What is a Coven? What is a Witch?
What is the use of a coven? This coven?
How do we keep it from becoming just an echo chamber—of patronizing agreement, stagnant
admiration, and surface-level celebration?
How do we, as witches, hold space for critique and self-reflection within the coven, while
keeping the circle safe and welcoming for the diverse and magical bodyminds who gather here?
Shout out to the fellow Missing Witches coven member who sparked this line of thought. Proof,
if we needed it, that covens are both:
A space for magical delight, for our vibes, our rituals, our gorgeous, witchy selves
And
A cauldron for deeper, more reflexive practices that ask: Where has the witch been? How have
they been seen? And what does it mean, truly, to be a witch today?
I’ve written before: Witch is a verb.
The word conjures a thousand images; black hats, moonlit rituals, bones and candles, or for
those who don’t think in pictures, perhaps a set of feelings, tensions, or senses… all shaped by
dominant culture, colonialism, and capitalism.
And now, thanks to social media, Witch has become an aesthetic. A whole damn vibe. It’s
whatever a witchy person wants it to be.
But for me?
It is first and foremost an action.
To say “I am a witch” is to choose a certain kind of life:
One of outsiderness.
Of subversion.
Of so-called wickedness.
Because this world we live in? It was built on the pyres (both literal and figurative) that burned
our outspoken, oppressed, outsider, activist ancestors. And today, those same flames are still
fanned, still feared, still used to power the systems that harm.
The witch’s work is to extinguish those fires
and to let the structures built on the ash, collapse.
So, if you’re going to call yourself a witch; prepare yourself.
Learn our history.
Understand that in many parts of the world, people are still persecuted for this identity.
And know that witchcraft is activism.
Activism is not a buzzword. It’s not (just) a hashtag.
It’s vigorous action; an intense, intentional practice of transformation: of the self, the space, the
society, the coven.
This is witchcraft.
And let’s be clear: aesthetics are not the witch’s primary concern.
And not everyone who wants to be a witch or who currently identifies as one is necessarily
ready for the full weight of that word.
Because witchcraft comes with history. Long, tangled, bloodied, beautiful threads that cannot be
cut.
If we are to be witches, then we must make space and build strength to carry that history.
All of it.
And we must do so together.
That’s what the coven is for.
The coven is a sanctuary.
The sabbat space.
The circle we enter to breathe and rest, to dream and doubt, to mourn and make merry.
It is where we lay down our grief and raise up our power.
It is where we gather; to build plans and break spells, to nourish ourselves and one another
before stepping back out into the burning world.
When the circle opens, we step in.
When the circle closes, the work continues.
And we must be ready.
Because it never stops.
And so it is.
So it always will be.
Coven and community.
Hive and helpers.
Wicked and wonderful witches.
Carrying the work forward, spell by spell,
brick by brick,
by flame and ash, by light and shadow.
Changing the world so the circle may continue—
for the next of us.
And the next.
And the next…
Blessed fucking be.
Interested in contributing to the Missing Witches Zine? Check out our submissions info and get in touch!
Jasmin (she/her/they/them) is a disabled settler, educator, activist, and community member based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A PhD candidate at St. Francis Xavier University, their research explores anti-ableist pedagogy, disability justice, and teacher education. Jasmin is a co-founder of the Disabled Educators' Curriculum Collective (DECC) and is a member of several disability activist groups in her community. Their evolving witchcraft practice draws on pre-Christian European (Dutch, Bavarian, Hungarian) roots. Find their reflections on life, public education, ableism, and advocacy on social media.
Bluesky - jastoffer.bsky.social
Instagram: @jaurora8
Local causes that Jasmin supports:
Halifax Mutual Aid: https://www.halifaxmutualaid.com/#donate
Disability Rights Coalition of Nova Scotia: https://www.disabilityrightscoalitionns.ca/
Gender affirming Care Nova Scotia: https://sites.google.com/view/gacinnovascotia/home?pli=1
