Coven Coven A coven usually refers to a group or gathering of witches. The word "coven" remained largely unused in English until 1921 when Margaret Murray promoted the idea, now discredited, that all witches across Europe met in groups of thirteen which they called "covens". In Wicca and other similar forms of modern neopagan witchcraft, such as Stregheria and Feri, a coven is a gathering or community of witches, much like a in Christian parlance. It is composed of a group of believers who gather together for ceremonies of worship such as Drawing Down the Moon, or celebrating the Sabbats. The
A Community of Witches and muses on the possible future for Wicca in the United States. Whereas the sociologist Loretta Orion had believed that contemporary Paganism was a postmodern movement, in "A Community of Witches", Berger argued against this, instead considering Wicca to be a religion of late modernity. In supporting this position, Berger turned to the work of the British sociologist of religion, James A. Beckford (1942–), who in his book "Religion and Advanced Industrial Society" (1989) had argued that many new religious movements reflect the characteristics of late modernity by challenging traditional definitions of religion, sharing a holistic worldview and emphasising the