Stregheria

por Raven Grimassi et al.

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Todo o conteúdo deste documento é disponibilizado
gratuitamente no site www.stregheria.com, constituindo
propriedade intelectual de Grimassi et al. A venda deste
material é terminantemente proibida, devendo este
compilado ser disponibilizado apenas de forma gratuita.

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 INDEX
PREFACE ........................................................................................................ 7
CATHOLICISM AND ITALIAN WITCHCRAFT.................................................... 8
WHAT IS STREGHERIA ................................................................................. 12
MEDITERRANEAN / AEGEAN PARALLELS IN MODERN WICCA .................... 19
ARADIA ........................................................................................................ 27
MADDALENA ............................................................................................... 32
CHARLES GODFREY LELAND: A BIOGRAPHY................................................ 36
ITALIAN FOLK MAGIC vs ITALIAN WITCHCRAFT .......................................... 44
THE SOCIETY OF DIANA ............................................................................... 55
THE MAGICIAN, COBBLER, AND THE ITALIAN TAROT ................................. 91
THE CIMARUTA ........................................................................................... 95
MEDIEVAL MURAL AND ITS TALE OF WITCHES ......................................... 106
THE DEER MAN RITUAL ............................................................................. 112
HERODIAS IN WITCHCRAFT ....................................................................... 115
WHO ARE THE REAL STREGA? ................................................................... 120
THE ROOTS OF ITALIAN WITCHCRAFT....................................................... 124
ARADIA: THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND ................................................... 131
STREGONERIA: ITS TWO FORMS ............................................................... 159
THE STREGONERIA ITALIANA PROJECT ..................................................... 166
A JOURNEY AROUND THE FIGURE OF THE BEFANA .................................. 171
SERPENT IN THE MOUND .......................................................................... 175
NEAPOLITAN WITCHCRAFT ....................................................................... 191
MARRIAGE OR A CAREER? WITCHCRAFT AS AN ALTERNATIVE IN
SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY VENICE .............................................................. 201

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 PREFACE

"I foresee that a day will come, and that perhaps not so very far distant, that the world
of scholars will be amazed to consider to what a late period an immense body of antique
tradition survived in northern Italy, and how indifferent the learned were regarding it;
there having seen in truth, only one man, and he a foreigner, who earnestly occupied
himself with collecting and preserving it." Charles Godfrey Leland - 1899

Italian Witchcraft is often referred to as The Old Religion (La Vecchia

Religione). In 1890, folklorist Charles Leland published a book titled
Aradia: Gospel of the Witches. Although it was typical in many ways of
the distorted Christian image of Witchcraft of this period, we do find
several things of interest. In Leland's book, the Witches of Italy worship
a goddess and a god, meet for full moon rituals and celebrate with
singing, dancing and making love. Their celebration also includes a feast
containing cakes and wine. In 1609, Francesco Guazzo (an Italian Witch
Hunter) published several woodcuts in his book Compendium
Maleficarum. One of these Italian woodcuts depicts Witches gathered
inside a circle drawn upon the ground. He also states that Witches work
with spirits of earth, air, fire and water. In 1954, Gerald Gardner
describes English Witchcraft as something very similar.

Welcome to the home of Stregheria (Italian Witchcraft) on the Web. This

site is operated by initiates of Italian witchcraft in conjunction with
author Raven Grimassi. Our site is dedicated to the preservation of the
Pagan roots of Italian Witchcraft. Its primary goal is to present material
that supports the existence of a pre-Christian sect of Witches and to trace
the history of its evolvement over the centuries. A secondary goal is to
dispel the erroneous association and conflation of common folk magic
elements in popular lore with the authentic forms of Italian Witchcraft.
By doing so we hope to reduce the misinformation and
misrepresentation found on websites and on various Internet forums.

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 CATHOLICISM AND ITALIAN WITCHCRAFT

"It is the most natural thing in the world that there should be certain
blendings, compromises, and points of affinity between the Stregheria -
witchcraft, or "old religion", founded on the Etruscan or Roman
mythology and rites - and the Roman Catholic: both were based on
magic, both used fetishes, amulets, incantations, and had recourse to
spirits. In some cases these Christian spirits or saints corresponded with,
and were actually derived from, the same source as the heathen. The
sorcerers among the Tuscan peasantry were not slow to perceive this."

Quote from Etruscan Roman Remains (1892) by Charles Leland

In Italy it has long been the custom, since even the Middle Ages, for
Italian witches to cover their identity with a veneer of Catholicism so as
not to draw suspicion. This includes attending Mass and participating
in the Rites of Passage expected of one in the Catholic community.
Charles Leland, in his book Etruscan Magic & Occult Remedies, records
the old connection between Witches and Catholicism, of which he
writes:

"As for families in which stregeria, or a knowledge of charms, old

traditions and songs is preserved, they do not among themselves
pretend to be even Christian. That is to say, they maintain outward
observances, and bring the children up as Catholics, and "keep in" with
the priest, but as the children grow older, if any aptitude is observed in
them for sorcery, some old grandmother or aunt takes them in hand, and
initiates them into the ancient faith."

Much of their magic appears mixed with Catholic rites and saints, the
origins of which date back to ancient times. Certain saints such as
Anthony, Simon, and Elisha are viewed as demi-gods and their magical
rites of evocation are performed in cellars. Leland mentions in the

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introduction to Etruscan Roman Remains, a conversation he had with a
Strega woman, she says:

"I call myself Catholic - oh yes - and I wear a medal to prove it" - here
she, in excitement, pulled from her bosom a saint's medal - "but I believe
in none of it all. You know what I believe." (Leland responds) "Si, la
vecchia religione (the old faith), I answered, by which faith I meant that
strange, diluted old Etrusco-Roman sorcery which is set forth in this
book. Magic was her real religion."

A distinction needs to be made between the two forms of Stregoneria

and that of Stregheria. Popular common stregoneria is a folk magic
tradition that embraces Christian elements and works within that
theology. In other words it is a practice of magic within a Christian
formatted system. It is what native Italians are familiar with and is
therefore the system known to the average person growing up in Italy.
Elements of this system often show up as things done within everyday
families in Italian culture. It differs substantially from the pre-Christian
tradition of stregoneria that is known only to its initiates possessing the
lineage connection.This old pre-Christian form of stregoneria is
therefore hidden from the general population.

The initiate form of stregoneria was once the magical tradition within
Stregheria (as opposed to the religious rites of veneration). At some
point it was carried off and practiced by non-religious Witches and
eventually became its own tradition. Parts of it eventually leaked into
the mainstream culture, and, as is always the fate of the esoteric, it
became distorted and misinterpreted by the exoteric community. The
latter form is the only system known to the average native Italian "man-
in-the-street" and is misunderstood to be Italian Witchcraft.

By contrast with common stregoneria (the folk magic system of non-

initiates) Stregheria is non-Christian at its core and its practitioners
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understand that the practice of saint magic, and in the inclusion of
Catholic religious items, are for show only. Even though both words
(stregoneria and stregheria) are translated into English as Witchcraft,
this is false in terms of what each system actually represents. Stregheria
is Witchcraft, a pre-Christian tradition. Common stregoneria is a form
of sorcery used in Catholic-rooted folk magic traditions.

EXCERPT FROM WAYS OF THE STREGA by Raven Grimassi:

Many modern Strega simply consider Catholics to be Pagans who have

accepted the divinity of Jesus. There are some interesting concepts in
both the Old and New Testaments which resemble Strega beliefs and
may well be the foundation of such a concept. According to the New
Testament the Magi were the first to seek out Jesus after "seeing" his star.
Legend claims that they were astrologers and associates them with the
lands of Chaldea, Egypt and Persia. These are all places that have an
occult history dating far back into antiquity.

The tale of the Magi recorded in the book of Matthew seems to indicate
that these mystic Pagans were among the first to go and pay homage to
Jesus. In the book of proverbs (chapter 8, verse 2) we find a personage
called "wisdom" conceived of in the form of a female divinity who
"stands at the crossroads" (a phrase used in ancient times concerning the
witches' goddess.) Wisdom speaks of being present both prior to and
during the process of Creation. In verse 30 (The Jerusalem Bible) she
claims to have been God's assistant during the process of Creation: "I
was by his side, a master Craftsman, delighting him day after day, ever
at play in his presence, at play everywhere in his world, delighting to be
with the sons of men."

In the book of Wisdom (found only in the Catholic version), "wisdom"

is praised with these words (chapter 7: 22-27): "For within her is a spirit
intelligent, holy...penetrating all intelligent, pure and most subtle spirits;
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for Wisdom is quicker to move than any motion; she is so pure, she
pervades and permeates all things...She is a reflection of the eternal light,
untarnished mirror of God's active power...although alone, she can do
all; herself unchanging, she makes all things new..."

Connected to this concept of the feminine aspect of Divinity is the word

ruach. In Hebrew this word is of feminine gender and would properly
be defined in the sense of feminine divinity. When we read in the
account of Creation (Book of Genesis) that the "spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters" the Hebrew word used here for spirit was
ruach. In the New Testament this has been translated into "Holy Spirit"
as in the Trinity concept of "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."

Hebrew mystics of the Kabbalah considered ruach to be associated with

the element of air and thus with spirit as well. Among early Kabbalists
the sound of a word denoted its elemental association; soft sounds were
associated with air, hard sounds with earth, hissing sounds with fire and
muted sounds with water. It is not necessary, however, to look to
Catholicism in order to find remnants of earlier pagan worship. Aspects
of Stregheria still survive today in both Italy and America, even among
those who would not readily identify themselves as being members of
La Vecchia Religione. They employ various prayers to a host of saints,
lighting candles and placing assorted objects as required by tradition.
Saints such as St. Anthony, St. Jude, St. Anna, and St. Simon have
replaced the old pagan gods to whom similar prayers and offerings were
once made.

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 WHAT IS STREGHERIA

Many people are familiar with Charles Leland's account of Italian

Witchcraft, as well as the famous figure Aradia whom Leland
introduced to the public in 1899. In this article I will present
documentation from several sources showing that an active Witch cult
was functioning in Italy during the later half of the 19th century. Let us
look now at Aradia and Italian Witchcraft as seen through the eyes of
19th century writers in Italy.

In 1886 a man named Charles Leland became acquainted with an Italian

woman named Maddalena who claimed to be a witch. Over a 10 year
period she provided him with what she claimed was The Witches'
Gospel. During this period Leland was heavily involved in the study of
Italian Folklore. In 1899 he published a book called Aradia; The Gospel
of the Witches based upon material that Maddalena had supplied him.
Unfortunately the work is largely typical of distorted images of
Witchcraft common to the era. We do, however, discover some valid
elements of Italian Witchcraft traceable to actual pre-Christian pagan
practices.

What is valuable in Leland's book Aradia; Gospel of the Witches is that

we find a very interesting view of pre-Gardnerian Witchcraft in Italy.
Leland gives an account of Witches who gather nude to worship a
goddess and a god when the moon is full. During this celebrate they
enjoy cakes and wine, and they sing, dance and make love. For those
readers who believe that Gardner invented these concepts, bear in mind
that this was written in 1890, over half a century before Gardner's
writings. Some people claim that such aspects are Gardnerian indicators
and argue that the Strega Tradition is therefore based on modern Wiccan
tenets. However, the timeframe does not support such an erroneous

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assessment, as these concepts clearly pre-date the Gardnerian
movement of the 1950s from which modern Wicca evolved.

It is important to note that Leland is not the only source of information

relating to an active Witch sect in Italy circa 1896. In volume 3 of Folk-
Lore; Transactions of the Folk-Lore Society (published March, 1897) we
find an interesting account of Neapolitan Witchcraft. The author, J.B.
Andrews, tells us: "The Neapolitans have an occult religion and
government in witchcraft, and the Camorra; some apply to them to
obtain what official organizations cannot or will not do. As occasionally
happens in similar cases, the Camorra fears and yields to the witches,
the temporal to the spiritual."

Andrews goes on to say the Witches of Naples are divided into special
departments of the art. He lists two as adepts in the art of earth and sea
magick. Later in the article it is implied that a third specialty may exist
related to the stars. Andrews also tells us that Neapolitan Witches
perform knot magick, create medicinal herbal potions, construct
protective amulets, and engage in the arts of healing

Andrews concludes his article with information he collected from

interviewing Italian Witches. Here he states that when asked of them
what books they gathered their information from, the Witches replied
that their knowledge was entirely traditional, and is "given by the
mother to the daughter." The Witches also tell Andrews that blood is
exchanged from a vein in the arm, and the new member is given a mark
under the left thigh. Although the moon is not specifically mentioned,
the Witches do report to Andrews that such ceremonies are performed
at midnight.

The ancient Roman poet Horace gives us perhaps the earliest accounts
of Italian Witches and their connection to a lunar cult. In the Epodes of
Horace, written around 30 BC, he tells the tale of an Italian witch named
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Canidia. Horace says that Proserpine and Diana grant power to Witches
who worship them, and that Witches gather in secret to perform the
mysteries associated with their worship. He speaks of a Witches' book
of Incantations (Libros Carminum) through which the Moon may be
"called down" from the sky. Other ancient Roman writers such as Lucan
and Ovid produced works which clearly support the same theme. This
would seem to indicate that during this Era such beliefs about Witches
and Witchcraft were somewhat common knowledge. We know from the
writings of Roman times that Proserpine and Diana were worshipped at
night in secret ceremonies. Their worshippers gathered at night beneath
the full moon and shunned the cities where the solar gods ruled. Diana
was a Roman Moon Goddess known earlier in Greece as Artemis; twin
sister of Apollo God of the Sun.

In his book, The World of Witches, anthropologist Julio Baroja reveals

evidence of a flourishing cult in southern Europe that worshipped Diana
during the 5th and 6th Centuries AD. In the author's notes for chapter 4
he adds that the cult also worshipped a male deity called Dianum.
Transcripts from Witch trials in Italy indicate a connection between
Witches and the goddess Diana spanning several centuries. In addition
to Leland and J.B Andrews, we also have Italian Folklorist Lady Vere de
Vere's accounts of Italian Witchcraft as she encountered it in the Italian
region of Tyrol. In an interesting article found in La Rivista of Rome
(published June 1894) Lady Vere de Vere tells us that "the Community
of Italian Witches is regulated by laws, traditions, and customs of the
most secret kind, possessing special recipes for sorcery." What should be
of particular interest here to anyone with an open mind is Leland's,
Andrews' and Lady Vere de Vere's use of the present tense when
speaking of Italian Witchcraft circa 1896.

In the Journal of Social History (volume 28, 1995) we find a fascinating

article written by Sally Scully, Department of History at San Francisco
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University. The article details certain aspects of a Witchcraft trial in 17th
century Venice. The transcripts of this particular trial are the fourth
largest in the Venetian Inquisition's records.

The trial itself focuses upon a woman named Laura Malipero. In 1654,
her home is searched by the Captain of the Sant'Ufficio, an arm of the
Inquisition. Discovered were several crudely written spells along with
sophisticated herbals and copies of an occult book known as the Clavicle
of Solomon. This particular book had been banned by the Roman
Inquisition in 1640. Laura says in her defense that a boarder in her home
had left the objects behind. She further claimed to be illiterate and had
no knowledge of the contents. However, the Inquisition noted the
presence of copies in various stages of completion, and concluded that a
copying process was taking place in her home. At her trial a witness
testified that Laura was the most famous witch in Venice (strega
famosissima.)

Laura's lawyer argues that she is a magical herbal healer well trained in
the arts, and that her procedures work and are valid techniques. He
claims she was instructed by pharmacists and barbers (official Guilds of
the time) who were licensed by the government. Witnesses come forth
to testify to her skills. But adding to her woes is the fact that this is her
third appearance before the Inquisition on charges of Witchcraft. In 1630
Laura had been sentenced to one year in jail for heresy after her husband
divorced her for practicing witchcraft. She was accused of placing
tokens in a shoe, keeping a spell in a purse, and putting holy water in
the soup. Laura confessed, but stated that her intentions were
beneficent.

In 1649 Laura was again tried by the Inquisition for practicing "stregarie"
(love magic, divination, etc.) along with her mother (Isabella), half-sister
(Marietta Battaglia) and 13 others. Marietta confessed to fortune telling

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and little works of magic (piria, cordella, inchiostra). She herself had also
been tried by the Inquisition in 1637 for practicing Witchcraft. In the 1649
trial Marietta alone is sentenced to jail and banishment.

What interests us in all of this, is the historical documentation of 17th

century Italian Witches hand-copying spells and manuscripts of a
magical nature. If nothing else, this serves as partial evidence that Italian
Witches were passing magical traditions through personal hand written
books (what Wiccans would call a Book of Shadows). This lends
credence to the claims of family Witches that centuries old oral and
written knowledge has been passed down through the generations. If
Laura and her family were involved in such endeavors, certainly others
were as well. The existence of hand copied books by Witches is yet
another aspect of Italian Witchcraft later appearing in Gardnerian
Wicca. In Leland's Gospel of Aradia he refers several times to material
recorded in writing by Italian Witches. Leland also tells us that the copy
of the Witches' Gospel he received from Maddalena was in her own
hand writing.

Shortly after the revival of the Old Religion by Aradia, the violent
persecution of Witches stormed Italy. In order to survive, the Cult 'went
underground' meeting only in secret and creating strict laws to insure
non-discovery. This secrecy continued until the early 19th century when
Witches began operating under the guise of Masonic groups and other
organizations.

Italian Witches joined Masonic groups both to protect themselves and to

continue the ancient practices with other Witches. Masonic influences
are readily recognized by a simple examination of modern practices. For
example, the Comacini were highly influential in the development of
various Masonic elements that appear in modern Witchcraft systems
throughout much of continental Europe and the British Isles. Other

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secret societies such as the Italian Carbonari (that established lodges in
Scotland circa 1820) had three degrees of initiation marked by colored
cords or ribbons: blue, red and black. A triangle marked the first degree
level. The Carbonari claimed to have been based upon the Roman
Mystery Cult of Mithra. One story originating from their Order in France
states that this particular chapter originated in Scotland during the reign
of Queen Isabel and was befriended by Francis I, King of France. Under
his protection the Masonic cult multiplied and spread to Germany,
France and England where it was also known as Forest Masonry. There
is an interesting similarity here to Italian Witches who call their own
groups"groves" (Boschetto).

A Hermetic group in Naples also influenced modern Stregheria. This

group was called Fratellanza Terapeutico-Magica di Myriam (the
Magical Therapeutic Brotherhood of Myriam) and was founded in
Naples by a man named Guilian Kremmerz. On March 20, 1896 the
Brotherhood of Myriam drew up a constitution and commenced formal
instruction. The basic structure of the Order's practices was based upon
natural magnetic properties found in all living things as well as in the
earth itself. The Order taught that all things were balanced within a
polarity structure. Healing through electromagnetic properties of the
body was one of the primary practices of the Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood of Myriam taught the concept of the aura, an energy

field surrounding the body. It also instructed its members concerning
the lunar body. The lunar body was believed to form from the emotional
state of an individual, creating an energy body within the aura. The
lunar body, in this context, is the occult or spiritual counterpart to the
electromagnetic energy field known as the aura. The Order of Myriam
also instructed its members on the astral dimensions and various
practices associated astral workings. Although such concepts were

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previously well known to Italian Witches, the Brotherhood supplied
terms and labels that were later adopted into Stregheria.

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MEDITERRANEAN / AEGEAN PARALLELS IN MODERN WICCA

The Four Ritual Tools

In modern Witchcraft (and Wicca) we often find the inclusion of what is

commonly referred to as the "four tools of Western occultism." These
are the pentacle, wand, dagger, and chalice. It is interesting to note that
in the ancient cult of Mithras we find the use of ritual tools known as the
wand of command, the libation cup, the crescent-shaped blade, and the
platter. In the book The Cults of the Roman Empire, by Robert Turcan,
the author also notes the presence of a ritual sword and a scourge known
as the sun's whip. These Aegean/Mediterranean tools bear a striking
resemblance to those that later appear in Gardnerian Wicca. One
possible explanation for this theme is that the Cult of Mithras was spread
to the British Isles by the Roman legions, which occupied Britain for
several centuries.

It is noteworthy to find the appearance of the blade, cup, pentacle, and

wand displayed together in a magical/ritual context in the symbolism of
the early Italian Renaissance period. This image of the traditional tools
of Western Occultism is captured in the 15th century Visconti Cary-Yale
tarot deck, the oldest known extant deck. The Visconti Magician card
depicts a man standing before a table. In his left hand he holds a wand.
On the table itself is set a large chalice, a sword, and a pentacle. Stuart
Kaplan, an acknowledged expert on the Tarot, says that all Tarot
symbolism as we know it today evolved from the Italian Tarot.

Source: The Encyclopedia of the Tarot, U.S. Games Inc., Stamford 1978.

The Book of Shadows

Italian Witches were hand copying from the Key of Solomon in the 17th
century, and mixing it with spells and rituals in their private hand
written books.*
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Francesco Guazzo wrote in his 17th century Italian Witch Hunter's
Guide that witches use a black book from which they read during their
religious rites. **

Sources: *Journal of Social History, volume 28, 1995, article by Sally

Scully, Department of History at San Francisco University.
**Compendium Maleficarum 1608.

Drawing Down The Moon

In the writings of the ancient Roman poet Horace (Epode 17) we find
these words (addressed to Canidia): (the Witch Canidia replies) ... must
I, who can move waxen images and draw down the moon from the sky
by my spells, who can raise the vaporous dead, and mix a draught of
love lament the effect of my art, availing nothing upon you?"

The Four Elements

Empedocles (a student of the teachings of Pythagoras) was historically

the first person known to have taught the concept of the Four Elements
as a single cohesive doctrine. He lived around 475 BC in his native
homeland of Sicily where he presented the teachings concerning the four
elements as the four-fold root of all things.

Source: Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic; Empedocles and the

Pythagorean Tradition by Peter Kingsley, Oxford University Press 1995.

The Elementals

In book one, chapter 18 , of the Compendium Maleficarum by Francesco

Guazzo (1609) we read that Italian witches work with spirits of certain
specific natures. Guazzo lists these as: fiery, aerial, terrestrial and water.
Here, of course, are the elemental creatures also related to modern
Wiccan beliefs.

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Source: Compendium Maleficarum, 1608

The Ritual Circle

Italian witches employed beech twigs to trace ritual circles in the

ground. Such a circle is depicted in a 17th century Italian woodcut by
Francesco Guazzo.

Sources: Compendium Maleficarum, 1608.

Duotheism

In classic Roman and Greek concepts we find the Divine Couple imagery
in such matings as Jupiter and Juno, Zeus and Hera. At the second
lectisternium in 217 BC, for the first time in their history, the Romans
selected a dozen deities and grouped them together into couples
according to the Hellenic pattern. From this celebration arose the Roman
version of the Twelve Principle Deities in Roman Mythology. Folklorist
Charles wrote if Italian Witches who worshipped Diana and her consort
the Roman god Lucifer, the morning star.

Sources: Etruscan Roman Remains. Roman and European Mythologies

compiled by Yves Bonnefoy, University of Chicago Press, 1992.

The Watchers

In Italian Witchcraft the beings known as the Grigori (Watchers) are an

integral aspect of the belief system. Over the course of many centuries
the initiates of Italian Witchcraft have developed various signs and
gestures that are recognized by the Grigori and indicate the presence of
a trained witch of the Old Religion. This intimate relationship between
Grigori and initiate has been forged and nurtured by the Strega for
countless generations. The ritual display of prescribed signs and
gestures at the appropriate quarter grants passage by the Grigori and

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allows the initiate to gain access to the portals that lead directly into the
Otherworld realms.

As guardians of the portals to such realms as the astral plane, the

Grigori can negate magickal energy from manifesting there. This results
in a failed magickal work or spell. The reasons why the guardians might
intercede in such a manner are varied, but the Grigori bear the title
"guardians" for good reason. Non-initiates of authentic forms of Italian
Witchcraft, and those to whom these inner mysteries have yet to reveal
themselves, often dispute the role of the Grigori (if not their existence
itself).

Another erroneous claim made by non-initiates is that initiates of Italian

Witchcraft believe their actions are "judged" by the Grigori, which is
untrue and is based upon ignorance of authentic Italian witch beliefs and
practices. The appearance of the essential Grigori or Watcher concept,
in the literature on Italic paganism, dates back to archaic Roman religion,
which itself is derived from the Etruscans. Ovid, in his work titled
Fausti, calls the Lare the "night watchmen." In archaic Roman religion
small towers were built at the crossroads and an altar was set before
them upon which offerings were given to the Lare. The Lare were
guardian spirits associated with these towers and with demarcation in
general, as well as seasonal themes related to agriculture.

In the early Stellar Cults of Mesopotamia there were four "royal" stars
called the Watchers. Each one of these stars "ruled" over one of the four
cardinal points common to Astrology. This particular system would
date from approximately 3000 BC. The Star Aldebaran, when it marked
the Vernal Equinox, held the position of Watcher of the East. Regulus,
marking the Summer Solstice, was Watcher of the South. Antares,
marking the Autumn Equinox, was Watcher of the West. Fomalhaut,
marking the Winter Solstice, was Watcher of the North.

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In Charles Leland's book Aradia he recounts the tale of "The Children of
Diana, or how the fairies were born," in which it is stated that Diana
created "the great spirits of the stars." In this book we also find a
reference to an elder race: "...Then Diana went to the Fathers of the
Beginning, to the Mothers, the Spirits who were before the first spirit,
and lamented unto them that she could not prevail with Dianus. And
they praised her for her courage; they told her that to rise she must fall;
to become the chief of goddesses she must become a mortal."

Sources: Dumezil, Georges. Archaic Roman Religion. Baltimore and

London: John Hopkins University Press, 1996, volume 1, page 343-344).
The Lure of the Heavens; A History of Astrology by Donald Papon,
Weiser 1972. Star Names; Their Lore and Meaning by Richard Allen,
Dover Publications 1963. Aradia, Gospel of the Witches by Charles
Leland. 1963.

Three Degrees of Initiation

Italian Masonic group known as the Carbonari (circa 1820) had three
degrees of initiation marked by colored cords or ribbons: blue, red and
black. A triangle marked the first degreelevel. The Carbonari claimed to
have been based upon the Mystery Cult of Mithra.

Source: A History of Secret Societies by Arkon Daraul, Citadel Press

1961.

Structure of the Circle Ritual

It is interesting to note that in the Essay on the Mysteries of Eleusis, by

M. Ouvaroff, we find passages from the ancient philosopher Porphyry
who reveals that the symbols of the Greek and Roman Eleusinian
Mysteries included the circle, triangle and cone which are all aspects of
Wiccan rites. Source: The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly Hall,
Philosophical Research Society 1962. The Northern Orientation of Ritual
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The Etruscans who occupied central Italy (from whom the Romans
borrowed heavily) placed their deities into quarter associations. To the
north was the chief god Tinia (and his consort Uni) who was king of the
gods. The north was divided up into four sections which spanned from
the north to the east quarter. In the east (the furthest extension of the
northeast placement) dwelled the twelve major gods and goddesses of
Etruscan religion. In the south were placed the lesser gods and nature
spirits. In the west were placed the deities of Death and the Underworld.
In this Etruscan view of the Cosmos we have the earliest account of Italic
beliefs associated with the four quarters.

Source: Roman and European Mythologies complied by Yves Bonnefoy,

University of Chicago Press 1992.

Conduct of the Ritual by a Priest, Priestess and Maiden

Stucco relief from the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii Italy depicts a
woman leading a blindfolded initiate assisted by a silenus priest and a
female attendant (relief from the Farnesina 30-25 BC Rome, National
Museum). The ancient cults of Roman typically involved both priests
and priestesses with their attendant maidens. The Mystery Cult of
Dionysus at Pompeii is a classic example depicted on murals.

Source: Mystery Religions in the Ancient World by Joscelyn Godwin,

Harper & Row 1981.

The Descent of the Goddess to the Underworld

The Eleusinian Mysteries, originating in Greece, involve themes of

descent and ascent, loss and regain, light and darkness, and the cycles
of life and death. Author Manly Hall, the author tells that the rites
associated with these Mysteries were performed at midnight during the
Spring and Autumn Equinoxes. Hall reports that the Eleusinian
Mysteries spread to Rome and Britain where initiations into this cult
24
were performed in both countries. The Eleusinian Cult contained the
Greater Mysteries and the Lesser Mysteries. The Lesser dealt with the
abduction of Persephone by the Underworld God, a classic descent
myth. The Greater Mysteries dealt with the Quest for the return of the
Goddess, and the rites were performed in honor of Ceres (an
Agricultural Goddess who was Patron of the Mysteries). In the general
mythos, Persephone descends into the Underworld and encounters its
Lord. The life of the world disappears with Her and the first autumn and
winter befalls the earth. The Lord of the Underworld falls in love with
the Goddess and wants to keep Her in His realm. Ceres intervenes on
Her behalf and pleads with the Underworld Lord to release Persephone.
At first He refuses because Persephone has eaten the seeds of the
pomegranate, an ancient symbol of the male seed (as we see in the
Wiccan Descent Legend they loved and were One). Eventually He
agrees on the condition that She returns again to His realm for half of
each year (cycle of the seasons).

