Before you start a Coven... part 3 (New Pagans)

by Ash, Thursday, November 05, 2009, 18:14 (265 days ago) @ Ash

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. Will
you 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 or permanently: a low-
key discussion leader who enables the group to move forward with
a minimum of misunderstanding and wasted energy? Or do you
really 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. Thus the High Priest/ess
can be the center 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 be 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 affiliation
with 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.