Cottonwood Star is located in Laval, Quebec, on the unceded Indigenous territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka nation, along the Kanà:tso River (Kanien’kéha name for the Ottawa River), where it feeds into the Kahrhionhwa’kó:wa (one of the Kanien’kéha names – the great sized river – for the so-called St Lawrence River).
As a magical system founded on the practices of European settlers working on occupied territory, we acknowledge the harms of western colonialism and strive to work in solidarity and respect with the Onkwehón:we, mindful of the need to decolonize our practices & magical rhetoric.
Cottonwood Star is inclusive and open to community members from all walks of life. LGBTQI+, BIPOC, and Neurodivergent members are welcome. 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 approach the work mindfully.
All classes and rituals are conducted in English.
“There are four things or qualities that make a Witch: a sense of wonder, unquenchable curiosity, undaunted courage and boundless love born of the feelings of Oneness with all things.”
Janus-Mithras
Aspirations
Cottonwood Star is located on lands next to cottonwoods and asters and it’s name pays homage to stories linked to both tree and flower.
If just the right cottonwood tree branch is found on the ground, the inner branch will reveal a magical secret: a pith that is shaped like 5 pointed star that travels upward, deep from the earth to the sky.
Likewise, asters are associated with stars and linked to the goddess Astraea. Asters are said to be the Star Maiden’s tears and represent her 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; working together to remember our highest aspirations: Perfect Love and Perfect Trust.
Our History
Cottonwood Star is a coven loosely inspired by the Isis Urania lineage, which was founded by Janus-Mithras in the early 1960s and is a mixture of his family traditions and western esoteric knowledge passed on to him via his parents. Inula trained in the Isis Hathor coven in Montreal for nine years before deciding to work independently closer to home in order to better balance her magical and mundane life.
Students joining Cottonwood Star will be encouraged to think critically about the roles of inclusion, cultural appropriation, and decolonization in the tradition they are being trained in and the larger neo-pagan movement.
Cottonwood Star 