Source: The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly Hall, Philosophical

Research Society 1962.

Lunar Orientation and Full Moon Meetings

The writings of the ancient Roman poet Horace give us perhaps the
earliest accounts of Italian Witches and their connection to a lunar cult.
In the Epodes of Horace, written around 30 BC, he tells the tale of an
Italian Witch named Canidia. Horace says that Proserpine and Diana
grant power to witches who worship them, and that witches gather in
secret to perform the mysteries associated with their worship. He speaks
of a Witches' book of Incantations (Libros Carminum) through which
the Moon may be "called down" from the sky. Other ancient Roman
writers such as Lucan and Ovid produced works which clearly support
the same theme. In Charles Leland's Aradia; Gospel of the Witches

25
(1890) we also find a reference to Italian Witches gathering for lunar
rites:

"Whenever ye have need of anything, once in the month and when the
moon is full, ye shall assemble in some secret place, or in a forest all
together join to adore the potent spirit of your queen, my mother, great
Diana. She who fain would learn all sorcery yet has not won its deepest
secrets, them my mother will teach her, in truth all things as yet
unknown. And ye shall be freed from slavery, and so ye shall be free in
everything; and as a sign that ye are truly free, ye shall be naked in your
rites, both men and women also..."

Sources: Epodes of Horace, 30 BC. Aradia, Gospel of the Witches,

Charles Leland.

26
 ARADIA

Many Italian witches believe in the historical existence of a woman

named Aradia, who brought about a revival of Italian Witchcraft. She is
often called the Holy Strega or The Beautiful Pilgrim. In the oral
traditions surrounding Aradia, residing in the Old Religion of Italy, it is
said that she lived and taught during the later half of the 14th century.
The Italian Inquisitor Bernardo Rategno documented in his Tractatus de
Strigibus (written in 1508 AD.) that a "rapid expansion" of the "witches
sect" had begun 150 years prior to his Time. Rategno studied many
transcripts from the trials of the Inquisition concerning Witchcraft.

Tracing back over the years, he pin- pointed the beginnings of the witch
trials, and noted their sharp increase over a period of years. Following a
thorough study of these records (kept in the Archives of the Inquisition
at Como, Italy) Rategno fixed the time somewhere in the mid to late 14th
century. If Aradia had been born in 1313, as the legends claim, this
would certainly have made her old enough to have taught and
influenced others, and for groups to have formed that carried on her
teachings. In 1890, author and folklorist Charles Leland published a
book on Italian Witchcraft titled Aradia; Gospel of the Witches.

Leland's account of Aradia includes a legend about the "beautiful

Pilgrim" preserved among Tuscan peasants for generations. In part this
legend says: "Then having obtained a pilgrim's dress, she traveled far
and wide, teaching and preaching the religion of old times, the religion
of Diana, the Queen of the Fairies and of the Moon, the goddess of the
poor and the oppressed. And the fame of her wisdom and beauty went
forth over all the land, and people worshipped her, calling her La Bella
Pellegrina (the beautiful pilgrim)." In 1962, T.C. Lethbridge (former
Director for Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and

27
Ethnology) published a book called Witches, which does refer to Aradia
in several chapters

In Chapter 2, Lethbridge writes: "We can then, I think, assume that

Leland's Vangelo and Dr. Murray's trial evidence are more or less
contemporary and that it is reasonable to use the two together to form a
picture of the witch cult at about A.D.1400... Aradia was sent to earth to
teach this art to Mankind. That is, she was, in the opinion of her
devotees, a personage, known in Hindu Religion as an Avatar, who
taught them how to harness magic power. Aradia, at some far-off time,
may have been as much an historical person as Christ, Krishna or
Buddha..." It is also interesting to note that Ecstascies - Deciphering the
Witches' Sabbath, by Carlo Ginzburg, contains a passage that may be a
historical reference to Aradia. On page 189 he speaks of a Pagan Sect
known as the "Calusari" who, during the Middle Ages (as late as the 16th
and 17th Centuries), worshipped a Mythical Empress who they
sometimes called "Arada" or "Irodeasa."

The Calusari also used the term "mistress of the fairies" for her, just as
the followers of Aradia called Diana the Queen of the Fairies. Could this
sect have still been practicing a form of worship initiated by Aradia over
100 years prior? According to the original legend of Aradia, she left Italy
at some point in her Quest and traveled out of the country. Serbia, the
home of the Calusari, lies a short distance across the Adriatic from
Central Italy, and travel by ship was not uncommon in that Era. When
Aradia left Italy she would not have traveled west to France because the
Papacy was still established in France at the time, and Aradia was still
being hunted by the Church. It would have been too dangerous to have
gone to northern Europe because witches were being burned or hanged
in that Region (Italy did not begin the burning of witches until after the
time of Aradia). So in fact an eastern exodus would have been the only
logical action which Aradia could have taken. At the very least, there is
28
a striking coincidence between Aradia's witches and the Calusari of
Arada.

In the late 12th century, Joachim de Flora (also called Joachim de Fiore)
the Abbot of Corazzo wrote a prophetic text on the Age of Reason. His
writings had a major influence on religious thought throughout the
remainder of the Middle Ages. He passed his writings on to the Holy
See in 1200 for approval. Concerning the Age of Reason to come,
Joachim wrote:

"The Old testament period was under the direct influence of God the
Father. With the advent of Christ came the age of God the Son. The time
was now ripe for the reign of God the Holy Ghost. A new era was being
introduced, a culmination; in the new day man would not have to rely
on faith for everything would be founded on knowledge and reason."

The year 1300 was declared a Jubilee Year by Boniface VIII. It was also
the year that Dante had his "vision: of Inferno Panderers." A sect known
as the Guglielmites believed that a certain woman named Guglielma of
Milan was the incarnation of the Holy Spirit and wished to establish a
church with a female pope and female cardinals. Millennialism has
frequently provided a basis for social progress regarding women.
Women have historically taken very active and creative roles in
millennial groups, even in societies where their voices would normally
have been repressed such as that of Guglielma of Milan.

Manfreda Visconti was elected by the Guglielmites to be their papess.

She was burnt at the stake in 1300. The year 1300 was to usher in a new
era of female popes with Manfreda officiating a mass at Ste. Maria
Maggiore. Guglielma was in reality, Princess Blazena Vilemina,
daughter of the King of Bohemia. She was born in 1210 and appeared in
Milan around 1260 and reportedly died on August 24, 1281. She
appeared in Milan dressed as a "common-woman." Because of her noble
29
background, she attracted followers from both the Visconti family as
well as the Torriani family, noble rivals of the time, and was seen as a
"peacemaker" between the families. There is some conjecture that she
might have been influenced by the sisters of the "Free Spirit", a very
prominent heretical group of the time, that preached the teachings of
Joachim.

Guglielma's chief disciple, a man by the name of Andrea Saramita, said

that he heard her make claims to "divinity." He was a rather well-off-
layman, well versed in the teachings of Joachim about the Age of the
Spirit. He wrote most of the documents and was the chief theologist of
the sect.

Maifreda da Pirovano, cousin of Matteo Visconti, was the chief of the

Guglielmite sect. Maifreda was actually granted the title of pope, vicar
of the Holy Spirit upon earth, by the sect, and supposedly, it is her
portrait that is the Papessa of the Visconti Tarot deck. Of the
approximately 30 members of the sect from about 7 Milanese families,
women outnumbered men, but 10 of the most fervent members were
male. The sect had an interesting social life in which there was equality
of the genders. There was no emphasis on virginity in the sect, though a
good number of the female members were widowed or unmarried.
What is interesting, is that the members of the sect crossed social
boundaries. There were very wealthy people involved, as well as poor
servants. Membership ranged from the ruler's son, Galeazzo Visconti to
the poor seamstress Taria and the serving maid Bianca. On the ground
that Guglielma had wanted her devotees to remain together as a family,
they held frequent commemorative meals in her honor. Reportedly there
were attempts throughout the 1300's to continue the remembrance of
Guglielma, by hiding her in paintings and calling her by another name.

30
This theme, of a female messiah, a commemorative meal, and a coming
Age of Reason may well have laid the foundation for the legends
surrounding Aradia. At the very least it demonstrates that such a theme
was known in Italy during the early 14th century. The pre-existence of
such a theme later appearing in the Aradia material, lends credence to
the Streghe legends, thus providing some historical foundation for its
logical appearance in Old Italy.

According to legend, Aradia was born in 1313 in northern Italy, in the

town of Volterra. She gathered a small band of followers and went about
the countryside teaching and preaching the Old Religion of Italy. Aradia
spoke of an Age of Reason that would come, and which would replace
the Age of the Son. When she departed, Aradia requested that a meal be
held in her honor, and that she be remembered by future generations.

31
 MADDALENA

In the history of Witchcraft there is perhaps no figure more mysterious

than the Witch known as Maddalena. As described by folklorist Charles
Leland in several of his books, Maddalena was an Italian fortune teller
and Witch. She supplied Leland with a great deal of Italian Witch lore
including the text Leland later published as the Gospel of the Witches in
1899. Maddalena was also known to folklorists Roma Lister and Lady
de Vere (to who she was introduced as "Margherita").

New findings related to Maddalena have recently come to light through

some research I conducted at the Library of Congress. At the Pantheacon
conference, on February 17th, 2008, I presented a copy of a page from
The International Folklore Congress: Papers and Transactions, 1891. On
page 454, Maddalena's name appears as a contributor to an exhibit
presented by Charles Leland. Her name is given as Maddalena Taluti.
In the modern Pazzaglini translation of Aradia, contributing writer
professor Robert Mathiesen wrote that he believed Maddalena's last
name to be Talenti. In light of new findings he is incorrect, but he does
state that her name was almost illegible in the document he examined.

According to Leland, in his book Etruscan Roman Remains, Maddalena

was originally from the town of Rocca Casciano, which is now called
Rocca San Casciano. It is located in the Province of Forli-Cesena in the
Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. She reportedly traveled a great deal,
making a living telling fortunes and selling charms. According to
Leland, Maddalena claimed to have been trained in a family tradition of
Italian Witchcraft, which was passed on to her by aunts and by her step-
mother.

The Aradia material obtained for Leland differs greatly from the
material that Maddalena had previously supplied to him. In the book
Etruscan Roman Remains, Leland describes the Witches of Italy as being
32
both good and bad. By contrast the Aradia material portrays Witches in
a negative light. It is noteworthy that he describes a group that he calls
the "beautiful witches of Benevento." Concerning Maddalena herself,
Leland describes her as:

"a young woman who would have been taken for a Gypsy in England,
but in whose face, in Italy, I soon learned to know the antique Etruscan,
with its strange mysteries, to which was added the indefinable glance of
the Witch. She was from the Romagna Toscana, born in the heart of its
unsurpassingly wild and romantic scenery, amid cliffs, headlong
torrents, forests, and old legendary castles. I did not gather all the facts
for a long time, but gradually found that she was of a Witch family, or
one whose members had, from time to immemorial, told fortunes,
repeated ancient legends, gathered incantations, and learned how to
intone them, prepared enchanted medicines, philtres, or spells. As a girl,
her Witch grandmother, aunt, and especially her stepmother brought
her up to believe in her destiny as a sorceress, and taught her in the
forests, afar from human ear, to chant in strange prescribed tones,
incantations or evocations to the ancient gods of Italy, under names but
little changed, who are now known as folletti, spiriti, fate, or lari - the
Lares or household goblins of the ancient Etruscans."

After receiving material from Maddalena, which became the foundation

for the books Legends of Florence and Etruscan Roman Remains, Leland
made another request. In 1886, Leland asked Maddalena to try and
locate a text that he had heard of that was a type of Witches gospel.
Eleven years later she sent him some material that Leland published as
Aradia; or the Gospel of the Witches. It is noteworthy that Maddalena
had fulfilled Leland's previous requests for material within a short
period of time. The fact that it took her ten years to present the Aradia
material strongly suggests that she was originally unaware of it. This

33
further suggests that the tradition it represented was not the one she
personally practiced.

The tradition that Maddalena most likely practiced is reflected in

Leland's books Etruscan Roman Remains, Legends of Florence, and
Legends of Virgil. The portrayal of Witches and Witchcraft in Leland's
Gospel of Aradia does not reflect the same image as his earlier works.
This is another indication that the material came from a system outside
of Maddalena's own knowledge and experience.

A letter from Leland to his niece, which I presented a copy of at the

Pantheacon conference, describes Maddalena performing a ritual in
which she invokes a goddess and a god. During the invocation,
Maddalena reportedly went into convulsions, and Leland had to send
out for two pints of brandy in order to restore her back to normal. This
speaks to Maddalena as a genuine practitioner of the Old Religion.
Leland goes on in the letter to say that if ever there was a true depiction
of the witch, Maddalena demonstrated it through her magic.

In the book Aradia, Leland notes that he lost touch with Maddalena after
receiving a letter from her that she was marrying her shoemaker
(Lorenzo Bruciatelli) and immigrating to America. As a result of this
comment, the view has been held that Leland never heard from
Maddalena again, and what became of her is unknown. Fortunately,
another recent discovered by me came in the form of a letter found in
the archives of the Library of Congress (buried in a stack of old letters).
The letter, written by Leland to his niece, mentions that Maddalena did
not move to America, but left her husband and went to Genoa to make
a living there on her own. She wrote to Leland letting him know what
happened, and she asked him if he could send her ten francs as she was
in a difficult financial situation. He complied, but it seems that the two
never met again after this communication.

34
As the materials discovered in my research continue to be read and
documented, many more interesting tid-bits no doubt await those who
are interested in Leland, Maddalena, and Aradia. Check back to this
website as we will be posting the findings through updates.

35
 CHARLES GODFREY LELAND: A BIOGRAPHY

Charles Leland - Folklorist and Author whose 19th Century field studies
in Italy revealed the existence of a surviving Witch Cult from ancient
times. He wrote and had published several classic texts, such as Aradia;
Gospel of the Witches, and Etruscan Roman Remains (both published
by 1899). Leland's writings on Italian Witchcraft bear many striking
similar elements to the writings on Gardnerian Wicca written by Gerald
Gardner over one half a century later.

Many people today think of Gerald Gardner as the founder of modern

Wicca/Witchcraft. Gardner's books on Witchcraft published in the mid-
twentieth century brought about a growing interest in the Old Religion
of pre-Christian Europe. However, over half a century earlier a man
named Charles Godfrey Leland wrote on many of the same topics later
popularized by Gerald Gardner. For example, the theme of witches
meeting at the time of the full moon, being nude, calling their ways The
Old Religion, celebrating with ritual cakes and wine, and worshipping
a god and goddess all appear in Leland's writings on Italian Witchcraft
circa 1896.

In chapter four of his book Gypsy Sorcery & Fortune Telling, published
in 1891, Leland makes the earliest connection between Wicca and
modern Witchcraft:

"as for the English word witch, Anglo-Saxon Wicca, comes from a root
implying wisdom..." Leland's footnote here reads: "Witch. Mediaeval
English wicche, both masculine and feminine, a wizard, a witch. Anglo-
Saxon wicca, masculine, wicce feminine. Wicca is a corruption of witga,
commonly used as a short form of witega, a prophet, seer, magician, or
sorcerer. Anglo-Saxon witan, to see, allied to witan, to know..."

36
Of interest is Leland's "pre-Gardnerian" reference to Wicca and
Witchcraft. Of special interest is the fact that there is no single element
of the basic structure of Gardnerian Wicca that cannot be found in
Leland's earlier writings, as noted in the opening of this article. The only
exception would be the clear mention of a ritual circle. However, in the
Italian witch-hunters manual (Compendium Maleficarum, 1608) we do
find a woodcut of Italian witches gathered in a circle traced upon the
ground. Therefore the historical support for this aspect of Italian
Witchcraft may have been obvious enough for Leland to have felt no
need to address it specifically.

But who was this Leland character, and why should we take particular
notice of his writings in the first place? Charles Godfrey Leland was a
famous folklorist who wrote several classic texts on English Gypsies and
Italian Witches. He was born in Philadelphia on August 15, 1824 and
died in Florence, Italy, on March 20, 1903. Leland was fascinated by folk
lore and folk magic even as a child, and went on to author such
important works as Etruscan Roman Remains, Legends of Florence, The
Gypsies, Gypsy Sorcery, and Aradia; Gospel of the Witches.

In 1906 a two volume biography of Charles Godfrey Leland was written

by his niece Elizabeth Robins Pennell. In chapter One, recounting his
personal memoirs, Pennell writes of his infancy:

"In both the 'Memoirs' and the 'Memoranda' he tells how he was carried
up to the garret by his old Dutch nurse, who was said to be a sorceress,
and left there with a Bible, a key, and a knife on his breast, lighted
candles, money, and a plate of salt at his head: rites that were to make
luck doubly certain by helping him to rise in life, and become a scholar
and a wizard."

Pennell goes on to tell us that Leland's mother claimed an ancestress

who married into "sorcery." Leland writes in his memoirs: "my mother's
37
opinion was that this was a very strong case of atavism, and that the
mysterious ancestor had through the ages cropped out in me." The
biography of Charles Leland is filled with accounts of his early interest
in the supernatural, an interest that turned to a life long passion. Of this
passion Pennell writes:

"It is what might be expected...of the man who was called Master by the
witches and Gypsies, whose pockets were always full of charms and
amulets, who owned the Black Stone of the Voodoos, who could not see
a bit of red string at his feet and not pick it up, or find a pebble with a
hole in it and not add it to his store - who, in a word, not only studied
witchcraft with the impersonal curiosity of the scholar, but practised it
with the zest of the initiated."

As a young boy Leland grew up in a household that employed servants.

According to Pennell, Leland learned of fairies from the Irish immigrant
women working in his home, and from the black servant women in the
kitchen he learned about Voodoo. Leland writes of his boyhood: "I was
always given to loneliness in gardens and woods when I could get into
them, and to hearing words in bird's songs and running or falling
water." Pennell notes that throughout Leland's life, he could never get
away from the fascination of the supernatural, nor did he ever show any
desire to.

Fluent in several foreign languages, at age eighteen Leland wrote an

unpublished manuscript English translation of Pymander of
Trismegistus, a hermetic text now commonly known as Hermes
Trismegistus: His Divine Pymander. The Pymander, as it was often
called for short, was the foundation for much of the hermetic writings
that inspired many Western Occultists during the later part of the
nineteenth century and early part of the twentieth century.

38
In 1870 Leland moved to England where he eventually studied Gypsy
society and lore. Over the course of time he won the confidence of a man
named Matty Cooper, king of the Gypsies in England. Cooper
personally taught Leland to speak Romany, the language of the Gypsies.
It took many years before Leland was totally accepted by the Gypsies as
one of their own. In a letter dated November 16th, 1886 Leland wrote to
Pennell: "...I have been by moonlight amid Gypsy ruins with a whole
camp of Gypsies, who danced and sang..." Having penetrated their
mysteries to such a degree, Leland went on to author two classic texts
on Gypsies, establishing himself as an authority on the subject among
the scholars of his time.

In 1888 Leland found himself in Florence, Italy, where he lived out the
remainder of his life. It was here that Leland met a woman whom he
always referred to as Maddalena. Leland once introduced her under the
name "Margherita" to folklorist Roma Lister. In the modern Pazzaglini
translation of Aradia, scholar Robert Mathiesen adds the last name
"Talenti" in an attempt to decipher this from the poor penmanship of a
letter written and signed by Maddalena. Many people hold to the notion
that Margherita must have been Maddalena's legal name simply because
of Lister's mention of the name used to introduce her. This position does
not take into account that Leland may have been protecting Maddalena's
identity by using the name "Margherita".

My continued research on Leland recently brought to light some new

findings, which I presented at the Pantheacon conference, on February
17th, 2008. I presented a copy of a page from The International Folklore
Congress: Papers and Transactions, 1891. On page 454 of this
publication Maddalena's name appears as a contributor to an exhibit
presented by Charles Leland. Her name is given as Maddalena Taluti.
This fact sharply conflicts with Robert Mathiesen's claim that
Maddalena's last name was Talenti.
39
Who was this person called Maddalena? Maddalena reportedly worked
as a "card reader" telling fortunes in the back streets of Florence, and
later married a man named Lorenzo Bruciatelli. Leland soon discovered
that Maddalena was a Witch, and employed her to help gather material
for his research on Italian Witchcraft. In Leland's biography, Pennell
mentions running across his manuscript notes where he writes of
Maddalena:

"a young woman who would have been taken for a Gypsy in England,
but in whose face, in Italy, I soon learned to know the antique Etruscan,
with its strange mysteries, to which was added the indefinable glance of
the Witch. She was from the Romagna Toscana, born in the heart of its
unsurpassingly wild and romantic scenery, amid cliffs, headlong
torrents, forests, and old legendary castles. I did not gather all the facts
for a long time, but gradually found that she was of a Witch family, or
one whose members had, from time to immemorial, told fortunes,
repeated ancient legends, gathered incantations, and learned how to
intone them, prepared enchanted medicines, philtres, or spells. As a girl,
her Witch grandmother, aunt, and especially her stepmother brought
her up to believe in her destiny as a sorceress, and taught her in the
forests, afar from human ear, to chant in strange prescribed tones,
incantations or evocations to the ancient gods of Italy, under names but
little changed, who are now known as folletti, spiriti, fate, or lari - the
Lares or household goblins of the ancient Etruscans."

Maddalena introduced Leland to another woman named Marietta who

assisted her in providing him with research materials. Pennell, who
inherited the bulk of Leland's notes, letters, and unpublished materials,
refers to Marietta as a sorceress but Leland's own description of her in
his published works is less clear. At one point Leland mused, in a letter
to Pennell dated June 28th, 1889, that Maddalena and Marietta might be
inventing various verses and passing them off as something of antiquity.
40
However, Leland seems to have had a change of heart, as reflected in
another letter to Pennell written in January of 1891. Here Leland writes:

"It turns out that Maddalena was regularly trained as a witch. She said
the other day, you can never get to the end of all this Stregheria -
witchcraft. Her memory seems to be inexhaustible, and when anything
is wanting she consults some other witch and always gets it. It is part of
the education of a witch to learn endless incantations, and these I am
sure were originally Etruscan. I can't prove it, but I believe I have more
Etruscan poetry than is to be found in all the remains. Maddalena has
written me herself about 200 pages of this folklore - incantations and
stories."

In another letter dated April 8, 1891 (written to Mr. Macritchie) Leland

indicates still other Witches who assisted him in his research:

"...But ten times more remarkable is my MS. on the Tuscan Traditions

and Florentine Folk Lore. I have actually not only found all of the old
Etruscan gods still known to the peasantry of the Tuscan Romagna, but
what is more, have succeeded in proving thoroughly that they are still
known. A clever young contadino and his father (of witch family),
having a list of all the Etruscan gods, went on market days to all the old
people from different parts of the country, and not only took their
testimony, but made them write certificates that the Etruscan Jupiter,
Bacchus, etc. were known to them. With these I have a number of Roman
minor rural deities, &c."

In Florence, Leland spent all of his spare time collecting Witch Lore, and
purchasing items of antiquity as he chanced upon them. In a letter
written to Mary Owen, Leland says "I have been living in an atmosphere
of witchcraft and sorcery, engaged in collecting songs, spells, and stories
of sorcery, so that I was amused to hear the other day that an eminent
scholar said that I could do well at folk-lore, but that I had too many
41
irons in the fire." Leland describes the Italian Witches he met as "living
in a bygone age." It was an age that Leland apparently longed for
himself.

Leland, apparently, did more than interview Italian Witches, or simply

keep in their company. A passage from his book Etruscan Roman
Remains strongly suggests that Leland was himself initiated into
Stregheria, as indicted in the last sentence of the following:

"But, in fact, as I became familiar with the real, deeply seated belief in a
religion of witchcraft in Tuscany, I found that there is no such great
anomaly after all in a priest's being a wizard, for witchcraft is a business,
like any other. Or it may come upon you like love, or a cold, or a
profession, and you must bear it till you can give it or your practice to
somebody else. What is pleasant to reflect on is that there is no devil in
it. If you lose it you at once become good, and you cannot die till you get
rid of it. It is not considered by any means a Christianly, pious
possession, but in some strange way the strega works clear of Theology.
True, there are witches good and bad, but all whom I ever met belonged
entirely to the buone. It was their rivals and enemies who were
maladette streghe, et cetera, but the latter I never met. We were all good."

There is another passage given in the same book. In the chapter titled
"Witches and Witchcraft" Leland is interviewing a strega, and asks her
how a certain priest became a stregone. In doing so he asks her how he
(the priest) "came to practise our noble profession." By the use of the
term "our noble profession" Leland seems to be referring to the strega
and himself as being part of something which the priest had also joined.

One of the most puzzling aspects of Leland's writings on Italian

Witchcraft is the fact that he goes back and forth between speaking of
Witchcraft in common Christian stereotypes of the period and
portraying Witches as "good" and "noble" followers of the goddess
42
Diana instead of the devil. His book Aradia; Gospel of the Witches is
certainly a shocking turn from his general theme of the good witches of
Benevento. Was he trying to please both sides? Or was he laying the
foundation for a greater revelation to come. Perhaps we may never
know, as Leland died without completing his work on Italian
Witchcraft. One of his last wishes was to ask that someone compile all
of the material he had written on the subject into one single volume. This
sentiment is expressed in the appendix at the close of Leland's book
Aradia, in which he writes:

"It would be a great gratification to me if any among those into whose

hands this book may fall, who may possess information confirming
what is here set forth, would kindly either communicate it or publish it
in some form, so that it may not be lost"

I am currently working on such a project. It is tentatively titled The

Witches' Lore: A compilation of the writings of Charles Leland on Italian
Witchcraft, and I expect to have it published in the fall of 2009.

43
 ITALIAN FOLK MAGIC vs ITALIAN WITCHCRAFT

The contemporary folk magic systems in Italy reflect strong elements of

Catholicism, as they have since the late Middle Ages. In America, and
elsewhere, we are seeing the rise of what is commonly called Christian
witchcraft. The latter is a blending of contemporary Wiccan and
witchcraft elements, which are formed around a Christian core. This
process is not unlike the evolution of modern folk traditions in Italy.

Modern Italian witchcraft traditions, by contrast to contemporary Italian

folk traditions, typically do not contain Christian elements. Instead they
focus upon Pagan elements of magic and religion. However a few
traditions have adapted certain Catholic aspects of saint veneration,
which constitute a Christian veneer masking earlier Pagan deities.

Some contemporary folk traditions erroneously view themselves as

practitioners of a form of Italian witchcraft, but are instead a branch of
common folk magic and healing traditions that are rooted in Italian
Catholic culture. Ironically these folk practitioners reject the
authenticity of Italian witchcraft traditions that do not reflect their
beliefs and practices. Sadly, being highly active in their judgment and
criticism of others, they bring little else than disharmony to the Pagan &
Craft community. One example can be found on the website Stregoneria
Italiana, a group with members who actively contrive to foster ill
feelings toward author Raven Grimassi with frequent erroneous and
negative posts in various forums and chat rooms throughout the
Internet.

Today we face many problems associated with the misconceptions that

do exist regarding Italian folk magic systems and Italian witchcraft.
Although they share certain basic elements, the two systems reflect a
clear distinction. This is reflected in the 19th century field studies of
Charles Leland who comments:
44
“The witches of Italy form a class who are the repositories of all the
folklore; what is not at all generally known, they also keep as strict
secrets an immense number of legends of their own, which have nothing
in common with the nursery or popular tales, such as are commonly
collected and published …the more occult and singular of their secrets
are naturally not of a nature to be published”.

Nineteenth century folklorist Lady de Vere describes such a structured

witch cult in an article she wrote in 1894: "...the community of Italian
witches is regulated by laws, traditions, and customs of the most secret
kind, possessing special recipes for sorcery" (La Rivista of Rome, June
1894).

As noted, Italian folk magic traditions possess various aspects of

Christian beliefs and practices. These are often rooted in the venerations
of saints or the use of sacred or holy objects such as holy water, the
communion wafer, or the rosary. In addition various elements of folk
magic are liked to important dates in Christianity such as Christmas Eve
and festivals celebrating a variety of saints. Many of these displaced
earlier Pagan festivals such as the summer solstice, which is now
celebrated as St. John’s Day.

Italian witchcraft possesses active elements of pre-Christian religion,

and incorporates the aid of spirits, faeries, astronomical forces, and a
variety of Pagan deities. Ancient Roman writers depict witches
associated with the goddess Hecate, Diana, and Proserpina. Ancient
writers in Europe also associate witches in Italy with the goddess Venus,
and the god Priapus. None of these elements are found in traditional
Italian folk magic traditions, but they do reside in older forms of Italian
witchcraft. Most modern scholars have ignored or dismissed the earlier
writings that mention pre-Christian elements within Italian witchcraft,
and do not consider them as evidence of an actual witches’ sect.

