what is the optimal number of witches for a coven This is a topic that many people are looking for. amritsang.org is a channel providing useful information about learning, life, digital marketing and online courses …. it will help you have an overview and solid multi-faceted knowledge . Today, amritsang.org would like to introduce to you 6 Minutes of Witchcraft with Laura Tempest Zakroff – Episode 5 Special: Covens – Warnings & Whats. Following along are instructions in the video below:
The timer for a special edition. Of six minutes of witchcraft with me. Laura tempest.
Tempest. Zakroff. And it is a special edition.
Because its going to be 13 long. I know right really what came down to is i put a list of possible topics for folks to vote on on the a modern traditional witch page on facebook. And the the winner there are five close ties.
But the winner really was looking at warning signs for covens and i think to really talk about what the warning signs are we need to be on the same page of discussing what is a coven and what are the expectations and rather than filming two separate episodes run right after the other i figured lets just put them all together into one 13 minute episode 13. Because im a dork and also this is mainly cause. Im lazy and dont want to have to deal with two separate uploads.
So first covens and witches. If you have read weave the liminal or have heard me talk before at a workshop. You might have heard me say that i believe that covens are sort of an unnatural state for witches.
I know right blasphemy. That is because i think that witches really are loners for the most part you do the practice on your own you do the work on your own and rather than saying that you need a coven to work together i look at convening instead so when i go to events. I enjoy sharing ideas and thoughts and processes and practicing with other witches and people of other paths.
But thats not to say that i need a coven or a group of people in order to do the work that i need to do so a really quick and dirty history of looking at how covens were associated with witches you have to go back to the witch trials. And that covens the idea of the coven that there being 13 and a coven and all these different processes really kind of perverted ideas of christianity because well mainly what the church was doing is hunting down people that they didnt want practicing herbalism owning land like widows. You know having land that the church could use or that wealthy people could take advantage of theres a whole long list.
We could talk about though witchcraze back in from the 15th century onward and a different time. But most of what we have come to believe what what a coven is comes from testimonies that were forced right from torture uh and margaret murray. Who did some good research and she did some really kind of questionable research would let she had in front of her or not gonna debate that one either.
But essentially a lot of the things that we expect now for modern day covens did come from this fantasy.
Rather than what is a practical application of magical forces and which is working together i am of the belief that witches were trained and more of an apprenticeship yeah apprenticeship kind of system. Because you think about shoemakers and blacksmiths and and firming. All of these things were brought you go through a family or that you traded off children.
You know whoever was more adept at a particular skill to learn that trade and so you might be apprenticed or indentured to learn that trade for anywhere from a year to ten years or however long it takes for the current practitioner to pass over now that means that its sort of a one on one right you need one person to do whats going on. Here. One one witch per village.
Maybe a couple if its a big village. And we tend to especially because of what was brought through in the mid twentieth century. What gardner and other folks is that this is a revival of a pre christian religion and were putting this renewal.
This whole concept of goddess and god worship in the horned god all these different things which are great ideas but really what theyre trying to do is push this concept of religion into this coven structure is essentially its a church and lets say it the word coven. It has a certain nor to it everyone goes. Oh coven you know its its sexy.
And there is a certain taboo and kind of naughtiness about like oh yes. Im part of a coven and and its kind of fun. Its its really is fun to be part of a group of like minded people and to get up to metaphysical mischief or practical matters not necessarily mischief to do work.
So here is my point going back to it uh. We have come to in modern society. Look at covens in a few different ways that a coven is the only place you can really properly learn about witchcraft.
According to those folks. Or a coven is a religious society. So its a basically a church a bunch of people working together to worship right to have a common belief and they are part of that little system and theres a coven as a social group right and its kind of you know this sort of mix so when someone says you know you need to you need to find a coven or you feel like you need to join a coven first you need to ask yourself what are you looking for are you looking to learn the trade of witchcraft are you looking to be a practitioner and really learn the ins and outs and everything that means are you looking for a group of people to worship with to find some sort of common god goddess mythology system that you want to work with and so youre looking for that are you looking for a social group and these are important things to ask before you join any particular group and so it almost gets us right.
There at at six minutes. So haha. See just explaining a coven took that long and so i want to make it clear.
Im not saying that covens are bad.
I just think that theres a lot of meaning. And theres a lot of mythology that is wrapped up within covens. So that means.
Its kind of easier to look out for the warning signs. So i made a tweet laughs. I made a tweet.
