The Western Dragon has long been known as a mystical beast. It represents a joining of the four elements. it breathes fire, it flies and, thus, uses the element of air. Its long slithering body is similar to the form of a snake, representing earth and it is often found rising out of the depths of the water. It is, therefore a powerful and fearful beast - and it should be. In many mythological stories, it represented the beast within that we all have to conquer on our quest for the holy cup - the symbol of the purified soul. The dragon is that which we must face head on and defeat alone. Each of the four elements teaches us lessons about ourselves and each other. But, at some point, we must conquer that which is the culmination of all the elements. It is then the dragon awakes with its burning red eyes and slithers its way to front of the cave to block your way on the journey. Take your sword in hand, brave warrior, and... oh, sorry. I get carried away sometimes.

I know what you’re thinking. Here goes that Shanddaramon again with another article about inner psychological work and you would be partially right. I do want to talk about the dragon within all of us. But I want to talk about how we can actually keep the dragon at bay in our group work. I’m speaking about a special dragon that feeds off a particular kind of food - power. It lies quietly within its dark watery cave and may stay dormant for years. But, if it even catches a small whiff of the scent of dominance it will raise its scaly head. If it continues to be tantalized, it will makes it way to the surface and look about. If fed a regular diet of control and manipulation, it will rear its ugly head and attack. And it can be vicious. It can destroy a soul and, worse, the souls of others in its vicinity.
The irony of this fable is that we know the beast well. In fact, many pagans are pagans specifically because we saw the beast and we ran from it. OK, so saying that we ran from it is not very dignified. Let’s say we chose to turn our backs to it in proud defiance. What am I talking about? The aggressive intolerance and dominance that many experience in traditional patriarchal religions. You’ve heard or experienced the stories:

At some point you may have decided to break away from that treatment. The freedom of paganism attracted you and so you decided to study more and start a new religious path. It is then that you may have sought out what you learned to be a form of group worship for the practicing pagan. In Wicca, we call it the coven. But, how many of you then began to experience the same autocratic conditions in the coven that led you to leave your birth religion in the first place? Read the list above again. Those same attitudes can be attributed to a traditional coven led by a power hungry and domineering high priest and/or priestess. The dragon knows no religious boundaries. It knows only an unending hunger for more power and more control. Like an addictive drug, it is so easy to get taken over by the beast. It feels good to be loved, honored, and respected by a group of people. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course. But the beast always lies waiting. It is when the teacher focuses on demanding even more love and respect instead of focusing on the well being of the student that the beast finds an opening in which to lunge forth. To get that continuos hit of more love and adoration, the teacher may find herself exerting more and more power and control. It is a nasty and dangerous cycle and I do not claim to be any less susceptible to it than any one else. All teachers must stand guard at the gate. The traditional coven, then, can become a breeding ground for the very same creature we sought to avoid in our traditional religions - that mean old dragon. That is because we put our spiritual development and group leadership into the hands of one or two people and this is where the danger may lie.

Because of this very reason, I have begun to see a new movement take place to redefine the traditional coven into a more democratic and balanced magickal working group. I think this is the right way to go and I would like to propose some concepts to think about in the formation of just such a nontraditional coven (NTC). Here, in brief, is what I offer as suggestions for the modern emerging nontraditional coven:

First off, I think we need to carefully separate the two most common group formations currently seen in the pagan community. There is the coven group and the pagan teaching group. The teaching group exists to offer learning and support for pagans at all levels. These groups can have open teaching formats or closed formats. In other words, the topics can be based on a predetermined curriculum such as a school might offer or they can be open to whomever wishes to teach and the topics will depend on whatever teachers volunteer their specialties or interests. The traditional coven used to take on both the task of teaching (usually in a degree system) and offering small magickal group work. My concept of the NTC is that it not engage in teaching and that learning now should take place in the pagan teaching group as is becoming the trend. Although many of these teaching groups include ritual work and celebrations, they tend to be on the sabbats and include large numbers of people. This, to me, makes sense. Sabbats should be large group ceremonies and often, these are the events that help bring new people into the Pagan path. However, these large groups cannot do the type of intense spiritual work that only a small group can. Secondly, it is difficult to get a group of people who are all at different levels of learning to be able to be involved in a complicated ritual. This is where the NTC can be put to good use. I advocate that all members of a coven have at least two years of training (what we would call in my tradition second degree. ) This means at least a year of learning the basics and then another year spent in experiencing how to apply those concepts to a personal practice. Only after knowing how to work with these things on a personal level can one hope to be able to work with them in a group setting.

