The Lair. Characters from The Lair refer to Saint as "the new drug all the kids are doing," being banished by an "Avatar" and covens of witches centered around a spring. These are all components of Tresum, although Tresum has not been mentioned specifically within the series.

Hutton, Ronald, Triumph of the Moon, Oxford University Press, 1999. The first Neopagan groups to publicly appear, during the 1950s and 60s, were Gerald Gardner's Bricket Wood coven and Roy Bowers' Clan of Tubal Cain. They operated as initiatory secret societies. Other individual practitioners and writers such as Paul HusonHuson, Paul Mastering Witchcraft: a Practical Guide for Witches, Warlocks, and Covens, New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1970.

A coven usually refers to a group or gathering of witches. The word "coven" (from Anglo-Norman covent, cuvent, from Old French covent, from Latin conventum = convention) remained largely unused in English until 1921 when Margaret Murray promoted the idea 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.

It spoke to their beliefs and practices, and they adopted the name "Dianic" for their tradition. Later that year, Mark and Morgan began creating rituals based on the Ogham. McFarland went on to initiate several high priestesses who hived off to start other covens. In 1979 she withdrew as high priestess, and now serves as matriarch and advisor to the Council of High Priestesses of the McFarland Dianic Tradition.

RavenWolf was a member of the Serpent Stone Family, and received her Third Degree Initiation as a member of that coven. She is the leader of the Black Forest Circle and Seminary, an organization containing several covens spanning the United States and Canada. She has appeared as a lecturer and workshop facilitator at events in the Neo-Pagan community. She has been active in Wiccan anti-discrimination issues.

Georgians are now worldwide and growing; many are in the Armed Forces, carrying the Tradition with them. Recently, there has been an upsurge in those interested in reconnecting with or learning about the Georgian Tradition. At present, there are known Georgian Covens in British Columbia, California, Florida, Oregon, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Washington, Utah, and Oklahoma. There is also a current effort being made to reconnect members of the Tradition.

Frontispiece from the publishing company Covens and Mortier. The Atlas der Neederlanden is an atlas factice, also known as composite atlas. These atlases were composed by wealthy people who collected maps concerning a specific region or topic. In some cases rich buyers contracted the publisher to collect the maps for them. These maps were then bound together in one or more volumes by a book binder in the typical “atlas-binding”.

A third degree initiate is referred to as a "High Priestess" or "High Priest". The Farrars published the rituals for the three ceremonies of initiation in Eight Sabbats for Witches. Some Alexandrians have instituted a preliminary rank called "neophyte" or "dedicant." In these Alexandrian covens, a neophyte is not bound by the oaths taken by initiates, and thus has an opportunity to examine the tradition before committing to it.

Chapter four details Greenwood's early involvement in Wicca, through three separate covens. Offering her thoughts on Wiccan invocations, she then discusses the faith's approach to sexual polarity, pointing to the sexual underpinnings of the Great Rite and the Gnostic Mass as evidence. The chapter is rounded off with an explanation of how Wicca understands the natural world and a comparison between the religion and ceremonial magic.Greenwood 2000. pp. 83-115.

1700 map by De L'Isle of North America, reissued by Covens and Mortier in 1708. At 27, Delisle was admitted into the French Académie Royale des Sciences, an institution financed by the French state. After that date, he signed his maps with the title of "Géographe de l’Académie". Five years later, he moved to the Quai de l’Horloge in Paris, a true publishing hub where his business prospered.

The coven was later taken over by a couple known only as Theos and Phoenix, who enlarged the Book of Shadows, adding further degrees of initiation which were required before members could found their own covens. Interest outstripped the ability of the mostly British-based covens to train and propagate members; the beliefs of the religion spread faster by the printed word or word of mouth than the initiatory system was prepared to handle.Accounts of would-be Wiccans who compiled rituals out of published sources together with their own imaginative reconstructions, without formal initiations, appear in Hans Holzer's The New Pagans (Doubleday, New York: 1973) Also in the 1960s, non-Gardnerian forms of Witchcraft (which are sometimes viewed as Wicca, or sometimes as "Traditional Witchcraft") made their way to the USA. The American Joseph Bearwalker Wilson corresponded with the English Robert Cochrane prior to Cochrane's ritual suicide in 1966, and from this he founded the 1734 Tradition.

Early covens included "blue" or "star" in their names (for example, Raven Star and Wolf Star), but the practice waned. Some group names have used references to stars (Nova Grove, for example, or Polaris Coven), but are simply the name that inspires members (Compass Rose, SummerOak, Serenity, or Braided Stream). In 1991, members of StarFire Coven introduced the tradition in Ireland. In 1997, the Guild of the Swan Weavers introduced Blue Star in England.

Whereas Mary Jo Neitz (1991) and Nancy J. Finley (1991) had both argued that ultimately, it would be the feminist-orientated, female-only form of Wicca found in the Dianic tradition that would grow to become dominant in the United States,Neitz 1991.Finley 1991. Berger disagreed, arguing that "inclusive groups", meaning those traditions who welcome both men and women into their covens, "will ultimately prove to be more significant."Berger 1999. p. 14.

She also says that Stern could "have this town" (Whitechapel), in essence leaving every vampire in Whitechapel at the mercy of the vengeful vice- principal by leaving the Caller (a device Jesse says the Council uses to communicate with other covens) undefended). Most likely she only forced Rory and Erica to flee with her as all her remaining guards were busy holding off Stern while the rest of her Council had already fled.

Liddell's assertion that occultist Aleister Crowley (pictured in 1912) was an initiate of one of Pickingill's covens has been heavily scrutinised and discredited. Liddell's claims have had a far more critical reception from scholars specialising in magic and witchcraft in British history. In 1975, Eric Maple dismissed Lugh's claims as preposterous. He believed that such tales had been fabricated by someone who had used his own book, The Dark World of Witches, as a basis.

A typical festival starts with setup on Wednesday for vendors and early arrivals. The main attendees arrive on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Each night a public main ritual is held, presented by different volunteer members and their groups (covens, kindreds, groves, etc.), and, weather permitting, a bonfire (Revel) is lit. The bonfire serves as the main public area for those who wish to stay up late into the night, drumming, dancing, and talking.

Gardnerian Wicca revolved around the veneration of both a Horned God and a Mother Goddess, the celebration of eight seasonally-based festivals in a Wheel of the Year and the practice of magical rituals in groups known as covens. Gardnerianism was subsequently brought to the U.S. in the early 1960s by an English initiate, Raymond Buckland (1934-2017), and his then-wife Rosemary, who together founded a coven in Long Island.Hutton 1999 pp. 205-252.

Most covens would not admit members under the age of 18. They often do not advertise their existence, and when they do, do so through Pagan magazines. Some organise courses and workshops through which prospective members can come along and be assessed. A modern Pagan witchcraft altar A commonly quoted Wiccan tradition holds that the ideal number of members for a coven is thirteen, though this is not held as a hard- and-fast rule.

Gardnerian Wicca revolved around the veneration of both a Horned God and a Mother Goddess, the celebration of eight seasonally-based festivals in a Wheel of the Year and the practice of magical rituals in groups known as covens. Gardnerianism was subsequently brought to the U.S. in the early 1960s by an English initiate, Raymond Buckland (1934-), and his then-wife Rosemary, who together founded a coven in Long Island.Hutton 1999 pp. 205-252.

She touched on having sexual intercourse with the Devil who she described as a very cold "meikle, blak, roch man". He had forked and cloven feet that were sometimes covered with shoes or boots. Details were given of taking a child's body from a grave and spoiling crops together with information about covens and where they danced. She explained that brooms were laid beside her husband in his bed so he would not notice she was absent.

Martello thought it unimportant that many Wiccans had lied about the origins of their beliefs, being quoted by Pagan journalist Margot Adler in her book Drawing Down the Moon as having stated > Let's assume that many people lied about their lineage. Let's further assume > that there are no covens on the current scene that have any historical > basis. The fact remains: they do exist now. And they can claim a spiritual > lineage going back thousands of years.

Bone and Janet Farrar are currently active members in the Aquarian Tabernacle Church of Ireland, and have links with several covens in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. They ran a progressive coven in Ireland called Coven Na Callaighe until early 2009 which was part of Teampall Na Callaighe, which once included an open worship group Clan Na Callaighe. Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone handfasted in Ireland, May 2001. They have legally been married since March 2014.

