Covencraft: Witchcraft for Three or More by Amber K

Whether you’re searching for a coven or hoping to build one from
scratch, you’ll no doubt find valuable information in Amber K’s
book, Covencraft. Many books purport to be as useful to beginners as to
those further along on their path, but this 500 page tome really
fulfills the promise. For beginners, it outlines what being a witch is
about, providing everything from a cosmological overview of the
religion to ritual outlines for just about every imaginable category.
It also conveys a bit of wicca’s history, and while Amber K’s unbroken
tradition slant is not one that I personally ascribe to, she can be
credited for noting when there are conflicting opinions on certain
details so that readers are at least aware of them. The real treasure
of this book, however, is her mechanic’s approach to writing about the
actual practice of the Craft. While many books provide ritual scripts,
meditations, spells, correspondences, philisophical musings and the
like, Amber K gives the reader the usual array plus
a down and dirty lesson on the dynamics of how people and groups
actually work. Everything from budgeting and filing for nonprofit
status with the IRS to how to handle specific types of group conflict
are covered. For example:

    Rosetta Stone is the High
    Priestess of Small Unidentified Pond Creatures Coven. She is very
    capable and efficient, and somewhat lacking in trust that anyone else
    can do a project as well as she can. . .but clearly Rosetta is stressed
    and overworked and some of the other members’ skills are underutilized.
    What do you do?

Beyond just ritual, the covens
are provided with a variety of exercises designed to help the group get
to know one another and develop bonds. After all, religion isn’t only
about gods and goddesses, it’s about people. You can talk about
ethereal concerns all you want, but that won’t solve the conflict
between your covenmates over what to bring to the potluck after next
week’s esbat!

Leave a Reply