Coven number of persons involved may vary. Although some consider thirteen to be ideal (probably in deference to Murray's theories), any group of at least three can be a coven. A group of two is usually called a "working couple" (regardless of the sexes). Within the community, many believe that a coven larger than thirteen is unwieldy, citing unwieldy group dynamics and an unfair burden on the leadership. When a coven has grown too large to be manageable, it may split, or "hive". In Wicca, this may also occur when a newly made High Priest or High Priestess, also called 3rd
A Community of Witches of the Witch's Craft: Ritual Magic in Contemporary England" (1989), in which she focused on both a Wiccan coven and several ceremonial magic orders that were then operating in London. The next academic book to be published based upon fieldwork undertaken in the U.S. Pagan community was "Living Witchcraft: A Contemporary American Coven", published by Praeger in 1994. "Living Witchcraft" had been co-written by three academics, the sociologist Allen Scarboro, psychologist Nancy Campbell and literary critic Shirley Stave, herself a Wiccan practitioner. It was based upon their fieldwork undertaken in the Ravenwood coven of Atlanta, Georgia, over several months across