45
Contemporary scholars investigating folk magic and Italian witchcraft
have conducted field studies that involve interviews with folk
practitioners in Italy. Almost one hundred percent of these individuals
are Catholic or some other denomination of the Christian faith. By
contrast the field studies conducted in 19th century Italy, by such
folklorists as J.B. Andrews, Lady de Vere, Roma Lister, and Charles
Leland involved individuals who claimed to be witches. Naturally, in
accord, the material and conclusions gathered by contemporary scholars
and 19th century folklorists differ greatly. It is noteworthy that five
folklorists in Italy during the 19th century independently discovered a
commonality within witchcraft traditions in different regions of Italy
(none of which conform to common folk magic or folk traditions then or
now).

Most modern scholars focus on the folk healer in Italy, and tend to see
the arts and customs of this figure as definitive of the cultural norms.
While this view may be true of contemporary traditions in modern
culture, it fails to appreciate the significance of the existing Pagan
elements preceding the modern folk traditions that contain them. The
majority of scholars today view pre-Christian elements as insertions into
a Christian framework instead of seeing them as evidence of the survival
of ancient pre-Christian religion. One example appears in the feast day
of San Domenico in Cocullo (Abruzzo region) whose statue is covered
with living snakes and carried in a procession. This site was earlier the
home of the Marsi, a pre-Christian Pagan tribe that worshipped the
goddess Angizia, a type of snake deity.

The customs associated with the feast of San Domenico strongly

suggests that the Pagan elements pre-existed in a readily adoptable form
that fit the Christian veneer. However, most scholars appear to believe
that such Pagan elements are not evidence of pre-existing sects and their
beliefs and practices that were later incorporated into saint veneration
46
in the Christian era. As previously noted, most modern scholars seem
to reject the idea that modern folk traditions are actually Christian
offshoots of earlier Pagan beliefs and practices.

When exploring for the correct chronology regarding Pagan and

Christian elements, it is noteworthy that the Church and its agents seem
to have intentionally displaced things as they Christianized. One
example is the festival day of the goddess Diana on August 13th, which
was displaced with the Ascension of Mary on August 15th. Another
example is the birth of Jesus placed near the Winter Solstice, and his
resurrection in the spring. The death of Jesus on a tree (wooden cross)
also resembles pagan themes in Europe. When we add to this the Pagan
elements contained within saint veneration, the evidence seems
weighted against the Christian markers in terms of origins, chronology,
and who took what from whom.

David Gentilcore, a historian of early modern Italy, held that while it

was impossible to draw absolute distinctions between schooled medical
professionals, ecclesiastical healers, and illiterate "wise-women," that
medical knowledge flowed between these three groups. This is one
example of how common elements within a group (or tradition) do not
necessarily demonstrate that the systems or organizations are the same.
The differences between Italian folk magic/folk customs and Italian
witchcraft appear to reveal the truth of such a view. Gentilcore also notes
that while some cures were known and accessible to all members of
society, others were restricted to community wisewomen:

"Some cures were immediately accessible, being the common lore of all
members of society; others were restricted to community wise women
(referred to in the Otrantine trial records as magare) and midwives. As
we shall see, they belong to the system of the sacred because they
attempted to establish relationships with the sacred and influence it,

47
although they did so outside ecclesiastical structures" - From Bishop to
Witch, page 129 (Gentilcore).

Gentilcore notes that historians and folklorists lack a full comprehension

of folk methods. This has led to an unintentional misrepresentation of
the traditions by the academic community. Gentilcore cites the
concealment involved in secret societies as a factor in the
misunderstanding of academic researchers:

"..to view these 'exorcising techniques' simply as lay versions or

applications of ecclesiastical rituals would be to rob them of their
richness and miss their other sources of inspiration. The folklorist and
historian is not entirely to blame, since the invocations and prayers were
often revealed by the healer without the accompanying prescription or
magico-medical practices. This is usually the choice of the informant
(or, in the case of the episcopal and inquisitional trials, the accused) for
whom the secret cannot be revealed to him without both the ritual and
the healer losing their efficacy. Because of the importance of secrecy
witnesses could not often be sure what the healer said or did" - page 134

Although most modern scholars dismiss or reject the pre-Christian

elements of contemporary Italian folk traditions, there are some who do
recognize the importance of them in understanding folk systems.
Several scholars recognize that Christian themes (particularly related to
saints) and biblical associations (historiola) have been constructed
around pre-existing Pagan beliefs and practices. Gentilcore notes:

"The brief magical formula that followed the historiola was usually
pronouned sotto voce, its very secrecy giving it limitless power. By their
nature, such words had to escape the comprehension of the uninitiated
in order to be effective. Giuseppe Cocchiara identifies this part of the
invocation as a surviving pre-Christian magical formula on to which has
been tacked the Christian historiola. Yet often the magical formula itself,
48
which depends on the exorcisng power of words, took on a Christian
form..."

This modification and arrogation of the foundational Pagan elements of

folk traditions has blinded most scholars to the lore, beliefs, and
practices of the earlier pre-existing authentic forms of Italian witchcraft.
By choosing to view the modified Christian folk traditions as the original
and normal model, modern scholars fail to search in earnest for its Pagan
roots (or to recognize it once they encounter it).

Few if any modern scholars have personally interviewed contemporary

Italian witches. One of the small numbers of modern scholars to explore
the topic of Italian witchcraft today is anthropologist Sabina Magliocco
who authored an article titled Spells, Saints, and Streghe (published in
Pomegranate, issue #13, August 2000).

In her article, Magliocco states that most of her knowledge of Italian folk
magic comes from ethnographic research and fieldwork in Sardinia,
where she spent a cumulative 18 months living in a highland
community of sheep and goat pastoralists between 1986 and 1990. She
makes it clear that her knowledge is in the area of Italian folk magic.
There is no claim by her to possess anything resembling an intimate
knowledge of Italian witchcraft (as practiced in Italy or elsewhere). It
seems likely that shepherds in Sardinia did possess some knowledge of
folk magic as many Italian do. However, it seems reasonably certain that
these commoners knew little if anything of authentic forms of
witchcraft. Therefore they cannot seriously be viewed as expert
witnesses on Italian witchcraft.

Magliocco comments on the influence of Charles G. Leland's Aradia, or

the Gospel of Witches, and goes on to say that Leland's material does
not bear a strong resemblance to Italian folk magical practice as
documented in the ethnographic record of the last 100 years. She also
49
claims this is true of modern Italian witchcraft traditions. Naturally
there is little reason why they should, because they are two different
systems. As we have already seen, the community of Italian witches
possesses secret customs and traditions (again noted by 19th century
folklorist Roma Lister).

As previously Charles Leland mentions the following from his field

studies among self proclaimed witches (as opposed to common people
in a shepherd community, as was the case with Magliocco’s field
studies):

“The witches of Italy form a class who are the repositories of all the
folklore; what is not at all generally known, they also keep as strict
secrets an immense number of legends of their own, which have nothing
in common with the nursery or popular tales, such as are commonly
collected and published ... the more occult and singular of their secrets
are naturally not of a nature to be published ....”

In this light Magliocco’s views are difficult to reconcile with those of

professional Folklorists in the 19th century who performed field studies
among people who defined themselves as witches. She comments that
Italian-American Witchcraft or Stregheria traditions differ from Italian
folk magical practice in several important ways. She first states that
Italian folk magic is not an organized or unified religion, but a varied set
of beliefs and practices. This is true, which is one of the primary reasons
it differs from Italian witchcraft.

Magliocco writes that while folk magic has deep historical roots, it is not
a survival of an ancient religion, but an integral part of a rural peasant
economy and way of life, highly syncretized with folk Catholicism. This
is another reason why it differs from Italian witchcraft. She continues
with the view that knowledge of magical practices was at one time
diffused throughout the rural population, rather than limited to a secret
50
group of magical practitioners. Indeed such things were diffused, but
they were diffused from the secret societies into the common
population. However, the material was never understood by the non-
initiated, and was quickly Christianized to conform with the standards
of contemporary society. Within the “rural population” it quickly
transformed into a diluted and altered form that today is known as folk
magic.

Magliocco concedes that the context of Italian folk magical practice

differs considerably from that of contemporary Italian-American revival
witchcraft, so that materials are not always easily transferable from one
system to another. This is precisely one of the main reasons why they
need to be understood as different systems. Their differences do not
render either as unauthentic but speak to different systems that are not
dependent upon one another.

In her article, Magliocco states that all traditions are perpetually in flux
as their bearers constantly re-interpret and re-invent them with each
individual performance. She further comments that revival and
revitalization are part of the process of tradition, even when the result is
different from the original practice itself. Ironically her argument is
therefore as true of folk magic as it would be of Italian witchcraft.
Consequently, since folk traditions transform within the model that
Magliocco supports, they cannot be the measure of “authenticity” when
comparing them against Italian witchcraft or other systems. This would
be particularly true of anything that pre-dated the folk tradition, since
the tradition itself has transformed into something different from its
roots.

Magliocco writes that one of the problems with the idea of a unified
organization of Italian witches is that the Italian peninsula could not be
said to have anything resembling an integrated culture between the end

51
of the Roman Empire (453ce) and the beginning of the 20th century,
making the existence of a secret, organized Italian witch cult nearly
impossible. However, the reality is that five folklorists in Italy (during
the 19th century) independently discovered a commonality within
witchcraft traditions in different regions of Italy. Magliocco also
comments that the development of a unified Italian system of ritual
magic, diffused through oral tradition on a popular level, is unlikely
before the 20th century. She goes on to add that any generalizations
about an Italian folk culture need to be treated with great caution. The
latter statement is very true, which is yet another reason why folk
traditions and folk magic systems cannot be the universal measurements
of authenticity in an investigation and comparison of Italian witchcraft.

To understand Italian folklore and folk magic (as opposed to authentic

forms of witchcraft) it is helpful to look at its literary history. According
to folklorist Italo Calvino (Italian Folktales) it is generally accepted that
Italian tales were recorded from the oral tradition by the early Middle
Ages. Gianfrancesco Straparola and Giambattista Basile compiled the
earliest works. Straparola wrote tales of wizardry and enchantment.
Basile wrote down old tales of enchantment and superstition spoken by
Italian peasants in Venice, Crete, and along the Mediterranean coast
(circa 1637). Laura Gonzenbach, a Swiss-German born in Sicily,
gathered oral tales from the peasants of Sicily, and published her work
in 1870.

The writings of Straparola and Basile provide us with a snapshot of

common Italian lore, as it existed it Italy around the 15th century.
Because we possess no earlier works it is almost impossible to know
what alterations were made over the centuries, and how similar the tales
are in relationship to the roots of the beliefs and practices depicted in the

52
written accounts. A further problem arises when we ask whether beliefs
about witches in folk tales represent what people actually believed, or
whether they reflect the fantastic.

In the book Out of the Woods: The Origins of the Literary Fairy Tale in
Italy and France, edited by Nancy Canepa (published by Wayne State
University Press, 1997) the author points to manipulations and
transformations of the earlier folklore tales by certain authors of the 18th
century. This resulted in a change of not only the core and flavor of the
original folktales, but also altered the social history through which they
originally arose. Canepa notes that this dominated fairy-tale scholarship
well into the 1970s.

Scholar Jack Zipes, in his book The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red
Hiding Hood (Routledge, 1993) states that folktales “were told by priests
in the vernacular as part of their sermons to reach out to the peasantry”.
Canepa points out that “The authors – and audiences – of the first French
tales, as of the earlier Italian tales, were the elite frequenters of courts
and salons, and these authors lost no opportunity to use the tales to air
their views on prevailing social and political conditions…” This leaves
us with the problem of how contrived were the retold tales, and what
personal gain existed in each occasion of the telling? In such a light,
popular lore again becomes unreliable as a standard by which to view
the authenticity of folklore as a reliable means of discerning cultural
integrity. Instead it can be seen as exposing political stratagem.

Canepa notes the problem with viewing popular lore as reflective of the
culture as a whole: “Moreover, in the case of the fairly tale (v. other
forms of ‘fantastic’ literature), the situation of a given work in a precise
sociocultural context is further obfuscated by the tendency to regard
fairy tales, even when they are literary creations of individual authors,
along the same lines as oral folkltales: that is, as collective, anonymous,

53
products of a tale-telling community that may span vast chronological
and geographic boundaries”.

The problem for scholars is that the written tales (which as we’ve seen
have been manipulated and transformed over the centuries) comprise
the bulk of the research data used by the academic community.
Although some modern scholars still seek out oral accounts, the written
tales that people have been exposed to from birth have no doubt
contaminated the oral tales that can still be encountered in
contemporary times among the common people. The problem is further
confounded by the fact that modern scholars reject the field studies of
19th century folklorists who recorded the oral accounts of lore and
witchcraft drawn from people professing to be witches. The favoring of
exoteric material over esoteric material by the academic community has
resulted in a misunderstanding of Italian witchcraft (both old and new)
that may never be resolved.

54
 THE SOCIETY OF DIANA

Since ancient times the goddess Diana has enjoyed a devout following,
particularly among women. In pre-Christian times the cult of Diana
flourished in the sacred grove at lake Nemi where her ancient temple
stood for centuries. Ancient Roman poets and other writers associated
Diana with witchcraft.

The worship of Diana continued among rural peasants during the first
centuries following the establishment of Christianity. This was noted in
the writings of St Martin of Braga who encountered the veneration of
Diana among the country-folk in the north-western regions of the
Iberian peninsula.[1] Here she was also associated with spirits known
as the dianae or fairies. Folklorist Charles Leland referred to Diana as
Queen of the Fairies and as the goddess of witches.

Historian Julio Bajora wrote:

"Several theories have been put forth to explain the phenomenon of

witchcraft. According to one it had the historical origins in the cult of
Diana, and witchcraft as found in Europe at the time of the major
persecutions was merely a development of the cult.”[2]

This theory was presented in the writings of Margaret Murray who

defined witchcraft as the cult of Diana. Baroja notes that some
theologians of the 16th century continued to regard Diana as the “patron
goddess of witches” and to look upon the Canon Episcopi as an old
reference to her followers in earlier Church writings. Written some time
before the 10th century, the Canon Episcopi stated that women were
deceived into believing that the devil was Diana, and that these women
formed into groups that met at night.

Jules Michelet wrote about the women who venerated Diana and other
pagan deities, stating:
55
"All innocence as the woman is, still she has a secret – we have said so
before – a secret she never, never confesses at church. She carries shut
within her breast a fond remembrance of the poor ancient gods, now
fallen to the estate of spirits, and a feeling of compassion for them.”

Michelet also adds:

“Nothing can be more touching than this fidelity to the old faith. In
spite of persecution, in the fifth century, the peasants used to carry in
procession, under the form of poor little dolls of linen and flour, the
deities of the great old religions – Jupiter, Minerva, Venus. Diana was
indestructible, even in the remotest corner of Germany.”[3]

Charles Leland, in his book Etruscan Romain Remains, presents his

belief that certain spirits that are venerated by Tuscan witches are
actually old Etruscan deities who have diminished to lesser entities over
the centuries. Leland also wrote of the goddess Diana and of the
association of her and the biblical figure known as Herodias. This figure
also appears referenced in Leland’s Aradia material. Some modern
scholars believe that the name Aradia is actually a modified version of
Herodias. In reality, as shall be demonstrated here, the connection
between Diana and Herodias (as well as Aradia) is an intentional
distortion for political gain and Church agenda.

Carlo Ginzburg notes there is “a rich series of testimonies” regarding

women who claim to participate in groups that follow a “mysterious
female divinity who had several names depending on the place (Diana,
Perchta, Holda, Abundia, etc).”[4] Ginzburg states that the name
Herodias appears in European Witchcraft due to a misunderstanding or
misreading of earlier references. He points out that Burchard, Bishop of
Worms, added Herodias to the name of Diana (when referring to an
earlier canon about Diana and her night followers). He also mentions
that the Council of Truer in 1310 “set Herodiana along side Diana”.
56
Ginzburg states that in 1390 Friar Beltramino “inserted” a reference to
Herodias that did not appear in the trial records concerning a woman
named “Sibillia”. All of this demonstrates a falsification regarding the
association of Herodias and the witch sect.

According to Ginzbug we find that Vincent of Beauvais added

statements to the original Canon Episcopi, and that Dominican preacher
Johannes Herolt added the name Unholde. Later editions of his Serones
added Fraw Berthe and Fraw Helt, displacing Unholde. This appears to
be evidence of deliberate alterations, which further confuses the
allegations that attempt to equate Diana with other figures.

As previously noted, Ginzburg (in his book Ecstasies) points out that the
old hypothesis equating Diana and Herodias stems from a
misunderstanding/misreading of the original reference to “Hera Diana”
which is rendered Herodiana, and then “normalized” to read Herodias.
What should have been rendered Heradiana, appears as Herodiana,
which is curiously close to the word Herodian. The latter indicates an
association with King Herod of the Bible, and the tale of Herodias who
was instrumental in the beheading of John the Baptist.[5]

It is interesting to note that the ancient custom among the Romans was
to create composite names for various deities. Some examples include
Artemis-Hekate (AESCH. Hiket. 667-7) and Juno-Lucina (Catullus’
Hymn to Diana). In the Hymn to Diana, Catallus writes: “Diana whose
name is Juno-Lucina, who hears the prayers of birthing women”. As we
know, Juno is the Roman name for the goddess Hera. Here we can easily
see a connection between Diana and Hera, a possible foundation for the
name Hera-Diana. This root may help explain the confusion between
Hera-Diana and Herodias (noting Ginzburg’s reference to Herodiana
rendered as Herodias). In other words, Hera-Diana may have been an

57
actual indigenous goddess form that was later conveniently distorted
into Herodias though anti-witch sentiments.

Ginzburg mentions the existence of a Medieval sect of peasants who

worshipped Hera in the Palatinato.[6] They believed that Hera flies
through the night during the time of Epifania, bringing abundance to
her followers.[7] Ginzburg notes that Hera is tied to Diana, which
creates a connection to Herodiana as a nocturnal goddess. He further
notes that the name Herodiana eventually becomes transformed into
Erodiade. This is supported by a 12th century reference attributed to
Ugo da San Vittore, (an Italian abbot) who writes of women that believe
they go out at night riding on the backs of animals with "Erodiade,"
whom he conflates with Diana and Minerva.[8] Some commentators
believe that the name Aradia may have evolved from the name
Erodiade.

Diana, as a goddess associated with witchcraft, appears by various

names and natures through Europe. Sir Walter Scott, in letter four of his
“Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft,” wrote:

“The great Scottish poet Dunbar has made a spirited description of this
Hecate riding at the head of witches and good neighbours (fairies,
namely), sorceresses and elves, indifferently, upon the ghostly eve of
All-Hallow Mass. In Italy we hear of the hags arraying themselves under
the orders of Diana (in her triple character of Hecate, doubtless) and
Herodias, who were the joint leaders of their choir, But we return to the
more simple fairy belief, as entertained by the Celts before they were
conquered by the Saxons.”

In 906 AD, Regino of Prum wrote in his instructions to the Bishops of

the Kingdoms of Italy, concerning this cult. Here he states "...they ride
at night on certain beasts with Diana, goddess of the pagans, and a great
multitude of women, that they cover great distances in the silence of the
58
deepest night, that they obey the orders of the goddess ...by speaking of
their visions (they) gain new followers for the Society of Diana...” Carlo
Ginzburg also notes Regino’s reference to the “Society of Diana”.[9]

Various witch trial transcripts contain confessions that mention

membership in the Society of Diana. In addition there also exists
commentaries by various trial judges and demonologists who also refer
to the Society of Diana. A sample list of such references can be found in
the book Italian Witchcraft.[10]

We know from the writings of the Roman poet Horace that the concept
of witches associated with Diana is an ancient one. In his writings
known as the Epodes, Horace depicts a witch at night calling upon
Diana:

"O ye faithful witnesses to my proceedings, Night and Diana, who

presidest over silence, when the secret rites are celebrated: now, now be
present, now turn your anger and power against the houses of our
enemies…” – Epode 5

Other Roman writers such Ovid and Lucan present similar concepts
related to a goddess figure in witchcraft. One example depicts a witch
making the following comment:

“Persephone, who is the third and lowest aspect of our (the witches’)
goddess Hekate…”[11]

Hecate is among the earliest goddesses to be associated with witchcraft.

She is also intimately linked to the crossroads, which in ancient times
was a favored site for witchcraft and sorcery. The crossroads was
considered to be a place between the worlds, and one where departed
souls that could not pass into the afterlife gathered at night. This was
chiefly comprised of those who died before their time or died by
violence.
59
 Sarah Johnston comments on the “restless dead” who frequent the
crossroads:

"Broadly, the aversion rites in both the Selinuntine and the Cyrenean
text align with the funerary practice of feeding the dead and making
them comfortable in other ways, but more specifically, they are also
similar to another ad hoc method of appeasing and averting the dead:
the suppers (deipna) that could be sent to the crossroads at the time of
the new moon. Several ancient sources tell us that these were left by the
statues or shrines of Hecate (hekataia) that stood at crossroads, and were
dedicated to both the goddess and to “those who must be averted” (hoi
apotropaioi). As Hecate was a goddess credited with the power either
to hold back the unhappy dead or to drive them on against an unlucky
individual, hoi apotropaioi surely refers here to dangerous ghosts of the
dead. Offering these suppers to both the dead and their mistress
guaranteed not only that the dead would be fed and appeased but also
that Hecate would help to keep them under control. The timing reflects
a belief that souls were especially likely to be abroad on the night of the
new moon; if one wanted to do something to appease them, this was the
easiest – and also the most necessary – time to make contact.”[12]

In addition to the role of Hecate as a tender of souls gone astray, she was
also important in her role as a gatekeeper or threshold guardian.
Johnston notes this important character associated with Hecate:

“…she could be the goddess supplicated at the time of the new moon
and the new month, the escort at the palace door and the guide at the
crossroads, the conductor to Hades and the queen of the souls that never
made it there, the key-holder to the higher realms of the cosmos, and the
lunar purifier of souls - - or all of these things at once. But the concept
behind these duties was at heart the same: from early times, Hekate was
the deity who could aid men at points of transition, who could help them

60
to cross boundaries, whether they be of a prosaic, everyday nature, of an
extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime nature or, later, of a theurgical nature.
The ancients certainly saw unity within the various expressions of this
role – indeed, they used the earlier expressions to validate or clarify the
later ones…”[13]

The concept of Hecate offering aid to cross barriers and to pass through
transitions becomes quite interesting when we consider the belief in the
ability of witches to fly to the Sabbat, and in regards to the idea
presented as follows from the Canon Episcopi:

“One mustn’t be silent about certain women who become followers of

Satan, seduced by the fantastic illusion of the demons, and insist that
they ride at night on certain beasts together with Diana, goddess of the
pagans, and a great multitude of women; that they cover great distances
in the silence of the deepest night; that they obey the orders of the
goddess as though she were their mistress; that on particular nights they
are called to wait on her.”

Ruth Martin comments on the idea “that the witch was a member of a
unified and organized sect of similar-minded people, capable of flying
through the air to meet together…” and she states “Again, this idea of
flying, which was obviously necessary if witches were to travel the
distances required to meet up with hundreds of others of their kind, was
by no means new…”[14] Martin notes that such beliefs date back to
ancient Roman times.

The concept of witches flying to meet others, as described in trial

transcripts, is an impossible concept unless one takes the view that such
flights were not taking place with other living witches, but instead with
the souls of witches no longer living. This leads us back to the idea of a
goddess who tends souls that have yet to cross over into the afterlife.

61
Martin refers to the “Procession of the Dead” as a concept probably
surviving from pre-Christian times.[15] Regarding this belief she writes:

"The belief was that groups of people, again mainly women, would go
out, in spirit, on nocturnal expeditions joining in a train of followers
behind their leader who was variously known as Diana, Herodias,
Holda, or Perchta. This procession was often believed to consist of the
souls of the prematurely dead”[16]

The emerging theme here equates Diana and Hecate, which is also a
theme reflected in the identification of Artemis-Hekate by Aeschylus, as
noted earlier in this article. Aeschylus writes:

“And may the altars, whereat the elders gather, blaze in honor of
venerable men. Thus may their state be regulated well, if they hold in
awe mighty Zeus, and most of all, Zeus the warden of guest-right, who
by venerable enactment guideth destiny aright. And that other guardian
be always renewed, we pray; and that Artemis-Hekate watch over the
child-bed of their women.”[17]

In a similar fashion the ancient writer Varro equates Hekate

(mentioning her former status as a Titian) with Diana:

“The Trivian Titaness [Hekate] is Diana, called Trivia [literally ‘she of

the crossroads’] from the fact that her image is set up quite generally in
Greek towns where three roads meet.”[18]

At this point we have encountered a theme strongly suggesting that

witches were involved in night wanderings, which required leaving the
body either in spirit, trance, or through mastery of the dream state. Here
they met with other witches of the past, and perhaps even with some
other living witches who had made the same connection, which allowed
interaction with one another. The fantastic accounts of the Sabbats
certainly seem to indicate something “other worldly” in nature and
62
experience. In this light we can view the Society of Diana as a fellowship
on both planes (the spirit and the material).

It is interesting to note that the revels described in the Sabbats of

witchcraft are very much the same as those depicted in fairy revels.
There is a long-standing theme in many regions of Europe that suggest
an intimate relationship between fairies and witches.

Scholar Katharine Briggs notes:

"In nearly all the countries where fairy beliefs are to be found some at
least of the fairy people are supposed to gregarious, riding in procession,
hunting, holding court and feasting, and above all dancing. This is
perhaps particularly true of the British Isles, though France, Italy,
Scandinavia and Germany there are the same tales of dancing, revelry,
and processions.”[19]

It is also note worthy to mention the following by scholar W. Y. Evans-

Wentz:

“The evidence from each Celtic country shows very clearly that magic
and witchcraft are inseparably blended in the Fairy-Faith, and that
human beings, i.e.' charmers,' dynion hysbys, and other magicians, and
sorceresses, are often enabled through the aid of fairies to perform the
same magical acts as fairies..”[20]

As we explore the subject of fairies and witches a connection with the

theme of Hecate’s company of souls beings to emerge. The theme of
“trooping fairies” is noted by Briggs in connection with processions:

“All these fairies, riding or hunting, touched the ground of middle

earth as they rode, but other trooping fairies traveled by levitation as the
Sluagh did, either by a potent word or by straddling a bean-stick or piece
of ragwort, or by wearing a magical cap. There are many stories of

63
mortals who join fairy expeditions, many of which end in a cellar where
the fairies royster and drink.”[2

Briggs recounts a tale of fairies that is similar in nature to the accounts

of Diana’s followers and to the “wild hunt” of European lore:

“And there in the bright blue sky they beheld a multitudinous host of
spirits, with hounds on leash and hawks on hand. The air was filled
with music like the tinkling of silver bells, mingled with the voices of the
“sluagh’, hosts calling to their hounds. The men were so astonished that
they could only remember a few of the names they heard.

These were the spirits of the departed on a hunting expedition, traveling

westwards…”[22]

The “sluagh” appear in Scottish lore as “the evil dead” but the account
mentioned by Briggs does not portray them in a negative light in this
particular case. Briggs notes (on page 173) that:

“The huntsmen are described as the Sluagh, but these are not evil, death-
dealing host of the Unforgiven Dead, but a brighter troop on their way
towards the Tir na h-oige, the Land of the Ever-Young, where the bright
heroic fairies live.”

However in general lore the Sluagh are typically associated with

malevolence, which is also the case with witches. Briggs draws a
connection between fairies of northern and southern Europe lore, and
comments on counterparts:

“The larvae of the Romans were the hungry, malevolent ghosts, who
also have their counterparts in the later folk tradition, the Sluagh of the
Highlands.”[23]

64
 Here we see evidence of an early widespread belief that fairies are
spirits of the dead. Along with Briggs, Wentz presents a connection
between the fairies of northern and southern Europe:

“There is an even closer relationship between the Italian and Celtic

fairies. For example, among the Etruscan-Roman people there are now
flourishing animistic beliefs almost identical in all details with the Fairy-
Faith of the Celts. In a very valuable study on the Neo-Latin Fay, Mr. H.
C. Coote writes:--'Who were the Fays--the fate of later Italy, the fées of
mediaeval France? For it is perfectly clear that the fatua, fata, and fée are
all one and the same word.' And he proceeds to show that the race of
immortal damsels whom the old natives of Italy called Fatuae gave
origin to all the family of fées as these appear in Latin countries, and that
the Italians recognized in the Greek nymphs their own Fatuae.”[24]

As we examine fairy lore and witch lore we find the core symbol of the
tree, which is also associated with the worship of the goddess Diana. It
is interesting to note an ancient belief that the spirits of the dead
inhabited trees.[25] This may have a connection with the wooden pole
placed upright at the crossroads in ancient times to honor Hecate (who
as we noted gathered souls that had gone astray). This “tree of Hecate”
was known as a hekataia or hekataion, and “suppers of the dead” were
placed there on the new moon to appease the spirits of the dead. The
hekataion served to manage the departed souls in order to protect the
living from any mischief or ill intent.[26]

The image of the hekataion with departed souls gathered around it, that
take up the feast offerings, presents a striking similarity to the legends
of fairy and witch revels around a tree. In connection with Diana we
find the famous walnut tree of Benevento where legendary witch revels
took place, which is also associated with fairies in many Italian folktales.