's Lands Zeemagazijn (arsenal) in 2012 The yard viewed from the north, late 18th century, by Mortier Covens en Zoon In the time of the Dutch republic naval affairs were handled by 5 local admiralties. The Admiralty_of_Amsterdam was the most important of these. The First_Anglo-Dutch_War proved the need for a professional navy. On 12 August 1655, the admiralty therefore got the entire western strip of Kattenburg island for the construction of an arsenal and ship yard.

By 1961, the Wilsons had founded their own coven in Perth. She became a high priestess of covens in Scotland. Shortly before his death in 1964, Gerald Gardner named Monique Wilson his heir, bestowing most of his estate and the entire contents of his Museum of Witchcraft and Magic upon her. She and her husband placed the collection on public exhibition at the 17th century "Witches' Mill" on the Isle of Man near the village of Castletown.

De Tonti reorganized the settlers at Fort Pimitoui in modern-day Peoria. French Map of North America 1700 (Covens and Mortier ed. 1708) -- "PAYS DES ILINOIS", near center French troops commanded by Pierre De Liette occupied Fort St. Louis from 1714 to 1718; De Liette's jurisdiction over the region ended when the territory was transferred from Canada to Louisiana. Fur trappers and traders used the fort periodically in the early 18th century until it became too dilapidated.

The use of social media within eclectic paganism is both a blessing and a curse. Within cultures that discriminate and oppress pagan or occult beliefs and practices, social media can provide a safe haven for learning and discussion; and within all cultures social media allows for the creation of pagan communities. In the past most pagan traditions were passed down through oral traditions and within families or covens. Now with social media information can be reached by anyone.

On April 23, 2007, the VA added the pentacle to the list of emblems allowed in national cemeteries and on VA-issued headstones, markers, and plaques. The group organizes and sponsors an annual festival called "Merry Meet", held in conjunction with the annual business meeting. Representatives from all the member Covens congregate and decide on relevant issues affecting the organization, and Wiccans in general. The business meeting is called the "Grand Council", and is run in a consensus format.

In BTW, initiation only accepts someone into the first degree. To proceed to the second degree, an initiate has to go through another ceremony, in which they name and describe the uses of the ritual tools and implements. It is also at this ceremony that they are given their craft name. By holding the rank of second degree, a BTW is considered capable of initiating others into the Craft, or founding their own semi-autonomous covens.

As more Lycan guards arrive, David turns his focus to them and single-handedly kills around a dozen Lycans. After the battle, David joins Selene and Eve in searching for Michael Corvin who has escaped. In Underworld: Blood Wars, David attempts to get Selene to return to aid the Vampire Covens against the new Lycan leader, Marius. His resurrection has become something of a legend amongst the Vampires as he is the first Vampire to have ever been brought back from the dead.

As one of five larger population concentrations of pagans in the United States (the other four being San Francisco, New Orleans, New York City and Salem, Massachusetts) , the Minnesotan Pagan community is the subject of a thesis by Doctor of Anthropology Murphy Pizza. In her book Handbook of Contemporary Paganism, Dr. Pizza characterizes the Minnesota Pagan community as "eclectic" and comprising "many different groups - Druid orders, Witch covens, legal Pagan churches, Ethnic Reconstructionist groups, and many more solitaries, interlopers and poly-affiliated Pagans [...]".

Eliphas Levi, the 18th century French occultist, believed that the pseudohistorical god Baphomet (that the Roman Catholic Church had claimed was worshipped by the heretical Knights Templar), was actually the horned Libyan oracle god (Ammon), or, the Goat of Mendes.Witches: true encounters with wicca, wizards, covens, cults, and magick by Hans Holzer Page 125 For many years scholars have interpreted the Gundestrup Cauldron's images in terms of the Celtic pantheon. The antlered figure in plate A has been commonly identified as Cernunnos.

Whilst these were heavily criticised by many Wiccans (Margot Adler called The Craft "the worst movie ever made!"), they did encourage many teenagers and young adults to investigate more about the religion. Most covens and Neopagan groups refused to allow under 18s into their ranks, and so many teenagers turned to books to find out more. In turn, several books were published to cater for them, including Silver RavenWolf's Teen Witch: Wicca for a New Generation and Scott Cunningham's Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner.

Selene was created by Kevin Grevioux, Len Wiseman, and Danny McBride. According to Kevin Grevioux, Selene is based loosely on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. After the events of Evolution, Selene is no longer merely a vampire, but a Vampire/Corvinus-Strain Hybrid, now more powerful and also immune to UV radiation. At the end of Underworld: Blood Wars, Selene is not only accepted once again by the vampire Covens, but also named a new vampire Elder alongside David and Lena.

35) In support of his theory, Kelly explains that "the paper trail stops in 1946. We have no serious historical evidence for the existence of any Gardnerian coven before then." (p. 32) Academic writers on religion have tended to treat Kelly's conclusions as factual and unbiased, but not surprisingly, Inventing Witchcraft and the earlier edition of Kelly's work, Crafting the Art of Magic, became a source of controversy among Wiccans, especially in Gardnerian Wicca covens, who trace the origin of their traditions to Gerald Gardner.

This process is known as "siring", and the vampire who does so is called a "sire". Sires often act as mentors to their 'children' and form small covens of related vampires for various purposes. Some vampires can be telepathically linked to those that they have sired.Angel season 1 episode "Somnambulist" The amount of time it takes for a new vampire to rise seems to vary; Buffy often kills vampires as they rise from their graves but other vampires rise after only a few hours.

Theodora Hermina "Dora" van der Meiden-Coolsma (7 November 1918 – 19 June 2001) was a Dutch columnist and the author of 25 children's books, two of which published under the pen name Constance Hazelager. Seven of these books were written together with Coos Covens. As the daughter, wife, and sister of Dutch Reformed ministers, and the granddaughter of the missionary Sierk Coolsma, many of her stories were on Christian topics. Some books were set in Suriname where she had lived during the years 1951-1955.

His death and resulting complete isolation drives Arin insane. In the aftermath, Arin wanders Lishin and encounters a member of the Kriss using a syringe to collect plague from the glands of dead rats. Using his own lep he drives the man insane, and learns through him that the Kriss leader is herding the plague in order to kill the Covens using biological warfare. Moreover, the mercenary army is actually paid for and led by the Kriss, and the army is only nominally involved with City.

Lady Gwen Thompson (September 16, 1928 - May 22, 1986) was the pseudonym of Phyllis Thompson, author and teacher of traditionalist initiatory witchcraft through her own organisation, the New England Covens of Traditionalist Witches. Lady Gwen claimed to be a hereditary witch, with connections to the Salem witch trials of 1692, though she could not provide original sources to support these assertions. When she published a supposedly ancient poem called The Rede of the Wiccae, it was believed by some to be partly her own work.

The herb Atropa belladonna has had an important meaning in the legend and symbology of the Akelarre. Hallucinogens were commonly used during the rite in order to achieve ecstasy. It was dangerous to calculate the right dose when the used quantities approached the lethal quantity, and that is why some substances started being applied as an ointment in the vagina or in the anus. That could have given the origin to the legends of sexuality in witches' covens or the use of caldrons to fix the potion.

These included Stewart and Janet Farrar, two Alexandrian initiates. Stewart, prior to his marriage, had already published information on Wiccan rituals (with Sanders' blessing), in his 1971 book What Witches Do. Together they published further works on the subjects, such Eight Sabbats for Witches (1981) and The Witches' Way (1984). From these published writings, many other practitioners began to follow the Witchcraft religion, working either as solitary Witches or in non-lineaged covens. Valiente herself considered all of these such people to be "Witches", and she reserved the term "Wiccan" to refer solely to Gardnerians.

Due to Buczynski's inexperience in the religion, Martello turned him down, although developed a friendship with him. Martello introduced Buczynski both to other covens who might initiate him, and to Herman Slater, who would become his long-time partner. Slater was ill with various medical complications, and on one occasion was rehabilitating at the New York University Medical Center when Martello performed a healing ritual on him with the assistance of Buczynski. Martello would come to be known as a regular at The Warlock Shop, an occult store opened by Slater in New York.

Clifton 2006. pp. 24-25 In the U.S., new variants of Wicca developed, including Dianic Wicca, a tradition founded in the 1970s which was influenced by second-wave feminism, emphasized female-only covens, and rejected the veneration of the Horned God. One initiate of both the Dianic and Gardnerian traditions was a woman known as Starhawk who went on to found her own tradition, Reclaiming Wicca. She furthermore published The Spiral Dance: a Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess (1979), a book which helped spread Wicca throughout the U.S.Hutton 1999. pp.

