Casting a spell can be likened to digging an irrigation ditch. The form of the spell is the ditch and the water is the power that you send through the spell. Keeping this metaphor in mind, it seems pretty obvious that if you have ten ditchdiggers you can dig a much deeper and longer ditch faster than you could if you only had one. But the water pretty much remains the same.
Both covens and solitaries are necessary and healthy and it is entirely possible to switch back and forth between being a coven member and being a solitary practitioner.
The pros for being a solitary:
A solitary is not bound by other people's
timetables or rituals, you do what you want, when you want and how you want
to do it. All rituals and spells are as pure as you are capable of achieving and
there are no outside influences disrupting your ritual. There are no
personality conflicts (unless you happen to be schizophrenic hehe).
The cons of being a solitary:
If you encounter something strange or that you
do not know how to deal with, you are on your own. Loneliness. Rituals only
have the spiritual power that you can drum up by yourself and may be more
limited in scope. There is no one to share your joys and tragedies with to
help lighten your burdens.
The pros for being in a coven:
There is a pool of knowledge to which you can
turn for guidance. Companionship. It is easier to be trained in ritual work
with a one-on-one teacher or in classes. Rituals have a much larger power
base to draw from.
The cons of coven work:
Rituals must scheduled and performed to suit the
majority. Innovations may be looked upon askew, as not all people in a coven
will agree about what is good or aesthetically pleasing. Politics and gossip
(it happens, we are still only human). Rituals may be polluted by stray
forces if some members are distracted or unwell.
Ideally, one should be able to pick and choose between whether you work alone or in a group, but unfortunately a lot of Wiccans live in areas that are not close to a coven, and are forced to be solitary, but that does not make them any less knowledgeable or powerful, or "real".