65
In ancient myth and legend various trees are associated with themes of
the dead and the Underworld or Otherworld. Such trees are often
believed to be guardians; some examples are the oak, ash, and thorn.
Beneath the sacred oak tree in the grove of Diana at Nemi occurred
combat to the death over “kingship” of the grove. In this event we find
the figure known as Rex Nemorensis, king of the woods.

In southern and northern European myth and legend we find the

Golden Bough and the Silver Bough (respectively). To carry the silver
or golden branch allowed passage to and from the Underworld of
Otherworld. Wentz writes of this theme:

"To enter the Otherworld before the appointed hour marked by death, a
passport was often necessary, and this was usually a silver branch of the
sacred apple-tree bearing blossoms, or fruit, which the queen of the
Land of the Ever-Living and Ever-Young gives to those mortals whom
she wishes for as companions; thought sometimes, as we shall see, it was
a single apple without its branch. The queen’s gifts serve not only as
passports, but also as food and drink for mortals who go with her.”

“It is evident at the outset that the Golden Bough was as much the
property of the queen of that underworld called Hades as the Silver
Branch was the gift of the Celtic fairy queen, and like the Silver Bough it
seems to have been the symbolic bond between that world and this,
offered as a tribute to Proserpine by all initiates, who made the mystic
voyage in full human consciousness. And, as we suspect, there may be
even in the ancient Celtic legends of mortals who make that strange
voyage to the Western Otherworld and return to this world again, an
echo of initiatory rites – perhaps Druidic – similar to those of Proserpine
as shown in the journey of Aeneas, which, as Virgil records it, is
undoubtedly a poetical rendering of an actual psychic experience of a
great initiate.”[27]

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Wentz also mentions a tree that is associated with the Underworld and
with the goddess Juno:

"In Virgil’s classic poem the Sibyl commanded the plucking of the sacred
bough to be carried by Aeneas when he entered the underworld; for
without such a bough plucked near the entrance to Avernus from the
wondrous tree sacred to Infernal Juno (i.e. Proserpine) none could enter
Pluto’s realm. And when Charon refused to ferry Aeneas across the
Stygian lake until the Sibyl-woman drew forth the Golden Bough from
her bosom, where she had hidden it, it becomes clearly enough a
passport to Hades, just as the Silver Branch borne by the fairy woman is
a passport to Tír N-aill; and the Sibyl-woman who guided Aeneas to the
Greek and Roman Otherworld takes the place of the fairy woman who
leads mortals like Bran to the Celtic Other-world.”[28]

It is interesting to note that Juno is equated in ancient times with Diana,

as reflected in the Hymn to Diana, written by Catullus:

“Diana whose name is Lucina, Lightbringer, who every month restores

the vanished moon. Diana whose name is Juno-Lucina, who hears the
pained prayers of birthing women. Diana whose name is Trivia – the
crossroads her sacred place – night goddess, queen of
underworld…”[29]

Juno as a goddess associated with light and childbirth was an early

element of archaic Roman religion. The origin of her name Juno-Lucina
may be derived from lucus (meaning “grove”), which seems supported
by Pliny who records that the goddess took her name from the grove
that stood on the Esquilline hill in Rome, which is where her temple was
later erected. In this sacred grove stood a tree where the Vestal virgins
hung up offerings of locks of their hair.[30]

67
Juno’s consort Jupiter was also associated with a sacred tree. Historian
Cyril Bailey notes:

“Of the recognition of a spirit in individual trees we may have a trace in

the cult of Iuppiter Feretrius [Jupiter Feretrius] on the Capital: he may
have been in origin the spirit of a sacred oak, upon which according to
Romulus hung the spolia opima.”[31]

The temple of Jupiter Feretrius was the oldest temple to be established

in Rome, and bore Tuscan columns. It was associated with a sacred oak
tree, and the temple was built on the former site of the tree. Sir James
Frazer writes:

“…it is reasonable to conclude that wherever in Latium a Vestal fire was

maintained, it was fed, as at Rome, with wood of the sacred oak. If this
was so at Nemi, it becomes probable that the hallowed grove there
consisted of a natural oak-wood, and that therefore the tree which the
King of the Wood had to guard at the peril of his life was itself an oak;
indeed, it was from an evergreen oak, according to Virgil, that Aeneas
plucked the Golden Bough. Now the oak was the sacred tree of Jupiter,
the supreme god of the Latins. Hence it follows that the King of the
Wood, whose life was bound up in a fashion with an oak, personated no
less a deity than Jupiter himself. At least the evidence, slight as it is,
seems to point to this conclusion.”[32]

Bailey notes that the god Janus is associated with Jupiter as reflected in
the rite of porca praecidanea, in which Janus receives his sacred cake
(stures) and takes his place among the deities of the farms.[33] Frazer
also associates Janus with Jupiter:

“To this theory it may naturally be objected that the divine consort of
Jupiter was not Diana but Juno, and that if Diana had a mate at all he
might be expected to bear the name not of Jupiter, but of Dianus or

68
Janus, the latter of these forms being merely a corruption of the former.
All this is true, but the objection may be parried by observing that the
two pairs of deities, Jupiter and Juno on the one side, and Dianus and
Diana, or Janus and Jana, on the other side, are merely duplicates of each
other, their names and their functions being in substance and origin
identical.”[34]

It is note worthy in the region of Naples that we find the word “janara”
to be the term for witch. It is accepted by Italian scholars that the
Neapolitan Janara and the Sardinian Jana are derived from "Diana," in
that night-flying women were considered followers of the goddess
Diana in medieval legend. In regional lore the janara lurk in doorways
and thresholds, which reflects the theme of Hecate’s souls at the
crossroads. In ancient times the crossroads was a place between the
worlds, and doorways in general were also considered to be liminal
places as well. Regarding this concept, Johnston writes:

“The common belief that the doorway is a gathering place for the
demons and ghosts reflects the connection between liminality and the
demonic in a difference way, for the threshold belongs to neither the
interior nor that of the outside world. Crossroads – the interstices
between three or four roads – also are associated with ghosts and
demons in many cultures, including Greek. In these cases, doorways or
crossroads are perceived as dangerous places precisely because they are
liminal – because they fall between otherwise defined and controlled
areas – and thus come to be viewed as just the sorts of locations where
demons gather and lurk.”[35]

The guardianship of thresholds also appears in the concept of the

Karyatis figures. These images of the goddess Carya stand at the
entrances to ancient Greek temples and support the temple roof. The
Greek writer Pausanias describes the worship of a goddess known as

69
Artemis-Caryatis (Karyatis) who is venerated in a sanctuary of walnut
trees.[36] Old traditions related to the Italian city of Benevento related
tales of the witches’ walnut, which was a legendary site for gatherings
and celebrations.

Ancient tales tell of a sect of maidens at Karyai who worship Artemis

with celebratory dances. In some accounts the name Karya appears as
a tree nymph, which suggests a connection to fairy lore. In Italian
folklore, fairy maidens are associated with walnut trees (among other
types of trees). Often fairy women are depicted in tales as the departed
mother of the central figure in the story. Here again we find the
connection of a tree with souls of the dead.

In the tale of Rhoikos and Arkas we find a sexual relationship with a tree
nymph. Rhoikos saves an oak by propping it up, and its nymph appears
saying she will grant him a wish. He asks to have sex with her, and she
tells the hero that a bee will come to him and announce the time of the
tryst. In Italian folklore we find the theme of trees giving birth to human
babies. Perhaps we are seeing an old belief that souls of the dead can be
reborn through trees under the right conditions. If so, this may be one
of the reasons for revels and celebrations around certain trees found in
fairy and witch lore (a means of retrieving ancestral souls through
fertility rites).

Scholar Jennifer Larson notes that the representation of grouped

maidens in processions and round dances has a long history dating back
the “geometric period.” This is usually categorized as: Early Geometric
period 900-850 bce, Middle Geometric period 850-760 bce, and Late
Geometric period 760-700 bce.[37] It is difficult to distinguish between
the choruses of maidens within a sect and the band of nymphs that
follow a specific deity such as Apollo, Pan or Hermes.

70
Larson notes that nymphs are frequently depicted as having sexual
relations with pastoral gods. An erotic element was the playing of
music, and here we find Pan’s pipes and Apollo’s harp. The “round
dance” which features in the depiction of Pan and his nymphs also
appears in the accounts regarding the gatherings of witches and fairies.
As we shall see, sexual union was not the goal but the tool through
which something much greater was sought.

Upon examination we find the theme of female rites of passage reflected

in ancient rites, which upon further examination lead us back to
Artemis, and Proserpina (Persephone). Larson states:

“The Greeks conceptualized a woman’s life as a series of stages and

events related to reproduction. A young girl was a potential bride and
mother, a wild creature who needed to be socialized and reconciled to
the culturally approved restrictions on female behavior, a goal that was
achieved in part through participation in rituals. Young girls learned
about gender roles through maturation rituals…This process, far from
being of merely personal significance, was recognized as a fundamental
and crucial requirement for social continuity. Abundant myths illustrate
the drama of the young woman’s resistance to her forfeiture of freedom
and her inevitable, necessary submission to the requirements of the
group”[38]

Larson mentions that stages of female life were under the purview of
major goddesses, for example, Artemis, Hera, Persephone and
Eileithyia. According to Larson each district and city had its own
customs and relied on its own combinations of deities and rituals to
achieve essentially the same ends. Larson writes: “The nymphs
represented the wild prepubertal girl, the chaste chorus member, the
bride before and after the consummation, and even the mother, whereas

71
the sexual and familial identities of the major goddesses were more
firmly fixed.”[39]

Here we find the foundation for a mythos, but one that would differ in
certain ways within the rituals of the mystery tradition. Underlying this
structure it is not difficult to see sexual rites of initiation and
transformation, which become reduced to mere orgies through the eyes
of the Church and its operatives. The image of witches engaged in orgies
at the Sabbat was a theme popularized by opponents of witchcraft for
many centuries.

Larson mentions that:

"Goddesses and nymphs, as divine exemplars, enacted at both mythic

and ritual levels the choruses, baths, and other symbolic events of the
female life cycle. Girls and women, in turn, believed they were
emulating the deities by their participation in these events, while the
community as a whole celebrated and affirmed gender expectations
through the deities public cults.”[40]

In the case of the mystery tradition such rites were private and intended
for something more significant than integration into the sect, its mythos,
and the social expectations of the sect. This shall become more apparent
as we continue.

Sarah Johnston notes the inner levels of rites of passage for women, and
from this arise some important elements. Johnston writes:

“The passage of a girl out of her natal household into marriage and the
motherhood that sets the seal upon marriage can be truncated and
ruined at either end of the process with the same result: she becomes an
unhappy soul, frustrated in her attempt to complete her life as woman,
who must be propitiated lest she return to ruin the lives of other females,
Although the deities blamed for such failures in myth are most often
72
Artemis and Hera, Dionysus takes on the role as well in some versions
of the Proetides’ myth, in the Minyads’ myth, in the myth of Carya, and
more faintly in the extant version of the myth of Erigone. Thus, rituals
to propitiate these dead women’s souls could be attracted into the
sphere of a Dionysiac festival…”[41]

Earlier we encountered the theme of unhappy souls gathered at

crossroads where the “tree of Hecate” stood. Johnston’s mention of
Carya and Erigone is noteworthy. In Greek mythology, Erigone is the
daughter of Icarius, the hero of the Attic deme Icaria. Her father, who
Dionysus taught to make wine, gave some to some shepherds, who
became intoxicated. Their companions, thinking they had been
poisoned, killed Icarius and buried him under a tree. Erigone, guided
by her faithful dog Maera, found his grave and in her grief she hanged
herself on the tree. In anger Dionysus sent a plague on the land, and all
the maidens of Athens, in a fit of madness, hanged themselves like
Erigone. The festival called Aeora (the swing) was subsequently
instituted to propitiate Icarius and Erigone. Various small images were
suspended on trees and swung backwards and forwards, while
offerings of fruit were made. Some commentators believe that the story
was probably intended to explain the origin of these figures, by which
Dionysus, as god of trees, was propitiated. In Greek myth, forest
nymphs raised Dionysus, and he was called Dendrite, which in Greek
connects him with trees.

The Dendrite aspect of Dionysus is deeply rooted in the ecstatic

elements of his cult. The release of primal or animal feelings is
experienced in its fullness without limitations. Sexual rites immerse one
in the deep memory of death and deep-seated fear, wherein life is
reaffirmed and liberation can be achieved. Here again what can be
misunderstood as a mere orgy for personal gratification is actually a rite
of reconnecting with the three great mysteries: birth, life, and death.
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As in the myth of Erigone, the maiden Carya is intimately connected to
a tree. In the best-known version of the myth, Carya is a Laconian
maiden who is seduced by Dionysus and later transformed by him into
a nut tree. In the common myth this occurs when her sisters try and
interfere when Dionysus attempts further advances towards Carya. But
this is too exoteric to have meaning in the greater context of the mythos.

Johnston notes that Caryatis was Artemis’s cult title in the village of
Caryai, and here the priestesses of Artemis were called the caryatidai.
Each year women performed a dance called the caryatis at a festival in
honor of Artemis called the Caryateia. In the tale of the maiden Carya,
Johnston sees the state of Carya’s transformation as a liminal condition,
a placement between the worlds. She also notes a legend about a group
of Laconian maidens who committed suicide by hanging themselves
from a tree. According to this legend the temple of Artemis Caryatis
was later built upon the site. Johnston writes:

"The description of both the mythic and the real girls as virginal
indicates that they were at the age during which transitional rites took
place, as does, again, the method by which they committed suicide. That
the mythic girls became madly suicidal at this age, and expressed that
madness by hanging themselves on the tree that once was a virgin like
themselves, suggests a causal connection between their fate and that of
Carya.”[42]

In another tale we find a group of children who were stoned to death for
tying a noose around the statue of Artemis near the town of Condylea
in Arcadia. According to the tale, the death of the children angered
Artemis who punished the offenders by causing all their unborn
children to die in their mother’s wombs. Here we begin to see a
reflection of ill elements later distorted and associated with witches and
the death of infants. It is important to note the absence of a belief in

74
ancient Greece of magic being used for reproductive failure, as well as
such acts being extremely rare in Roman times.[43] This strongly
suggests that beliefs in the Christian era regarding witches and babies
were something contrived rather than rooted in pre-existing traditions.
However, the argument can be made that such beliefs were rooted in
supernatural beings like the gello and the strix.[44] In this light the
conflation of supernatural beings with witches may have fed the
hysteria of the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods.

It is important now to separate the Greek goddess Artemis from the

Roman goddess Diana, particularly regarding virginity. Classic myths
depict Artemis as a chaste goddess, whereas Diana has several lovers
including a mortal named Endymion. Another distinction is made in
the fact that several ancient writers associate Diana with witches but
none with Artemis.

In Italy the worship of Diana appears to have been indigenous, and not
an import from Greece.[45] Among the Romans, Diana was a goddess
of the moon, and later Greek myths relating to Artemis were added.[46]
However, this influence may have come from the Etruscans who
worshipped a goddess known as Atimite or Artimite. Etruscan artifacts
and construction methods discovered in the area of Diana’s temple at
Nemi strongly suggests an indigenous cult in ancient Italy, which pre-
existed the Romans.

When we consider the “Society of Diana” and its night gatherings in

ancient times, it must have been important to appease night spirits and
to create a society that was not in discord. Johnston mentions the
“horrors of the night” and writes about various “night-wandering
female ghosts” who attack virgins, infants, and pregnant women. She
also mentions spirits known as the nuctalopes, who are called the night-
watchers.[47] Johnston reveals several types of amulets to protect

75
against such spirits, but it seems more practical that a gathering of
witches at night can practice unmolested if they are not virgins (hence,
in part, the use of sexual rites). But what about pregnancy, and how can
night spirits be prevented from injuring the womb without the use of
talismans, which in and of themselves might be considered offensive
and therefore cause disharmony between witches and spirits?

The answer to this dilemma might well reside in the idea of a divine
mating, a hieros gamos.[48] Naturally this required a male partner, and
in particular one of divine nature. Surely the fetus of a god is well
protected, and what night-spirit would dare risk the wrath of a deity! It
is here in the image of Dionysus that we arrive in the presence of the
horned-god, in whatever local form he may take shape, including the
distorted image of the Christian devil.

Johnston states that one of the earliest roles of Hecate in Greek literature
and art is that of a wedding attendant. She notes that Hecate, in this
role, was similar to Artemis who ensured: “…the bride’s transition from
maiden to wife. As is well known, this was but one aspect of Artemis’s
general guardianship of the females passage from girl to mother, which
also manifested itself in her presence when women gave birth, her
protection of children after birth, and, even earlier in the process, her
sponsorship of a variety of rituals in which girls symbolically made the
transition from virgin to marriageable woman.”[49] It is under the
sanction of the goddess that the maidens may mate with the horned-
god.

In the iconography and mythical references a triformis imagery of

Dionysus emerges. He is depicted with the horns of a goat and also a
bull, and when he is not, Dionysus sports a crown of grape leaves
(sometimes ivy), which denotes his agricultural nature (wherein he can
be viewed as a harvest lord figure). The figure of the horned devil of

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Christian belief features prominently in woodcuts and drawings of the
persecution era, and his horns are depicted in some cases as those of a
goat, and at other times as the horns of a bull. Since the devil is never
given a physical description in the Bible, it seems clear that his imagery
is drawn from pagan sources.

The stories told of the witches’ Sabbats during the era of persecution
provide accounts of orgiastic meetings, feasts, dancing, and impossible
physical feats that include the ability to fly. Prior to the notion that
witches flew on broomsticks we find that riding on a goat provided
transportation to the Sabbat, which is one of the cult animals associated
with Dionysus.

It is interesting to note that Dionysus is depicted in ancient myth as a

god connected to death and the souls of the dead. The followers of
Dionysus, who travel with him, share traits in common with the
assembly of witches and the revels of fairies. Here we see reflections of
the night-wandering women who accompany Diana. Historian Walter
Otto writes:

“However, the dark and eerie character of the animal also leaves its
mark in the cult and myth of Dionysus, and it is this duality in its nature
which first makes it into a genuine symbol of the two-fold god.
Dionysus ‘of the black goatskin’ has an epithet here, which is used again
in the case of the Enrinyes. Plutarch mentions it together with ‘the
nocturnal one.’ To his cult, which in Attica was associated with the
Apaturia, belonged a legend which obviously referred to the spirit realm
beneath the earth. He was also worshipped in Hermione. A figure who
was undoubtedly connected with Dionysus Melanaigis was Dionysus
Morychis (‘the dark one’) in Syracuse. The spirit of horror which,
according to the myth-making mind, lives in the goatskin is well known
to us from the figure of Zeus, who shakes the aegis. The same concept

77
recurs in the italic cult of Mars. It is precisely out of Italy, moreover, that
we get our most explicit evidence for the viewpoint that the he-goat and
the she-goat belong to the subterranean world, and to death’s realm. The
goddess of women, Juno, dresses herself in a goatskin.” [50]

The procession of the dead, and its connection to witchcraft through

Hecate and her souls at the crossroads, is significant in relationship to
themes of revelry. In the image below, Dionysus is shown as a column
known as a herm figure. Herm figures were pillars with the upper
portion shaped as the bust of a god or goddess. In ancient times they
were placed at the crossroads and thresholds. In connection to the herm
figure of Dionysus, Harrison notes that Dionysus was called by the
name Perikionios, which means, “He-about-the-pillar.” The images
surrounding Dionysus depict the followers of Dionysus worshiping him
as the god of life. Harrison notes that they “bend in ritual ecstasy to
touch the earth, mother of life.”[51]

The cult of Dionysus in the region of Benevento is evident in the Villa of

the Mysteries at Pompeii, which is about 50 miles south of Benevento.
Here we find painted depictions of an initiation ceremony in which a
woman enters into the cult of Dionysus.

Gerald Gardner mentions the mural paintings at Pompeii, in connection

with witchcraft, in his book Witchcraft Today:

“…and when I visited the Villa of the Mysteries at Pompeii I realized the
great resemblance to the cult…I showed a picture of these frescoes to an
English witch, who looked at it very attentively before saying: ‘So they
knew the secret in those days.’ [52]

Dionysus was known by many names including Bacchus. It is likely that

he blended with a local deity and took on a new name, if not simply the
name of the indigenous god figure.

78
We know from various sources that the goddess Diana was worshipped
in Pompeii, which is evidenced also in the excavated home of Octavius
Quartio. Within the house was an arcaded courtyard with its hanging
garden and household shrine dedicated to Diana. In a resort called
Baiae, near Naples, women frequently attended processions in honor of
Diana Nemorensis at Aricia.[53]

In Diana’s grove we find the figure Rex Nemorensis, the King of the
Woods. Diana has been referred to as the “queen of all witches” and the
“queen of the fairies.” The theme of a king and queen in witchcraft also
appears in connection with Benevento, as evidenced in the following
excerpt from a 16th century witch trial:

"In 1588 a fisherman’s wife from Palermo confessed to the Inquisition

that she and her company, with their ‘ensign’ at their head, rode on billy-
goats through the air to a country called Benevento that belongs to the
Pope and lies in the kingdom of Naples. There was a great plain there
on which there stood a large tribune with two chairs. On one of them sat
a red young man and on the other a beautiful woman; they called her
the Queen, and the man was the King. The first time she went there, -
when she was eight years old, - the ensign and other women [sic] in her
company said that she must kneel and worship this king and queen and
do everything they told her, because they could help her and give her
wealth, beauty and young men to make love with. And they told her
that she must not worship God or Our Lady. The ensign made her swear
on a book with big letters that she would worship the other two. So she
took an oath to worship them, the King as God and the Queen as Our
Lady, and promised them her body and soul…And after she had
worshipped them like this, they set out tables and ate and drank, and
after that the men lay with the women and with her and made love to
them many times in a short time.

79
All this seemed to her to be taking place in a dream, for when she awoke
she always found herself in bed, naked as when she had to rest. But
sometimes they called her out before she had gone to bed so that her
husband and children should not find out, and without going to sleep
(as far as she can judge) she started out and arrived fully clothed.

She went on to say that she did not know at that time that it was
devilment, until her confessor opened her eyes to her errors and told her
that it was the Devil and that she must not do it any more. But in spite
of this she went on doing it until two months ago. And she went out
joyfully because of the pleasure she took from it…and because they [the
King and the Queen] gave her remedies for curing the sick so that she
could earn a little, for she has always been poor.”[54]

It is not a new idea that Bacchus was the god among witches. Scholar
Stuart Clark points out this belief as late as the 18th century.[55] As
noted by Clark, Pierre Crespet (Prior of the French Celestines) pointed
to the origins of the “the witches’ dance” in the Bacchanalia, and felt they
were the same ritual. Jude Serclier (canon of the Order of St Ruff)
believed the origins of the witches’ sabbats to be traceable to ancient
Roman celebrations. Francois de Rosset, in his 18th century work titled
“Tragical Histories,” equated the rites of the bacchanal with those of the
witches’ sabbat. In this same period, Francois Hedelin (abbe
d’Aubignac) wrote that the rites of the bacchanal were “the same thing”
as the night conventicles of contemporary witches. Both individuals
wrote that Bacchus presided over the Bacchanal and the Sabbats, which
were the same events. Both Hedelin and Rosset held that Bacchus was
actually a devil and that the ancient practitioners of the Bacchanal were
really witches.

Although the Church tried to eradicate Pagan beliefs and practices

related to Bacchus, such elements merely morphed into curious

80
celebrations associated with saints and Christian festivals and carnivals.
In the region of Naples, two saints are featured in a celebration that
includes phallic symbolism. These saints are named St. Cosmo and St.
Damiano. Wax phalli were offered to these saints and were placed upon
their altars. Sir William Hamilton and Mr. Payne Knight investigated the
origins of this ceremony, which they stated “left no doubt that it was a
remnant of the worship of Priapus, which appears to have lingered on
this spot without interruption from pagan times.”[56]

The merging of Bacchus with Priapus among the peasantry is reported

by various writers and commentators. One example appears in the
writings of John Davenport and Alan Hull Walton:

"In the Kingdom of Naples, in the town of Trani, the capital of the
province of that name, there was carried in procession, during the
carnival, an old wooden statue representing an entire Priapus, in the
ancient proportions; that is to say that the distinguishing characterisitics
of that god was very disproportionate to the rest of the idol’s body,
reaching, as it did, to the height of the chin. The people called this figure
il Santo Membro, the holy member. This ancient ceremony, evidently a
remains of the feasts of Bacchus, called by the Greeks Dionysiacs, and
by the Romans Liberalia, existed as late as the commencement of the
eighteenth century, when it was abolished by Joseph Davanzati,
archbishop of that town.”[57]

Historian Jeffrey B. Russell notes that the Devil is often portrayed or

described as having an oversized phallus.[58] His other attributes,
including horns and cloven hooves, are certainly drawn from earlier
Pagan symbolism. The Italian Witch Hunter, Francesco Guazzo, notes
several interesting elements in his work titled Compendium
Maleficarum. He recounts a trial transcript in which a woman tells of
an Italian man who brought her into a field in the middle of the night on

81
the summer solstice. He took a beech twig and traced a ritual circle upon
the ground. Afterwards he read from a black book, but the girl could
not make out what he was saying. Shortly thereafter two women
appeared with a large black goat.

A man next appeared wearing the vestments of a priest and joined the
others gathered at the ritual circle. Upon the head of the goat was a
lighted candle, and everyone lit their own candles from this flame. They
worshipped the goat, and gave it offerings in a bowl. At the next visit
the Italian man cut a lock from the girl’s hair and placed it on the goat,
which marked a wedding rite. The girl claimed she was led off into the
woods where she was then mounted by the goat to consummate the
marriage.[59] Unlike many accounts of witchcraft assemblies, this one
contains little that is too fantastic. It is likely based on an actual event,
with the goat being a man in animal disguise (seen at night by
candlelight). At its core was probably an ancient fertility rite designed
to ensure the proliferation of herds and crops as well as human
reproduction.

Guazzo notes other gatherings that take place in Benevento, which also
include the black goat figure. Related trial transcripts contain the claim
by the accused that such assemblies are real and not imagined or
envisioned. The accused insisted that transport to Benevento was
provided on the back of a goat, and that many witches attended the
assemblies.[60] It is interesting to note Margaret Murray’s comment,
which ties ritual witchcraft in general with the goddess Diana, and by
extension with the Society of Diana:

“Ritual Witchcraft – or, as I propose to call it, the Dianic cult – embraces
the religious beliefs and ritual of the people known in late medieval
times as ‘Witches”. The evidence proves that underlying the Christian
religion was a cult practiced by many classes of the community, chiefly,

82
however, by the more ignorant or those in the less thickly inhabited
parts of the country.”[61]

When we view the accounts of the witches’ Sabbats it seems clear that
we are looking at ritual practices that take place sometimes in the
material world and at other times in trance states, which constitute
something akin to an astral experience. Because witchcraft was a
structured system, it seems likely that the more seasoned witches
directed such experiences. Today we call these experiences “guided
meditation journeys.” However in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
period drugs were certainly used to facilitate the journey. This was most
likely due to the fact that opportunities for training were limited due to
fear of being discovered practicing Witchcraft. Therefore drugs hurried
the process of liberating the mind and spirit from the body, and skilled
elders verbally directed the experience of the Sabbats while the
neophyte was under the influence. On other occasions a newcomer,
under the influence of a drug, observed and took part in fertility rituals
where the key performers wore masks and costumes. No doubt the
neophytes confused various events, and over the course of time it
became unclear what had actually happened in the flesh and what had
taken place solely in the spirit.