Alongside this book, Gardner began to increasingly court publicity, going so far as to invite the press to write articles about the religion. Many of these turned out very negatively for the cult; one declared "Witches Devil-Worship in London!", and another accused him of whitewashing witchcraft in his luring of people into covens. Gardner continued courting publicity, despite the negative articles that many tabloids were producing, and believed that only through publicity could more people become interested in witchcraft, so preventing the "Old Religion", as he called it, from dying out.

Liddell also claimed that the prominent occultist Aleister Crowley had been initiated into one of these nine covens as a young man. According to this account, Crowley had been introduced to the coven in 1899 or 1900 by his magical mentor, Allan Bennett. Liddell asserted that Crowley was subsequently ejected from the coven for his misbehaviour. As evidence for these claims, he stated that his own grandfather had been present on three occasions at which Bennett and Crowley met with Pickingill, and that he had seen a photograph in which the three figures are together.

Pedraforca Berguedà is well known for Pedraforca Mountain (traditionally considered a meeting place for witches' covens), for its pastoral and mountain scenery, and for its many Romanesque churches. Another oft-visited sight is the Mountain of Queralt (home to a sanctuary housing the Comarca's patroness, Our Lady of Queralt), which is served by many hiking trails and offers views of much of Berguedà and the surrounding comarques. The comarca also boasts many medieval bridges and has preserved many old town centers, most notably those of Berga and Bagà.

Clifton 2006. In the U.S., new variants of Wicca developed, including Dianic Wicca, a tradition founded in the 1970s which was heavily influenced by second wave feminism, rejecting the veneration of the Horned God and emphasizing female-only covens. One initiate of both the Dianic and Gardnerian traditions, who used the pseudonym of Starhawk (1951-), later founded her own tradition, Reclaiming Wicca, as well as publishing The Spiral Dance: a Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess (1979), through which she helped to spread Wicca throughout the U.S.Hutton 1999.

Initially, when Wicca was still dominated by covens, "only one copy [of the Book] existed for an entire coven, kept by the high priestess or high priest. That rule has proved unfeasible, and it is [now] commonplace for all Witches to have their own copies."Guiley 2008. p. 35. In the various traditions that make up British Traditional Wicca, copies of the original Book composed by Gerald Gardner with the aid of his High Priestess Doreen Valiente, along with alterations and additions that have been made since then, is followed by adherents.

The Atlas der Neederlanden, or Atlas of the Netherlands, is a composite atlas which was presumably collected and composed by the publishing company Covens and Mortier in Amsterdam. The maps are gathered in nine volumes and show how the Low Countries, including Belgium and the former colonies of the Netherlands, have developed over the course of about two decades. The atlas contains more than 600 printed and manuscript maps and is preserved by the Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam.Atlas der Neederlanden in the Catalogue Library of the University of Amsterdam.

Eleanor "Ray" Bone (15 December 1911 – 21 September 2001) who also went under the craft name Artemis, was an influential figure in the neopagan religion of Wicca. She claimed to have been initiated in 1941 by a couple of hereditary witches in Cumbria. She later met and became friends with Gerald Gardner, and was initiated into Wicca, becoming the High Priestess in one of his covens. She was a friend of several important figures in Wicca during the modern Witchcraft revival, including "Dafo", Jack Bracelin, Patricia Crowther, Doreen Valiente and Idries Shah.

Dianic Wicca has become notable for the female-focus and anti-transgender stances of its founder, Zsuzsanna Budapest, and many members. This female-only, radical feminist variant of Wicca allows cisgender lesbians but not transgender women in Dianic covens. This is due to Dianic belief in gender essentialism, specifically "you have to have sometimes [sic] in your life a womb, and ovaries and [menstruate] and not die" according to Budapest . This belief and the way it is expressed is often denounced as transphobia and trans-exclusionary radical feminism.

There are more former members of the WCC laity and more retired neophytes and initiates of the Odyssean tradition than there are active initiates. Many of these retired Odysseans have gone on to found their own covens and traditions that are based upon Odyssean practices. Many of the other Wiccan churches that exist in Canada, and to some extent the United States, have drawn upon Odyssean sources and retired Odysseans. Prior to 1987, an Odyssean initiate who had been elevated into the High Priesthood would be autonomous of both the tradition's founders and of the WCC.

Even through the internet age, PNO's were one of the only places people could come out of the 'broom closet' and talk with other Pagans and Neopagans. For those that aren't associated with other circles or covens, this was a very helpful place for the solitary practitioner to meet others in their area face to face. Pagan's Night Out began social networking with unaffiliated Pagans which would allow others to share ideas, discuss activities and even hold open rituals. It is perhaps the widely most used medium for in-person networking in the Pagan social scene.

Roger Ebert, Underworld Moovie Review & Film Summary (2003) However, some critics were more favorable: the New York Daily News praised it as being "stylish and cruel, and mightily entertaining for certain covens out there". Salon reviewer Andrew O'Hehir gave a mixed review, stating, "by any reasonable standard, this dark vampire epic — all massive overacting, cologne-commercial design and sexy cat suits — sucks," but that "at least it gives a crap", conceding that despite the movie's flaws, the complex vampire-werewolf mythology backstory "has been meticulously worked out"."Underworld" - Salon.com. The film has developed a strong cult following overtime.

Investigation of the claims of initiation into either the Alexandrian or Gardnerian Traditions have demonstrated no verification in the records of either of those traditions; initiation by his father can neither be proved nor disproved. Soon after forming the group, Patterson applied to the State of California for legal status as an incorporated church and through the Universal Life Church had a charter (1971) and Ministerial credentials for himself and Silverknife. Patterson gathered information, lessons and lore from many helpful sources. These included Doris and Sylvester Stuart of England, Lady Gwen Thompson of the New England Covens of Traditionalist Witches (N.

Hunter brings his father back to Widows Vale Hunter and Morgan reads the memoir of Rose MacEwan's which Hunter acquired while in Canada. Rose MacEwan is a Woodbane ancestor of Morgan and is the first person to have created a Dark Wave (a powerful piece of dark magick which can destroy entire covens). The story is written from Rose's point of view and follows her story as she falls in love, has her heart broken, and turns to dark magic as a means of revenge eventually creating the first Dark Wave, not actually realizing what she was doing at the time.

Atticus O'Sullivan, last of the Druids, has lived for over 2,100 years, mostly by avoiding trouble. Though it appears that recently trouble has found him frequently. After dispatching a Celtic God fixated on vengeance, and preventing warring witch covens from devastating his hometown of Tempe, Arizona, Atticus hoped that he could focus on training his new initiate, the first in centuries. Instead, an old promise made to a friend leads him to band together with a werewolf, a vampire, an ancient Slavic thunder god, a Chinese Immortal, and a Finnish deity on a frantic mission to the land of Asgard.

Clifton 2006. pp. 24-25 In the U.S., new variants of Wicca developed, including Dianic Wicca, a tradition founded in the 1970s which was influenced by second wave feminism, emphasized female-only covens, and rejected the veneration of the Horned God. One initiate of both the Dianic and Gardnerian traditions was a woman known as Starhawk (1951-) who went on to found her own tradition, Reclaiming Wicca, as well as publishing The Spiral Dance: a Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess (1979), a book which helped spread Wicca throughout the U.S.Hutton 1999. pp. 340-351Clifton 2006. pp.

Clifton 2006. pp. 24-25. In the U.S., new variants of Wicca developed, including Dianic Wicca, a tradition founded in the 1970s that was influenced by second wave feminism, emphasized female-only covens, and rejected the veneration of the Horned God. One initiate of both the Dianic and Gardnerian traditions was a woman known as Starhawk (1951-) who went on to found her own tradition, Reclaiming Wicca, as well as publishing The Spiral Dance: a Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess (1979), a book that helped spread Wicca throughout the U.S.Hutton 1999. pp. 340-351.Clifton 2006. pp. 122-123.