I tweeted. The other day about people thinking that the craft is something that they should base their witchcraft off of and people were like oh no i love that movie. Im not saying.
Its bad movie. Its a movie. Its entertainment entertainment is a wonderful thing.
It can be very inspiring you should not base your actual practice off of it. And so there are some key things that i have seen and people have asked me recently that like oh really no stop watching the craft and pick up some books and talk to other people because one so if youre going to join a coven you should see who are the other people in this coven. Do you know them are there long term practitioners or is it something that there seems to be a new group of people like every couple weeks or over a couple months or every year like nobody stays with them if they dont have a retention like people arent staying.
And its not because theyre moving onward or going to school or anything else like that thats a warning sign a really good coven that is whether its a teaching coven or a worshiping type of coven. Even a social group should have consistent members that stay in the group and that people have good experiences from that so what is the the. Legacy what is the reputation of the.
Coven so that is a thingtthe other thing is watch the power dynamics. Some people im going to form a coven so i can have all this power and be in charge and be a teacher thats a bad idea for running a coven as i said back in the beginning that witches can come together to convene to share and so even if you are in a teaching coven you should be able to trust the person who is teaching you who is leading the protocol that you should feel comfortable. There are certain levels of discomfort.
When youre learning new things that you might not be familiar with that is one thing. But abusive personalities. People say you cant question what im saying.
And they dont explain why that is another big warning sign run run away another thing is unhealthy practices in general.
So this is 2019 right now and your initiations and other sorts of practices should not include the transfer of bodily fluids okay blood spit sexual fluids any of these things unless you are with your working partner. Okay. This is not a process of initiation.
We have blood borne pathogens stds a whole bunch of other stuff. If you cant follow. The catholic church and use transubstantiation.
A symbolic process. Where wine is transferred into change into blood magically right. Its a magical process.
Okay if you cant take the symbolism and somebody insists that you have to you know take in fluids of other people mmm generally not a good idea either and so you know there are some nice romantic notions. But no you dont have to do that its not going to make you a witch. Its not gonna make you more powerful or less powerful.
If you do do it dont do it and that also feeds into another warning sign are you being pressured into doing something that you dont want to do again. And theres things that should not happen at initiation for most traditions is a sexual act. Yes really and im not talking in the feri sense of like ah that sunrise is an orgasmic feeling.
And so. Its a sort of a sexual experience. Because the whole planet is is reproducing and cells are splitting.
No im not talking about that i am talking about heterosexual or homosexual or any other fill in the blank sexual intercourse of some way that supposedly solidifies an initiation nope. No again maybe you might be doing you and your partner decide to do something together that is a bonding thing for the both of you that is a different thing versus somebody installing a power dynamic that say oh i have your high priest or high priestess. So you need to have sex with me in order be initiated right like dont even be like hold on let me call it just just get out cuz that is not healthy that is not how it is and yeah.
If you feel uncomfortable. And its not that oh. This is a little outside my comfort zone.
And im a little nervous.
Im a little scared about being initiated thats one thing. But if youre like i feel like this is not consensual or im being coerced or im being abused or bullied into a situation this is not what working magic is about you are autonomous. You have your own power and you need to trust your intuition follow your gut.
Thats at the heart of witchcraft. And is the mind of witchcraft that is the gut of witchcraft to trust yourself and to take care of yourself alright. So this is not high school and there there are many different ways to practice.
But you dont need to follow into any sort of relationship that is not healthy a really good coven really functions like a family that you look out for each. Other that you take care of each other that you might call bullshit on folks when they they need it. But you do is so in a loving manner and not in an abusive way it should be a unit.
So if youre going to join anything make sure its something that you really want to be a part of that you feel comfortable with and its something in for the long term. If you just want to learn witchcraft thats books. Theres plenty of classes out there.
Where you can just take a class take series of classes. See if you like a group. A lot of good covens.
Will also have that kind of teaching offering. Where they say here are the classes and then after a while if youre a good fit then theyll say yes checking the timer and i have ive rambled right through. Were coming out up to 13 minutes so with that youve got a little bit about what the coven is would it you should consider chime.
There it is theres a theres our timer and its really big things to to watch out for so. Thank you so much for watching be sure to subscribe to six minutes of witchcraft. It should be a little button that shows up on the screen.
And it leave comments. If you have any other questions. I do have a lot of lists of things that i want to want to tackle and thank you so much bye.
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