Not all witch assemblies convey a mystical nature. Ginzburg notes one
very worldly account:

“A woman tried by the Milanese Inquisition in 1390 for having asserted

that she belonged to the ‘society’ of Diana, declared that the goddess
accompanied by her followers wandered at night among the houses,
chiefly those of the well-to-do, eating and drinking: and when the
company came to dwellings that were well swept and orderly, Diana
bestowed her blessings.”[62]

83
It is difficult to gain a full portray of the Society of Diana because it was
a secret organization. Professor Franco Mormando comments: “The
ultimate prototype of such secret nocturnal assemblies is the “Society of
Diana.”[63] Here we are reminded of the passage by folklorist Lady de
Vere:

"...the community of Italian witches is regulated by laws, traditions, and

customs of the most secret kind, possessing special recipes for
sorcery"[64]

Folklorist Charles Leland comments:

“The witches of Italy form a class who are the repositories of all the
folklore; what is not at all generally known, they also keep as strict
secrets an immense number of legends of their own, which have nothing
in common with the nursery or popular tales, such as are commonly
collected and published …the more occult and singular of their secrets
are naturally not of a nature to be published”.

Perhaps it is just as well that the Society of Diana must reside as a

legendary history (as opposed to one with sufficient evidence to be
subjected to the dispassionate analysis of scholars and the academic
community). A healthy mind is one that not only embraces the realities
of daily life but also dreams in the reality of sleep. Clinical studies have
shown that dream deprivation results in detrimental changes in
personality, perceptual processes, and intellectual functioning. Dare we
reject the reality of the dream, and in doing so lose our ability to see
clearly in the light of day?

Joseph Campbell once pointed out that the conscious mind is only fifty-
percent of our being, and the other fifty-percent resides in the
subconscious mind. Can this be the reason why the witches’ assemblies
took place in both words in different ways? If so, the Society of Diana

84
leaves us with the spiritual lineage of those who once walked between
the worlds. It is the well-worn path of those who came before us. It is
our spiritual legacy.

As to history, let us end with the words of historian Albert Grenier

regarding the rural people, which apply equally to the authentic witches
of antiquity:

“History, being wholly aristocratic and political, hardly noticed them.

For they lived outside history, so to speak, content to be alive under a
sunny sky, on a land which they loved. They needed no more than a
few very simple ideas inherited from their forefathers and a few homely
rites to give them confidence and joy. A loyal, courageous race, feeling
no dread in the presence of the unknown and, at bottom, not caring
much about it, when the thoughts and fancies of the Mediterranean
came pouring in they kept alive the original conceptions and religious
acts of the first masters of the Italian soil.”[65]

[1] Julio Baroja. The World of Witches. Chicago: University of Chicago

Press, 1964 – page 65

[2] Julio Baroja. The World of Witches. Chicago: University of Chicago

Press, 1964 – page 17

[3] Jules Michelet. Sorceress: A Study in Middle Age Superstition. Paris:

Charles Carrington, 1904, page 43

[4] Carlo Ginzburg. Ecstasies, Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath. New

York: Pantheon Books, 1991, page 6

[5] Carlo Ginzburg. Ecstasies, Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath. New

York: Pantheon Books, 1991, page 104

[6] Carlo Ginzburg. Ecstasies, Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath. New

York: Pantheon Books, 1991, page 104
85
[7] Storia Notturna. Una decifrazione del sabba, Torino 1989. page 81

[8] Bonomo, Giuseppe. Caccia alle Streghe. Palermo: Palumbo, 1959

[9] Carlo Ginzburg. Ecstasies, Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath. New

York: Pantheon Books, 1991, page 130

[10] Raven Grimassi. Italian Witchcraft. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications,

2000, page 15-16

[11] Bello Civili 6: 700-01

[12] Sarah Iles Johnston. Restless Dead. Berkeley: University of

California Press, 1999, page 60-61

[13] Sarah Iles Johnston. Hekate Soteira. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990,
page 73-74

[14] Ruth Martin. Witchcraft and the Inquisition in Venice 1550-1650.

New York: Basil Blackwell Ltd., 1989, page 41-42

[15] Ruth Martin. Witchcraft and the Inquisition in Venice 1550-1650.

New York: Basil Blackwell Ltd., 1989, page 42

[16] Ruth Martin. Witchcraft and the Inquisition in Venice 1550-1650.

New York: Basil Blackwell Ltd., 1989, page 42. Like most scholars
Martin dismisses any connection between this theme and witchcraft,
seeing it instead as simple unrelated folk beliefs that have no connection.
Such a narrow view is likely due to the fact that scholars dismiss
witchcraft as bearing surviving elements of paganism, and instead
views it as a product of superstition and fear in an unenlightened period.
Such an approach dismisses the roots of folk belief that extend from
earlier periods, and negates the cultural connections to themes woven
into folk beliefs about witchcraft that survived and were later distorted
by the Church.

86
[17] Aeschylus. Hiket 667-77

[18] As quoted in The Rotting Goddess, by Jacob Rabinowitz,

Autonomedia, 1998, page 19

[19] Katharine Briggs. The Vanishing People. New York: Patheon Books,
1978, page 39

[20] W.Y. Evans-Wentz The Fairy Faith in Celtis Countries. New York:
Citadel Publishing, 1994, page 253

[21] Katharine Briggs. The Vanishing People. New York: Patheon Books,
1978, page 47

[22] Katharine Briggs. The Vanishing People. New York: Patheon Books,
1978, page 174

[23] Katharine Briggs. The Vanishing People. New York: Patheon Books,
1978, page 54

[24] W.Y. Evans-Wentz The Fairy Faith in Celtis Countries. New York:
Citadel Publishing, 1994, page 231

[25] Lewis Spence. The Fairy Tradition. Kessinger Publishing, page 322

[26] Sarah Iles Johnston. Restless Dead. Berkeley: University of

Caifornia Press, 1999, page 60-61, 207-210

[27] W.Y. Evans-Wentz The Fairy Faith in Celtis Countries. New York:
Citadel Publishing, 1994, page 336

[28] W.Y. Evans-Wentz The Fairy Faith in Celtis Countries. New York:
Citadel Publishing, 1994, page 337

[29] Jacob Rabinowitz. The Rotting Godess. New York: Autonomedia,

1998, page 51

87
[30] Lesley & Roy Adkins. Dictionary of Roman Religion. New York:
facts on File, Inc., 1996, page 117

[31] Cyril Bailey. Phases in the religion of ancient rome, by Cyril bailey
– University of California Press, Berkeley, 1932, page 44

[32] Jame Frazer. The Golden Bough. New York: The Macmillan
Company, 1928, page 163

[33] Cyril Bailey. Phases in the religion of ancient rome. University of

California Press, Berkeley, 1932, page 48.

[34] Jame Frazer. The Golden Bough. New York: The Macmillan
Company, 1928, page 164

[35] Sarah Iles Johnston. Restless Dead. Berkeley: University of

Caifornia Press, 1999, page 171

[36] Pausanias. Description of Greece: 3.10.7

[37] Jennifer Larson. Greek Nymphs. Oxford: Oxford University Press,

2001, page 259

[38] Jennifer Larson. Greek Nymphs. Oxford: Oxford University Press,

2001, page 100

[39] Jennifer Larson. Greek Nymphs. Oxford: Oxford University Press,

2001, page 100

[40] Jennifer Larson. Greek Nymphs. Oxford: Oxford University Press,

2001, page 101

[41] Sarah Iles Johnston. Restless Dead. Berkeley: University of

Caifornia Press, 1999, page 69-70

[42] Sarah Iles Johnston. Restless Dead. Berkeley: University of

Caifornia Press, 1999, page 227-228
88
[43] Sarah Iles Johnston. Restless Dead. Berkeley: University of
Caifornia Press, 1999, page 188-189

[44] The Gello were the spirits of virgins who died and were therefore
denied the opportunity to have children. As a result they sought
vengeance against the living. The Strix was a owl-woman spirit much
like a vampire that fed on babies.

[45] Alexander S. Murray. Who's Who in Mythology. Crescent Books.

New York: 1988, page 116)

[46] Hans Biedermann. Dictionary of Symbolism. New York: Facts on

File, Inc., 1992, page 96

[47] Sarah Iles Johnston. Restless Dead. Berkeley: University of

Caifornia Press, 1999, page 167

[48] The Hieros Gamos, or "holy wedding," is a means of coupling

between a human and a deity. In ancient times this rite was generally
conducted in the spring, and participants believed they could gain
profound religious experience through sexual intercourse. Participants
assumed the role of bride and groom, and through sexual union they
obtained symbolic and literal fertility for themselves, the land, and their
people.

[49] Sarah Iles Johnston. Restless Dead. Berkeley: University of

Caifornia Press, 1999, page 211

[50] Walter Otto. Dionysus: Myth & Cult. Bloomington: University of

Indiana Press, 1965, page 169

[51] Jane Ellen Harrison. Prolegomena. Princeton: Princeton University

Press, 1991, page 429

89
[52] Gerald B. Gardner. Witchcraft Today. Secaucus: Citadel Press,
1973, page 82 & 88

[53] Ovid. The Art of Love: Book 1

[54] Early Modern European Witchcraft, edited by Ankarloo &

Henningsen, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993, page 196

[55] Thinking with Demons, Stuart Clark, Oxford University Press, 1997
– page 23

[56] Primitive Symbolism as Illustrated in Phallic Worship or the

Reproductive Principle, by Hodder M. Westropp and J.G.R. Forlong,
page 48

[57] Aphrodisiacs and Love Stimulants, by John Davenport and Alan

Hull Walton, page 98

[58] The Prince of Darkness: Radical Evil and the Power of Good in
History, page 114

[59] Compendium Maleficarum, book one, chapter twelve, page 47-48.

[60] Compendium Maleficarum, book one, chapter twelve, page 41-42

[61] The Witchcult in Western Europe, Introduction, page 11

[62] Night Battles, page 42

[63] The Preacher's Demons: Bernardino of Siena and the Social

Underworld of Early Renaissance Italy. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1999, page 276

[64] La Rivista of Rome, June, 1984

[65] The Roman Spirit in Religion, Thought, and Art, page 371-372

90
 THE MAGICIAN, COBBLER, AND THE ITALIAN TAROT

There is a certain degree of debate today over whether the Magician of

the Tarot as we now know him, is the same figure as depicted on the
early Tarot decks. In the Tarot, the traditional placement of the Magician
follows the Fool card. Two of the earliest images appearing on Tarot
cards in this position within the Major Arcana depict either a cobbler
(shoemaker,) a juggler, or a curious figure sitting at a table with a variety
of objects spread out before him. This latter figure is often referred to as
the slight-of-hand-artist or the swindler. The most common image of this
is the shell game where a pea is hidden under one of three walnut shells,
which are quickly mixed while the performer talks to distract the
onlooker.

Some modern commentators feel that these early characters were not of
an occult nature and represent a different figure from the Magician
altogether. In exploring the origins of the Magician card, we will
examine the early character of the cobbler/shoemaker and look at the
other characters as well. The word "cobbler" comes from the Middle
English word cobeler. The archaic meaning of the word is a bungler or
one who is clumsy. This seems at first glance to be an odd association
with the shoemaker. The word clumsy is ultimately derived from the
Scandinavian clomsen and the Icelandic klunni. Interestingly, these are
the roots words of the clown, buffoon, and jester as well. The word jester
is ultimately derived from the Latin gestusus which means to
gesticulate. Gesticulation is to make gestures especially while speaking.
This is the art employed by the slight-of-hand expert.

But why was the cobbler associated with the concept of being clumsy?
The answer may lie in an ancient magical tradition that features the
sandal. From the ancient writings of Empedocles, and from those
written about him, we enter into the cult of Hecate. Here we find the

91
bronze sandal as a symbol of the magician of Hecate, possibly linked to
silver sandals appearing in 6th century Babylonian practices associated
with the god Adad and his wife Shala. In Ancient Philosophy, Mystery,
and Magic by Peter Kingsley (Oxford University Press, 1995) we read:

"(The bronze sandal)....was the magical 'symbol' par excellence of

Hecate. Worn or held by the magician, it was the 'sign' of his ability to
descend to the underworld at will."

Legends surrounding Empedocles as an initiate of the cult of Hecate

insist that he wore a bronze sandal. To move about in a bronze sandal
would indeed at the very least give the appearance of being clumsy, if
not define the concept of clumsy itself. It is interesting to note that in
Norse lore we find a legendary blacksmith known as Wayland the
Smith. He was lamed by command of King Nidud of Sweden so that he
could not escape, and he was compelled into his service. In his earlier
tales Wayland is actually King of the Gnomes and produced metal
amulets and magical swords. The association of Gnomes with earthen
caverns, and the association of Hecate's magician with the underworld
is equally noteworthy in our discussion. On a side note, it is curious that
the Latin and Scandinavian words for clumsy, are both from cultures in
which we find figures whose feet are encumbered due to their office,
who make shoes, and who are connected to metal in a magical way.

By the end of the 6th century BC we find writings by Heraclitus of

Ephesus that attack magicians as swindlers and tricksters who use
deception to persuade people into believing they have magical power.
Despite this, magic continued to thrive over the centuries and magicians
were viewed as theurgists. A theurgist is one who performs divine
actions chiefly with the aid of magical symbols. This is the image of the
Neoplatonic magician who was considered to possess the ability to
make rain, stop plagues, and to both extract and replace the soul of an

92
individual at will. According to Kingsley, Neoplatonic theurgists also
had "visionary encounters" with Hecate.

Now that we have seen evidence of an occult tradition associated with

the shoe, what of the slight-of-hand artist? One of the earliest images of
this Tarot figure depicts a table set with a cup and several round balls.
Commentators are unsure what the balls are, but most suggest
something akin to bread. It is quite likely that these balls are the type
used in aleuronmancy. Aleuronmancy is a form of divination in which
various outcomes/situations are written on small strips of paper. This
form of divination was popular in the temples of Apollo who, as Patron
of this art, was known as Aleuromantis. In aleuronmancy each strip is
then folded and rolled up in a small ball of dough (very much like a
Chinese fortune cookie). Each ball of dough is then covered with a
walnut shell. Walnuts were attributed by the Greeks and Romans with
oracle properties. The shells are mixed nine times and then people pick
a shell and retrieve the strip of paper to learn of their fortune. So here
we see a possible connection of the early Tarot image of the slight-of-
hand artist as an oracle of the god Apollo, an association with divination.
Divination itself has long been the providence of underworld deities,
which brings us back to Hecate and the magician/priest.

One of the sacred cult objects of Hecate was a triangular plaque with a
rod rising up from the center. Mounted on the rod was a flat disk laying
horizontally. This tool was actually the standard design in ancient times
for the working surface of the cobbler. On the disk, leather was placed
to be worked; the rod allowed height so that sandal straps could hang
down and be laced around the disk to the other side of the sandal. Since,
in the cult of Hecate, the sandal was the sign of the magician's ability to
descend into the underworld at will, it may be that the polished disk
also doubled as a type of scrying mirror for divination. Professor
Kingsley depicts the tradition of Empedocles, and the Neoplatonist
93
theurgists, as heirs of the mystical sect of Hecate and the associations
discussed in this article. With the renewed interest in Hermetics during
the rise of the Renaissance era in Italy, it is likely that the theurgist
recognized the symbolism of the cobbler in the Tarot symbolism, the
secret revealed only in symbolism and not in name. Within a short
period, the Tarot symbolism would change to rightly reflect the cobbler
and the slight-of-hand artist as representative of the theurgist/magician.

94
 THE CIMARUTA

The cimaruta is a very old charm rooted in the lore of the Old Religion
of Italy. Like many of the lasting ancient symbols and beliefs the
cimaruta design eventually took on symbolic elements of Catholicism.
One example of a Christian addition to the design is the appearance of
"the sacred heart" of Jesus. However, ancient Roman charms did
include a heart symbol, which may indicate that the heart on the
cimaruta is a later Christianization as opposed to an entirely new
creation.

The traditional cimaruta is fashioned after the image of a sprig of rue,

which is an herb that is highly featured in Italian magic and lore. The
branch of the rue is divided into three stems symbolizing the triformis
goddess Diana. Rue is one of the sacred herbs of this goddess. Various
charms appear on the rue design and each one bears its own meaning
(as we shall explore later in this article). The primary symbols are the
moon, serpent, and key. These represent the goddess in her triple form
as Hecate (the key), Diana (the moon) and Proserpina (the serpent). This
ancient grouping of the goddess appears in the ancient writings of such
figures as Lucan. Ovid and Horace also feature the goddess Diana in
their writings related to witchcraft.

95
In a very long article by R. T. Gunther, which appeared in the Folklore
Quarterly Review (1905) we find a large array of cimaruta designs.
Although the article seems to be a rebuttal against Frederick Elworthy's
research on the cimaruta there is still a lot of useful material to be found.

Most noteworthy is Gunther's acknowledgement of the cimaruta's

pagan roots, which are evident in his associating various symbols on the
cimaruta with the goddess Artemis/Diana. He also suggests that the
cimaruta design may have evolved from ancient tree worship. Gunther
states that he does not believe the cimaruta to have been of ancient
Roman origins, and he goes on to state that the cimaruta is not a single
charm, but is instead a composite charm consisting of individual
charms. All of these, says Gunther, appear individually as magical

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charms and are of considerable antiquity. Here are some drawings from
Gunther's article:

97
98
One of the most common designs of the 19th century appears below and
is the one that most people copy as an example. Pictures and drawings
of this common folk magic design have appeared in many publications.
Note the inclusion of the "sacred heart" symbol on the bottom, which is
a sure sign of a newer cimaruta. This design appears circa 1888. Here
we find one of the first non-witchcraft designs and uses of the cimaruta
charm (as it appears in Italian folk magic versus witchcraft):

Many folk magic charms, such as the one above, are designed to be anti-
witchcraft in nature and function. They frequently incorporate
authentic witch symbolism but also include a Catholic symbol, prayer,
or religious item. This is done in a belief that the Christian element
conquers the witchcraft element, thus reversing the power. This
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approach created a great deal of confusion for folklorists and historians
who research folk magic symbols and practices (leading most to
erroneous conclusions about the nature and purpose of such charms as
the cimaruta). One example appears in the custom of placing a cimaruta
on the crib of a newborn (or upon the newborn) in a belief that it protects
the infant from the evil eye and witchcraft. The actual custom is derived
from the ancient practice of Roman women who gave offerings to the
goddess Diana for an easy childbirth. In this light we see that the
cimaruta charm was intended as a tribute to Diana following the infant's
birth, and to evoke her blessings upon the baby. Unfortunately such old
beliefs and practices were covered over by the Church and its agents,
and became lost to the common person. In the case of the cimaruta, the
Church's reversal of the infant custom (making it an anti-witchcraft
charm) caused scholars to misunderstand the cimaruta. This is true of
many other charms and customs distorted by the Church and adopted
by the common people (thus becoming a folk tradition).

The following cimaruta designs are included in Gunther's article. Note

the variety of symbols that appear on the cimaruta charms. Some are
simple designs and others more elaborate. Gunther notes that the most
common symbols on the charm are the sprig of rue, hand, moon, key,
flower, horn or fish, and cock or eagle. He states that newer designs
include the heart, cherub, and serpent. He is however, mistaken about
the serpent as it does appear wrapped around the moon. Gunther
dismisses this by saying that people probably mistook an ornate ridge
around the moon as a serpent figure, and from there on included the
snake with the moon. But this seems like a personal opinion as he does
not offer any supporting evidence to back up his claim. When we add
the fact that Proserpina is traditionally symbolized by the serpent,
appears within the ancient triformis grouping (Hecate-Diana-

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Proserpina), and that the three branches of the cimaruta represent the
triformis goddess, Gunther's position is without credible defense.

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Gunther refers to the following cimaruta designs as aberrant and
degenerate forms of the design, which he believes were added either
intentionally or because of copying errors (meaning that the artists were
unsure of what the symbol was actually meant to depict).

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Despite Gunther's narrow views and personal skepticism (regarding the
history and symbolism of the cimaruta) we do owe him gratitude for
recording the depictions of the cimaruta charm in his article. For a more
realistic understanding of the cimaruta we can turn to Frederick
Elworthy, a contemporary folklorist of Gunther's era. In his book The
Evil Eye, Elworthy suggests that the cimaruta evolved from rue amulets
that were used by the ancient Etruscans, and he calls the rue charm one
of the oldest existing amulets. The following is an except from
Elworthy's book:

"In all the complete specimens here produced, it will be seen that the
Cimaruta has three main branches; and considering the material of
which these charms are always made, in connection with the other
symbols on this complex object, we can come to no other conclusion than
that the three branches are typical of Diana Triformis or her prototypes.
Epithets are given to her denoting that she is the giver of light and life,
benefits also attributed to Proserpine, and these ' make it seem that she
(Proserpine) was also thought to be concerned for women in labour,
which cannot appear strange if we consider her as the same goddess
with Diana, who being three in different capacities, as conversant in
heaven, earth, and hell, has three distinct names..." - page 348

Elworthy describes some of the symbols on the cimaruta and their

meanings. Pictured below is a cimaruta sample from his book:

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Elworthy states that the key traditionally forms a heart symbol on the
handle. He associates the key with Diana and the goddess Jana, the
gatekeeper (consort of Janus). Elworthy also notes that the key is a
traditional symbol of Hecate-Proserpine. He goes on to mention that in
Neapolitan dialect the word janara means a witch (in Italian, strega).

Elworthy mentions the rooster head on the traditional cimaruta, and he

gives its meaning as vigilance. The rooster, says Elworthy, is the
"watchful guardian" (and the author notes this symbolism in connection
with the custom of placing the cimaruta charm with an infant).

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The dagger, says Elworthy, represents the "dart of Diana Venetrix " and
the fish symbolizes the connection to Diana-Proserpina (symbolized in
ancient art by the dolphin). Elworthy identifies the flower on the
cimaruta charm as a "lotus" and he associates it with Isis and Diana.
However, in this one area Elworthy is incorrect. The flower is actually
a vervain blossom, which in Italian lore is connected to fairy lore (and
folklorist Charles Leland refers to Diana as the queen of the fairies).

In closing here is an excerpt from Elworthy. Noteworthy is his mention

of the survival of the worship of Diana in Italy into modern times :

"Of all the many charms combined in the Cimaruta we find on close
study that there is scarcely one which may not directly or indirectly be
considered as connected with Diana, the goddess of infants, worshipped
today by Neapolitans as zealously as ever she was in old times by the
men of Ephesus and Rome; the only change is in her name. Many a
Demetrius, who still makes her silver shrines, flourishes near the Piazza
Margherrita, though nowadays he knows her only as La Madonna; she
is, however, his goddess, his 'regina del Cielo, della terra, del parto, ed
anche del Inferna' - page 335

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 MEDIEVAL MURAL AND ITS TALE OF WITCHES

A mural that has recently come to light in Tuscany has been identified
by a British university lecturer as the earliest surviving representation
of witchcraft in Christian Europe. A book published in Italy by George
Ferzoco (director of the center for Tuscan studies at the University of
Leicester) argues that at least two of the women in the erotic wall
painting are sorceresses. "I have no doubt that this is by far the earliest
depiction in art of women acting as witches," Ferzoco says.

The 13th-century mural was discovered on August 6th, 2000, at Massa

Marittima, a town south-west of Siena. The large, richly colored painting
- seven meters high - was found under layers of subsequent over-
painting next to a fountain in the centre of Massa Marittima. It shows a
tall, spreading tree with two groups of women standing below it. The
first thing that was noticed about the tree was its unusual "fruit," which
is apparently sprouting from the branches as twenty-five phalluses.

Beneath the tree are two groups of women, one standing to the right and
the other to the left side of the trunk of the tree. One of the women in
the group on the left is holding up a stick with which she appears to be
trying to dislodge a bird's nest. The mural features two of the other
women grabbing each other's hair as they appear to fight for possession
over one of the phalluses picked from the tree.

Ferzoco, after examining this feature, recalled a passage from the

inquisitors' manual known as the Malleus Maleficarum. In its
description of witchcraft practices there is an allegation that witches
robbed men of their genitals. The passage claims that witches
sometimes collect male organs in great numbers (as many as twenty or
thirty members). These are placed in a bird's nest or closed inside a box,
where they come alive and are fed oats and corn. Ferzoco commented
that "There was a well-known story in Tuscan folklore about witches
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removing mens' penises and placing them in bird nests in trees, where
they would then multiply and take on a life of their own." It is
noteworthy that the Italian mural was painted two centuries earlier than
the writing and publication of the Malleus Maleficarum.

According to Ferzoco the mural is a unique piece of political

propaganda, commissioned by one Tuscan faction to sully the
reputation of another. He states: "It's a message from the Guelphs,
telling people that if the Ghibellines are allowed power, they will bring
with them heresy, sexual perversion, civic strife and witchcraft."

The Guelphs and Ghibellines were two factions who fought for power
in Tuscany and northern Italy for decades during the Middle Ages.
Perhaps the most famous victim of their feuds was the poet Dante, a
Guelph expelled from his native Florence in 1302 after a rival Guelph
group took power. At the time the mural was painted, the Guelphs
controlled Massa Marittima, a small town in northwestern Tuscany.
According to Ferzoco "They presented themselves as the clean living
upstanding party in Tuscan politics and it was traditional for them, in
launching their attacks on the Ghibellines, to label them as heretics."

While Ferzoco's interpretation of the meaning of the mural is interesting,

there are other views to be considered as well. If we accept his opinion
that the mural is the earliest depiction in art of women "acting as
witches," what does the imagery reveal about witchcraft beliefs in this
period? There are several noteworthy aspects including the absence of
the Devil at this assembly of witches. The presence of a magical tree is
an important element that reflects the long-standing tradition of the
witches tree at Benevento. The imagery of walnuts in their likeness of
testicles, and the presence of phalluses in the mural, may be a suggestion
of fertility themes linked to witchcraft's ancient past. The botanical
name for walnuts is juglans, which is a Latin name for walnuts. It is

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derived from the Latin word jovis, meaning "of Jupiter." In the mural
we see eagles, and the eagle was the symbol of the god Jupiter.

The depiction of witches assembled in the mural, along with the absence
of the Devil, shares much in common with the early ideas of the witches'
Sabbat before the 16th century. In the early 15th century sermons of
Bernardino of Siena we find what may be the first descriptions of Italian
witch assemblies in the Christian era. Bernardino uses the Italian term
tregenda when he refers to the assembly of witches.

Scholar Franco Mormando writes:

"As to what Bernardino imagined as occurring during the tregenda, we

cannot be completely sure, since the notion of the Sabbath was still in its
development phase. The friar’s 1424 sermon does not describe this
convocation of witches. His later treatise on witchcraft and superstition,
De idolatriae cultu (1430-36), contains a reference to the tregenda,
though the word itself does not appear in the text. This Latin work
nonetheless gives us some idea of his conception of the regular witches
assemblies, which eventually evolved into the sabbath." - The
Preacher's Demons - University of Chicago Press, 1999, page 66

Writing of the Tregenda/Sabbat, Mormando states:

‘‘This notion of the assembly is yet another universal item in ‘the classic
formulation of the Witch Phenomenon.’ Like much else in the baggage
of the European witch, it has its roots in pagan mythology, specifically
in the un-Christian but nondiabolical ‘Society of Diana,’ an innocuous,
festive ride and gathering of woman under the tutelage of the pagan
goddess of the moon and the hunt. Turned into a demonized witch
phenomenon by the theologians and canonists of Christian Europe, the
assembly was by the end of the fifteenth century to be known (with
tinges of anti-Semitisim) as the witches’ ‘Sabbath.’ With the passing

108
years, it slowly acquired ever more heinous, orgiastic characteristics.
During Bernardino’s lifetime, the gathering was called by various
names; the preacher himself, in one of his 1424 sermons to the
Florentines, refers to it by the Italian term tregenda.” - The Preacher’s
Demons, page 66

The records of Bernardino's sermons are valuable because they pre-date

the period from 1560 - 1660, which was the most virulent era of the witch
hysteria. Therefore they provide earlier evidence from an obscure realm
of history. Mormando comments:

"Note that in Bernardino's mind, the tregenda has not quite become the
sabbath; he makes no explicit mention of the Devil's presence or of
licentious behavior at these meetings of the society of Diana.
Nonetheless, he may have assumed, and expected his audience to
assume, that neither was really absent from the picture."

The latter statement is speculation, but is worth noting as a possibility.