The NTC would have the unique opportunity of providing all of its members the chance to lead at least one ritual within a solar year. This means that all of the members of the NTC are truly priests in every sense of the word. (I should mention here that, in my tradition, the use of the word Priest/ess and High Priest/ess are a recognition of degree work and are offered in honor of that work but those titles do not grant a special ability to lead others. Leading, teaching and following are inherent qualities of all of us. Instead, we call the person who leads a ritual Center because that is the position in the circle that they occupy.) This is the reason I suggest that the NTC contain exactly 13 member units. (If two people wish to lead a ritual together, that would be one unit.) This would ensure that all members or units would have the chance to lead one ritual during every solar cycle. Of course, all members will not always be able to attend every ritual. Here, I suggest that the person or unit that will be absent imbue their energy into an item such as a crystal and have that crystal delivered to the group so that their energy can still be present for the ritual. In this way the spiritual energy of every member will always be present at every magickal working. This does not mean that others could not attend the ritual work but I suggest the actual working circle consist only of those 13 units. There will be times when exactly 13 will not be practical but I suggest that it be the ideal goal. If a coven begins to grow too large, it might be time to think about forming a spearate group. There should always be room for others to observe or even participate outside of the main circle. This gives those who are curious or who are still learning a chance to get a glimpse of what a working coven is about. Of course, you should only allow others to watch if the whole group feels comfortable doing so.

As is already the standard practice, the NTC should meet as near to each full moon as possible. Remember that full moons are often considered to last three nights and that should help provide some leeway for meetings. Of course, for some, it is easier to have a standard night of the week on which to meet like the Friday night closest to the full moon. With each meeting, the person designated as Center would have the opportunity to choose what work will be taken on by the Circle and in what manner it will be done based on that person’s practice or tradition. In this way, it is possible for people of many different traditions (even open minded non-Pagans) to be an active member of a single NTC. All types of magick can take place in such a powerful circle: healings, the needs of individuals within the group, the needs of others, peace work for the community or the world, etc. It is my hope that NTCs will also see a need to do service work in magick and in the mundane world as well. Doing such work not only aids the community, it also helps others see the positive side of paganism and it is a great aid in the spiritual development of all its members.

A typical NTC meeting might include a few minutes of catching up with members together in a light social way - especially if members only see each other once a month. Then, the group should informally form its circle and, one at a time, each member should tell about what has been happening in his or her life since the last meeting. Here is an opportunity for the group to see to the growth and aid of each of its own members. The group should be willing to help any of its members with magickal, emotional, or physical work. After “checking in” with each other, the person who is the current Center should discuss the purpose and methods to be used for the magickal circle. The group can then perform its magick. Afterwards, be sure to choose the next Center, date, and place to meet and ,of course, take the opportunity to do what pagans do best - eat, drink, and be merry .
In effect, the NTC can become a small spiritual working group for its members - what we call in the UU church a covenant group. Except that the group not only sees to the spiritual and overall well being of all its members, it also exists to work magick for the group and the community. What a wonderful way to promote spiritual well being, provide community and promote the betterment of all beings! Imagine if there were thousands or hundreds of thousands of small groups throughout the country who met regularly to promote spiritual growth - all decentralized yet all working for the common good. It is a marvelous Pagan dream but an all together possible vision to behold.

All of these are simply ideas to help keep the beast of the coven locked up tight within its dark chambers. So many times I have heard others pagans speak about the terrible conditions they have encountered with an overbearing High Priest/ess. I have been there too. If these types of stories and activities continue, our religion will be no better then those which we sought to escape for the very same reasons. If we can incorporate democratic principles of fairness and equity in our own groups we will go far in beating off the dragon. So let us band together great warriors, raise your swords and ride off into... oh sorry. I got carried away again.