which one is better i want your opinion...6 member coven or a 12 member coven?...i dont want people to say "it depends on how you like it" just give me your opinion
Re: which is best? By: Personified / Knowledgeable
Post # 2 May 07, 2013
My opinion is that it depends on how you like it.
Sometimes with smaller numbers it's easier to have a closer family-feel environment with the coven. Both six members and twelve members is pretty small, so I would say it depends largely on who is in the coven and how they interact.
It depends largely on the number of people you can handle and how the members view each other.You don't want to have a coven of twelve when the first six don't get along plus its best to ask everyone in the coven if adding more members is what they want.Either way will work find since the group will be small just make sure there is unity within the group.
For me there are also a lot of factors that determine if one is better than the other. Do you feel comfortable working in small groups or larger ones? How much does each person know? What do they practice? Do they share similar ideas? Do their personalities or views clash with yours? I have a check list that I go over when deciding who is better to work with. From my own personal experience though I think smaller groups are best just because it feels more personal. It's easier to get to know everyone and work together. Larger groups can sometimes feel disconnected. Just be sure the group, large or small, knows their stuff.
Unfortunately, the answer you get will differ from person to person. The number of individuals does not represent quality and to say that one is better than the other by number alone is not an accurate method of choosing a coven. As previously mentioned, there are several factors that an individual must take into account, (number included depending on the size of the coven you're looking for) when making such a decision.
There is no simple answer to this question such as this is better than that. As everyone is trying to tell you...it all depends. How experienced are the members? How well do they bond? Do they work on a regular basis? Does the coven feel like family to you? There are simply too many factors involved to give you one simple answer.
Perhaps you and your friend need to look more closely at what makes a good coven and then reconsider what your position might be.
An article on covens and why belonging to them can be a good thing: http://www.netplaces.com/wicca-witchcraft/where-to-go-from-here/covens.htm
Here's a good article on problems you might encounter in any coven whether large or small: http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/wiccanandpaganrituals/a/Warning_Signs.htm
And a rundown on things to consider before joining a coven: http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/howtofindacoven/bb/Before_You_Join.htm
Six is a Perfect Number, mathematically speaking, and is a good power number. Twelve is also a good powerful number. A Dozen is an iconic grouping, and is a commonly occurring number in some branches of occultism.
In a perfect world, all other things being equal, a coven of twelve would give you a greater amount of total power when you had the entire coven acting in concert -- simply because there would be twice as many of them.
Unfortunately, this ISN'T a perfect world. Personally, I'd rather have just ONE partner whose skill and experience are comparable to my own than eleven other people who can't even raise a proper shield on their own.
In addition to the quality of the members, you also need to factor in everyone's availabilities. The difficulty of arranging a full meeting of any group of people increases exponentially as you add members. For that reason alone I would probably choose a team of six over a team of twelve if being able to meet in person regularly were important to me.
And of course, as has been noted, there's the social aspect of things. Getting most magic users to work together seems to be like trying to herd cats into a bathtub, unless they already all think alike anyway. If you can find six like-minded people, but not twelve... well, there's your answer.
If you want just MY opinion, I'd say that if I'm looking for a study group I'll take as many people as catch my interest, and if I'm looking for a group to try and coordinate schedules with it will be the smallest group that I think can accomplish its goals.
