A gathering of witches or practitioners of the Wicca religion. Covens usually have a fairly constant membership often, according to some traditions, of 13 members. This number supposedly relates to Christ and his 12 apostles, but this idea probably arose during the Inquisition, when witches were persecuted as heretics; the idea of witches perverting Christ\u2019s \u201ccoven\u201d or \u201cconvention\u201d of disciples to their own satanic purposes would have appealed to the witch-hunters of that day. Witch covens during that time were accused of performing \u201cblack\u201d (satanic) masses, which included wild orgies and the sacrificing of animal and human victims, casting evil spells on innocent Christians, and performing other nefarious deeds. Today, historians believe these accusations lacked factual basis, but were instead the work of overzealous church and court officials, who exaggerated facts, tortured accused witches until the kind of information they sought was proffered, and made up \u201cevidence\u201d to serve their cause of ridding society of heretics, nonconformists, and misfits.<\/p>\n
Some historians say the whole idea of covens as a genuine part of witchcraft only arose in modern times, through the work of people such as Margaret Murray, an English anthropologist who popularized the idea of benign witchcraft based on her interpretation of pre- Christian pagan practices. Murray\u2019s books (including The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, 1921, and The God of the Witches, 1931) emphasized a link with nature, worship of a Goddess and a Horned God, and Celtic traditions and adaptations of them. Murray\u2019s ideas were further adapted and popularized by Gerald Gardner in the 1950s and following decades.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A gathering of witches or practitioners of the Wicca religion. Covens usually have a fairly constant membership often, according to some traditions, of 13 members. This number supposedly relates to Christ and his 12 apostles, but this idea probably arose during the Inquisition, when witches were persecuted as heretics; the idea of witches perverting Christ\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c"],"yoast_head":"\n