From Covenstead to Cyberspace

An Evolution of Wicca

I really became a Wiccan on the Summer Solstice, 1965. I was a twenty-year-old pre-seminary student convinced that the universe was big enough for everybody. At that time I was taken into a coven, as solitary practice wasn’t a widely known option. I attended seminary in Chicago in such a manner that I never needed to compromise my beliefs.

The following twenty years provided me with a lot of moving around and many experiences, but I always held true to Wicca. By 1985 I had been living in Philadelphia for a few years and had brought together a rather informal Celtic Traditional group. We formed the Coven of the Knowing Raven that summer. A year later I met Misxminkanto, a young woman secure on the path who was like the daughter I had been unable to bear the Goddess. She came into our fold in 1988; she has only recently taken on the mantle of High Priestess. In the interim time she did as much travelling as I had done, although I feel within that I truly passed the torch directly to her.

The Coven of the Four Winds is Misxminkanto’s creation, inspired by other cybercovens around the Internet. If someone had told me in 1965 I would be able to type this and have many people from all over read it, I would have sworn they were reading too much science fiction. In the Coven of the Knowing Raven, Four Winds was our way of saying in all directions, or more to the point, everything. The cybercoven you visit today is an extension of Knowing Raven, and coordinated by the coven’s High Priestess.

Today I live in Vancouver and I am still as active as ever in the Pagan community. I legally changed my name to Raven Standingstone about twenty years ago. Here I reach out to you, because you are the heirs to my own work as much as anyone currently working in Knowing Raven.

Be Blessed,

Rev. Raven Standingstone