In 1970, Paul Huson published Mastering WitchcraftHuson, Paul Mastering Witchcraft: A Practical Guide for Witches, Warlocks, and Covens, New York: G.P. Putnams, 1970 a book purportedly based upon non-Wiccan traditional British witchcraft, and the first do-it-yourself manual for the would-be witch, which became one of the basic instruction books for a large number of covens.Luhrmann, T.M. Persuasions of the Witch's Craft, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989, p.261 "Core Texts in Magical Practice"Kelly, Aidan A. Crafting the Art of Magic: A History of Modern Witchcraft, Minnesota: Llewellyn, 1991, p.61, on "the First Degree Initiation"Clifton, Chas S. The Paganism Reader, New York: Routledge, 2004 p.

Marius is a lycan leader who rose to power following the destruction of Antigen. Marius, who is described as being unlike any Lycan leader ever before, manages to gather an army of Lycans loyal to him that slaughters several Vampire Covens using superior tactics. Marius also captured and murdered Michael Corvin, using vials of Michael's blood to increase his own power and metamorphose himself into a Hybrid. The threat posed by Marius is so great that the vampire Council agrees to pardon Selene if she will train their Death Dealers to fight him, but she is betrayed by Semira and Varga and sent on the run.

Themes covered include Pagan conceptions of the self, the role of covens and the wider Pagan community, the place of children in the movement and the increasing routinization of Wicca through the foundation of organised churches and clergy. Academic reviewers were mostly positive, but several raised concerns over Berger's incorrect use of terminology. Reviewers noted the study's importance in developing Pagan studies as an academic discipline and helping further the wider sociological investigation into new religious movements in the United States. In the years following the study's publication, Berger continued to investigate the Pagan community, focusing her interest on the popularity of Wicca among teenagers.

The figure at the forefront of Wicca's early development was the English occultist Gerald Gardner, the author of Witchcraft Today (1954) and The Meaning of Witchcraft (1959) and the founder of a tradition known as Gardnerian Wicca. Gardnerian Wicca revolved around the veneration of both a Horned God and a Mother Goddess, the celebration of eight seasonally-based festivals in a Wheel of the Year and the practice of magical rituals in groups known as covens. Gardnerianism was subsequently brought to the U.S. in the early 1960s by an English initiate, Raymond Buckland, and his then-wife Rosemary, who together founded a coven in Long Island.Hutton 1999 pp. 205-252.

For this reason, Gardnerian Wicca is usually considered to be the earliest created tradition of Wicca, from which most subsequent Wiccan traditions are derived. From the supposed New Forest coven, Gardner formed his own Bricket Wood coven, and in turn initiated many Witches, including a series of High Priestesses, founding further covens and continuing the initiation of more Wiccans into the tradition. In the UK, Europe and most Commonwealth countries someone self- defined as Wiccan is usually understood to be claiming initiatory descent from Gardner, either through Gardnerian Wicca, or through a derived branch such as Alexandrian Wicca or Algard Wicca. Elsewhere, these original lineaged traditions are termed "British Traditional Wicca".

It was through the Rosicrucian Order Crotona Fellowship that Woodford-Grimes likely met members of another local esoteric group, the New Forest coven, which was one of the earliest recorded Wiccan covens to exist. Its members considered themselves the continuation of the historical Witch- Cult, an ancient religion that the anthropologist Margaret Murray had described in several books published in the 1920s and 1930s. Nonetheless, subsequent investigation and research by historians has disputed that the Witch-Cult had ever existed, and as such it appears that the New Forest coven were in fact a group who had been founded in the early 1930s.Heselton 2003. p. 384-387.

Through his interest in British folk music, Klein discovered the Wiccan and Neopagan communities. While living in New York City, he joined Tzipora Katz's Blue Star coven and tradition of Wicca; he married Katz, who initiated him as a high priest in that tradition in 1983. Between 1983 and 1992 Katz and Klein were largely responsible for transforming Blue Star from a local coven to a Wiccan tradition of its own. Touring the country during that period performing music, Kenny and Tzipora continued to teach Blue Star Wicca, initiating people and founding covens, and teaching largely via recording and distributing lessons on cassette tapes.

In particular, the informant championed Liddell's claims that Crowley had been an initiate of one of Pickingill's covens. By the time of her 1989 book The Rebirth of Witchcraft, Valiente was more sceptical of Liddell's claims, noting that any supporting evidence was "still sadly lacking". Lois Bourne (pictured in 2010) is one of the prominent Wiccans to have criticised Liddell's claims. Another of Gardner's High Priestesses, Lois Bourne, asserted that she was "as sure as I can be" that Gardner had nothing to do with any witches from Canewdon and that if they existed in the first place, then they must have belonged to a tradition distinct from Gardnerian Wicca.

Following the events of Final Crisis and Battle for the Cowl, in which Bruce Wayne has supposedly died and is replaced by Dick Grayson, Kate becomes the lead of Detective Comics from issue 854 to 863. In the first story, entitled "Elegy", Batwoman is seen investigating the arrival of a new leader of the Religion of Crime to Gotham. She briefly meets Batman (it is intentionally left ambiguous whether or not it is Dick Grayson or Bruce Wayne) to discuss her findings. Kate demonstrates greater knowledge of the Religion of Crime, and even corrects Batman by saying there are 13 and not 12 covens of the religion in Gotham.

E.C.T.W.), and others. The Georgian Tradition is based on Gardnerian and Alexandrian Wicca practices, incorporating Etruscan lore from Leland, using those rites and rituals shared by the Sylvestrians and N.E.C.T.W. as well as material from New York Covens of Traditionalist Witches (N.Y.C.T.W); Lord Hermes (Edmund Buczynski) and Lady Siobhan (Order of the Silver Wheel) were most helpful. Many of the rituals are similar to those published in various books on what is sometimes called "British Traditional Wicca" (BTW), such as Janet and Stewart Farrar's Eight Sabbats for Witches and The Witches' Way, as well as the privately distributed version of what was later published as Ed Fitch's Grimoire of the Shadows.

He then approached Gwen Thompson (1928–1986), matriarch of the New England Covens of Traditionalist Witches (NECTW), asking for initiation, although declined to inform her of his sexual orientation. Thompson took a liking to the young man, and welcomed him into her coven, where he proceeded to adopt the craft name of "Hermes". They developed a strong friendship, much to Slater's dismay, and Buczynski soon rose to a second degree position, adopting an adapted craft name of "Hermes Dionysos" and becoming High Priest of Thompson's coven. Thompson ultimately became attracted to the young man, and repeatedly asked him to have sex with her, to which he refused.

Wyrd Sisters features three witches: Granny Weatherwax; Nanny Ogg, matriarch of a large tribe of Oggs and owner of the most evil cat in the world; and Magrat Garlick, the junior witch, who firmly believes in occult jewelry, covens, and bubbling cauldrons, much to the annoyance of the other two. King Verence I of Lancre is murdered by his cousin, Duke Felmet, after his ambitious wife persuades him to do so. The King's crown and child are given by an escaping servant to the three witches. The witches hand the child to a troupe of travelling actors, and hide the crown in the props-box.

The tradition is based largely upon Gardnerian Wicca, in which Sanders was trained, and also contains elements of ceremonial magic and Qabalah, which Sanders had studied independently. Maxine Sanders recalls that the name was chosen when Stewart Farrar, a student of the Sanders', began to write What Witches Do. "Stewart asked what Witches who were initiated via our Covens should be called; after much discussion, he came up with "Alexandrian" which both Alex and I rather liked. Before this time we were very happy to be called Witches". Conversely, the most recent edition of What Witches Do (2010) includes previously published interviews between Sanders and Farrar.

One of ADF's cornerstone principles is the notion that it is a public form of Neopaganism. Again, this was partly a reaction to the secretive religious groups Isaac was familiar with, such as closed covens which were limited in size to 13 members, or Masonic-style societies. In addition to promoting cult-ish behavior, such secretism in a larger sense was seen as unnecessarily promulgating the "underground" (occult, hidden) nature of Neopaganism. By making ADF a public tradition, its founder hoped to both prevent ADF from ever becoming a cult, and to further Neopaganism's acceptance in broader society as a credible and sane family of religions.

Diana (or Artemis, by her Greek name) as a protector of women and wild nature Dianic Wiccans of the Budapest lineage worship the Goddess, who they see as containing all goddesses, from all cultures; she is seen as the source of all living things and containing all that is within her. Dianic covens practice magic in the form of mediation and visualization in addition to spell work. They focus especially on healing themselves from the wounds of the patriarchy while affirming their own womanhood. Rituals can include reenacting religious and spiritual lore from a female-centered standpoint, celebrating the female body, and mourning society's abuses of women.

