About Our Coven
Cottonwood Star is an inclusive, land-based coven. As a Wiccan coven committed to inclusion, we are actively looking at traditional lineage practices; methods of teaching; and identity within the craft in light of contemporary discourse and worldviews in an effort to be a safe, culturally relevant practice. We still have work to do, but we are trying to approach the work mindfully.
Our practice is land-based, and the coven draws its name from the land it borders, which is full of cottonwood trees and New England asters. In fact, if you open a cottonwood tree branch at the right time, the inner branch will reveal a magical secret: a pith shaped like a 5-pointed star that travels upward, deep from earth to sky. Asters also have an association with stars through the goddess Astraea, the Star Maiden. Asters represent the Star Maiden’s tears, as well as justice, renewal, and love.
Like the tree, flower and the goddess, the guiding vision of Cottonwood Star is one of deep earth knowledge, stellar magic, justice and healing. We work together to remember our highest aspirations: Perfect Love and Perfect Trust.
Our History
Cottonwood Star is a dual lineage coven drawing loosely on both Isis Uranian and Whitecroft Gardnerian lineages.
The Isis Urania lineage, founded by Janus-Mithras in the early 1960s. It is based on a mixture of family traditions, Hermetics and Western esoteric knowledge. Inula, the High Priestess of Cottonwood Star, received her 3rd degree from the Isis Hathor coven in Montreal, where she studied for nine years.
Our Whitecroft-Gardnerian lineage is a work in progress. Our Gardnerian lineage comes to us by way of the Three Rivers coven in Cambridge, Ontario, which practices inclusive Wicca. Inula has her first degree in the Gardnerian tradition and is working on her second. Studying with Three Rivers is part of Inula’s goal to build an inclusive practice at home.
Cottonwood Star encourages critical thinking about the roles of inclusion, cultural appropriation, and decolonization within Wicca and the larger neo-pagan movement.