Meet Coven Oldenwilde Members

In the past, villages had few adepts and naturally had small, local circles. During the Burning Times, keeping the number of Witches clannish afforded the Olde Religion protection since the fewer who knew the secret Mysteries, the fewer might be tortured, name names, and be killed. Traditionally, Witches' covens contain no more than 13 members.

Some Witches today are tempted to establish Wiccan "churches" with large audiences. But in our experience, when a Coven grows beyond its wise traditional limit, it can lose its close-knit, family-like intimacy, and become a crowd typical of Christian congregations in which folks end up feeling like a neglected number rather than individuals with unique needs and aspirations.

Coven work includes individual and collective spellwork, leadership training, ritual construction, and the pursuit of progressively deeper levels of magical understanding.

Each Coven member is a "Priestess (or Priest) and Witch" who has undergone Initiation into the Mysteries following at least a year and a day of studying the Craft intensively. The higher the magical degree (First, Second, or Third), the longer the person has studied, and thereby mastered deeper magical skills.

The High Priestess & High Priest teach students and Coven members written liturgy, the oral history and meaning of what the ancients recorded, magical lore, spellcraft, and much more.

In Coven Oldenwilde, we've taught hundreds of students magic for many, many years. Many study for months only to find themselves unready to become an Initiate with more responsibilities. Others become First degree Initiates, only to plateau and not become a Second degree Elevant. A select few persist, thrive, and eventually achieve the Sublime & Ultimate Third Degree, thus becoming Wiccan clergy able to "marry and bury" legally in North Carolina and most other states. They may then elect to found their own "hive-off" or daughter Coven, and thus help entire communities.

Although we have Initiated and Elevated many Witches, the pictures we post here are of some of those who remain in goodly standing -- folks who perpetuate the Gardnerian traditions we taught them, and who remain on friendly terms with Coven Oldenwilde.

Craft Names

Witches have traditionally used "magical names" to make themselves known to each other. Doing so reminds us that we are innately spiritual beings — drawing a distinct boundary between our mundane and our magical personae — as well as protecting those who are not publicly known as Witches from persistent societal and institutional prejudice and persecution.

For instance, we may assume the name of a Deity, or a sacred plant, animal, object, or mythological figure. Some names may initially strike you as strange, but they have been chosen by or given to Witches for specific magical reasons.