Reclaiming's spiritual approach is based in the feminist Goddess movement and matriarchal religion. On some levels Reclaiming has much in common with Wicca, and the Wiccan Charge of the Goddess is commonly utilised; part of it is quoted in Reclaiming's core agenda, known as "The Principles of Unity". However, given its focus on dismantling and resisting structures of power and domination, Reclaiming uses consensus process and non-hierarchical structure in its covens – there is no High Priest or High Priestess as there would be in an Alexandrian or Gardnerian witchcraft coven. Reclaiming members are encouraged to take an active part in co-creating group rituals.

In the 1950s through to the 1970s, when the Wiccan movement was largely confined to lineaged groups such as Gardnerian Wicca and Alexandrian Wicca, a "tradition" usually implied the transfer of a lineage by initiation. However, with the rise of more and more such groups, often being founded by those with no previous initiatory lineage, the term came to be a synonym for a religious denomination within Wicca. There are many such traditions and there are also many solitary practitioners who do not align themselves with any particular lineage, working alone. Some covens have formed but who do not follow any particular tradition, instead choosing their influences and practices eclectically.

In some covens a "dedication" ceremony may be performed during this period, some time before the initiation proper, allowing the person to attend certain rituals on a probationary basis. Some solitary Wiccans also choose to study for a year and a day before their self-dedication to the religion. Various high priestesses and high priests have reported being "put on a pedestal" by new initiates, only to have those students later "kick away" the pedestal as they develop their own knowledge and experience of Wicca. Within a coven, different members may be respected for having particular knowledge of specific areas, such as the Qabalah, astrology, or the Tarot.

Indeed, Murray wrote an introduction to Gardner's Witchcraft Today, in effect putting her stamp of approval on it. Wicca is now practised as a religion of an initiatory secret society nature with positive ethical principles, organised into autonomous covens and led by a High Priesthood. There is also a large "Eclectic Wiccan" movement of individuals and groups who share key Wiccan beliefs but have no initiatory connection or affiliation with traditional Wicca. Wiccan writings and ritual show borrowings from a number of sources including 19th and 20th-century ceremonial magic, the medieval grimoire known as the Key of Solomon, Aleister Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis and pre-Christian religions.

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 prints depicting witches and to the three "weird sisters" in Shakespeare's Macbeth (1606). Orgiastic meetings of witches are depicted in the Robert Burns poem "Tam o' Shanter" (1791) and in the Goethe play Faust (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 (2003), Underworld: Evolution (2006), The Covenant (2006), Paranormal Activity 3 (2011), The Witch (2015) and Hereditary (2018).

At least two other confessions from the 16th century, those of Andro Mann and Allison Peirson, reported encounters with the Queen of Elphame; later, in 1670, Jean Weir from Edinburgh, also claimed she met the fairy queen. Gowdie's confessions formed the crux of historian Margaret Murray's thesis about covens consisting of thirteen members; Murray also asserted cults were structured this way throughout Europe although her work was later discredited. Wilby opines there may have been dark shamanic aspects contained in the fairy elements. Despite the Privy Council's April 1662 proclamation, torture was often still employed and Levack speculates some form of it may have been applied to Gowdie; she may have become unbalanced by the imprisonment and lengthy inquisitions.

Through The WICA Newsletter, Martello had met Lady Gwen Thompson, the founder of the New England Covens of Traditionalist Witches (NECTW), and decided to introduce Buczynski to her, resulting in Buczynski's initiation into the tradition in Spring 1972. Martello and Thompson later fell out, with some unconfirmed accounts claiming that it was because he lent her money and she did not pay him back. In October 1972, Buczynski founded his own tradition of Wicca, termed Welsh Traditionalist Witchcraft, with Martello becoming an early initiate and taking on the name of "Nemesis" within that tradition. In turn, Martello welcomed Buczynski into his La Vecchia tradition, and initiated him through its three degree system.

In the second chapter, "The Magical Self", Berger examines the ways in which Wiccans in the U.S. understand themselves, looking at sociological ideas about self-identity and utilising them in her analysis of Wiccan rituals that deal with the transformation of the self. She moves on to look at concepts of gender in the Wiccan community, both for men and women and among homosexuals.Berger 1999. pp. 26-46. The third chapter, entitled "The Coven: Perfect Love, Perfect Trust", provides an explanation of the coven system within Wicca, and the ways in which friendships are built and collapse amongst coven members, and the extent to which covens imitate family structures.Berger 1999. pp. 47-64.

Witches' Sabbath 1821–1823, 140cm × 438cm, Museo del Prado Goya used the imagery of covens of witches in a number of works, most notably in one of his Black Paintings, Witches' Sabbath or The Great He-Goat (1821–1823). Goya's paintings have been seen as a protest against those who upheld and enforced the values of the Spanish Inquisition, which had been active in Witch hunting during the seventeenth-century Basque witch trials. Critics in the 20th century surmise that the Witches Sabbath was painted in 1798 as a bitter struggle raged between liberals and those in favour of a church and a royalist-led state, which culminated in the so-called Ominous Decade (1823–1833)."Dark Knight".

The area is called "El Bailadero", which refers to the dances performed by witches around a bonfire. It was believed that after the covens, witches came down to the coast to swim naked. With the passage of time, due to the influence of vampire stories in Eastern Europe, this led to the myth that witches incorporated the aspect of drinking blood, thus making them witch-vampire, typically tales were created that these witches sucked the blood of newborns as they slept in their cribs. There is also a theory that the origin of this legend, was from pagan rituals associated with rituals that celebrated guanches rain, these rituals were considered as an act of witchcraft by the Catholic Church.

After the Kneitals had rejected his request for initiation into Gardnerian Wicca, Buczynski met with another Gardnerian high priestess, Patricia Siero, who instead agreed to initiate both him and Slater. Siero herself had been initiated by Fran Fisher, high priestess of a coven located in Louisville, Kentucky, in June 1973, who in turn had claimed initiation from Rosemary Buckland. The weekend after returning from Kentucky, Siero initiated Buczynski and Slater through all three degrees of the Gardnerian tradition, entitling them to operate as high priests of their own covens. Buczynski decided to do so, founding his own Gardnerian coven with an older German woman named Renate Springer as high priestess that operated in the Brooklyn Heights area.

Buczynski had become increasingly dissatisfied with Gardnerian Wicca and other forms of contemporary Paganism which he felt treated homosexual and bisexual individuals as inferior to their heterosexual counterparts. He was perturbed that while many covens and other groups did allow gay and bi men and women to join, they were required to work in a ritual framework that was explicitly heterosexual. He argued that this was inconsistent with the fact that a number of pre-Christian societies in Europe and the Middle East had cults containing an exclusively homosexual priesthood. He was particularly interested in such cults that were found in the Minoan civilization of Bronze Age Crete, and began to voraciously read books on the subject.

MacFarlane has played a variety of instruments on a number of records, including vibraphone, drums, guitar, keyboard and vocals. She has worked with other artists including Lee Memorial (alongside Karl Smith of Sodastream), Bombazine Black, The Wonder Winterborn, Tarantula, New Buffalo, Trixies Undersea Adventure, Deer, Boo Who, Popemobile, Bruna, Dragster, Scared of Horses, Cold Cold Hearts, Madigan, Disaster Plan, Clag and Low Talk. MacFarlane has worked as audio engineer at 3CR radio; and on many recordings including solo work, recent ninetynine releases, Covens Revenge, The Hatchets, Cleber Claux Memorial Singers, Baseball, Love of Diagrams, The Stabs and Jules Sheldon. MacFarlane is also a teacher and educator of music, establishing Augment Music Education in 2016.

In almost all cases, cunning folk worked either alone, as a solitary magical practitioner, or with one other person, such as a spouse or sibling. The only known exception was in early nineteenth- century Manchester, where several cunning men used to meet in a group, centred around the most prominent of their members, a cunning fellow called Rawlinson.Hutton 1999. p. 98. This method of working alone was one factor that separated the cunning folk from the stereotype of witches then prevalent in Britain, which often held that these witches met together in groups, sometimes known as covens, and at times flew through the air in order to get to their meeting points.

