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1. A coven is a group of magick-users, most usually witches, who gather together for spiritual or magical purposes. What the coven actually looks like depends upon the Witches who make it up. There are religious covens who gather to worship their Gods, there are teaching covens formed specifically for the purposes of training new witches and there are working covens specifically for casting spells within a group setting. Covens tend to be tight knit groups that work together over a long period of time, but there are also those who are formed for a specific purpose and dissolved once the purpose has been met - and everything in between.
2. Of course you can create one. All you need are three or more people willing to work together magickally and spiritually. It will be helpful if at least one of them has a few years of magickal experience under his/her belt.
3. It's a good idea to being by writing down the rules and guidelines in what will become the coven's Book of Shadows. You'll want to outline who is in charge under what circumstances and how this can be changed, how often you'll meet and where, and what the expectations of members are as regards to dues, attendance, behavior at meetings, etc. Then, you just need two more people to agree to abide by the rules (hopefully people who had a hand in creating them) and start having meetings.
4. Usually there is an interview process so that the coven and the potential new member can get a feel for each others' personality and energy to ensure that they are compatible. Then, the new member is generally brought into the coven through an initiation ceremony. Covens don't generally advertise for new members but bring people in on recommendation of current members.
Like so many things, it depends on who you ask. A Coven is an assemblage of people who work together to achieve the same goals. In Witchcraft, a Coven is usually a group of people who work together (presumably) to achieve the same Magical goals; quite often a Coven will be "specialized"; e.g., a Healing Coven would meet to raise Power for the purpose of healing. The Healing can be of body, mind, and/or Spirit. A Coven in the Gardnerian Tradition - the Tradition into which I was Initiated into the 1st and Raised through the Second to the 3rd Degree - is generally presided over by a High Priestess and a High Priest. The exact nature of the High Priest's "duties" within the Coven vary tremendously from Coven to Coven. In some, he's little more than a glorified Altar Boy; in others, he's considered the equal of the High Priestess and is accorded the same level of respect. And pretty much everything in between. The High Priestess is the Earthly Representative of the Goddess of the Moon, Earth and Stars; the High Priest represents the Horned God of Hunting. In a way He is the Earth, and She the Sky. That's a bit of an oversimplification, but the general drift is correct.
My view of the Coven is that it is a Spiritual/Religious group. Others may view it differently, and those differences may affect the structure and aims of the Coven. If the Coven is about Power, it's about Power in a Spiritual sense, in which Power is Raised within the Consecrated Circle to achieve the aims of the Coven, as defined and directed by the High Priestess and/or High Priest. It's best to have at least a sprinkling of Elders other than the HP and HPS in any given Coven, to prevent the power in a more earthly and ego-based sense from being concentrated too much in one or two people. Witches are, after all, people; and subject to the same sort of power and ego trips as any other group. That's one of the main reasons that I haven't worked as a Coven member for many years. Witches who work alone or with a Partner are called Solitaries - and a lot of them are solitary for the same exact reasons.
I hope this answers your question about what a Coven is - and is not.