TYPE 4

$FOOD FOR THOUGHT AT STARTING A COVEN

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

SYSOP'S NOTE: This excellent food-for-thought was downloadedfrom EarthRite

BBS, 415-651-9496. - Talespinner, Sysop, WeirdBase

LOOKING AT YOURSELFbefore you go a step further, take a good long look at

your desires, motivation and skills. What role do y ou see yourself playing

in this new group? "Ordinary" member? Democratic facilitator? High Priestess?

And if the last -- why do you want the job?The title of High Priestess and

Priestess are seductive, conjuring up exotic images of yourself in embroid

ered robes, a silver crescent (or horned helm) on your brow, adoring

celebrants hanging on every word which drops from your lips...Reality check.

The robes will be stained with wine and candle wax soon enough, and not every

word you speak is worth re membering. A coven leader's job is mostly hard

work between rituals and behind the scene. It is not always a good place to

act out your fantasies, because the lives and well-being of others are

involved, and what is flattering or enjoyable to you man not be in their best

interest. So consider carefully.If your prime motive is establishing a coven

is to gain status and ego gratification, other people will quickly sense

that. If they are intelligent, independent individuals, they will refuse to

pl ay Adoring Disciple to your Witch Queen impressions. They will disappear,

and that vanishing act will be the last magickthey do with you.And if you do

attract a group ready to be subservient Spear Carriers in your fantasy drama

-- well, do you really want to associate with that kind of personality? What

are you going to do when you want someone strong around to help you or teach

you, and next New Moon you look out upon a handful of HenryMilquetoasts and

Frieda Handmaidens? If a person is willing to serve you, the they will also

become dependent on you, drain your energy, and become disillusioned if you

ever let down the Infallible Witch Queen mask for even a moment.Some other

not-so-great reasons for starting a coven:

a) because it seems glamorous, exotic, and a little wicked;

b) because it will shock your mother, or

c) because you can endure your boring, flunkie job more easily if you get to

go home and play Witch at night.Some better reasons for setting up a

coven, and even nomination yourself as High Priest/ess, include:

a) you feel that you will be performing a useful job for yourself and others;

b) you have enjoyed leadership roles in the past, and proven yourself

capable; or c) you look forward to learning and growing in the

role.Even with the best motives in the world, you will still need to have --

or quickly develop -- a who le range of skills in order to handle a

leadership role. If you are to be a facilitator of a study group, group

process insights and skills are important.These include: 1) Gatekeeping, or

guiding discussion in such a way that everyone has an opportu nity to express

ideas and opinions; 2) Summarising and clarifying; 3) Conflict resolution,

or helping participants understand points of disagreement and find potential

solutions which respect everyone's interests; 4) Moving the discussion

toward c onsensus, or at any rate decision, by identifying diversions and

refocussing attention on goals and priorities; and 5) Achieving closure

smoothly when the essential work is completed, or an appropriate stopping

place is reached.In addition to group process skills, four other competencies

necessary to the functioning of a coven are: ritual leadership,

administration, teaching, and counselling. In a study group the last one may

not be considered a necessary function, and the other three may be sh ared

among all participants. But in a coventhe leaders are expected to be fairly

capable in all these areas, even if responsibilities are frequently shared or

delegated. Let us look briefly at each.Ritual leadership involves much more

that reading in vocations by candlelight. Leaders must understand the powers

they intend to manipulate: how they are raised, channelled and grounded. They

must be adept at designing rituals which involve all the sensory modes. They

should have a repertoire of songs and chants, dances and gestures or mudras,

incense and oils, invocations and spells, visual effects and symbols,

meditations and postures; and the skill to combine these in a powerful,

focused pattern. They must have clarity of purpose and firm ethic s. And they

must understand timing: both where a given ritual fits in the cyclesof the

Moon, the Wheel of the Year, and the dance of the spheres, and how to pace

the ritual once started, so that energy peaks and is channelled at the

perfect moment. A nd they must understand the Laws of Magick, and the

correspondences, and when ritual is appropriate and when it is not.By

administration, we refer to basic management practices necessary to any

organization. These include apportioning work fairly, an d following up on

its progress; locating resources and obtaining them (information, money,

supplies); fostering communications (by telephone, printed schedules,

newslettersetc.); and keeping records (minutes, accounts, Witch Book entries,

or ritual l ogbook). Someone or several someone's has to collect the dues if

any, buy the candles, chill the wine, and so forth.Teaching is crucial to

both covens and study groups. If only one person has any formal training or

experience in magick, s/he should t ransmit that knowledge in a way which

respects the intuitions, re-emerging past life skills, and creativity of the

others. If several participants have some knowledge in differing areas, they

can all share the teaching role. If no one in the group ha s training and you

are uncertain where to begin, they you may need to call on outside resources:

informed and ethical priest/esses who can act as visiting faculty, or who

arewilling to offer guidance by telephone or correspondence. Much can be

gleane d from books, or course -- assuming you know which books are

trustworthy and at the appropriate level -- but there is no substitute for

personal instruction for some things. Magick can be harmful if misused, and

an experienced practitionercan help yo u avoid pitfalls as well as offering

hints and techniques not found in the literature.Counselling is a special

role of the High Priest/ess. It is assumed that all members of a coven share

concern for each other's physical, mental, emotional and spiri tual welfare,

and are willing to help each other out in practical ways. However,coven

leaders are expected to have a special ability to help coverners explore the

roots of their personal problems and choose strategies and tactics to

overcome them. Th is is not to suggest that one must be a trained

psychoanalyst; but at the least, good listening skills, clear thinking and

some insight into humannature are helpful. Often, magickal skills such as

guided visualization, Tarot counselling and radiesthe sia (pendulum work) are

valuable tools as well.Think carefully about your skills in these areas, as

you have demonstrated them in other organizations. Ask acquaintances or co-

workers, who can be trusted to give you a candid opinion, how they see you in

some of these roles. Meditate, and decide what you really want for yourself

in organizing the new group. Willyou be content with being a catalyst and

contact person -- simply bringing people with a common interest together,

then letting the group guide its destiny from that point on? Would you rather

be a facilitator, either for the first months orpermanently: a low-key

discussion leader who enables the group to move forward with a minimum of

misunderstanding and wasted energy? Or do you real ly want to be High

Priestess -- whatever that means to you -- and serve as the guiding spirit

and acknowledged leader of a coven? And if you do want that job,exactly how

much authority and work do you envision as part of it? Some coven leaders

want a great deal of power and control; others simply take an extra share of

responsibility for setting up the rituals (whether or not they actually

conduct the rites), and act as "magickal advisor" to less experienced

members. Thusthe High Priest/ess can be the centre around which the life of

the coven revolves, or primarily an honorary title, or anything in

between.That is one area which you will need to have crystal-clear in your

own mind before the first meeting (of if you are flexible, at least b e very

clear that you are). You must also be clear as to your personal needs on

other points: program emphasis, size, meeting schedule, finances, degree of

secrecy, and affiliationwith a tradition or network. You owe it to

prospective members and to yourself to make your minimum requirements known

from the outset: it can be disastrous to a group to discover that members

have major disagreements on these points after you have been meeting for six

months.BLESSED BE