We do know that the Devil was certainly associated with witchcraft by
the Church and its agents during the time of Bernardino. Scholar Walter
Stephens writes:

“About 1354, the Dominican preacher Jacopo Passavanti was writing in

Italian (in Lo specchio della versa penitenza, or The Mirror of True
Repentance) that ‘some people say they see dead people and talk to
them, and that they go by night with witches [colle streghe] to their
tregenda.’ Many such people are simple impostors, he says: they take
advantage of others’ bereavement for financial gain or out of sheer
malice. Nonetheless, some people do sincerely think that they see dead
people. This is impossible, says Passavanti (presumably because these
soul are in hell or purgatory and are not allowed out). But people are
seeing something that is real. The Devil can take on the semblance of
dead people and falsely impersonate them…” - Demon Lovers –
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Witchcraft, Sex, and the Crisis of Belief by Walter Stephens (University
of Chicago, 2002, page 132)

Stephens goes on to note:

“In fact, the tregenda that Passavanti describes is not what we now call
the Sabbat; it is probably a reminiscence of what folklorists call the wild
host or wild hunt." - page 132

This brings us to the troublesome text known as the Canon Episcopi,

which most scholars view as a conflation of paganism with witchcraft.
Bernardino quotes the Canon text as follows:

“Among the most impious wild brutes are some most wicked women
and even sometimes men who believe and openly profess that they go
riding at night on certain beasts along with Diana (or Iobiana or
Herodias) and countless other women, traveling over great distances in
the silence of of the dead night, obeying her commands as if she were
their mistress, and are pressed into her service on certain nights, such as
Thursday and Sunday. They also claim that some children, especially
small boys, can be changed by them into a lower or higher forms (in
deterius vel in melius) or transformed into some other appearance or
likeness.” - The Preacher's Demons, page 67

But the idea of souls joined to a goddess figure is very ancient. The
goddess Hecate has long been associated with witchcraft and with the
crossroads, which appears in legends as a meeting place for souls that
cannot pass into the Otherworld. Hecate is depicted in ancient myths as
a goddess of the crossroads who guides the dead. It is not difficult to see
this gathering of souls as the wild host. The goddess Diana has also been
associated with witchcraft by ancient writers, and the concept of a "wild
hunt" is certainly not divorced from a goddess associated with hunting

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(as is the case with the goddess Diana). The ancient writer Lucan even
writes of a witch referring to her goddess who is triformis in nature:

“Persephone, who is the third and lowest aspect of our (the witches')
goddess Hekate: Hekate, through whom I can silently converse with the
dead...” - (Luc. B.C. 6: 736-38)

The name of the goddess who is not mentioned in Lucan's reference is

undoubtedly the goddess Diana as evidenced in the contemporary
writings of the period (and earlier). Here we have not only the presence
of a triformis goddess associated with witchcraft in ancient times, but
also a starting point with which to begin tracing the Society of Diana.

In the mural of Massa Marittima more questions arise than do answers

appear. Still it remains a valuable snap shot of an early period in which
the presence of the Devil is not yet a mandatory one when witches are
shown in gatherings. Perhaps we are seeing one remnant that suggests
the existence of the witches' sect from a period not yet fully
contaminated by its opponents. We may even be seeing something
closer and truer to the tregenda in its pagan form (before it became
distorted by the inclusion of Judeo-Christian concepts and beliefs, and
was thereby transformed into the popular depiction of the witches'
Sabbat).

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 THE DEER MAN RITUAL

In Italy there still remains a very old tradition related to the stag figure.
On the last Sunday of carnival, at Castelnuovo, an annual festival takes
place known as the Red Deer Man ritual or festival. It features four
primary figures: the Deer man, the Deer Woman, the Fairy Wizard (the
Martino), and the Hunter. The Deer Man and Woman dress in hides,
with the man wearing a set of antlers and both figures wearing a
necklace of cowbells. The Martino is dressed in white with a cape and
wears a conical hat. He carries a wand and represents the fairy of the
mountains.

The festival begins with the sound of cowbells coming out the forest and
down the hill. Soon the Janare (witches) appear, after which they run
about the village dashing in and out between the houses.

This is followed by the appearance of the Deer man and Deer Woman.
The Deer Man runs through the crowd like a wild beast chasing the
village people. Next the Martino appears and tries to calm the Deer man
using his wand. Eventually the Deer Man grows calm and then the
Martino places a rope around the Deer man and Deer Woman. Joined
together in this way the Deer Woman becomes affectionate with the
Deer Man.

However the wild nature of the Deer Man soon returns and he tries to
break his bindings.

Suddenly the Hunter appears and slays the Deer man and Deer Woman.
The people then grieve for the slain Deer Woman. Slowly the Hunter
approaches two bodies then blows into their ears, which brings them
back to life.

The Deer Man and Deer Woman arise and go back up the hillside into
the forest.
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The witches return to the village plaza and assemble around fire where
they dance accompanied by musicians playing the flute and the
bagpipes.

There are several noteworthy features of this festival or ritual event. The
first is the appearance of the witches who come from the mountain
woods. There appearance in the village announces the consort pair of
the Deer man and Deer Woman. This associates them with the horned
figure and his consort, a theme long associated with the witches' sect.

The second thing of interest is the fairy being known as the Martino, a
theme also intimately connected with old witchlore. The Sicilian fairy
cult is perhaps the most well-known of such themes.

The third area of interest is the Hunter who returns life to the slain deer.
This is a classic tale of "the hunter and the hunted" and one that appears
in the writings of folklorist Joseph Campbell. Essential to this mythos is
the idea that the slain animal must be restored to life in exchange for
providing food and fur/hide. Traditionally a piece of the deer's antler
was taken and worn by the hunter, who later danced around a fire in
honor or the slain beast. His dance animated the deer and restored it to
life somewhere back out in the forest.

Of final interest is the absence of Christian elements in the Deer man

ritual. This reveals its great antiquity and the survival of a pagan
celebration into modern times.

The legend of the red deer

The following legend may be related to the Deer Man, and is provided
here for those who love the old tales:

"Long ago the bear and the red deer lived together in mutual respect of
their great strength and power. The deer wore a pebble on its crown

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between its antlers. This pebble was called the Stone of Belzoar (bezoar),
and originated from within the deer itself.

A time came when serpents overwhelmed the region in which the deer
and bear lived. The stone of Belzoar made the deer immune to the
venom of the serpents, but the bear wa left in danger. Therefore the bear
left his home and went away in exile. The red deer gave thanks to the
stone of Belzoar and he remained as the only master of the forest and
the mountain.

The Bear, living far away in its forced exile, grew envious and resentful
of the red deer. One day he returned and killed the deer. A man
witnessed the event and later removed the antlers of the deer, tossing
the carcass into the deep waters of a lake. The man took the stone of
Belzoar away to his home.

One day as the bear was running through the forest he became impaled
on the deer’s antlers. Unable to free himself he eventually died of
starvation.

According to legend the spirit of the red deer emerges from the lake on
certain nights and seeks his antlers and the stone of Belzoar. His
complaining sounds can be heard in the night"

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 HERODIAS IN WITCHCRAFT

The appearance of Herodias, a biblical figure, in connection with a

goddess of Witchcraft is an intentional displacement of deity figures. A
simple examination of the data reveals that the Church and its agents
contrived to equate the pagan goddess with Herodias in an attempt to
introduce a diabolical element into the survival of goddess veneration.

Most modern scholars claim that the name Aradia comes from the
Italian Erodiade, which equates with Herodias of the New Testament.
They also equate Diana with Herodias in Witch trial records. However,
scholar Carlo Ginzburg sheds some light on this subject in his book
Ecstasies. In Ecstasies, Ginzburg points out that the old hypothesis
equating Diana and Herodias stems from a
misunderstanding/misreading of the original reference to the goddess
“Hera Diana,” which is rendered Herodiana, and then “normalized” to
read Herodias (page 104). So, what should have been rendered
Heradiana, appears instead as Herodiana, which is curiously close to the
word Herodian. The latter indicates an association with King Herod of
the Bible, and the tale of Herodias who was instrumental in the
beheading of John the Baptist. Here we begin to see a distortion take
place, which on the surface seems to be simply a mistake in equating
similar word names. But was this an honest mistake?

Ginzburg points out (page 90) that Burchard, Bishop of Worms, added
"Herodias" to the name of Diana when referring to an earlier canon
about Diana and her night followers). Therefore "Herodias" as not
present in the original concept. Ginzburg also mentions that the Council
of Truer in 1310 “set Herodiana along side Diana” and here we see
another intentional distortion of the original theme. Ginzburg points
out that in 1390 Friar Beltramino “inserted” a reference to Herodias that
did not appear in the trial records concerning a woman named “Sibillia”.

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Ginzburg states that the women on trial “only speak of ‘Madona
Horiente’; her identification with Diana had probably been suggested to
Sibillia by the first inquisitor…”

According to Ginzbug we find that Vincent of Beauvais added

statements to the original Canon Episcopi, and that Dominican preacher
Johannes Herolt added the name Unholde. Later editions of his Serones
added Fraw Berthe and Fraw Helt, displacing Unholde. This appears to
be evidence of deliberate alterations, which further confuses the
allegations that attempt to equate Diana with other figures.

Ginzburg mentions the existence of a Medieval sect of peasants who

worship Hera in the Palatinato (consisting of about 400 members). They
believed that Hera flies through the night during the time of Epifania,
bringing abundance to her followers (Storia Notturna. Una decifrazione
del sabba, Torino 1989. page 81). Ginzburg notes that Hera is tied to
Diana, which creates a connection to Herodiana as a nocturnal goddess.
He further notes that the name Herodiana eventually becomes
transformed into Erodiade. This is supported by a 12th century reference
attributed to Ugo da San Vittore, (an Italian abbot) who writes of women
who believe they go out at night riding on the backs of animals with
"Erodiade," whom he conflates with Diana and Minerva (Bonomo,
Giuseppe. Caccia alle Streghe. Palermo: Palumbo, 1959). Some
commentators believe that the name Aradia may have evolved from the
name Erodiade.

It is interesting to note that the ancient custom among the Romans was
to create composite names for various deities. Some examples include
Artemis-Hekate (AESCH. Hiket. 667-7) and Juno-Lucina (Catullus’
Hymn to Diana). In the Hymn to Diana, Catallus writes: “Diana whose
name is Juno-Lucina, who hears the prayers of birthing women”. As we
know, Juno is the Roman name for the goddess Hera. Here we can easily

116
see a connection between Diana and Hera, a possible foundation for the
name Hera-Diana. This root may help explain the confusion between
Hera-Diana and Herodias (noting Ginzburg’s reference to Herodiana
rendered as Herodias).

We know from many historical records that the worship or veneration

of Diana continued well into the Christian era. This concerned the
Church and led it to address the problem head on. One of the most
popular means was through a text known as the Canon Episcopi, which
reads:

“One mustn’t be silent about certain women who become followers of

Satan (I Tim. 5,15), seduced by the fantastic illusion of the demons, and
insist that they ride at night on certain beasts together with Diana,
goddess of the pagans, and a great multitude of women; that they cover
great distances in the silence of the deepest night; that they obey the
orders of the goddess as though she were their mistress; that on
particular nights they are called to wait on her.” - Ecstasies, page 90

In the Witch Hunter's manual known as the Malleus Maleficarum we

read:

In truth, if anyone cares to read the words of the Canon, there are four
points which must particularly strike him. And the first point is this: It
is absolutely incumbent upon all who have the cure of souls, to teach
their flocks that there is one, only, true God, and that to none other in
Heaven or earth may worship by given. The second point is this, that
although these women imagine they are riding (as they think and say)
with Diana or with Herodias, in truth they are riding with the devil, who
calls himself by some such heathen name and throws a glamour before
their eyes. And the third point is this, that the act of riding abroad may
be merely illusory, since the devil has extraordinary power over the
minds of those who have given themselves up to him, so that what they
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do in pure imagination, they believe they have actually and really done
in the body. And the fourth point is this: Witches have made a compact
to obey the devil in all things, wherefore that the words of the Canon
should be extended to include and comprise every act of witchcraft is
absurd, since witches do much more than these women, and witches
actually are of a very different kind.”

“As regards those who hold the other two errors, those, that is to say,
who do not deny that there are demons and that demons possess a
natural power, but who differ among themselves concerning the
possible effects of magic and the possible operations of witches: the one
school holding that a witch can truly bring about certain effects, yet these
effects are not real but phantastical, the other school allowing that some
real harm does befall the person or persons injured, but that when a
witch imagines this damage is the effect of her arts she is grossly
deceived. This error seems to be based upon two passages from the
Canons where certain women are condemned who falsely imagine that
during the night they ride abroad with Diana or Herodias. This may
read in the Canon. Yet because such things often happen by illusion are
merely in the imagination, those who suppose that all the effects of
witchcraft are mere illusion and imagination are very greatly deceived.”

What we see here is an attempt to dismiss the reality and validity of

Diana worship by introducing the idea of deception. The Church wishes
people to regard the goddess Diana as an illusion created by the Devil.
Through this the Church hoped to equate Dianic worship with
diabolism. Over the course of time the Church succeeds in this venture,
and ultimately we find this distortion well-rooted in the "Gospel of the
Witches" by Charles Godfrey Leland. Here we find the name Herodias
attached to Diana and Aradia.

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The name "Aradia" can be broken down into two elements of two Latin
based words: arabilis (in Italian arabile) and dea (Ara-dea/Ara-dia).
Arabilis/Arabile refers to fertile earth (specifically land that is tillable)
and the word dea indicates a goddess. Here the name Aradia can be
rendered to mean the goddess of tillable earth (fertile land). In this we
see her as the daughter of Diana (the mother in the heavens and the
daughter below, which is the earth).

The name Aradia can also be related to the Latin word ara, which
indicates an altar (typically set at the hearth). Here she would be a
goddess associated with the altar of home and family (the daughter).
The etymology of Diana's name is formed from the Latin dius and dium,
which translate as "the luminous sky" (and so the name Diana means
"the luminous One" of the sky). When applied to the Aradia theme, we
can see the light of Diana's moon reflected in her daughter as the hearth
fire.

It is unfortunate that so much distortion was applied to Diana and her

connection to ancient Witchcraft. This makes it difficult to unravel
things enough so that we can clearly discern the pagan elements and
distinguish them from the Christian ones. We must therefore rely upon
other sources in order to arrive at any reasonable conclusions. For
further information see my articles: The Society of Diana, and A
Historical and Literary View of Italian Witchcraft (posted on
stregheria.com).

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 WHO ARE THE REAL STREGA?

If you have any interest in Italian witchcraft and have Googled “Strega”
(Italian Witch) then you’ve read comments about the so-called “real
Strega.” One argument is that you have to look to Italy for authentic
practitioners. This dismisses the fact that people do relocate to other
countries from Italy and therefore some witches from Italy (or from an
Italian lineage) are not living in Italy.

Another argument is that you must at least have visited Italy (if not lived
there) in order to know anything about authentic practices of Italian
witchcraft. This view dismisses the fact that relocated witches can teach
their offspring or others in the country of their new residence. Being
taught witchcraft from relocated witches does not make for a poorer
witch. It only means that the offspring witch has not had the benefit of
personally experiencing the mainstream culture of Italy. It comes
instead through the native teachers.

One thing we must realize is that witchcraft is as misunderstood in Italy

as it is in any other country. Ask the “man-on-the-street” in Italy about
witchcraft and you will hear about the stereotype of the witch as a doer
of ill deeds. You will most likely also hear about the witch in league
with the devil. Therefore just because someone was raised in Italy
doesn’t automatically mean that he or she actually knows about
authentic forms of witchcraft practiced by Italian witches. The same is
true about people in other countries regarding the “man-on-the-street”
view of witchcraft (versus a true practitioner).

One of the problems in trying to define the “real Strega” is that Italy has
long been divided into regions with different customs, lore, and folk
traditions. It naturally follows that witchcraft in these regions will have
differences. Therefore one cannot be compared against another in order
to decide which one constitutes the real thing. This leaves us with the
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reality that no one can speak for Italian witchcraft as a whole. But of
course, this fact does not stop people from doing so.

The answer to the question “who are the real Strega” is simple; they are
the people who practice their regional traditions. They are the people
who practice evolved forms of regional practices. They are the people
who feel a spiritual lineage. Some have a hereditary lineage and some
do not. A witch is not the region she or he was raised in, a witch is
someone connected to the Old Ways that emanated from the spirit of the
land. By analogy, breath comes from the lungs but does not stay in the
lungs. The breath of Italian witchcraft can be drawn in by those who
know how to be in the wind.

Some people feel that someone coming from Italy and stating that she or
he is a witch makes that person automatically credible. In accord these
people feel that whatever such an individual says must be the real deal.
But logically speaking, think about your own country and the variety of
people there who say they are witches. If one of them goes to another
country are they representative of all the witches in your land? Do they
speak for witchcraft as a whole in your country? The truth is that they
represent their particular view derived from their own experiences. No
country has the “One True Way” and there is no central authority that
regulates what constitutes the “official” witchcraft of the nation. To
believe otherwise is nonsense and should be discouraged.

When we look at Italian witchcraft, there are identifiers that identify its
roots. There are identifiers that point to additions. While traditions tend
to preserve, they do not stop growing and adapting to the needs of each
new generation. This is why some additions and modifications can take
place. But the old guard doe not allow anything to be tossed out in favor
of something new. The Old Ways survive, and nothing is forgotten.

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There are challenging obstacles when defining Italian witchcraft and
they are based upon academic studies and field research. Academia
defines witchcraft as harmful acts, and defines witches as practitioners
of the evil magic. The problem here is that the academic study of
witches, in terms of history, is not an ethnographic study of a people
calling themselves witches. It is instead a study of the beliefs and
attitudes held by non-witches about witches and witchcraft. In other
words, the “history” of witchcraft is the documentation of the views of
judges, interrogators, theologians, commentators, and official Church
doctrine. It is not the views of witches and what they believed in or
practiced. Therefore there is no history of witchcraft to examine. We
have only a history of how superstition influenced popular beliefs about
imaginary witches and witchcraft, and how theologians further
invented ideas about the subject. This is a make-believe witchcraft of
fantasy themes, and again, not an ethnographical study of a real culture
of people who were witches. It is inventive “history” at best.

Another challenge is that there are two different words used to indicate
Italian witchcraft: Stregheria and Stregoneria. Stregheria refers to
witchcraft as a religion and Stregoneria refers to it as a magical system,
a form or sorcery. Stregheria is an old term, not commonly used in
mainstream Italian society. Stregoneria is the contemporary word in
common usage, but this word always refers to witchcraft as something
of ill intent.

A relatively new addition to Italian witchcraft is the introduction of

saints. The traditions of Italian witchcraft that have maintained their
pagan roots view the saints as the Old Gods in Christian garb. They
were added as a veneer to hide the old practices. Systems that actually
venerate the saints (as being the saints of Christianity) are viewed by
pagan-rooted systems as offshoots of Italian witchcraft. They are more

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closely related to folk magic traditions in Italy than to old witchcraft
traditions.

Do additions to old traditions negate their authenticity? If we add

something from one culture to the tradition of another culture, is the
original completely undone and no longer relevant to the culture? Or is
this simply the new blossoms on the old tree whose roots remain the
same as they were in the previous season?

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 THE ROOTS OF ITALIAN WITCHCRAFT

The origins of Italian Witchcraft go deeply into the past of the pre-
Christian era. The earliest forms were no doubt rooted in primitive
ideas about magic and spirit beings. But over time the concepts
comprising Italian Witchcraft evolved. As elements of foreign beliefs in
magic were absorbed in Italy, indigenous beliefs were influenced by
them over time. This did not eradicate the old traditions or replace
them, but almost certainly changes various elements were integrated.

In the ancient literature of Greece and Italy we find the witch as a person
who calls upon the primal forces of Nature as well as upon such
goddesses as Hecate, Diana and Proserpina. One example is found in
the tale of Medea, where she speaks an evocation:

"Diana, who commands silence when secret mysteries are performed, I

invoke you.

Night, faithful keeper of my secrets, and stars who, together with the
moon, follow on from the fires of the daylight, I invoke you.

Hecate of the three faces, who knows all my designs, and comes to help
the incantations and the craft of the witches, I invoke you.

Earth, who furnishes witches with powerful herbs, and you Breezes,
Winds, Mountains, Rivers, and Lakes, and all the gods of the groves and
all the gods of the night, be present to help me.

Proserpina, night-wandering queen, I invoke you.

Hecate, Diana, Proserpina, look kindly now upon this undertaking.”

The idea that inanimate objects possess consciousness and power (and
can be called upon for aid) is extremely ancient. It is certain that
primitive beliefs and practices were preserved among rustic people in

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rural areas, and in this light we can say that witchcraft is a peasant
tradition as opposed to the learned class of educated city dwellers.
However, that being said, this is not meant to exclude the involvement
of the learned class in the practice of witchcraft.

In my own lineage, I am reportedly descended from a witch named

Calenda Tavani (sometimes called Caliente Tavani) and the Tavani
were, at one time, nobles in the area of Naples (Tavani is a variant
spelling of the more common family name, Tavano). But was Calenda
a witch because of her family lineage, or was she a witch who happened
to be of noble blood lines?

We know historically that noble families hired Court magicians,

astrologers and the like. They also purchased Occult manuscripts and
paid for them to be translated. Because noble families were clearly
drawing upon outside sources, this strongly indicates that Noble
families were not practicing bloodline traditions of their own but were
collecting information to integrate into their developing practices. In
recent times the claim has been made that a Pagan tradition was
preserved and transmitted exclusively along family lines of Italian
nobility, but this is, of course, highly unlikely. Instead, what is likely is
that eclectic practices were passed along in one form or another, but that
such systems themselves can be no older than the Middle Ages (and
therefore not a pre-Christian tradition).

We cannot dismiss the importance of Noble families that did creatively

ensure the survival of the Occult Arts in one form or another. One
example is the Visconti family, which helped popularize the Tarot and
therefore preserve it for future generations. At this point in the article,
mention should be made of a legendary secret society in Italy known as
the Madre Natura. One of the claims of the Order is that Cardinal dei
Medici was a member in high standing. The Order claimed descent from

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an ancient Italian priesthood, and one of its goals was to "restore the
usurped altars to the god of the silver bow and the radiant daughter of
the foaming wave" - a reference to ancient Roman deities. The Order
embraced the Pagan Creeds of the Neo-Platonists, and had connections
to the Free Masons and the Carbonari, another secret society in Italy.
Naturally these organizations are not pre-Christian themselves; they
draw upon older concepts and materials but have no direct lineage to
pre-Christian sects.

In recent writings over the past two years or so, I have referred to the
tradition passed to me as being "peasant witchcraft" and I use this term
to denote its old rustic roots. It is clear, upon examination, that over
time more sophisticated elements were added to the tradition, some of
which are Hermetic and some appearing to be concepts reflected in
Chaldean star lore. These, along with ceremonial magic techniques, lead
me to believe that the tradition adopted outside beliefs and practices,
which were then modified to fit the preexisting witchcraft foundation. I
cover this in my title "The Book of the Holy Strega" published in 2009 (a
different book from that of the same title, which I self-published back in
the early 1980s). It seems clear that occultists in the lineage had a hand
at introducing elements that were of interest to them and which
enhanced the tradition.

When we examine the roots of Italian Witchcraft, we have to include

Etruscan influences (at last in mainland Italy). Sicilian Witchcraft is
more influenced by Greek elements, as the Greeks had a stronger
presence in Sicily. But we still find many similarities. The Etruscans
were the heirs to prehistoric religion in what is now mainland Italy,
which explains extremely archaic elements of Tuscan Witchcraft.
Southern Italian traditions appear to have more Greek and Spanish
influences (as Spain once ruled Sicily and parts of Southern Italy in the
past).
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Over the passing centuries, foreign cults were brought into Italy. These
included sects from Egypt, the Middle East, and other regions. Among
the most popular and influential cults were those of the Great Mother
(Asia Minor), Isis (Egypt), Mithras (Persia), and Dionysus (Greece).
How much of impact these cults had on the rural people is questionable,
but among the learned class of city dwellers there is no question. The
villas and estates of the wealthy were decorated with paintings and
frescos of foreign deities, which indicates the attraction to these foreign
elements.

Ancient writings, such as those by Homer, Lucan and Ovid depict

witches as calling upon the goddess Hecate, Diana and Proserpina. The
connection between witches and Diana is a persistent theme and also
appears in the Middle Age and Renaissance periods. The goddess Diana
was venerated in the region of Aricia at her sacred site established on
the shore of Lake Nemi.

With the rise to power of Christianity, and in particular the conversion

of the Roman Emperor Constantine to Christianity, the decline of
Paganism took place. By the late 4th century of the Christian era, Pagan
temples were closed by the authorities. The ancient writer Servius tells
us that by the end of this century the Cult of Diana at Nemi was
dissolved and the Guardian of the Grove (Rex Nemorensis) had been
sent to Greece. All the key and major strongholds of pre-Christian
religion were eradicated.

We know historically that at the end of the 4th century a Christian

cemetery was established at Nemi, which indicates that it was no longer
regarded as Pagan ground. In addition, the Christians used the area
around the lake as a quarry up through the Middle Ages, which made
the setting unusable for religious activities and purposes. The caves
along the hillsides became occupied by hermits and vagabonds. The

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sacredness of the site gave way to mundane occupation. In recent times
the claim has been made that an unbroken pagan tradition survived at
Nemi under the guardianship of a lineage of priestesses up into current
times. This is extremely doubtful in light of the historical facts
surrounding Nemi.

The threat posed to witches by the Church and its agents was less severe
than in other regions of Europe. Imprisonment for six months, or
banishment, was the most common punishment for anyone sentenced
as a witch. Executions did take place but in comparison to the rest of
Europe they were very few. In Italy, the authorities wanted the accused
to repent and turn away from the practice of witchcraft. There are
several cases in Italian witchcraft trials where the accused has appeared
before the authorities multiple times. This type of leniency
unintentionally allowed witchcraft practices to survive and be passed
on. We must take note that the witchcraft trials in Italy did not include
charges against noble family members, but were aimed at the lower
classes.

Of interest is the Gospel of Aradia, by 19th century folklorist Charles

Leland, in which we find mention of witches and the nobility:

"In those days were many slaves who were cruelly treated; in every
palace tortures, in every castle prisoners"

""And thou shalt teach the art of poisoning, of poisoning those who are
great lords of all; yea, thou shalt make them die on their palaces.."

From this we can safely conclude that the witches traditionally had no
allies or kindred practitioners among the noble class. There are,
however, oral tales that some nobles protected the occasional witch
discretely. The most likely reason being that the witch was needed for
magical aid from time to time. It should be noted that in some of the

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non-Leland tales of Aradia, it is suggested that Aradia was of noble
bloodlines herself. In such tales she flees her family (who want her to
become a nun), and it appears that the mention of noble blood is simply
to explain her ability to read and write. While some nobles may have
been involved in witchcraft, it is extremely unlikely that theirs was a
family tradition. It is more likely that a few people of noble bloodlines
somehow found their way into witchcraft groups.

But to discover and understand the true roots of Italian witchcraft we

must look to the distant past of pre-history. The oldest myths and
legends come from oral traditions that were later written down for
future generations. They record the memories of our ancestors in the
misty past. The oldest word in Western Culture used to denote a witch
is the Greek word pharmaceute, which is pronounced far-mah-koo-tay.
It denotes a person with intimate knowledge of plants. Since the
beginning, witches have been associated with herbs (particularly those
with strong chemicals that have profound effects upon the mind and
body).

Ancient tales of witches connect them with the crossroads, a place with
strong links to magic and to spirits of the dead. In southern Europe,
witches belonged to the vagabond class, which was rejected by
mainstream society. Witches did not gather in the fine temples of Greece
and Rome, but met instead outside the cities in rural settings that
included a crossroads. One of the primary deities of the crossroads was
the goddess Hecate, who is a classic goddess of witchcraft. Among her
attributes, Hecate is associated with wandering spirits of the dead that
gather at the crossroads. In ancient literature, witches are associated
with three specific deities: Hecate, Diana, and Proserpina. These are the
deities of the lower classes, the disenfranchised, rejected, and non-
conforming people who are traditionally not accepted within
mainstream society.
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Folklorists of the 19th century discovered witches in Italy who claimed
to be practicing a tradition passed on through family lineage. Among
the folklorists were J.B. Andrews, Roma Lister, Charles Leland, and
Lady de Vere. These folklorists performed field studies in which they
interviewed the self-identified witches. Other authors such as Lina
Gordon, and Eliza Heaton, mention village witches they encountered
during their stay in Italy. The latter were solitary witches of the peasant
class (as were those interviewed by the folklorists). This demonstrates
that witchcraft was firmly in place in several different regions of Italy,
but with no note of witchcraft among the upper classes.

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 ARADIA: THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND

The following is a full chapter excerpt from the Book of the Holy Strega,
and is copyright protected. Please do not reproduce this chapter. You
may use up to 200 words in a review. For use of more material, contact:
grimassi@earthlink.net

There are different legends written about Aradia. These tales take place
in Italy during a time period that suggests the Middle Ages. One legend
portrays Aradia as the daughter of Diana and Lucifer, who came to earth
to teach witchcraft. Another depicts her as a mortal, a woman who lived
and taught the “Old Religion” in the northern region of Italy, and who
brought about a revival of witchcraft (and foretold the coming of the
Age of Daughter, a time when men and women would walk as equals).
Some commentators believe that the Aradia legends are inconsistent
with Italian culture. Other people believe the tales to reflect a legend
that is rooted in historical events that were suppressed by the Church.