Covens in "traditional" Wicca (i.e., those run along the lines described by Gardner and Valiente) had and have pretty much equal leadership both of a priest and of a priestess; but often consider the priestess "prima inter pares" (first among equals) - according to the book A Witches' Bible, by Stewart and Janet Farrar. Doreen Valiente became known in Britain as the 'Mother of the Craft' and contributed extensively to Wicca's written tradition. She is the author of The Witches' Creed, which lays out the basics of Wiccan religious belief and philosophy; including the polarity of the God and the Goddess as the two great "powers of Nature" and the two "mystical pillars" of the religion.

Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld: An Anthropology is an anthropological study of contemporary Pagan and ceremonial magic groups that practiced magic in London, England, during the 1990s. It was written by English anthropologist Susan Greenwood based upon her doctoral research undertaken at Goldsmiths' College, a part of the University of London, and first published in 2000 by Berg Publishers. Greenwood became involved in the esoteric movement during the 1980s as a practitioner of a feminist form of Wicca. Devoting her doctorate to the subject, her research led her to join Kabbalistic orders and two Wiccan covens, during which she emphasised that she was both an "insider" (a practising occultist) and an "outsider" (an anthropological observer).

The third degree is the highest in BTW, and it involves the participation of the Great Rite, either actual or symbolically, and in some cases ritual flagellation, which is a rite often dispensed with due to its sado-masochistic overtones. By holding this rank, an initiate is considered capable of forming covens that are entirely autonomous of their parent coven. According to new-age religious scholar James R. Lewis, in his book Witchcraft today: an encyclopaedia of Wiccan and neopagan traditions, a high priestess becomes a queen when she has successfully hived off her first new coven under a new third-degree high priestess (in the orthodox Gardnerian system). She then becomes eligible to wear the "moon crown".

In The White Goddess (1948) Robert Graves claimed that, despite Christianization, the importance of agricultural and social cycles had preserved the "continuity of the ancient British festal system" consisting of eight holidays: "English social life was based on agriculture, grazing, and hunting" implicit in "the popular celebration of the festivals now known as Candlemas, Lady Day, May Day, Midsummer Day, Lammas, Michaelmas, All-Hallowe'en, and Christmas; it was also secretly preserved as religious doctrine in the covens of the anti-Christian witch-cult."Robert Graves, The White Goddess, New York: Creative Age Press, 1948. Published in London by Faber & Faber. The Witches' Cottage, where the Bricket Wood coven celebrated their sabbats. 2006.

He was already acquainted with Margaret Murray's theory of the Witch-cult, and that "I then knew then that which I had thought burnt out hundreds of years ago still survived." This group, he claimed, were the New Forest coven, and he believed them to be one of the few surviving covens of the ancient, pre-Christian Witch-Cult religion. Subsequent research by the likes of Hutton and Heselton has shown that in fact the New Forest coven was probably only formed in the mid-1930s, based upon such sources as folk magic and the theories of Margaret Murray. Gardner only ever described one of their rituals in depth, and this was an event that he termed "Operation Cone of Power".

A person dressed as Krampus at Morzger Pass, Salzburg (Austria) The history of the Krampus figure has been theorized as stretching back to pre-Christian Alpine traditions. In a brief article discussing the figure, published in 1958, Maurice Bruce wrote: > There seems to be little doubt as to his true identity for, in no other form > is the full regalia of the Horned God of the Witches so well preserved. The > birch – apart from its phallic significance – may have a connection with the > initiation rites of certain witch-covens; rites which entailed binding and > scourging as a form of mock-death. The chains could have been introduced in > a Christian attempt to 'bind the Devil' but again they could be a remnant of > pagan initiation rites.

In most traditional covens, the athame is associated with the magical element of fire, so the circle is considered to be cast in etheric fire. This fire is traditionally envisioned as blue, indigo or violet; although it may equally well be envisioned as other colors. When the circle is ritually purified after being cast, that is traditionally done with the remaining three elements—air (incense), water (salt-water), and earth (salt) – because the element of fire has already been imbued into the circle during the casting, by the use of the athame. After the casting, the athame is the tool traditionally used to invoke the elemental guardians of the four directions (also termed "calling the quarters"), typically by drawing invoking pentagrams at each quarter.

Gerald Gardner's earliest Books of Shadows. A Book of Shadows is a book containing religious text and instructions for magical rituals found within the Neopagan religion of Wicca, and in many pagan practices. One famous Book of Shadows was created by the pioneering Wiccan Gerald Gardner sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s, and which he utilised first in his Bricket Wood coven and then in other covens which he founded in following decades. The Book of Shadows is also used by other Wiccan traditions, such as Alexandrianism and Mohsianism, and with the rise of books teaching people how to begin following Wicca in the 1970s onward, the idea of the Book of Shadows was then further propagated amongst solitary practitioners unconnected to earlier traditions.

Later, in British Columbia, the coven incorporated many of the rituals of Starhawk as published in The Spiral Dance.The Spiral Dance, 1979 In 1993, Gary Botting, who by then had become established as a criminal lawyer in Victoria, BC, represented Starhawk and dozens of other Wiccans charged with criminal contempt of court following the Clayoquot protests against logging in the Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island. Subsequently, the Bottings, Favarger, and Favarger's partner and high priest Erik Lindblad successfully campaigned the Province of British Columbia to recognize Wiccan weddings.Douglas Todd, "University of Victoria chaplain marks solstice with pagan rituals," Vancouver Sun, 16 December 2010 By 1995 Coven Celeste had become one of the mainstay covens of Temple of the Lady in Victoria, BC.

A sculpture of the Horned God of Wicca found in the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Boscastle, Cornwall. Murray's witch-cult theories provided the blueprint for the contemporary Pagan religion of Wicca, with Murray being referred to as the "Grandmother of Wicca". The Pagan studies scholar Ethan Doyle White stated that it was the theory which "formed the historical narrative around which Wicca built itself", for on its emergence in England during the 1940s and 1950s, Wicca claimed to be the survival of this witch-cult. Wicca's theological structure, revolving around a Horned God and Mother Goddess, was adopted from Murray's ideas about the ancient witch-cult, and Wiccan groups were named covens and their meetings termed esbats, both words that Murray had popularised.

At the same time, she claimed that the religion was largely passed down hereditary lines. Murray described the religion as being divided into covens containing thirteen members, led by a coven officer who was often termed the "Devil" in the trial accounts, but who was accountable to a "Grand Master". According to Murray, the records of the coven were kept in a secret book, with the coven also disciplining its members, to the extent of executing those deemed traitors. Describing this witch-cult as "a joyous religion", she claimed that the two primary festivals that it celebrated were on May Eve and November Eve, although that other dates of religious observation were 1 February and 1 August, the winter and summer solstices, and Easter.

A 'Book of Shadows', sitting on a Wiccan altar, alongside plants and crystals. In Wicca, there is no set sacred text such as the Christian Bible, Jewish Tanakh, Hindu Gita or Islamic Quran, although there are certain scriptures and texts that various traditions hold to be important and influence their beliefs and practices. Gerald Gardner used a book containing many different texts in his covens, known as the Book of Shadows (among other names), which he would frequently add to and adapt. In his Book of Shadows, there are texts taken from various sources, including Charles Godfrey Leland's Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches (1899) and the works of 19th–20th century occultist Aleister Crowley, whom Gardner knew personally.

She makes sexual advances toward Rae's brother, Peter, and carries herself as though she is far older than she is. Rae is stricken with a series of mishaps, including an unexplained case of hives prior to a school dance, and her dog Trickle dies mysteriously. Rae discovers from a local professor in her neighborhood that the area where Julia's family was from in the Ozarks had a reputation for witchcraft and rumors of covens. Rae, suspicious of Julia, confronts her, and she is revealed to be in fact not Julia at all, but the Grants' 22-year-old housekeeper, Sarah Blane, who is a practicing witch; she caused the car accident that killed both Julia and her parents, and then posed as Julia.

Starwood is attended by people of all ages. Followers of diverse beliefs attend Starwood, including Wiccans, neo-druids, chaos magicians, Ásatrúar, ceremonial magicians, Buddhists, and those representing a variety of New Age spiritualities. According to the event organizers, the festival is designed for members of all spiritual paths to share their customs and beliefs. Some specific groups whose members regularly appear at and attend Starwood include the Church of All Worlds (CAW),Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pagans and the Search for Community by Sarah Pike (2001) University of California Press the Church of the SubGenius,Invented Religions: Faith, Fiction, Imagination by Carole M. Cusack, Pg. 106 (2010) Ashgate Pub Co the Neo-Druidic group Ar nDraiocht Fein (ADF),Ar nDraiocht Fein Website and various Neopagan Covens and organizations.

