Virtual Covens

[Malkosha]

I’ve been studying everything I can get my hands on lately and having a ton of fun doing it! One of the problems that I’m having is that I don’t really know enough to ask the right questions so instead I end up learning both basic and advanced knowledge, sometimes without knowing the difference. I figure that sooner or later I will bring some organization into my studies.

I’ve run into the concept of virtual covens and I was wondering what the people on this board think of them. Is it actually possible to be a “true” (whatever that means) coven member online? Not to be negative here, but how do you tell the legitimate covens from the “I don’t have nothing to do so lets start a coven” type of organization?

Thank you and be well.

[Amethyst Rose]

Hmmm....that's actually harder to answer than it first seems.

To answer your first question, I think that some online covens can be very useful in learning information. I used to belong to an online coven called the Crystal Waterfall... it taught a celtic brand of eclectic wicca. It's not there anymore though....just a store with no products in it, otherwise I would have pointed you there.

As to how you can tell a legitimate coven to the non-legitimate... that depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for an online coven that teaches British Traditional Witchcraft/Wicca, you probably aren't going to find one. Most online covens teach eclectic wicca. Therefore, because there isn't an initiatory line to be researched, you have to go on the information offered and the medium it is offered in. If you have to pay money for it, be a little suspicious. If the information you're being given or the way it's being presented seems a little weird or wrong, then be suspicious. Otherwise, there's nothing you can really do, unfortunately.

[Ari]

I think they can be useful in the same way that a message board like this or a mailing list can be useful - as a forum to share information and ideas. If you're looking for the "coven experience" though, I don't believe you can have that online. A lot of what I see as important in group work is a result of people being physically together eg sharing energy during 'work', and learning from a teacher face to face.

With telling legitimate groups from 'too much time on their hands', I'd suggest the same methods as for real life groups - common sense, and Isaac Bonewits's Cult Evaluation questionaire (http://www.neopagan.net/ABCDEF.html). The more you educate yourself, the easier it is to tell whether other people know what they're talking about.

[Jenett]

One other good resource for evaluating coven-based stuff in particular is CASHI - the Coven Abuse Self-Help Index. It focuses specifically on healthy and unhealthy situations in covens, along with info on how to distinguish one from the other (for example, a group asking for reasonable funds to cover expenses from its members is fine, but a group that asks for large sums, or wants to monitor your finances isn't.)

You can find it here: http://www.wyrdweavers.org/files/cashi.html

Personally, having participated in a training coven for a year, I can't imagine the experience being the same if it's purely online. A number of my favorite experiences with the group I'm working involve physical things that just don't translate well online (dances, singing together, carving pumpkins, guided meditations, ritual theatre)

That doesn't make the online stuff bad (and certainly, in the right group, you could learn a lot) - just different, but different in ways I find matter to me quite a bit.