Covenstead

Meeting place of a coven

A covenstead is a meeting place of a coven (a group of witches). The term relates specifically to the meeting place of witches within certain modern religious movements such as Wicca that fall under the collective term Modern Paganism, also referred to as Contemporary Paganism or Neopaganism. It functions to provide a place for the group to conduct rituals, undertake lessons and recognise festivals. It can also be referred to as the home of the coven. A group's covenstead is often a physical geographical location, however it can also be a concept such as an astral temple.

The word ‘coven’ is derived from Old French and in the 1500s meant a “meeting, gathering, assembly”. Around 1660 it also came to mean “a gathering of witches”. The word ‘stead’ comes from the Old English term stede, meaning “place, position”.

Modern pagan witchcraft practices and rituals are largely associated with Gerald Brosseau Gardner (1884–1964) who is attributed with reviving the ancient pagan religion Wicca in the 1950s. Wicca and other religions considered to be derived from pre Christian traditions are closely associated with nature, spirituality and witchcraft. Various denominations of the Modern Pagan religion also celebrate a number holidays and festivals throughout the year. Gardner founded his own coven in the 1940s and established their covenstead on his land at Brickett Wood in Hertfordshire, north of London. He was responsible for re writing certain rituals that were practiced by his previous coven using borrowed concepts from magician Aleister Crowley, Charles Godfrey Leland's Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches and the medieval spell book Key of Solomon. Gardner's Brickett Wood covenstead acted as a place in which his coven could carry out these rituals, celebrate the various festivals and hold general meetings. An example of a ritual that can take place in a covenstead is an esbat rite. This rite involves the process of the priest or priestess initiating the proceedings, members of the circle giving their thanks, making requests to their gods and goddesses followed by the ringing of a bell. The ritual can also involve music, song and chanting. A successful example of a coven's integration into a community is the establishment of the House of Oak Spring's covenstead in Decatur, Georgia in 2000. The group purchased a secluded home with surrounding acreage with the intention of remodelling the property to act as their common meeting place and to serve their various needs. The group also began developing walking paths through the surrounding land to be accessed and utilised by the coven's members as well as residents of their suburban community, which was well received. Technopagans don't often meet in person but form close relationships with one another similar to those within covens that meet in person regularly. There are examples of online pagan meetings carried out on CompuServe conference rooms in which members participated remotely in rituals such as celebrations of the full moon. Although there was no face to face contact between members of the covens, rituals were still carried out and festivals were celebrated. The avatars created on Second Life can resemble the user's own physical appearance but can also allow the user to construct an alternative self that enhances their online spiritual experience with features such as wings. article that suggests these followings aren't covens but are instead communities. This also suggests that these online communities, although come together to meet, are not meeting in a covenstead, but something else entirely.

Pagan sites and places witches gather to carry out rituals and to worship gods and goddesses have existed in folklore and popular culture for centuries. Chanctonbury Ring, located in South Downs, England with remains as old as 300BC, is believed to be an early pagan site and continues to have pagan ties with reports of groups still visiting the land to participate in occult activities. There are various interpretations of Paganism and Neopaganism in modern popular culture with TV shows, films and novels including American Horror Story: Coven,the Harry Potter series, Charmed, Witches of Eastwick and The Craft all being examples of entertainment depicting modern representations of ancient practices and beliefs. As each show, film or novel represent varying interpretations of these revived and renewed ancient religious practices, representations of covensteads also vary and often there is no identifiable covenstead at all. The 1998 American TV series Charmed, starring Hollie Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan, was a highly rated show that depicted three witch sisters living together in a single house they called the Halliwell Manor. This house was often the place in which they carried out spells and rituals with the Book of Shadows. However, in the Harry Potter books and films, the education of magic primarily occurs in an institute dedicated to the purpose, The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, instead of a more private and secluded room or home that is traditionally identified as a covenstead.