Twenty years ago when I discovered Wicca I had little chance of finding an actual group. For starters, I was still in school and there was no way my parents would have let me find a coven for training. Like most witches, I became a solitare. However,  now that I’ve had the opportunity to take official, structured lessons, I have to say, there is something to be said for coven-based learning.

It’s like the difference between reading about something and working under an experienced teacher. Now for a lot of us books are all we have. So I certainly wouldn’t want to dismiss solitary and book learning. It served me very well for twenty years. However, I do think, that if the opportunity presents itself, that Wiccans should look at taking in-person training.

Which means that as a community, we might want to look beyond the traditional coven structure. How can we get education, such as in the form of seminars or online presenting, to people who might be remotely. This is where the internet and virtual spaces come in handy. Through such things as online webinars, teleseminars, and even virtual spaces, we can bring a large number of Wiccans together who might be in different parts of the globe and provide education and classes.

Will this replace in-person teaching? Of course not. But just as with colleges there are many opportunities from online classes to in-person classes, to a mix of the two, there should be in spiritual teaching as well.

Though I see concepts more clearly now than I have in the past, and I am gaining levels of understanding I did not know, I do not be grudge my solitary years. After all, they brought me closer to the goddess, and in turn, closer to my spirituality and myself.