Officially founded in October 1972, later that year an outer court was founded through which to teach interested persons who were not yet initiated. Notably, he welcomed LGBT people and non-caucasians into his tradition at a time when they were denied entry to most other Wiccan covens. Although taking an open attitude to spiritual seekers, Buczynski prevented the occult investigator, Hans Holzer, from entering the outer coven when the latter requested admission to undertake research for his book The Witchcraft Report; like many in the Pagan and occult community, Buczynski was wary of Holzer's intentions and the sensationalist claims he purported in his publications. A number of teenagers who were interested in Wicca had begun hanging around at the Warlock Shop, and they too were initiated into the Traditionalist Gwyddoniaid, after gaining parental permission.

Murray described the religion as being divided into covens containing thirteen members, led by a coven officer who was often termed the "Devil" in the trial accounts, but who was accountable to a "Grand Master". According to Murray, the records of the coven were kept in a secret book, with the coven also disciplining its members, to the extent of executing those deemed traitors. Describing this witch-cult as "a joyous religion", she claimed that the two primary festivals that it celebrated were on May Eve and November Eve, although that other dates of religious observation were 1 February and 1 August, the winter and summer solstices, and Easter. She asserted that the "General Meeting of all members of the religion" were known as Sabbaths, while the more private ritual meetings were known as Esbats.

She also used one piece of testimony to arrive at the conclusion that covens were usually composed of 13 witches, led by a male priest who would dress in animal skins, horns, and fork-toed shoes to denote his authority (the dress was assumed to be a naturalistic explanation for accused witch's descriptions of Satan). According to Murray, the traditional name for coven gatherings, "Sabbath", was derived from s'esbattre, meaning "to frolic". Most historians disagree, arguing instead that the organizers of the witch trials adopted terms predominantly associated with Judaism, including "Sabbath", in order to denigrate witches as the equivalent to Jews, who were also highly denigrated in mainstream European culture during this period. In fact, many witch trial accounts used not only "Sabbath" but also "synagogue" in reference to gatherings of witches.

Mastering Witchcraft: A Practical Guide for Witches, Warlocks and Covens is a book written by Paul Huson and published in 1970 by G.P. Putnams- the first mainstream publisher to produce a do-it-yourself manual for the would-be witch or warlock.Clifton, Chas S., Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America, Lanham, MD: Rowman Altamira, 2006, , p. 96 The book has been described as one of the main motivators of the so-called "occult explosion" of the 1970s;Clifton, Chas., and Harvey, Graham The Paganism Reader, New York: Routledge 2004, Freedland, Nat, The Occult Explosion, New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1972Cunningham, Scott,The Truth About Witchcraft Today, MN: Llewellyn, 2002 it was regarded as one of the chief sources of information and ritual for non-Wiccan and non-feminist witchcraft.

The history of Wicca documents the rise of the Neopagan religion of Wicca and related witchcraft-based Neopagan religions. Wicca originated in the early twentieth century, when it developed amongst secretive covens in England who were basing their religious beliefs and practices upon what they read of the historical Witch-Cult in the works of such writers as Margaret Murray. It was subsequently popularised in the 1950s by a number of figures, in particular Gerald Gardner, who claimed to have been initiated into the Craft – as Wicca is often known – by the New Forest coven in 1939. Gardner's form of Wicca, the Gardnerian tradition, was spread by both him and his followers like the High Priestesses Doreen Valiente, Patricia Crowther and Eleanor Bone into other parts of the British Isles, and also into other, predominantly English- speaking, countries across the world.

In the high court, Katherine Sands, who was one of four women accused of witchcraft at Culross in 1675, admitted to renouncing her baptism, receiving the Devil's mark and having sex with the Devil, but in local trials these demonic elements were rarer. Stuart MacDonald notes that in trials from Fife the Devil was a relatively insignificant and indistinct figure and that a number of instances of covens meeting look like fairy revels, where the dancing fairies traditionally disappeared when a human broke the ring, rather than satanic gatherings. Fairies were an important part of magical beliefs in Scotland. Isobel Gowdie, the young wife of a cottar from near Auldearn, who was tried for witchcraft in 1662, left four depositions, gained without torture, that provide one of the most detailed insights into magical beliefs in Britain.

Initially initiated into the New Haven coven of Gwen Thompson, a part of the New England Covens of Traditionalist Witches (NECTW), he rose to the position of acting high priest before leaving to found the first American Welsh Traditional Witchcraft coven, in 1972. Although the tradition proved a success and soon spread, Buczynski himself moved on to Gardnerian Wicca, which he was initiated into in 1973. In 1974 he was ordained into the Church of the Eternal Source, a Kemetic Pagan group, but moved on again in 1977, when he founded the Minoan Brotherhood as a Wiccan tradition for gay and bisexual men. Turning to academia, from 1980 to 1985 he studied for a bachelor's degree in Classical archaeology at Hunter College, which he followed up with a master's degree in the subject at Bryn Mawr College from 1985 to 1988.

As with Murray's witch-cult, Wicca's practitioners entered via an initiation ceremony; Murray's claims that witches wrote down their spells in a book may have been an influence on Wicca's Book of Shadows. Wicca's early system of seasonal festivities were also based on Murray's framework. Noting that there is no evidence of Wicca existing before the publication of Murray's books, Merrifield commented that for those in 20th century Britain who wished to form their own witches' covens, "Murray may have seemed the ideal fairy godmother, and her theory became the pumpkin coach that could transport them into the realm of fantasy for which they longed". The historian Philip Heselton suggested that the New Forest coven – the oldest alleged Wiccan group – was founded circa 1935 by esotericists aware of Murray's theory and who may have believed themselves to be reincarnated witch-cult members.

Murray combined testimony from several witch trials to arrive at the idea that witches met four times per year at coven meetings or "Sabbaths". She also used one piece of testimony to arrive at the conclusion that covens were usually composed of 13 witches, led by a male priest who would dress in animal skins, horns, and fork-toed shoes to denote his authority (the dress was assumed to be a naturalistic explanation for accused witch's descriptions of Satan). The "Grand Master", according to Murray, not only represented the Horned God but was believed to fully embody him, allowing his presence at the Sabbath. She wrote: :This was undoubtedly the appeal of the Old Religion: the God was there present with his worshippers, they could see him, they could speak with him as friend to friend, whereas the Christian God was unseen and far away in Heaven.

After being initiated into Alexandrian Wicca by Maxine Sanders in 1970, he subsequently published one of the earliest books to describe this newly burgeoning religion, What Witches Do (1971). Within only a few months of being initiated, he had risen to the position of High Priest and founded his own coven in south London, with Janet Farrar, whom he would later handfast and then legally marry, as his High Priestess. In 1976 the couple moved to Ireland, where they went about founding new covens and initiating new people into Wicca - according to George Knowles, "some seventy five percent of Wiccans both in the Republic and North of Ireland can trace their roots back to the Farrar's [sic]". This claim is repeated in With Janet, he also set about writing books about the subject, most notably Eight Sabbats for Witches (1981) and The Witches' Way (1984).

It was also claimed that he was able to coerce assistance and beer from local residents by threatening to place a curse upon them or their belongings. Although it has been suggested that local people were inventing claims to please Maple, many of which were based on older tales regarding the Essex cunning man James Murrell, subsequent research by historian Ronald Hutton has confirmed aspects of the folklorist's original accounts. In the 1970s, the occultist E.W. "Bill" Liddell began publicising claims that secretive hereditary witch families had informed him that Pickingill was not simply a rural cunning man but that he was a major figure in the nineteenth-century esoteric community. According to Liddell's account—which has failed to receive any scholarly support—Pickingill was a member of a hereditary witch-cult, leading a Canewdon coven and forming nine other covens across southern England.

In early 1973, the shop hit financial difficulty, and the Kneitals personally lent several thousand dollars to Slater and Buczynski in order to help them out, which Buczynski promptly paid back. Their business quickly recovered, and they employed a young man from New Orleans named Robert Carey to work in the shop; he was a close personal friend of Candy Darling, and used to visit The Factory, where he was known as "Chanel 13". The increasing relationship between Slater and Buczynski and the Kneitals led to socialising between their two covens; despite their differing class backgrounds (the Gardnerian Commack coven being largely middle class and the Welsh Traditionalist Brooklyn Heights coven being largely working class and counter-cultural), they got on well. In February 1973, Buczynski requested initiation into the Gardnerican Craft from the Kneitals, but they refused, being cautious of what uses he would put the Gardnerian liturgy to.

