The Grand Coven refers to an established community of witches that are structured according to their members' affinity for magic.
Structure
According to Rowena, the Grand Coven classifies its members into three recognized kinds of witches--the borrowers, the naturals and the students.
The Borrowers
Witches that belong to this category harness demonic powers to practice witchcraft.
The Naturals
According to Rowena, these witches are born with a natural gift for magic. Rowena said these were very rare and claimed she was considered one of them.
The Students
These are witches that had no natural ability but, with practice, training and with a mentor approved by the coven, could produce a modicum of "witchly power".
Background
Currently very little is known about them. Since it is known that a coven is a group of witches, and this particular one is known as The Grand Coven, it is most likely that this particular coven is the most powerful of them all. Considering at least three members of the coven have been Rowena, Katja, and also mentioned-only Letitia di Albioni that backs up the idea of it being the most powerful. it is known that they condemned Rowena for her methods and threw her out of the coven, forbidding her from doing magic and forming her own coven. As Rowena was a member of the coven and has been a practicing witch for at least 400 years, the coven itself is at least 400 years old. They later sent Katja to deal with Rowena when she was stirring up trouble again. This would suggest that Katja is more powerful than Rowena, who has already proven to be an extraordinary witch. Also, seeing as Katja was ordered about to go after Rowena, that suggests that Katja, who we can assume was more powerful than Rowena, was not even above grunt level in the Grand Coven. Since Katja is known to kidnap and eat children, that would suggest that one is not expelled from the coven simply for being evil, and that Rowena's methods, good, bad, or otherwise, were the sole reason for her expulsion, not her personality. This also shows that the coven may not be wholly altruistic.
Its revealed that they are considered the supreme command of all witches, but were severely weakened due to the efforts of the Men of Letters who used their political power to rile the church into attacking. Most of the Coven's best were burned at the stake or forced into hiding while their most powerful spells and potions were plundered and scattered into bunkers scattered across the world. A couple of Grand Coven witches tell Rowena at one point that they were "being burned or hung by the thousands."
However, the coven's surviving members were led by Olivette attempted to ransacked Men of Letters's crypts and bunkers which scattered around the world to reclaim what their possessions in the past, even after The Men of Letters's downfall in 1958. However, only for repelled by Men of Letters's warding spells. After Olivette cursed by Rowena, left the coven without the leader and make future of the coven become uncertain, even the coven still have some superior members.
Rowena, with her new found power and spells from the Book of the Damned, attempted to recruit active Grand Coven members in an attempt to create the Mega Coven, led by herself. She was eventually killed by Lucifer after helping him escape his cage. However by a seal, Rowena was revived. While attempting to recruit some Grand Coven witches, Rowena mentions that the Grand Coven is "utterly fallen apart" since Olivette's disappearance.
Known members
- Rowena (expelled)
- Letitia di Albioni (mentioned only)
- Katja (deceased)
- Olivette (transmogrified into a hamster)
- Nadia (mentioned, deceased)
Appearances
- Season 10
- Girls, Girls, Girls (mentioned only)
- The Hunter Games (mentioned only)
- About a Boy (mentioned only)
- The Executioner's Song (mentioned only)
- Paint it Black (mentioned only)
- The Werther Project (mentioned only)
- Season 11
- The Bad Seed (mentioned only)