To better understand the writings about Aradia we need to know

something about the times in which her legendary tale takes place.
Without historical perspective it is all too easy to misjudge the story of
Aradia as incongruous with Italian culture, or to dismiss it as too
fantastic in nature. Therefore we need to look at subculture within Italy
both before and after the time of Aradia (who a popular legend places
in the early half of the 14th century).

In the late 12th century Italy, Joachim di Flora (also called Joachim di
Fiore) the Abbot of Corazzo wrote a prophetic text on the Age of Reason.
His writings had a major influence on religious thought throughout the
remainder of the Middle Ages. Joachim passed his writings on to the
Holy See in 1200 for the Pope’s approval. Concerning the Age of Reason
to come, Joachim wrote:

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"The Old Testament period was under the direct influence of God the
Father. With the advent of Christ came the age of God the Son. The time
was now ripe for the reign of God the Holy Ghost. A new era was being
introduced, a culmination; in the new day man would not have to rely
on faith for everything would be founded on knowledge and reason."

The year 1300 was declared a Jubilee Year by Boniface VIII. It was also
the year that Dante had his "vision: of Inferno Panderers." A sect known
as the Guglielmites arose at this time and formed around a woman
known as Guglielma of Milan. Within the circle of those who
worshipped Guglielma, a band of followers believed her to be the
incarnation of the Holy Ghost[1]. Her adherents carried the message
that she was “bodily equal to Christ” and would die a death of
redemption for the sake of the unconverted. Guglielma’s followers
further taught that “Redemption” was only possible through the
incarnation of the Divine in both male and female.[2]

The Guglielmites were strong opponents of Pope Boniface, and

supporters of the Visconti family (who were accused of involvement in
the occult arts). Following the death of Guglielma, on August 24, 1281,
Manfreda of Pirovano (a cousin of Matteo Visconti) was appointed chief
of the Guglielmite sect. She eventually was granted the title of Pope by
the sect, vicar of the Holy Spirit upon earth. According to legend, her
portrait appears on the Papessa card of the Visconti Tarot deck.

Of the approximately thirty members of the sect (from about seven

Milanese families) women outnumbered men, but ten of the most
fervent members were male. The sect had an interesting social life,
practicing equality of the genders in all regards. There was no emphasis
on virginity or chastity in the sect, though a good number of the female
members were widowed or unmarried.

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Gatherings and banquets were held at the burial site of Guglielma as
followers awaited her resurrection. In the year 1300 the Church banned
this activity and Manfreda was put to death as a heretic. The Inquisition
ordered Guglielma’s bones exhumed and burned to ashes to discourage
any claims of resurrection[3]. This ended the public practices of the sect,
which then disappeared from the pages of official history.

One popular story is that Guglielma was in reality, Princess Blazena

Vilemina, daughter of the King of Bohemia. She was reportedly born in
1210 and appeared in Milan around 1260 and died on August 24, 1281.
Guglielma first appeared in Milan dressed as a "common‑woman."
Because of her noble background, she attracted followers from both the
Visconti family as well as the Torriani family (noble rivals of the time)
and was seen as a "peacemaker" between the families. There is some
conjecture that she might have been influenced by the sisters of the "Free
Spirit", a very prominent heretical group of the time that preached the
teachings of Joachim.

Guglielma's chief disciple, a man by the name of Andrea Saramita, said

that he heard her make claims of "divinity." He was a rather well‑off
layman, well versed in the teachings of Joachim concerning the Age of
the Spirit. He wrote most of their documents and was the chief
theologian of the sect.

What is interesting is that the members of the sect crossed social

boundaries unheard of in their time. Both wealthy and poor people
were involved as well as poor servants. Membership ranged from the
ruler's son, Galeazzo Visconti, to a poor seamstress named Taria, and
Bianca a serving maid. On the grounds that Guglielma had wanted her
devotees to remain together as a family, they held frequent
commemorative meals in her honor. Reportedly there were attempts

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throughout the 1300's to continue the remembrance of Guglielma, by
hiding her image in paintings and calling her by various names.

The theme of a female messiah, a commemorative meal, and a coming

Age of Reason may have been influential and possibly foundational for
the legends surrounding Aradia. At the very least it demonstrates that
such a general theme was known in Italy during the early 14th century.
The pre-existence of these basic themes, later appearing in the Aradia
material, lends some cultural support to the legend, thus providing
historical foundation for its nature, and for its fitting appearance in the
culture of Old Italy.

Most modern scholars claim that the name Aradia comes from the
Italian, Erodiade, which is another form of the name Herodias (an
infamous woman in the New Testament who desired the death of John
the Baptist). In witch trial transcripts and Church writings, the goddess
Diana is often equated with Herodias. Anthropology professor Sabina
Magliocco notes it is possible that women in fourteenth century Tuscany
might have adopted Aradia as a name, as a variant of "Erodiade"
(i.e.Herodias) the biblical villainess. The figure apparently developed
into a mythical witch and a goddess (conflated with Diana). If so,
Magliocco suggests that the Aradia figure may have been a real person
taking on the role of a healer as part of her society. Magliocco further
suggests that such a woman might have chosen to play the part of, or
even take on the name of, Erodiade[4]. However, it should be noted,
that Magliocco is not attempting to make such a case, but is simply
allowing for the possibility.

Scholar Carlo Ginzburg sheds some light on the subject of Herodias in

his book Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath. Ginzburg points
out that the old hypothesis equating Diana and Herodias stems from a
misunderstanding/misreading of the original reference to the goddess

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“Hera Diana,” which is rendered Herodiana, and then “normalized” to
read Herodias[5]. What should have been rendered Heradiana, appears
instead as Herodiana, which is curiously close to the word Herodian (a
biblical association). The latter indicates an association with King Herod
of the Bible, and the tale of Herodias who was instrumental in the
beheading of John the Baptist. Here we begin to see a distortion take
place, which on the surface seems to be simply a mistake in equating
similar word names. But was this an honest mistake or an intentional
false conflation?

Ginzburg points out that Burchard, Bishop of Worms, added "Herodias"

to the name of Diana when referring to an earlier canon about Diana and
her night followers[6]. Therefore "Herodias" is not present in the
original canon references to Diana and her followers. Ginzburg also
mentions that the Council of Truer in 1310 “set Herodiana along side
Diana” and here we see another intentional distortion of the original
theme. Ginzburg points out that in 1390 Friar Beltramino “inserted” a
reference to Herodias that did not appear in the trial records concerning
a woman named “Sibillia”. Ginzburg states that the women on trial
“only speak of ‘Madona Horiente’; her identification with Diana had
probably been suggested to Sibillia by the first inquisitor…”

According to Ginzbug we find that Vincent of Beauvais added

statements to the original Canon Episcopi, and that Dominican preacher
Johannes Herolt added the name Unholde. Later editions of his
Sermones added then names Fraw Berthe and Fraw Helt, displacing
Unholde. This appears to be evidence of deliberate alterations, which
further confuses the allegations that attempt to equate Diana with other
figures.

Ginzburg mentions the existence of a Medieval sect of peasants who

worshipped the goddess Hera in the Palatinato (consisting of about 400

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members). They believed that Hera flies through the night during the
time of Epifania, bringing abundance to her followers[7]. Ginzburg
notes that Hera is tied to Diana, which creates a connection to Herodiana
as a nocturnal goddess. He further notes that the name Herodiana
eventually becomes transformed into Erodiade. This is supported by a
12th century reference attributed to Ugo da San Vittore, (an Italian
abbot) who writes of women who believe they go out at night riding on
the backs of animals with "Erodiade," whom he conflates with Diana and
Minerva[8]. Some commentators believe that the name Aradia may
have evolved from the name Erodiade.

It is interesting to note that the ancient custom among the Romans was
to create composite names for various deities. Some examples include
Artemis-Hekate.[9] In the Hymn to Diana, Catallus writes: “Diana
whose name is Juno-Lucina, who hears the prayers of birthing women”.
As we know, Juno is the Roman name for the goddess Hera. Here we
can easily see a connection between Diana and Hera, a possible
foundation for the name Hera-Diana. This root may help explain the
confusion between Hera-Diana and Herodias (noting Ginzburg’s
reference to Herodiana rendered as Herodias).

We know from many historical records that the worship or veneration

of Diana continued well into the Christian era. This concerned the
Church and led it to address the problem head on. One of the most
popular means was through the popular text, the Canon Episcopi, which
reads:

“One mustn’t be silent about certain women who become followers of

Satan (I Tim. 5,15), seduced by the fantastic illusion of the demons, and
insist that they ride at night on certain beasts together with Diana,
goddess of the pagans, and a great multitude of women; that they cover
great distances in the silence of the deepest night; that they obey the

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orders of the goddess as though she were their mistress; that on
particular nights they are called to wait on her.” - Ecstasies, page 90

In the Witch Hunter's manual known as the Malleus Maleficarum we

read:

“In truth, if anyone cares to read the words of the Canon, there are four
points which must particularly strike him. And the first point is this: It
is absolutely incumbent upon all who have the cure of souls, to teach
their flocks that there is one, only, true God, and that to none other in
Heaven or earth may worship by given. The second point is this, that
although these women imagine they are riding (as they think and say)
with Diana or with Herodias, in truth they are riding with the devil, who
calls himself by some such heathen name and throws a glamour before
their eyes. And the third point is this, that the act of riding abroad may
be merely illusory, since the devil has extraordinary power over the
minds of those who have given themselves up to him, so that what they
do in pure imagination, they believe they have actually and really done
in the body. And the fourth point is this: Witches have made a compact
to obey the devil in all things, wherefore that the words of the Canon
should be extended to include and comprise every act of witchcraft is
absurd, since witches do much more than these women, and witches
actually are of a very different kind.”

“As regards those who hold the other two errors, those, that is to say,
who do not deny that there are demons and that demons possess a
natural power, but who differ among themselves concerning the
possible effects of magic and the possible operations of witches: the one
school holding that a witch can truly bring about certain effects, yet these
effects are not real but phantastical, the other school allowing that some
real harm does befall the person or persons injured, but that when a
witch imagines this damage is the effect of her arts she is grossly

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deceived. This error seems to be based upon two passages from the
Canons where certain women are condemned who falsely imagine that
during the night they ride abroad with Diana or Herodias. This may
read in the Canon. Yet because such things often happen by illusion are
merely in the imagination, those who suppose that all the effects of
witchcraft are mere illusion and imagination are very greatly deceived.”

What we see here is an attempt to dismiss the reality and validity of

Diana worship by introducing the idea of deception. The Church wishes
people to regard the goddess Diana as an illusion created by the Devil.
Through this the Church hoped to equate Dianic worship with
diabolism. Over the course of time the Church succeeds in this venture,
and ultimately we find this distortion well-rooted in the “Gospel of the
Witches” by Charles Godfrey Leland. In his work we find the name
Herodias attached to Diana and Aradia, and so the error of association
continues.

According to one popular legend, Aradia was born in 1313 in northern

Italy, in the town of Volterra. This date is likely a contrived one that is
intended to bestow mystical meaning to the time of her birth. According
to legend, Aradia gathered a small band of followers and went about the
countryside teaching and preaching the Old Religion of Italy. Aradia
spoke of an Age of Reason that would come, and which would replace
the Age of the Son. When she departed, Aradia requested that a meal
be held in her honor, and that she be remembered by future generations.
As we have already seen this is nothing new in the nature of an Italian
subculture sect.

The belief in the historical existence of a woman named Aradia, who

brought about a revival of Italian witchcraft, is not without many
supporters (as well as skeptics). The figure of Aradia is sometimes
called the Holy Strega or the Beautiful Pilgrim. In the oral traditions

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surrounding Aradia it is said that she lived and taught during the later
half of the 14th century. The Italian inquisitor Bernardo Rategno
documented in his Tractatus de Strigibus (written in 1508) that a "rapid
expansion of the witches’ sect" had begun 150 years prior to his time.
Rategno based this upon his study of many transcripts from the trials of
the Inquisition concerning witchcraft[10]. Historian Keith Whitlock, in
his book The Renaissance in Europe, mentions a growing concern about
witches among Italian inquisitors in the 14th and 15th centuries, and we
will explore this later in this chapter.

Tracing back over the years, Rategno pin-pointed the beginnings of the
witch trials, and noted their sharp increase over a period of years.
Following a thorough study of these records (kept in the Archives of the
Inquisition at Como, Italy) Rategno fixed the time period for this
“revival” somewhere around 1350. If Aradia had been born in 1313, as
the legends claim, this would certainly have made her old enough
during the period referenced by Rategno to have taught and influenced
others, and for groups to have formed that carried on her teachings.

It is noteworthy here that in 1435, Johannes Nider wrote in his

Formicarius that a “new kind of witchcraft” began around 1375. This
“new” witchcraft was organized, and Nider’s writings were
foundational for the image of the wicked Sabbat that evolved into the
infamous version known to most people today. In earlier time periods
the gathering of Italian witches was known as a tregenda, and it featured
communication with the dead. The devil, orgies, and cannibalism are
absent in the earliest writings on the tregenda.[11] Can it be that the
depiction of the wicked Sabbat is an intentionally contrived one that is
designed to vilify organized witch sects? If so, why was the Church
worried about the appearance of a new witchcraft? What might come
to light if its followers were allowed to spread the actual sect as opposed
to the one depicted by the Church?
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In 1890, author and folklorist Charles Leland published his book on
Italian witchcraft titled Aradia; or the Gospel of the Witches. Leland's
account of Aradia includes a legend about the "beautiful pilgrim" that
he claims was preserved among Tuscan peasants for generations. In
part, this legend says:

"Then having obtained a pilgrim's dress, she traveled far and wide,
teaching and preaching the religion of old times, the religion of Diana,
the Queen of the Fairies and of the Moon, the goddess of the poor and
the oppressed. And the fame of her wisdom and beauty went forth over
all the land, and people worshipped her, calling her La Bella Pellegrina
(the beautiful pilgrim)."

In 1962, T.C. Lethbridge (former Director for Cambridge University

Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology) published a book called
Witches that refers to Aradia in several chapters. In Chapter 2,
Lethbridge writes:

"We can then, I think, assume that Leland's Vangelo and Dr. Murray's
trial evidence are more or less contemporary and that it is reasonable to
use the two together to form a picture of the witch cult at about
A.D.1400... Aradia was sent to earth to teach this art to Mankind. That
is, she was, in the opinion of her devotees, a personage, known in Hindu
Religion as an Avatar, who taught them how to harness magic power.
Aradia, at some far-off time, may have been as much an historical person
as Christ, Krishna or Buddha..."[12]

It is also interesting to note that in Ginzbug’s Ecstasies - Deciphering the

Witches' Sabbath, a passage appears that may be a historical reference
to Aradia. On page 189 he speaks of a Pagan Sect known as the
"Calusari" who, during the Middle Ages (as late as the 16th and 17th
Centuries), worshipped a Mythical Empress who they sometimes called

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"Arada" or "Irodeasa." This name is remarkably close to the name
Aradia, and we will revisit this later in the chapter.

The Calusari also used the term "mistress of the fairies" for their
Empress, just as the followers of Aradia reportedly called Diana “the
Queen of the Fairies.” Could this sect have still been practicing a form
of worship previously initiated by Aradia over 100 years earlier?
According to one popular legend of Aradia, she left Italy at some point
in her vocation and traveled out of the country. Serbia, the home of the
Calusari, lies a short distance across the Adriatic from Central Italy, and
travel by ship was not uncommon in that era. If Aradia was fleeing the
threat of the Church, she would not have traveled west to France
because the Papacy was still established in France at the time (and the
story informs us that Aradia was still being hunted by agents of the
Church). It would have been too dangerous to have gone to northern
Europe because witches were being executed in that region (Italy did not
begin the execution of witches until after the time of Aradia). So in fact
an eastern exodus would have been the only logical action to take in
such a situation (other than fleeing south to Egypt). At the very least
there is a striking coincidence between Aradia's witches and the Calusari
of Arada.

In Leland’s version of the Aradia story we find a setting in which

peasants are under servitude to the ruling class. The basic theme is one
of oppression by “evil lords” and retribution from the peasants in the
form of poisoning. In chapter one of Leland’s book we read:

“In those days there were on earth many rich and many poor. The rich
made slaves of all the poor. In those days were many slaves who were
cruelly treated; in every place tortured, in every castle prisoners. Many
slaves escaped. They fled to the country; sleeping by night, they plotted

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escape and robber their masters, and then slew them. So they dwelt in
the mountains and forests as robbers and assassins, all to avoid slavery”

In another section of chapter one, we read a reference to Aradia (as the

daughter of the goddess Diana) teaching peasants how to poison their
oppressors, and even how to ruin the harvest crops of a “rich and
greedy” peasant by calling upon a destructive storm. But historically,
did Italian peasants own fields of crops, and was there a period of the
type of oppression described in Leland’s book?

What we find in Italy during the Middle Ages is a system known as

Seignorialism. Under this system the “bonded” and the “free laborer”
were homogenized into a single class of peasants. Seignorialism enjoyed
its peak from the period spanning from 1000 to 1350. The noble class
controlling the system was called the seigneurs, and they dominated the
lives of the peasants. Each lord that oversaw an area, held court and
judged offenses committed by the peasants. Whenever his land was
ready for plowing or harvesting, the peasants were required to provide
the labor. The peasants were also required to use gristmills, ovens, and
winepresses owned by the lord, and to pay for that use.

In general the lord reserved the right to approve or deny the marriages
of his people. He also imposed an annual “head tax” on each peasant,
and could tax any income they received at any time of the year.
Although peasants could own small strips of land around their villages,
the lord had the power to sell these lands and the peasants along with
them. If a peasant died without heirs, the land automatically became to
the property of the lord. Ecclesiastical and lay authorities called upon
the lords to destroy any remains of pagan structures on their lands and
to compel their subjects to abandon pagan customs.

Looking at the historical system of Seignorialism, it is not unlike the

setting of Leland’s Aradia tale. It also seems ripe for the abuse of the
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peasant class, and on at least some level must certainly have caused
hatred towards the lords. It may be that Leland’s story has embellished
and exaggerated this period of history, but that is typically the case
regarding folk tales themselves. One example is the evolution of English
stories about the figure known as Robin Hood. If we view the story of
Aradia as evolved and layered with new elements gathered over the
centuries, then we can understand and appreciate it in the same way we
do other folkloric figures of any culture.

In keeping with the general theme of oppressed peasants, Leland states

that Diana is the goddess of outcasts and outlaws. As previously noted,
Leland’s tale of Aradia makes mention of peasants fleeing servitude and
being outlaws. Leland’s Aradia material depicts the followers of Aradia
as witches, just as his earlier work titled Etruscan Roman Remains
portrays witches as the worshippers of Diana. But is there any pre-
existing connection between Diana and witches in Italy?

Among the earliest ancient Roman writings we find those of Horace. In

his work titled The Epodes, Horace includes a passage indicating that
the goddess Diana is associated with witches and witchcraft. This comes
in the form of an evocation by a witch named Canidia. She begins by
calling to Diana: “O’ you faithful witnesses to my proceedings, Night
and Diana who preside over silence, when the secret rites are celebrated,
now, now be present.”

Scholar Matthew Dickie writes about the goddess Diana being evoked
by Canidia in Horace’s Epodes. Dickie states that “Diana in particular,
is prayed to as she rules the silence in which the hidden sacred rites are
performed. The rituals the sorceress performs are from her point of view
mystic rites confined to those adept in an esoteric form of wisdom,
performed in secret, in silence and in the darkness of the night.” [13]

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Historian Jeffrey Burton Russell, in his book Witchcraft in the Middle
Ages, writes that “The most important explicit Mediterranean element
in medieval witchcraft is the cult of Diana.” He adds that Diana appears
frequently as a leader of witches in the early Middle Ages and even in
16th century Italy.[14] Russell goes on to say that pagan festivals
persisted and that “The festivals most important for the development of
the witch idea were the fertility rites associated with Diana or
Hecate.”[15]

The view of witchcraft as a type of Dianic cult was argued by Giralamo

Tartarotti, an 18th century Italian writer. He is notable for his works
titled Congresso notturno delle lammie (1749) and Apologia del
Congresso notturno delle lammie (1751) in which he tried to debunk the
belief in the existence of witches as having any supernatural connection.
Tartarotti claimed that witches were simply magical practitioners
involved in a pre-Christian cult of the goddess Diana. His view was
unwelcome by the Church, and is dismissed by most modern scholars.
I presume this is because it is an isolated view not in keeping with the
accepted views of the “learned” at the time, and it therefore has no
backing from other writers. The authorities of the time believed that
witches flew through the air and frolicked with the Devil, which is a
much faultier concept than that proposed by Tartarotti.

Montague Summers, an English author and clergyman, comments about

Tartarotti’s view in Witchcraft and Black Magic. Here Summers writes:
“Yet Tartarotti, fastening upon the myth, evolves from so shadowy
premises the notion of what he is pleased to call a ‘Dianic cult’ and he
proceeds to assert that witchcraft is nothing else save this fabulous cult.
His ninth chapter carries as its caption: The identity of the Dianic cult
with modern witchcraft is demonstrated and proven.”[16] The “myth”
to which Summers refers is the theme presented in the Canon Episcopi.

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In an article titled Curiosities of Superstitions in Italy, by author R.H.
Busk, which appears in a late 19th century journal, Tartarotti is
portrayed in a more scholarly light[17]. Busk states that Tartaroti’s
views on Italian witchcraft were drawn from his study of the writings of
Plautus, Strabo, and Horace (along with the writings of Ausonius and
Festus). Tartarotti’s initial interest lies in the popular folk beliefs of Italy
about witches, which he links to the legends of the Roman entity known
as a strix. This legendary creature is a type of vampire that preyed on
infants. Eventually the tales of these creatures included the ability of the
strix to assume the form of an owl or an old woman, as it pleased.

Busk notes that Italian philosopher Gianfrancesco Pico put forth the
belief that witches fly through the air on a stick called a gramita, a tool
commonly used to hang out flax and hemp. According to Busk, Pico
states that witches travel on the gramita at midnight to attend a
gathering featuring banquets, dancing, and all kinds of depravity
(which Pico says is traceable to many pagan mysteries). Busk states that
“Diana is continually spoken by name as the presiding genius of these
weird festivals, and her mysteries were celebrated with dancing.”

The persistence of themes related to the pagan goddess in Italy

continually drew the attention of the Church and its agents on various
levels, to the degree that the matter needed to be addressed. What at
one time had been a focus on heretics, expanded in the 14th and 15th
centuries to include witches. Historian Keith Whitlock, in The
Renaissance in Europe asks the question: “But why should the
stereotype of the heretic have been extended to include the witch? Why
should inquisitors have become more concerned with witches in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries?”[18]

Whitlock proposes that the rise of witch-hunts and the rise of the
Renaissance are connected. He goes on to state that the Renaissance saw

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a growing interest in the revival of antiquity, including the ancient gods
and goddesses. In connection with this, Whitlock writes: “For some of
the clergy, as for Phronimus, these ‘gods’ were ‘demons’, so they
believed that they were witnessing a revival of the demonic. In this
context the confessions of certain women that they had attended ‘the
game of Diana’ must have confirmed clerical suspicions.”

But the association of Diana and witchcraft was not limited to Italy
alone. We find that Fray de Barrientos, a 15th century bishop of Cuenca
(Spain), makes mention of gatherings in honor of Diana, as he wrote in
his instructions to the diocese: “..the women called witches who are said
and believed to accompany the Pagan Goddess Diana at night, together
with many other woman who ride on beasts and travel through many
towns and places.” [19]

Historian Mircea Eliade, in his book Occultism, Witchcraft, and Cultural

Fashions, states that Diana became the chief of the witches in western
Europe. He goes on to discuss her role in Romania where she is depicted
as the Queen of the Fairies. This role is also assigned to Diana in
Leland’s Aradia tale. Eliade also makes mention of the “secret cathartic
society” known as the Calusari (who venerate a patroness known as
Irodiade or Arada).[20] He notes that the sect features an acrobatic
dance. In Italian witchcraft we also find an acrobatic dance called La
Volta. Is all of this coincidental or are we looking at spreading roots?

Before leaving the topic of Diana and her connection to witchcraft, I turn
now to the writings of Margaret Murray. She was a British
anthropologist who claimed to have discovered the existence of a pre-
Christian religion. Murray referred to this as a “Dianic cult” of “ritual
witchcraft” centered on Diana, and Murray claimed the goddess had a
consort named Janus or Dianus. Modern scholars reject her findings and
many people regard her work as thoroughly debunked. But was

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Murray completely in error, and should we reject absolutely everything
she had to say?

Historian Carlo Ginzburg, in the preface to his book titled Night Battles,
wrote that “we should acknowledge the ‘kernel of truth’ in Murray’s
thesis.” In his following work, titled Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches’
Sabbath, Ginzburg writes: “In my preface to The Night Battles I made a
statement to which I still fully subscribe, even though it earned me ex-
officio enrolment in the phantom (but discredited) sect of ‘Murrayites;:
viz., that Murray’s thesis, although ‘formulated in a totally uncritical
manner’, contained ‘a core of truth’ But what is this “kernel of truth”
mentioned by Ginzbug? For him the core of truth is found in the claim
that witchcraft has its roots in an ancient fertility cult. He does not
appear to believe that an ancient witches’ sect existed and survived into
Christian times, but instead appears to consider the validity of concepts
that contributed to “the folkloric roots of the Sabbath.” In other words
there is a difference between acknowledging the antiquity of concepts,
beliefs, and practices reflected in the records about witchcraft, and
interpreting them as evidence that an organized sect existed that carried
forth such elements as a cohesive tradition.

One of the problems in sorting out the facts regarding witches and
witchcraft is due to the academic situation itself. Scholar Bernadette
Filotas points out, in her book titled Pagan Survivals, Superstitions and
Popular Cultures, that “there is little information available about those
pagan rituals and beliefs that left no traces in archaeology.”[21] She also
points out that the only source of information for these rituals and beliefs
comes from the writings of Christian clerics. Due to adversarial politics,
this source can be no more reliable than Roman writings about Druids
and Celts.

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Another problem is that not until the 1960s have historians paid
significant attention to early medieval popular customs. Filotas states
that historians have focused primarily on evidence coming from the
leading figures and public institutions, and therefore upon the dominant
ideas popularized by them. She notes that “The ideas and customs of
anonymous men and woman are usually missing.” This is significant
because it is within the anonymous population that operative witchcraft
flourishes. Therefore the most important evidence is seriously absent,
and primarily so because it was overlooked or bypassed (not because
there wasn’t anything to discover).

There is one more factor to consider regarding the academic problem.

The view of scholars, pertaining to witchcraft, is based upon texts
written by the accepted authorities of the period. The clashing views of
Neo-Pagans are dismissed because there is no support from the old
authorities. But how credible are these authorities? They believed in the
magical flight of witches, the manifestation of the Devil in material form,
pacts with demons, and in the extraordinary supernatural abilities of
witches. Were these people in a state of mind to now be regarded as
credible investigators, spokesmen, judges, and experts?

Modern scholars note the lack of evidence to support the idea that
witchcraft was an ancient religion practiced by witches. However when
we look at the questions asked of accused witches, we see nothing
designed to truthfully or accurately ferret out such a connection (even
though elements of Dianic worship arise during interrogation). The
questions are instead designed to extract confessions of Devil worship,
heresy, and diabolical deeds. When the accused spoke about the
goddess Diana, the inquisitor responded with the question of how often
the Devil appeared to the accused in the form of Diana. The
interrogation continued from there to focus on the Church’s view of
what constituted witchcraft instead of exploring the beliefs (referenced
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by the accused) about Diana and any associated personal practices.
Clearly the questions were not designed to uncover “The Old Religion”
and so there should be little wonder why we do not have significant
evidence pertaining to witches religion. No one was looking for it and
so it does not appear.

Another academic problem lies in deliberate misrepresentations that

occurred in the past. The roots of this are exposed in what some
historians refer to as the 1321 conspiracy. Historian Steven L. Kaplan
notes that: “detailed analysis of the surviving evidence shows that in
1321 religious and political authorities deliberately faked evidence to
reinforce a growing hostility from below against lepers and Jews.”
Kaplan further notes that “Many links connect the 1321 conspiracy to
the emergence of the inquisitorial image of the witches’ Sabbat.”[22]
Since history can be manipulated in this way, how sure can we be of any
of the old writers involved in promoting depictions of the nature of
witchcraft?

It is interesting to note that the accusations raised against witches are the
same that appear against Jews and lepers in connection with the 1321
conspiracy. Charges of this nature are further fueled with the onset of
the “Black Death” in 1348. It is in this period that we find allegations of
poisoning wells and fountains, which were public sources of water.
These allegations were leveled primarily against the Jews, but become a
component against witches in the following years.

