Folks sometimes ask us what our Missing Witches Coven circles are like. We'd love for everyone who might want to join to feel comfortable, and we know it can ease anxiety about joining a new thing if you understand better what to expect before attending, so here are some thoughts on what these meetings have become.
How to find the Coven Meetings: We will post the invite and Zoom link on our website, and it'll always go out in the MW Rx, our weekly newsletter. Once you become a Coven Member you'll have access to the Coven Homepage where you'll find our Coven Calendar and links to upcoming circles and past recordings. You can listen to past meetings to get to know your coven before joining... or just jump in. There's no quiz and we are always changing anyway. =) Always changing is core to how we think about things. In our circles, we always re-introduce ourselves and invite each person to do so as well. Who are you today?
Our Coven is explicitly feminist, anti-racist, trans-inclusive, and neurodiverse. All bodyminds are welcome here.
Read our Contributor CovenantCoven Meetings happen via Zoom. If you're more comfortable just listening we won't pressure you to participate, and if you need to have your camera off, or call in from a sickbed we welcome you as you are.
One of our coven-mates is an accessibility consultant who is helping us grow. We are incorporating actions like turning on live transcription and including our physical descriptions, pronouns, and land acknowledgments. We approach this from a place of gentleness with ourselves and our community. You will not be forced or scolded, we sometimes forget and are happy to be reminded. We exist in a punishing era of late-stage capitalist patriarchy and are here to love, nurture, uplift and survive.
Our Coven agrees to keep its membership private. Don't out each other on social media or anywhere.
Technicalities: We host 2 different gatherings - both via Zoom - each month.
The New Moon Zoom is for all Covenmates and is usually around the New Moon.
The Full Moon Loom is just for folks who support Missing Witches at the Weavers level and it takes place around the Full Moon.
In both cases, audio will be shared afterward, but not video.
New Moon Circles
New Moon Circles are for the full coven. These are generally on weekday evenings (Eastern Time Zone) for about 90 minutes. Amy and Risa usually host together, and about 20 to 40 diverse, badass, mutually supportive Witches and practitioners of different backgrounds attend.
Typically as a starting point, we'll offer a question or suggestion to the group. For example: let's tell stories of places that have been magical to us, let's all bring books we're reading and take turns opening them and asking them questions, let's bring our current favourite tarot deck or divination tool and share about it, let's bring stories of our ancestors, etc. These are all questions we'll repeat again, and we have many more. These questions are starting points, and we spiral out and around together from there. Sometimes we have special guests to lead the circle or co-host with us.
Sometimes we share pieces from things we're writing for the podcast or for the book. Sometimes we sing songs. Sometimes we're challenged and learn new things from each other. There are often tears, and always laughter.
Weavers Circles
Weavers Circles are generally on weekday afternoons or evenings (Eastern Time Zone.) Amy and Risa usually host together and about 8-15 of us attend. This circle is dedicated to weaving projects in our lives. This is for folks who want to dig deeper and meet with a smaller group. We look for ways to support each other with whatever is available to each of us at the moment: advice, practical support, emotional support, direct aid, rituals, MAGIC. We talk about parenting, business plans, health, community building, art and music projects, and our witchcraft. In these circles, we share updates on our projects (defined broadly) and offer frank feedback and help.
These meetings are also 90 minutes. In this circle, we doubly unmask - we let ourselves be our Witch-selves, but we also incorporate our professional selves and personal selves and share our skills. Amy and Risa directly support the development of Weavers projects by inviting members to present to the group their first chapters, their grant proposal, their social media plan for a new business, whatever it is, for workshopping. We also work with members at this level to create ad space on the podcast for their own projects or projects they support.
In this circle we recognize that we play different roles all the time, sometimes we are there to support and uplift, and sometimes we are there to be supported.
Some members join at this level and their project is simply to support the projects of the coven and to grow as a person and Witch, and that's fucking beautiful.
This Missing Witches Coven is:
- a witchy, science-loving study group/informal book club working collaboratively to seek and center marginalized ideas and possibilities.
- a place to unmask and to be like little kids together, playing with the magic in the world, celebrating moments of JOY.
- a mutually-supportive space to be honest about how fucked up racism, misogyny, misogynoir, ableism, heteronormativity and capitalism are and to mourn, and also to CACKLE WICKEDLY and HOWL WILDLY together as we seed within ourselves and each other ways to survive, resist, re-enchant and FLOURISH.
In a spirit of reparations, we gather and contribute our monthly earnings to the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal each May and organize an annual fundraiser and conversation with indigenous thinkers to help unpack some of the appropriation and spiritual bypassing that happens in Witch worlds. There's more info here. Contact us to get involved in the future: missingwitches@gmail.com.
In a spirit of mutual aid, we commission Sabbat Rituals for our members — often from our members, and/or from magical people of traditionally marginalized identities — around the Wheel of the Year. May this be a Coven of abundance, protection, and uplifting collaboration.
In a spirit of de-hierarchizing and collaborating, as members, you'll also be invited to interviews for the podcast. Meet our guests and help ask questions and shape the conversation. The trajectory of this project is in all of our hands.
Any questions or suggestions?
Anything we can work towards to make these more impactful? Please reach out to missingwitches@gmail.com.
oxoR+A
PS - If you know someone who might love and benefit from being in the Missing Witches Coven, please share this post and invite them!
