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Is their a difference between Covens and Houses?

Outside of the numbers and so forth.... there are only seven houses and thus it will remain so... there will never be another house added unless Cancer sees it is fit to do so.... also they are a little bit more difficult to get into... Not saying that covens aren't hard though.... Another note.... Houses are ran by Master Vamps as opposed to covens which are ran by sires.... Master Vamps are appointed by Cancer himself... Another reason why there will never be anymore than seven houses... I would look in the FAQs, the Manual....or even better talk to our Sire about this if no one else gives you an answer....Lots of Love....

The origin of "coven" is associated with Wytches, as in a group of them. As associated with vampires, it means the same, a group. A "house" is a place of dwelling, where one resides, and may be associated as a place a family dwells. Vampires who choose to live as a family, having a father figure as leader, are members of Houses.
Otherwise the Houses and Covens of VR are explained here, and serve as virtual groups of members.

truthfully I meant both. In general and in Vr

Well a coven in my book (off line) is a group of individuals with similar goals and beliefs that come together to grow and share their experiences. Its a sort of family where you know you will be received with love and honor.

As for a house this is new to me and would like to see what others thoughts are on this.

in english schools we have groups called houses, that are set by the school. there is no actual building for them - though in some, each house will have a seperate meeting room or hall for assembly. everyone is in a house, and there are housemasters that you can speak to if you have a problem - they sort of deputise for the headmaster. i think the general idea is to foster unity and social grouping, whilst at the same time encourage competition. it's like nationality, but on a very small scale.

i know it's terribly trite, but if any of you have read the harry potter books, the houses of slytherin, griffidor, etc give a good idea. it's a bit like chapters in motorcycle gangs.

it is not really like frats and sororities - people dont usually live or sleep together, and it's not like classes either - a class will usually contain an equal mix from each house. also in mixed gender schools, there is an equal mix of boys and girls in each house - they aren't seperated.

all in all, they are not too different from the houses found here on VR

I was in a house when i was at school and your description is very good. We had 2 tutor groups per house per year and we competed in inter house competitions etc. However our classes were all mixed together.

thankyou for that information stabb - saves me looking it up. many pagan gatherings are now using the term Moot rather than coven.

Moot is derived from the old Anglo-Saxon term for meeting house. it has been increasingly used to describe a meeting event, rather than a meeting place, and seems to be replacing the word Coven more and more. maybe VR will one day have Moots as well as Houses and Covens

karnstein,

Surely, VR in itself represents a Moot?

good point.

There are small number of surviving Moot Halls in England, although none of them are used for their original purpose of making local decisions

I thought there was a difference--like houses were more like a family and a coven was like a club..you know what I mean?

as a member of a coven we have a lot of the same things that i seen in houses so to me i don't really see that much of a difference

drak47 do you mean in the world or on VR?

I have run a Sisterhood and a Coven for many years now; it is a mixture of witches, weres, and vamps. We all work together with no problems. For the area in which I live this can be a real task at times.

I also have a Household that is for just the vamps and weres... if is so that we don't offend others during the times we act as our true selves. It is also a place of teaching, education, and a safe place for those who are newly awakened and those who need shelter.

One aspect of a house is that it may represent a family/bloodline. As for a coven, that could pertain to a group who meets and shares a common purpose.
As for VR they serve the same purpose, to cultivate interest and growth on a smaller level.

btw so as there is no confussion my post has to do with real life not VR.

SD

SD ~ no confusion here :) It sounds like you have a really good setup with both your places.

A house runs all. The covens are seperations of the house.

In VR, houses are permanent and covens are not. Houses are run by masters whose mark equals 5% and a coven master's mark will equal only 2%. That is the big difference.

From my background, a coven can have between 3 and 13 members. There are up to four "officers" in a witches' coven: Priestess, Priestess, Summoner, and Maiden. The Maiden is like the Executive Assistant to the Priestess. She sets up the circle and worship area. The Summoner (also Officer or Fetch) knows all the coven member's addresses. In old days, he would have to travel by night to either summon / warn witches of news.

I understand that the Moot is like a Meetup or Munch in the USA. I see it in ads for pagan groups in the British Isles.

Other words I see are "circles" for some pagan groups who may find that coven is too witchy and druids will typically meet in groves.

I hope this helps.

just like the guy said in his statement about me. houses are permanent and the master's mark is worth more. other than that, nothing

I am impress this information very pertinent and mostly wlecome, thank you

Besides there being a difference in the House Master's mark and the Coven Master's mark, there's really nothing different........

Well, and Houses are run by Master Vampire's and Covens are run by Sire's.

There isn't much of a difference...the only real one is the different names for things.

My understanding was that the Houses were the main families.. pertaining to vampire clans..

And covens, they are gatherings of people with like interests and needs to better themselves through group knowledge....

how i would look at a difference between houses and covens is that houses would house the higher up but not quite prince. and the covens are housing branches off of houses. or they say a state has a house which houses the prince and then the little housing for the loyal family of the prince or clans are covens.

I would have to agree with extreemhate, as you didn't differentiate between VR or the world in general.

I always thought of it this way: Vampires have houses, and wiccans have covens.

Then again, as time goes on, meanings get misused and eventually we have words that mean the same thing. :)

well,

Yes there is if you think about it. Covens do more bascily then houses. Covens do favers but, i don't think houses do. Well i would not know cause i have not been in one. But, i could be right if you would like to know the truth contact chirsg420200. He could tell you maybe.

Covens to me are a place where people who belive in the same things can practise their magick, and the seasons...

On VR i thought the only diffrence between a house and a coven was that a house was run by a master vampire and a coven was run by a sire...

id say a house is higher maybe

i wouldnt know

if almost the same which would you prefur ?

thanx for the information slaveangel

id say that this information was quit help ful to me i have now a better understanding thanks to my sisters and bretherin for the discusion

I don't really know, LOL!

I don't think anyone really has a clue

haha, yeah that one I dunno ?_?