Coven Celeste was the first official Gardnerian

Wiccan Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and was ...

coven in Canada, founded in the late 1960s by

Heather Botting Heather Denise Botting, née Harden, also known as Lady Aurora, born 21 September 1948, is a professor of anthropology at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. The original high priestess of Coven Celeste, she is a founding elder of the C ...

, then wife of the grandson of

Gerald Gardner Gerald Brosseau Gardner (13 June 1884 – 12 February 1964), also known by the craft name Scire, was an English Wiccan, as well as an author and an amateur anthropologist and archaeologist. He was instrumental in bringing the Contemporary Pag ...

's London-based High Priestess Lysbeth Turner,

Gary Botting Gary Norman Arthur Botting (born 19 July 1943) is a Canadian legal scholar and criminal defense lawyer as well as a poet, playwright, novelist, and critic of literature and religion, in particular Jehovah's Witnesses. The author of 40 published b ...

. Following Heather's initiation by Turner in 1966, she became a founding priestess of

Aquarian Tabernacle Church The Aquarian Tabernacle Church (ATC) is a Wiccan church located in Index, Washington. It is one of the first Wiccan organisations to receive full legal recognition as a church in the United States and Australia. The church has an umbrella 501c(3) ...

and later, as a professor of anthropology, became the first Wiccan chaplain to be recognized by an accredited university (

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

).Todd, http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2010/12/16/pagans-celebrate-solstice-with-yule-rituals/ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-05-10. Retrieved 2013-03-27

History

Origin

's interest in the occult was fueled by his research as an English major into the life and death of

Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (; baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon the ...

, especially Marlowe's best-known play, '' Doctor Faustus''. Botting later wrote two plays about

The School of Night The School of Night is a modern name for a group of men centred on Sir Walter Raleigh that was once referred to in 1592 as the "School of Atheism". The group supposedly included poets and scientists Christopher Marlowe, George Chapman, Matthew ...

, a clandestine Elizabethan club dedicated to delving into the occult, membership in which included Marlowe and such notables as

Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion ...

Baron Cobham The title Baron Cobham has been created numerous times in the Peerage of England; often multiple creations have been extant simultaneously, especially in the fourteenth century. The earliest creation was in 1313 for Henry de Cobham, 1st Baron ...

, the

Earl of Northumberland The title of Earl of Northumberland has been created several times in the Peerage of England and of Great Britain, succeeding the title Earl of Northumbria. Its most famous holders are the House of Percy (''alias'' Perci), who were the most po ...

Thomas Kyd Thomas Kyd (baptised 6 November 1558; buried 15 August 1594) was an English playwright, the author of ''The Spanish Tragedy'', and one of the most important figures in the development of Elizabethan drama. Although well known in his own time, ...

, and Thomas Harriott. Because of the severe social strictures placed upon them by Jehovah's Witnesses, including fear of being disfellowshipped, the Bottings stayed in the "broom closet," discussing their new faith only with fellow practicing

pagans Pagans may refer to: * Paganism, a group of pre-Christian religions practiced in the Roman Empire * Modern Paganism, a group of contemporary religious practices * Order of the Vine, a druidic faction in the ''Thief'' video game series * Pagan's ...

later depicted the early formation of the coven and its barely disguised principals in his play ''The Succubus'', produced as a major project by the University of Alberta Department of Drama in 1982. When after Lysbeth Turner's death in 1968 Botting's Jmother discovered the extent of her mother's Wiccan proclivities, she publicly burned most of the pagan artifacts and images that Turner had left behind in a bid to purge her house of "Satan's" influence.

Development and growth

Coven Celeste and came to full development after the Bottings moved to Alberta in 1970.

taught "Witchcraft and the Occult" at Red Deer College. By 1974, Coven Celeste was drawing witches from all over the west of Canada to its central "covenstead" in Sylvan Lake, Alberta. True to the Gardnerian tradition, rituals, especially

sabbats The Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by many modern pagans, consisting of the year's chief solar events (solstices and equinoxes) and the midpoints between them. While names for each festival vary among dive ...

, were performed in the nude. The Bottings purchased properties in Sylvan Lake, Burnt Lake, Alix and Bentley, Alberta with heavy woods either on or adjacent to their land, and made paths through the woods to hidden altars and sacred circles. As the coven expanded, nudity became optional and it was recognized that all witches were "naked under their gowns." Before long, floor-length gowns had become the norm. Major rituals were conducted outdoors in the nearby woods except in the dead of winter. The original rituals were created by

("Lady Aurora") and

("Lord Pan") using eclectic sources, including adaptations of the rituals of Jessie Wicker Bell (better known as "Lady Sheba") as published in ''The Grimoire of Lady Sheba''. Commencing in 1975, the Alberta coven began to "hive", with different members of the coven moving away, taking Coven Celeste's traditional brand of Gardnerian witchcraft with them. Pagan-oriented visitors who had heard of Coven Celeste were made welcome either as observers or participants, and Coven Celeste's influence spread. Michele Favarger of Cobble Hill, BC attended Coven Celeste rituals in Alberta in 1982 and subsequently returned to BC to form the Canadian

("ATC") on

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

, basing it on some of the precepts of Coven Celeste. Later, in British Columbia, the coven incorporated many of the rituals of

Starhawk Starhawk (born Miriam Simos on June 17, 1951) is an American feminist and author. She is known as a theorist of feminist Neopaganism and ecofeminism. In 2013, she was listed in Watkins' ''Mind Body Spirit'' magazine as one of the 100 Most Spir ...

as published in ''The Spiral Dance''. In 1993,

, who by then had become established as a criminal lawyer in Victoria, BC, represented Starhawk and dozens of other Wiccans charged with criminal contempt of court following the Clayoquot protests against logging in the

Clayoquot Sound , image = Clayoquot Sound - Near Tofino - Vancouver Island BC - Canada - 08.jpg , image_size = 260px , alt = , caption = , image_bathymetry = Vancouver clayoquot sound de.png , alt_bathyme ...

. Subsequently, the Bottings, Favarger, and Favarger's partner and high priest Erik Lindblad successfully campaigned the

Province of British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

to recognize Wiccan weddings. By 1995 Coven Celeste had become one of the mainstay covens of Temple of the Lady in Victoria, BC.

Coven Celeste today

The Bottings were divorced in 1999, and the following year Heather married Denis O'Brien, the high priest of Circle of the Moonsong; whereupon Coven Celeste was transferred to Alexander Astarte, along with the secrets of its sacred tools, the athame, white handled knife, pentacle, scourge, cauldron, candle holders, candles, censor, Book of Shadows, and wands cut and manufactured by them under the supervision of their founder. In 2010, Lady Aurora was still conducting a prison ministry and as High Priestess of ATC was officially recognized by the Province as an officiator of pagan weddings. As a professor of anthropology at the University of Victoria,

was an officially recognized Wiccan chaplain there for more than a decade, the first officially recognized Wiccan chaplain in any university in North America.

References

{{Reflist Wiccan covens 1960s establishments in Canada Religious organizations based in Canada Wicca in Canada Modern pagan organizations established in the 1960s