COVEN RESPONSIBILITY

COVEN RESPONSIBILITIES


When a person seeks to join a Coven, they agree to follow the rules of that Coven. If they are unable to do so, they should either not join or resign and seek the Goddess elsewhere.
As time goes on, and the Witch takes on more responsibility with their advancement through the Degrees, they will discover that they also give up certain freedoms as well. Reread the excellent articles Craft Etiquette and On Ritual Etiquette and you will discover that most rules can be considered to be based upon manners and courtesy. There are, however, some rules that are common that the Wiccan may not be aware of. By breaking these rules, there is the risk of bad feelings, loss of membership and possibly Banishment as well.
None of these rules are improper and some are from many sources; Wiccan Law, Traditional Law, Gardnerian Law, Desert Henge Law and lore and tradition. Most, however, can be explained as respect and safety.

NEVER identify another Witch to another without their permission. To do so has gotten people killed, fired, evicted, have their child¬ren taken away, rocks through their windows and so on. This is the ONE LAW that should be common throughout all Wiccandom.
Many Wiccans take a public name to allow themselves to be identi¬fied in public but you should always ask first.
Craft Names are for use in Wiccan Circles only. This is a magickal law that states that if you know the true name (Craft Name) of a person or thing or God, you have control over that person. Thus, to call a Witch by their Craft Name outside of a Circle will allow another person who overhears you power over that person.
You should not Circle with a person with whom you are at odds. If you do so, you will bind the power and prevent the magick from establishing itself. At the very least, your discomfort will cause some dissention within the Coven at that time and thus, the Rite will not be as pleasant for you as it could be.
Never attempt to convert someone to your religion or Coven. We have all undergone the unpleasant situation of having some missionary knock on our door to preach to us when we had other thing to do. We have all had the experience of having some relig¬ious fanatic stand at the bus stop and harass us. Remember, their path is their path and your path is your path. To force another to follow a path not meant for them is stating that you can rule their life. When the Goddess Calls, they will answer and if She doesn't call, nothing that you can do will convert them for long.
The same holds true for a Coven. Not everyone is Dianic or Traditional or Gardnerian or.... Let each person find the Coven that makes them happy.
If you wish to join a different Coven, resign from the one you are now in FIRST. It is disrespectful to the Coven that put a lot of time and effort into you for you to simply leave without notice. This is disrespectful on a job or a marriage or a religion. The Coven wants you there and expects you there and to leave them hanging shows a discourtesy that will be returned to you Three-Fold. A simple letter or phone call to say that you are resigning their Coven or teaching will ease a lot of hurt feelings.
Never seek to teach or Initiate someone who is being taught by another. Each teacher patterns their teaching based on the needs of the Coven, the needs of the Student and the abilities of the student and teacher. If you teach someone the best way for that person to fit into your Coven and they also are learning from a different person, the ways will be different and maybe conflicting. A Traditional Coven will spend months preparing the student for Drawing a Circle. This may include visualizations, logic, energy direction and many other subjects. But an Eclectic Coven may state that you only have to tap the four walls. Obviously, the two ways don't mesh well and to tell a Traditional Student the Eclectic way will harm the Traditional's teachings. You may also teach the student some matters that their other teacher feels are not yet good to teach.
If you wish to guest with another Coven, tell your HP/S first. Most Covens have some sort of rules about guesting. Many are liberal and some are strict, but your own coven's rules should be followed. At the very least, if your HP/S knows that you have been invited, they won't think that you are leaving the Coven. And they may know something about that coven that you will find useful such as their fasting rules, polarity rules, how to act, what to be careful of....
In Desert Henge Coven, a Prospect is free but a Novice who has been Bound looses that freedom. they have decided to belong to Desert Henge Coven for a year and a day and so are required to be loyal and faithful for that year. Once the Novice is Initiated, they regain some of that freedom
The Higher in Degree you go, the more responsibilities you have, the more responsibilities you have, the less freedom you have. A Novice is not expected to know how to Draw a Circle and a First Degree is not expected to know how to Draw Down the Moon. These are specialized fields of knowledge that are taught by different Covens in different ways. But a First Degree will be asked to help Draw the Circle and a Second Degree will be asked to Draw it themselves. DHC does not expect a Second Degree to have to read the Book of Shadows to Draw a Circle. By the time the Witch has achieved that Degree, they are expected to know how to do that job.
In addition, the Second Degree must be always ready to take over a Ritual if something happens to the HP or HPS. If the HPS is sick and the HP turns the Circle over to another 2 Degree Witch, that 2 Degree has not the right to refuse for that is the job that they were trained to do. If they didn't want to do it, they should not have asked to be Elevated. They simply lost, by virtue of the Blue Cord, the right to refuse to help.
The Third Degree has made the decision to place the Craft before their personal life. They have agreed to teach the Craft, perform the rites, counsel the members no matter where or when. They no longer have the right to beg off a ritual because they have a date or want to go on a trip. By asking for that White Cord they have stated that they are ready to do whatever the Craft and Goddess ask.