Ryall continued her claim, asserting that the religion's local followers worshiped the Great Goddess, who was often known as "the Green Lady" and who it was believed slept during the winter months, along with a Horned God, whom they referred to as "Old Horny".Ryall 1993. p. 05. Ryall claimed that the Wiccans met in secretive covens and performed the Drawing Down the Moon rite as a part of their faith, as well as celebrating five Sabbats annually, which were termed Lady Day (25 March), Beltane (30 April), the Summer Solstice (21 June), Samhain (31 October) and the Winter Solstice (21 December). Describing the group's practices, she claimed that they wore robes, which were "mainly brown or black, although for festivals they were usually green" and that they used a cup, a knife, a wand and a dish of salt as their ritual tools.

Jessie Wicker Bell or Lady Sheba (July 18, 1920 – March 2, 2002) was a writer of the U.S. Wiccan Celtic Tradition and founder of the American Order of the Brotherhood of the Wicca with the aim to unite all practitioners of Wicca (covens, groups, traditions). Born in the mountains of Knott County, Kentucky, Jessie came from an Irish background on her maternal side, and a Native American background on her paternal side; her great grandfather was a Cherokee Indian. She claimed that her family had practiced witchcraft for 7 generations, and that she had led many previous lives. Her own grandmother introduced her to craft when she was just 6 years old and taught her the lore of the Irish Fairy Folk and the Spirit Guides of the Cherokee. She also claimed to have inherited psychic abilities and been granted the “Hand of Power”, which enabled her to protect others.

Chapter 17, "Royalty from the North" His reputation in the tabloids increased when he married the much younger Maxine Sanders in a handfasting ceremony, and subsequently the duo began to refer to themselves as the "King and Queen of the Witches", at one point claiming to have the allegiance of 1,623 witches, and 127 northern covens. His tradition, which was later coined as "Alexandrian" by Stewart Farrar, an initiate of Sanders, incorporated aspects from ceremonial magic and the Qabalah, as well as Judeo-Christian iconography. Sanders justified this by claiming that his version of Wicca and Christianity were both forces for good, battling against the forces of darkness which were practised by Satanists and black magicians. Several Gardnerians, including Patricia Crowther and Ray Bone, tried to denounce Sanders as a charlatan, but he simply responded by accusing them of being the charlatans, and as being practitioners of black magic who abused their initiates.

However this gives only a rough guide to the size of the Wiccan- related economy and he comments that the added complexity of determining the boundary between Wiccan or Neopagan products and New Age products makes determining the size of the movement from this rather problematic. More conservative estimates included Helen Berger and Craig Hawkins in Exploring the World of Wicca, who guessed from 150,000 to 200,000. Melton, J. Gordon, Jerome Clark and Aidan A. Kelly in New Age Almanac (1991, p. 340) estimated a total of about 300,000 people associated with the "overall movement" of Wicca, with "tens of thousands" of members active in between 1,000 and 5,000 covens. Conservative estimates in 1993 arrived at about 50,000 Wiccans in the US (Religious Requirements & Practices of Certain Selected Groups: A Handbook for Chaplains, 1993) while Wiccan high estimates claimed several million (Phyllis Curott, The Book of Shadows: A Modern Woman's Journey into the Wisdom of Witchcraft and the Magic of the Goddess).

Being registered as a religion does not provide any special responsibility nor any legal advantage and is not mandatory for private or public practice as far as other laws are not broken. Only the Catholic Church can be tax exempt, only the Catholic Church can receive state funds and property transferrals and only its marriages are legal without the need of a lawyer. Most religions register as association (whether cultural or religious) to be legally capable of hiring personal and own properties, however this is not mandatory and small religious groups like small neo-Pagan covens or new religious movements do not register at all and are allowed to practice as far as they do not disrupt public order or general legislation. Currently a bill endorsed by the Evangelical parties in the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica named "Freedom of Religion and Cult Act" is under discussion in one of the committees.

It was organized into covens, through which members were initiated through three ascending degrees of competence and authority and which were governed by a high priestess, supported by a high priest. More historical context to the pagan practice of Wicca can be found in the book Wicca: History, Belief, and Community in Modern Pagan Witchcraft That book discusses Wiccan life, covering how and why people convert to Wicca; its denominations; its sociological demographics; its political beliefs, particularly in terms of environmentalist issues; the impact of anti-Wiccan persecution; the transmission of Wiccan and Pagan culture; and the history of academic analysis of Wicca. The Meaning of Witchcraft is a sequel to Gardner's previous book on the subject, Witchcraft Today, which was published in 1954. Chapters include: Witch's Memories and Beliefs, The Stone Age Origins of Witchcraft, Druidism and the Aryan Celts, Magic Thinking, Curious Beliefs about Witches, Signs and Symbols, The Black Mass, Some Allegations Examined.

Buczynski moved in with Slater to an apartment in the Brooklyn Heights in June 1972. That year, the couple decided to open up an occult store, named The Warlock Shop, at 300 Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights, New York City; alongside this venture, they also founded a company, Earth Religion Supplies, Inc, which would later go into publishing. Officially opening on June 21, 1972, the back room of the shop would also be used for weekly lectures and would be rented to various occult groups who wanted to assemble there. Still eager to be initiated into a Pagan Witchcraft, or Wiccan, tradition, Buczsynki began contacting various covens requesting initiation, including the Gardnerian Wiccan coven run in Louisville, Kentucky by Fran and Gerry Fisher and the Algard Wiccan coven that had been founded by Mary Nesnick; the former refused due to the long-distance between them and the young man, while the latter declined due to Buczynski's homosexuality.

In the various forms of British Traditional Wicca, cords, known as cingulum, or singulum (which literally translates as "girdle" or "belt"), are worn about the waist by adherents. These are often given to a Wiccan upon their initiation, and worn at each subsequent ritual.Cingulum, an article in Pentacle Magazine, issue 22, Autumn 2007, by an anonymous author Traditionally they are nine feet in length (nine being three times three, the magical number), and are used to measure the circumference of the magic circle so that it can be set up correctly. In many traditions of Wicca, the colour of a person's cingulum indicates what rank of initiation they are; in several Australian covens for instance, green denotes a novice, white denotes an initiate of the first degree, blue for the second, and a plaited red, white and blue for the third, with the High Priest wearing a gold cingulum (symbolising the sun), and the High Priestess wearing silver (symbolising the moon).

Frew's covens have been members in the Covenant of the Goddess (or "CoG", the world's largest religious organization for Witches), and in 1985 he was elected CoG's second Public Information Officer.Melton, J. Gordon; Religious Leaders of America: a Biographical Guide Gale Research Inc, Detroit & London, 1991; page 159-160 He has, since then, served nine terms on CoG's National Board.five as Public Information Officer (with Dierdre Pulgram Arthen in 1991 and Michael Thorn in 1992), two as First Officer (with Diana Paxson in 1988 and Catherine Starr in 1996), and two as First Officer Emeritus Frew's work as Public Information Officer for CoG led him into communication and collaboration with parts of society traditionally in tension with the Craft community: law enforcement, conservative Evangelical Christianity, and the then-nascent interfaith movement. Frew and his wife wrote a revision of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows, annotating the basic text to multiple books of shadows from different parts of the U.S. and U.K. to Gardner's and Valiente's book of shadows, and to many other historic documents.

By 1970 she had informally created the organization now known as the New England Covens of Traditionalist Witches (N.E.C.T.W.) (currently listed in the State of Rhode Island as a subsidiary of Society of the Evening Star.)2 Around 1974 Thompson retired from leading the N.E.C.T.W. and turned it over to two of its early members;3 the leadership has undergone several changes in the intervening years. Thompson's claims to be an hereditary witch have little independent support, since she states that she destroyed the original version of her grandmother's lore-book after copying its contents, and recopied her own book several times throughout her lifetime. While a recent book by Robert Mathiesen and Theitic documents a long history of occultism within Thompson's ancestry, including the seventeenth-century alchemist, Jonathan Brewster, as well as several of the families on both sides of the Salem witch trials of 1692, there is no direct evidence of the veracity of Thompson's claims as she, her mother and any others who could have provided first-hand information are all deceased, and any written documentation has not been made public.