Origin from 1975
A cross-traditional national Wiccan church formed in the United States to secure legal standing and clergy credentialing for Witches and covens of any lineage, rather than one lineage's own organization.
Facts
Finances
Institutional Wealth or FinancesCovenant of the Goddess, the national Wiccan umbrella organization, reported total revenue of 13,835 dollars and total assets of 179,466 dollars for the fiscal year ending around October 2021, on its IRS Form 990 information return. 3 Basis of the Wealth Figure Financial Disclosure RegimeCovenant of the Goddess files an IRS Form 990 information return, digitized and made public through ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer; the modest figures reflect the national umbrella body's own operating budget, not the separate finances of its many autonomous member covens and clergy. 3 Wealth Figure As Of Year Origins
Origin Period FounderA coalition of Wiccan elders from multiple traditions; no single founder. Ratified by thirteen founding covens. 1 FoundedDrafted in spring 1975 by Wiccan elders seeking the legal protections other religions already held; ratified by thirteen covens at the Summer Solstice 1975; incorporated as a nonprofit religious organization in California on Halloween (Samhain) 1975. 1 Status
Legal StatusIncorporated as a nonprofit religious organization in California in 1975. 1 Current Statusliving-tradition, based in Berkeley, California, with over one hundred affiliated covens plus solitary members. 2 Organisation
Governing BodyGoverned by a national board of directors elected by member covens and solitary practitioners, operating by consensus with no hierarchy above the coven level; roughly two-thirds of its ordained clergy are women. 1 Learn More
A National Church for Witches
By the mid-1970s American Wicca had grown past any single lineage's ability to represent it, and that created a practical problem: witches and covens had none of the legal standing routinely available to members of other religions. In spring 1975 a coalition of Wiccan elders, drawn deliberately from more than one tradition, drafted a covenant to fix that. Thirteen covens ratified it at the Summer Solstice, and the group incorporated as a nonprofit religious organization in California on Halloween that same year.
The choice to be cross-traditional rather than lineage-specific is the organization's whole reason for existing. A Gardnerian coven, an Alexandrian coven and a solitary eclectic practitioner can all hold Covenant of the Goddess credentials on the same terms, something no single tradition's own governing body could offer. Governance runs by consensus through an elected national board rather than any hierarchy above the coven level, and roughly two-thirds of its ordained clergy are women.
Fifty years on, Covenant of the Goddess remains one of the oldest and most broadly recognized Wiccan legal bodies in the United States, with more than a hundred affiliated covens and a continuing role certifying clergy for legal purposes, marriage officiancy among them, that member covens could not easily secure alone.
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