Initiations are always given by the High Priest to all women and by the High Priestess to all men. This is keeping with the Law of Polarity and holds in Traditional Covens with a very few exceptions. One exception is that a parent may Initiate their children or grandchildren no matter what the gender. The other exception is that English Traditional Covens are run by the High Priest (called the Master) who does all Initiations, male and female. In Dianic Covens, the High Priestess Initiates all females, there being no males allowed, and in Eclectic Covens there are no rules save what that particular Coven chooses to follow at that time..
This rule presumes that the Coven is run by a Third Degree.
In some cases, a Daughter Coven may be started by a Second Degree (as in Crystal Web) under the auspices of the Parent Third Degrees. Or, in extreme cases where there are no other Covens and no Third Degrees about, the Coven may be formed by a Second Degree (as in the case of Desert Henge Coven). But in both cases, the Second Degree is expected to train under a Third Degree somehow and even¬tually achieve his/her own Third Degree.
It is forbidden for a First Degree to Initiate anyone unless (as in the case of the Buckland's) they are doing so under direct control of a Third Degree within that circle at that time. It is also forbidden for any member of a Coven to perform an Initiation without permission of his Coven Elders.
Initiation is a great responsibility and the karmic ties remain for a lifetime with the Initiator being held responsible for ALL acts of the initiate.
You may invite anyone that you wish to any private Passage Rite or spell, provided that they are of a proper degree. If you feel the need to perform a separate spell apart from the coven, then that is your Circle and you may invite anyone that you wish to assist you. If you are doing a Passage Rite (Handfasting, Wiccaning, etc.) you may invite anyone that you wish to guest and your wishes must be respected. If you are being Initiated, both you and the person doing the Initiation may invite guests to witness the rite. But, only Initiates may attend Initiations and only those of that Degree may attend Elevations.
Bindings, being specific to a very few covens, are exempt to this rule.
Enter the Circle in Perfect Love and Perfect Trust. When the HP/S ask you to do something, do so willingly and with no reser¬vations. The HP/S represents the God/dess and so to refuse their requests is to refuse the God/dess Themselves. If you have a difficult time with this, you may not be in the right Coven. If so, discuss your reservations AFTER the Rite and perhaps a compromise can be reached.
The Craft is not fair. Even in those Covens that profess democracy, someone has to be in charge. In a Traditional Coven, the HPS is the final judge with the HP as executioner. In English Traditional Covens, the HP (Master) is the leader, in Eclectic covens, whoever starts the Coven is the ruler.
Even though the HPS rules in Traditional Covens, DHC does encour¬age input and any major decision that affects the Coven will always be put forth for a vote. This vote must be absolute to avoid dissention but the voting members will be the Initiated, not Bound, members of that Coven simply because they have earned that right.
The Coven is not like public school where you attend most of the classes, do a passing grade and you must be promoted. Elevation within DHC is based mainly upon you and your work. If you are a lazy person, you simply will discover newer people being Initiated before you. If you cannot retain the knowledge or will not do the work, you will not be promoted no matter how long you are in the Coven.
In Traditional Gardnerian Covens, a person is Elevated only when the HPS of that Coven feels that the Craft needs another Coven. DHC Elevates people when they show that they can do the work and have demonstrated the dedication required of that level.
Coven Rules apply within the Coven ONLY. No Coven has the right to tell you how to live your life UNLESS it affects the Coven or the Craft. Some Covens have attempted to do so to the disharmony of all (One Feminist Coven required all women in the Coven to be gay and banished one member because she owned a male dog. Another Coven required its members to be veggies.) Thus you can do whatever you want in the Mundane world and the Coven will accept this.
However, the Coven operates in a certain manner and so the members must live within the Circle in that manner. This is because it works and all are comfortable with that manner of work.
Within the DHC Ritual, We operate on a male-female polarity, thus partners of the opposite gender are useful and within the Circle all must be heterosexual, despite what they are during Cakes and Wine or in the Mundane world. DHC works Skyclad and so all should be prepared for this despite their own feelings. DHC has certain fasting rules that work and all should be will¬ing to follow these rules, despite their own desires.
You have to ask for what you want. In the case of Initiation or Elevation, DHC will not offer these to you. You have to ask for them and ask again. Too many people ask to be Initiated on their first meeting and then vanish, others ask without knowing the res¬ponsibilities involved. Thus DHC tends to ignore the first few requests to test you to see if you REALLY want this.
Also, even after you ask, we will discuss your request among the Initiates and either make a decision for a later initiation or wait until a later time to vote. You may or may not be told of our decision.
DHC has a certain plan to enable us to cover the most important topics in order of need. However, if you wish to learn something else, you must ask and we will either set up a class for that topic or assign you to teach that class or tell you why we can't teach that topic at this time.


Madamstar High Priestess/Admin
)O(