Ashtree Coven

The witches of Ashtree Coven do not call themselves Verbena or Wiccans. They use the terms "witch", "groveborn" or "Gwyddon". They venerate the Umbrood and other types of spirits and worship the sun, moon, earth and Welsh gods from mythology. No one is Initiated into the coven until they are sixteen years old but the children of active members are allowed to attend feasts, solstice parties and other open ceremonies. Homosexuality, bisexuality, polyamory are accepted life style practices among the coven. Intermarriage between coven members is celebrated with a religious handfesting coupled with a legal civil marriage in Wales. Some but not all coven members are "in the broom closet" when it comes to their association with the coven or related practices.
==Leadership==
Gwenda Price, the current High Priestess, founded the Coven in 1951. She had become a witch while a young girl back in the 1930s, taught by her grandmother. She is also a Fianna kinfolk who had several children by different male Fianna fathers. Some of her children and grandchildren remain in the area and are viable as player characters. At the time that Ashtree Coven was formed there were no open covens in the Caerleon region and there were few witches in the area who revealed themselves to anyone outside their own families. Many of the local Gwyddon were skeptical or alarmed by Gwenda's decision to create a coven and begin group rituals and a community network. Some of them remain hostile towards her and the coven. Gwenda would like to retire as High Priestess sometime in 2011 and has been grooming several possible successors.
==Places of Power==
The Ashtree Coven has its grove (akin to a Changeling glen or a Garou caern) in the Allt-yr-yn Preserve and it is a place that could support a caern should the Garou attempt to claim it- something that Gwenda has always feared happening. Thera Sings-the-Blight Away and Blodwen Enchants-the-Spirits agreed to allow the witches to "protect" the area until such time as they either proved unable to or there was other need for a fifth caern in the region. The Ysbrydnos bookstore-cafe is frequented by coven members, mundane humans, and other. It is available for player ownership by a coven member or other.
==Popular Paths==
Alchemy, Conveyance, Divination, Enchantment, Fascination, Fortune, Healing, Mana Manipulation, Shape Shifting, Weather Control
==Helpful Resources==
Dynion Mwyn Blog - a Welsh witchcraft tradition
Y Tylwyth Teg Website - another resource on Welsh witchcraft
Celtic Traditions- Witchcraft and Shamanism in the British Isles
go to the Main Caerleon Page or to the Metahuman Main Page