Kaplan writes of witches becoming a growing threat in the eyes of the

Church at the onset of the 15th century. He references a letter written in
1409 by Pope Alexander V that warns against “new sects and new
rituals” that are hostile to both Christianity and Judaism. Although no
sect is named in the letter, Kaplan suggests that the statement is an

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allusion to the witches’ Sabbat. He further suggests that a new image of
witches as a threatening sect arises in the eyes of the Church.[23]

The witches’ Sabbat does not appear to play a major role in trials until
1428. At this time it features in a trial at Valais, which is situated on the
northern border of Italy. This trial introduces, for the first time, the
concept of magical flight and the transformation of witches into various
animals. It seems clear that the Church’s depiction of the Sabbat evolved
over centuries, but was originally rooted in pagan tradition and
collected folkloric elements along the way to the eventual stereotype of
debauchery and satanic worship. Scholar Franco Mormando writes of
the Sabbat in his book The Preacher’s Demons:

‘‘This notion of the assembly is yet another universal item in ‘the classic
formulation of the Witch Phenomenon.’ Like much else in the baggage
of the European witch, it has its roots in pagan mythology, specifically
in the un-Christian but nondiabolical ‘Society of Diana,’ an innocuous,
festive ride and gathering of woman under the tutelage of the pagan
goddess of the moon and the hunt. Turned into a demonized witch
phenomenon by the theologians and canonists of Christian Europe, the
assembly was by the end of the fifteenth century to be known (with
tinges of anti-Semitisim) as the witches’ ‘Sabbath.’ With the passing
years, it slowly acquired ever more heinous, orgiastic characteristics.
During Bernardino’s lifetime, the gathering was called by various
names; the preacher himself, in one of his 1424 sermons to the
Florentines, refers to it by the Italian term tregenda.” - page 66

Earlier we noted the tregenda as a reported assembly of witches, who

claimed to be able to communicate with the dead. Scholar Walter
Stephens writes:

“About 1354, the Dominican preacher Jacopo Passavanti was writing in

Italian (in Lo specchio della versa penitenza, or The Mirror of True
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Repentance) that ‘some people say they see dead people and talk to
them, and that they go by night with witches [colle streghe] to their
tregenda.’ Many such people are simple impostors, he says: they take
advantage of others’ bereavement for financial gain or out of sheer
malice. Nonetheless, some people do sincerely think that they see dead
people. This is impossible, says Passavanti (presumably because these
souls are in hell or purgatory and are not allowed out). But people are
seeing something that is real. The Devil can take on the semblance of
dead people and falsely impersonate them…”[24]

It was Jacopo Passavanti’s view that the “simple people” were easily
mislead into error. His own belief was that demons assumed the
likeness of men and women and travelled to the tregenda. Here they
were mistaken for humans. Passavanti further stated that some women
came to believe they had “traveled at night in the company of the
tregenda.” He goes on to say that the leaders of this group are Herodias
and the goddess Diana.[25]

Much of what we know regarding the tregenda comes from the 15th
century sermons of the friar Bernardino of Sienna. His writings are, of
course, very negative in his depiction of witchcraft and paganism. But,
in a secondary sense, they are rich in the lore of the period (a time when
the deliberate misrepresentation of paganism and witchcraft has yet to
reach its peak). When examining the references to the tregenda it
appears to be the forerunner of the infamous witches’ Sabbat. Scholar
Franco Mormando writes:

"As to what Bernardino imagined as occurring during the tregenda, we

cannot be completely sure, since the notion of the Sabbath was still in its
development phase. The friar’s 1424 sermon does not describe this
convocation of witches. His later treatise on witchcraft and superstition,
De idolatriae cultu (1430-36), contains a reference to the tregenda,

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though the word itself does not appear in the text. This Latin work
nonetheless gives us some idea of his conception of the regular witches
assemblies, which eventually evolved into the sabbath." - The
Preacher's Demons - University of Chicago Press, 1999, page 66

It is noteworthy that among the earliest depictions of the witches’

gatherings we find no presence of the Judeo-Christian figure of Satan.
A 13th century mural discovered at Massa Marittima (a town south-west
of Siena) demonstrates this absence. The mural was discovered in
August, 2000, and has been identified by a British university lecturer as
the earliest surviving representation of witchcraft in Christian Europe.
George Ferzoco, the director of the center for Tuscan studies at the
University of Leicester, comments that “I have no doubt that this is by
far the earliest depiction in art of women acting as witches."

The 13th-century mural is a large, richly colored painting, seven meters

high. It was discovered under layers of subsequent over-painting next
to a fountain in the centre of Massa Marittima. It shows a tall, spreading
tree with two groups of women standing below it. The first thing that
was noticed about the tree was its unusual "fruit," which is apparently
sprouting from the branches as twenty-five phalluses.

Beneath the tree are two groups of women, one standing to the right and
the other to the left side of the trunk of the tree. One of the women in
the group on the left is holding up a stick with which she appears to be
trying to dislodge a bird's nest. The mural features two of the other
women grabbing each other's hair as they appear to fight for possession
over one of the phalluses picked from the tree.

Ferzoco, after examining this feature, recalled a passage from the

inquisitors' manual known as the Malleus Maleficarum. In its
description of witchcraft practices, there is an allegation that witches
robbed men of their genitals. The passage claims that witches
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sometimes collect male organs in great numbers (as many as twenty or
thirty members). These are placed in a bird's nest or closed inside a box,
where they come alive and are fed oats and corn. Ferzoco commented
that "There was a well-known story in Tuscan folklore about witches
removing mens' penises and placing them in bird nests in trees, where
they would then multiply and take on a life of their own." It is
noteworthy that the Italian mural was painted two centuries earlier than
the writing and publication of the Malleus Maleficarum.

According to Ferzoco, the mural is a unique piece of political

propaganda, commissioned by one Tuscan faction to sully the
reputation of another. He states: "It's a message from the Guelphs,
telling people that if the Ghibellines are allowed power, they will bring
with them heresy, sexual perversion, civic strife and witchcraft." The
Guelphs and Ghibellines were two factions who fought for power in
Tuscany and northern Italy for decades during the Middle Ages.
Perhaps the most famous victim of their feuds was the poet Dante, a
Guelph expelled from his native Florence in 1302 after a rival Guelph
group took power. At the time the mural was painted, the Guelphs
controlled Massa Marittima. According to Ferzoco "They presented
themselves as the clean living upstanding party in Tuscan politics and it
was traditional for them, in launching their attacks on the Ghibellines,
to label them as heretics."

While Ferzoco's interpretation of the meaning of the mural is interesting,

there are other views to be considered as well. If we accept his opinion
that the mural is the earliest depiction in art of women "acting as
witches," then what does the imagery reveal about witchcraft beliefs in
this period? There are several noteworthy aspects including the absence
of the Devil at this assembly of witches. The presence of a magical tree
is an important element that reflects the long-standing tradition of the
witches’ tree at Benevento. The imagery of walnuts in their likeness of
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testicles, and the presence of phalluses in the mural, may be a suggestion
of fertility themes linked to witchcraft's ancient past. The botanical
name for walnuts is juglans, which is also the Latin name for walnuts.
It is derived from the Latin word jovis, meaning "of Jupiter." In the
mural we see eagles, and the eagle was the symbol of the god Jupiter. It
is note worthy that the walnut is also known as Jupiter’s acorn.

In the mural at Massa Marittima we see the image of a woman holding

up a rod as she looks upwards at the branches above her. One
interpretation is that she is trying to dislodge a nest. The type of tree is
not mentioned by Ferzoco, but from the leaves it does not seem to be an
oak (sacred to Jupiter) or a walnut. On a side note, there is an interesting
piece of lore associated with harvesting walnuts by beating the branches.
This is mentioned in the book Dictionary of Phrase and Fable[26], by
Ebenezer Brewer:

“It is said that the walnut tree thrives best if the nuts are beaten off with
sticks, and not gathered. Hence, Fuller says ‘Who, like a nut tree must
be manured by beating, or else would not bear fruit”- page 1283

St. Augustine, a 4th century theologian, applied Christian symbolism to

the walnut. He said the outer green casing of the walnut represented
the flesh of Christ. The shell symbolized the wooden cross of Jesus, and
the kernel was the divine nature that nourished the Christian faith.[27]
In references within the Bible, and within commentaries on scriptural
meaning, we find mention of the walnut possessing mystical properties.
It is said to have been placed in water (along with storax and “plane
wood”) to produce a drink that bestowed the blessings of the Trinity.
This drink ensured the spiritual purity of offspring who were conceived
by parents blessed in this way. A special rod was also made of walnut
and served as a symbol of watchfulness[28]

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The walnut tree, and its fruit, plays an interesting part in the legends
and folk tales of Italy. These are associated with fairies, witches, spirits,
and other beings. In the next chapter we will explore the connection
between the walnut tree, the goddess Diana, and the witches of Old
Italy. Although this history is dimly lit, we will rely upon the light of
the full moon to reveal what has been hidden for ages.

[1] A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, by Henry Charles

Lea. Pages 94-95: “The history of the Joachites has shown us the
readiness which existed to look upon Christianity as a temporary phase
of religion, to be shortly succeeded by the reign of the Holy Ghost, when
the Church of Rome would give place to a new and higher organization.
It was not difficult, therefore, for the Guglielmites to persuade
themselves that they had enjoyed the society of the Paraclete, who was
shortly to appear, when the Holy Spirit would be received in tongues of
flame by the disciples, the heathen and the Jew would be converted, and
there would be a new church ushering in the era of love and blessedness,
for which man had been sighing through the weary centuries.”

[2] The Creation of Feminine Consciousness, by Gerda Lerner: Oxford

University Press, 1994 – page 91

[3] Encyclopedia of Prophecy, by Geoffrey Ashe: ABC – CLIO, Inc., 2001

– page 96

[4] Who Was Aradia? The History and Development of a Legend, by

Sabina Magliocco: The Pomegranate: The Journal of Pagan Studies, Issue
18, Feb. 2002. The passage reads: What if some women, inspired by
utopian legends of the Society of Diana/Herodias, decided to try to
replicate such a society in medieval Europe? Though we have no proof
such a society ever existed, it is not inconceivable that a few inspired
individuals might have decided to dramatize, once or repeatedly, the
gatherings described in legends. The use of the term giuoco ("game") by
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Sibillia and Pierina suggests the playful, prankish character of ostension.
A "game" based on legends of Diana/Herodias and the fairies would
probably have been secret and limited to the friends and associates of
the creative instigators, who might well have been folk healers. One or
more women might even have played the role of Diana or Herodias,
presiding over the gathering and giving advice. Feasting, drinking and
dancing might have taken place, and the women may have exchanged
advice on matters of healing and divination. The "game" might even
have had a healing intent, as was the case for many comparable circum-
Mediterranean rituals, and may have involved trance-dancing. This is
one possible explanation for the remarkably consistent reports of Sibillia
and Pierina, tried within a few years of each other. The existence of
ostension in connection to these legends could also mean that Grimassi's
claim that Aradia was a real person may, in fact, not be entirely out of
the question; a healer who was part of the society might have chosen to
play the part of, or even take on the name of, Erodiade.

[5] Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches Sabbat, by Carlo Ginzburg:

Random House, 1991 - page 104 hereafter citied as Deciphering

[6] Deciphering - page 90

[7] Storia Notturna. Una decifrazione del sabba, Torino 1989. page 81

[8] Bonomo, Giuseppe. Caccia alle Streghe. Palermo: Palumbo, 1959

[9] AESCH. Hiket. 667-7) and Juno-Lucina (Catullus’ Hymn to Diana).

[10] Deciphering – page 71

[11] I refer the interested reader to The Preacher’s Demons, by Franco

Mormando (University of Chicago Press, 1999). The book deals with
15th century witchcraft through the eyes of Bernardino of Siena. Pagan
roots and elements are examined in a fair and balanced view.

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[12] Witches. The Citadel Press, 1962 – page 13 – 14

[13] Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World, Routledge, 2001

– page 139

[14] Witchcraft in the Middle Ages, Cornell University Press, 1984 – page
48

[15] Witchcraft in the Middle Ages. Cornell University, 1972 – page 58

[16] Witchcraft and Black Magic. Dover Publications, 2000 – page 115

[17] Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary

Men, General Readers, etc, Published at the London Office, 20
Wellington Street, 1894

[18] The Renaissance in Europe: A Reader (Renaissance in Europe

series), by Keith Whitlock, published by Yale University Press, 2000 –
page 341

[19] The Malleus Maleficarum and the Construction of Witchcraft, by

Hans P. Broedel (Manchester University Press, 2004) – page 134

[20] Occultism, Witchcraft, and Cultural Fashions, by Mircea Eliade,

University Of Chicago Press, 1978, page 81 & 82: “All of these maladies
are successfully cured by the choreographic and cathartic ritual of a
group of dancers, who constitute a sort of secret society (Mannerbund)
called calusari, a name derived from the Romanian term for ‘horse’ cal
(<Lat. Caballus). Now, surprisingly enough, the patroness of this secret
cathartic society is the ‘Queen of the Fairies” (Doamna Zinelor) – the
Romanian metamorphosis of Diana. She is called Irodiade (=Herodias)
or Arada, both names famous among western European witches”

[21] Pagan Survivals, Superstitions, and Popular Cultures. Pontifical

Institute of Medieval Studies, 2005, page 19: “In a practical sense also,

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the word ‘survivals’ is misleading when applied to reprobated practices
in the early Middle Ages. Except for Roman religion, there is little
information available about those pagan rituals and beliefs that left no
traces in archaeology and for which the only source is the writings of
Christian clerics.”

[22] Understanding Popular Culture. Mouton De Gruyer (Publisher),

1985, page 311 hereafter citied as Popular Culture

[23] Popular Culture, page 44

[24] Lovers - page 132

[25] Witchcraft in Europe, 400-1700: A Documentary History, by Alan

Kors and Edward Peters, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000, page
111

[26] Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, by Ebenezer Brewer, Westview

Press, 2007

[27] Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art, by James Hall, Westview

Press, 2007, page 341. The symbolism of the walnut, ascribed to it by St.
Augustine, is also discussed in the book Symbols of the Christian faith,
by Alva Steffer, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002.

[28] Genesis 12-50, edited by Mark Sheridan, InterVarsity Press, 2002,

page 202-203

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 STREGONERIA: ITS TWO FORMS

Stregoneria is the contemporary word commonly translated into English

as witchcraft. Native Italians grow up with the idea that stregoneria is
evil and harmful in nature, and they hold the same stereotype beliefs
about stregoneria that the average American citizen holds about
witchcraft. The stereotype of stregoneria in Italy features the Devil and
the black arts of magic. The practitioner is typically portrayed as an old
hag that is mistrusted and feared. However, the practitioner is still
sought out in secret by people needing the aid of her mystical arts. But
is this practitioner a witch or is it a sorcerer?

In the course of this article we will explore two different forms of

stregoneria. One form is that which appears in common culture and of
which various elements are found even in the average Italian family.
These are often referred to as simply "the things we do." In essence this
is simple folk magic. This form of stregoneria incorporates various
Catholic elements such as the rosary, cross, holy water, communion
wafers, saints, candle vigils, and prayers. Various charms against envy
and the "evil eye" are also used for protection along with simple spells
such as the use of olive oil and water to detect and banish ill forces.
Among native Italians the difference between stregoneria and folk
magic is that stregoneria is used for evil and folk magic for good.

Now that we have looked at the common form of stregoneria (its

exoteric form) we will turn to the other form of stregoneria, which is the
oldest one and comes to us from pre-Christian times. It is, in essence, a
primitive practice of magic uninfluenced by the so-called higher forms
of magic that appear in Western ceremonial magic. Glimpses of this
type of stregoneria can be captured in the ancient tales of witches and
witchcraft. In Western literature we see the ancient witch calling upon
various sources of power. One example comes to us from the tales of

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Medea, a Greek witch. In tales, such as those of Ovid, Medea addresses
her incantations to the stars, Hecate, Tellus, and the goddess of earth.
She also erects an altar to Hecate and another to Hebe. Her incantations
reveal the witch's connection to an ancient theology:

“Night, trustiest keeper of my secrets, and stars who, together with the
moon, follow on from the fires of the daylight, and you Hecate of the
three heads, who know all about my designs and come to help the
incantations and the craft of the witches, and Earth, who furnish witches
with powerful herbs, and Breezes, Winds, Mountains, Rivers, and Lakes,
and all the gods of the groves and all the gods of the night, be present to
help me. Night-wandering queen, look kindly upon this undertaking."

What we see here is the calling upon of not only deities but of spirits or
forces. The latter is indicated by the inclusion of the wind, mountains,
rivers and lakes. This suggests two things. First we may well be looking
at concepts of Neolithic thought if not of an earlier period prior to the
personification of deities in human form. Second, we are looking at a
"night cult" - demonstrated by the inclusion of a "night-wandering
queen" and "gods of the night" not to mention the evocation of Night
and the stars themselves. This sets witchcraft apart from mainstream
Greek religion.

There is no doubt that Roman witchcraft was highly influenced by its

Greek counterpart. Elements of Roman witchcraft appear in Italian
Witchcraft to this day, but another important aspect is the influence of
Etruscan magic and theology. However this topic is too vast to examine
in this article. Author Charles Leland deals with it nicely in his book
Etruscan Roman Remains, and the curious reader may wish to read that
work.

Despite the inclusion of an altar and the evocation of deities in the tales
of witchcraft, the ancient Greek writers refer to it as illicit religion. This
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topic is discussed in the book Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Ancient
Greece and Rome (edited by Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark,
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999). Over the centuries the magical
art of witchcraft was the primary focus of writers. This resulted in the
view that witchcraft is/was simply a practice and not a religion.
Ironically, during the Christian period of the witch trials, witches were
accused of worshipping the Devil, which is a religious theme. But
witchcraft continued to fall only under the category of a magical
practice.

Centuries of trials in which the accused witches were asked for details
of their practices and beliefs strongly suggests that the ways of the sect
were not common knowledge. This in turn points to witches being
taught in secret through either family lines or membership in some form
of group or inner society. In trial transcripts the questions put to the
accused are not directed at uncovering anything of a religious nature
(old or new) but instead are focused on magical practices and ill deeds.
It is this portrait of witches and witchcraft that spreads into popular
culture and creates the stereotype in the minds of the populace.

Italian culture was less influenced by witchcraft than it was by Folk

Magic. The latter is found not only in the common practices and beliefs
of the Italian people but also in the folklore and various tales that natives
grow up with. Like small fragments of witchcraft, various elements of
folk magic are found in many Italian families. In many cases the
members of the family do not view such things as being witchcraft or
folk magic but simply as "the things we do".

Folklorists and social Anthropologists present various theories about

the origins of folklore and Folk Magic, but all seem to agree that changes
take place within them that alter the original models. This is because the
average person is not interested in preserving things exactly as he or she

161
found them. Instead such things are often adapted for personal use and
this changes various elements of the lore or Folk Magic within the
culture.

By contrast the witch is a preserver of traditions and consciously works

not to alter the teachings and techniques. Things may be added to his
or her Craft, but the original models are honored and preserved. The art
of witchcraft is passed on from witch to witch and is not available to the
everyday person within Italian culture. That small elements of
witchcraft found their way into popular culture seems apparent by their
presence. How and why this happened is not important for the
purposes of this article.

What we are seeing in contemporary times is a sub-cultural movement

in Italy of individuals and groups interested in paganism, witchcraft,
and folk magic arts. Many of these seekers have left the Catholic faith
and the restraints of mainstream society. Unfortunately they tend to
carry with them the basic concepts of what they learned growing up,
which naturally colors their perception related to things such as
witchcraft. Much of what they were exposed to, and came to accept at
one point in their lives, came from the Church. Additional influences
came from the movies, the magazines, whatever published books were
available. Unfortunately this conveyed little more than the stereotypes.
The actual practices of witches remained hidden from plain sight.

This situation has resulted in attempts to recreate such things as

stregoneria from whatever public sources are available. Naturally this
misinformation results in confusion, and from this we find
misrepresentations and misidentifications of witchcraft and folk magic.
One example is that of the Internet group calling itself "Stregoneria
Italiana" that collects and mixes a hodge-podge of systems and practices
into one conflated concept under the banner of "Stregoneria Italiana."

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Another example is the site known as Rue's Kitchen, which presents
mainstream folk magic concepts of Italian culture as though they reflect
a cohesive system of practice and belief. But like Stregoneria Italiana,
the featured material is not representative of initiate teachings but is
simply the layperson's perspective of what is actually an esoteric system
that remains outside of their knowledge and experience.

The Rues' Kitchen site hosts an article that distorts Grimassi's position
on Stregheria. Its primary goal seems to be that of misguiding the reader
about Grimassi's role in the presentation of "Stregheria" as well as
attempting to discredit the validity of the system. The first erroneous
allegation is that Grimassi has given the word "Stregheria" a "complete
makeover." However the facts are that at its core, Grimassi's
presentation of Stregheria as a religious form of witchcraft connected
with the goddess Diana, is in keeping with pre-existing writings on
Stregheria. These writings include the 17th century writings of
Giralamo Tartarotti, the 19th century writings of folklorist Charles
Leland, and a variety of trial transcripts in which "Diana" and other
goddess names appear. Therefore the accusation against Grimassi is
unfounded and unwarranted as he clearly did not invent or "makeover"
these concepts.

One devious statement is that what Grimassi presents "looks exactly like
modern Wicca with an Italian accent." This is stated in a way that
suggests deception on Grimassi's part. However, in his book, Italian
Witchcraft, Grimassi clearly states that the material is a blend of Italian
witchcraft with Wiccan elements. The book also makes it clear that its
focus is on the "Aridian Tradition" which Grimassi states is a modern
one that he created (based upon an older model). In this we see that
Grimassi is forthright in his presentation of Stregheria as a blend, and is
not misleading anyone as suggested by his critics.

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Another false allegation is that Stregheria, as Grimassi presents it, is
"completely unrecognizable" to Italians who have grown up in an actual
family tradition. This implies that the critic has personal knowledge of
what constitutes authentic family witchcraft traditions, which is highly
doubtful when looking at other commentaries from this individual. In
any case, the readership mail sent to Grimassi from native Italians
demonstrates that many similarities exist between his writings and the
practices of Italian people claiming to practice witchcraft (although
certainly not the Wiccan elements). Therefore although some things
may be unrecognizable in Italian family traditions, many are
recognizable, and so the statement that Grimassi's material is completely
unrecognizable is completely untrue.

The final erroneous statement is that Stregheria is a "unique" and

"modern construction with an ancient label slapped onto its surface."
The facts are that both the word "stregheria" and the concept of it as a
religious form of witchcraft associated with Diana is not modern or
unique. However what is a modern construction by Grimassi is the
Aridian Tradition of which he writes in his book Italian Witchcraft
(formerly titled Ways of the Strega), and his book Hereditary Witchcraft.
It should be noted that the Aridian Tradition is not "Stregheria" itself but
falls under the umbrella . Stregheria is the ancient Witch religion of Old
Italy, and the Aridian Tradition is a contemporary Italian-American
system based upon it but adopting modern elements from other sources
as well.

By way of summary, we have looked at the two types of Stregoneria.

One is that which is known to lineage practitioners who have been
trained and initiated into the timeless arts. The other version is that
which is imagined by non-initiates who are comprised of everyday
people growing up with the stereotypes of popular culture. And as we
have seen, it is not uncommon for fragments of folk magic to be
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practiced among average Italian families. These elements come from
simple non-initiate levels of popular culture and are readily
recognizable by the man-on-the-street. The initiate level teachings
escape notice because they are not part of popular culture but remain
available only to an inner society. By contrast the layperson's
perspective is easily found on sites like Stregoneria Italiana and Rue's
Kitchen. Hopefully the day will come when authentic Stregoneria is
written about and is featured on websites just as elements of authentic
Italian witchcraft have been brought to light through the efforts of
Stregheria initiate Raven Grimassi.

Grimassi is currently working on a new book, tentatively titled The

Witchcraft of Old Italy. This book will present authentic Italian
witchcraft without the Wiccan elements of the Aridian system featured
in previous works by Grimassi. This book will help demonstrate what
is authentic and what is not, and will further demonstrate the differences
between Stregheria itself (as a whole) and the Italian-American branch
formed by Grimassi under the name of the Aridian tradition. This will
be the first book ever written by an actual initiate practitioner of Italian
witchcraft to disclose what has been kept secret for generations.
Grimassi feels that due to the persistence of false information and
deliberate distortion on the Internet, that the time has come to finally
sort the chaff from the grain.

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 THE STREGONERIA ITALIANA PROJECT

Project Stregoneria Italiana is the dream child of Kyle De Franco aka

Solitario. While the project purports to provide information about
Italian Witchcraft, it actually works with common folk magic and folk
traditions that appear in the Catholic-based practices of sorcery known
to exist within Italian subculture. The project fosters widespread
misunderstanding through its use of the umbrella term "Stregoneria
Italiana" to group together a variety of practices that do not qualify as
"stregoneria" (a term in Italy for the magical practices of Witchcraft). The
organization erroneously refers to its material as "traditional Italian
witchcraft" which it is not.

Folklorists and social anthropologists have long noted the curious folk
practices found in many Italian Catholic families in Italy. Italian
immigrants brought such practices with them when they relocated in
regions like North America and South America. Although fewer
families still retain the Old World folk magic traditions, it was once
widespread and was carried on by the generation born as late as the
early 20th century.

Many Italians and Italian-Americans have, or had, an old grandmother

who believed in the power of the Evil Eye, the Malocchio. She knew how
to detect this using drops of olive oil in a bowl of water. She also knew
various techniques designed to cure the affliction. In her arsenal of
weapons against evil, the folk magic practitioner used such things as a
pair of scissors placed under the bed mattress to protect against
phantoms. The scissors were placed opened at the foot of the bed with
the tips facing outward. Salt was scattered on the floor and then swept
out the door to remove any contamination brought into the house by a
visitor. A broom was left by the front door to protect the threshold.
Various Saints were given offerings in exchange for special favors such

166
as personal healing or help with finances. These and many more
practices were common in the Catholic-based folk magic traditions of
Italian families. However, they were not (and are not) a practice of
Witchcraft.

Professor Sabina Magliocco, a native Italian who has researched Italian

magical systems points out that the term "stregoneria" is not commonly
used to refer to the kind of folk magic and healing practiced in families
and generally associated with popular Catholicism. She further points
out that in Italian folklore studies and ethnography, these practices are
called "guarigione popolare" or "cure popolari" (popular healing/ cures),
although these specific references are academic rather than folk terms.

It is easy to erroneously conflate such practices with Italian Witchcraft,

as do the supporters of the Stregoneria Italiana project. But authentic
folk magic practitioners in Italy would be horrified to be told that what
they practice is actually Witchcraft. For them this is not the case, and
few would even acknowledge that what they practice is a form of
sorcery. The Italian folk magic practitioners see this as simply "the
things we do." To call this Witchcraft is to insult the folk magic
practitioner (who self-labels as a Catholic, not a Witch).

Confusion between folk magic practices and Witchcraft easily arises due
to the fact that the two systems use similar methods, symbols, and
objects that have long been associated with Italian culture. Historically,
Witchcraft is an older tradition than the folk magic traditions that
feature Catholic elements and saint veneration. This is evidenced by the
simple fact that Witchcraft existed in pre-Christian times but folk magic
traditions containing Christian elements can date no earlier than
Christianity itself. However, it is extremely unlikely that folk magic
traditions sprang up suddenly within the Christian era with no
connection to earlier beliefs and practices. It is more likely that people

167
continued to use elements of pre-Christian traditions but with
modifications to comply with Christian theology. In this way the old
folk traditions evolved from essentially pagan roots into a Catholic-
based system of magic and ritual. In this way they became Christian
practices as opposed to pagan practices.

At some stage in the evolution of folk traditions in Italy various concepts

and practices emerged that were new and unique to Christian culture as
opposed to the earlier pagan culture. Some examples are the use of the
communion wafer and the rosary in folk magic. The veneration of
patron Saints, while clearly a vestige of the pagan veneration of spirits
that presided over specific things, took on elements unique to a new
culture. However in many cases the pagan roots are very apparent. One
example appears in the feast day of San Domenico in Cocullo (Abruzzo
region) whose statue is covered with living snakes and carried in a
procession. This site was earlier the home of the Marsi, a pagan tribe
that worshipped the goddess Angizia, a type of snake deity. The
customs associated with the feast of San Domenico strongly suggests
that the pagan elements pre-existed in a readily adoptable form that fit
the Christian veneer.

Members of the Stregoneria Italiana Project strongly oppose the idea

that much of Italian folk magic evolved from earlier pagan beliefs and
practices. Not content to simply embrace their own beliefs, members of
the project actively post messages in various Internet forums where they
attempt to propagate their beliefs. Part of this involves what can be
regarded as libelous accusations against internationally acclaimed
author Raven Grimassi and unwarranted criticism of his writings.
Various members, who appear to post under multiple names, seem to
be carrying out a campaign of misinformation that is apparently
intended to try and undermine Grimassi's credibility as a writer and
teacher. Such actions are regarded by many as intentionally harmful
168
attacks on Grimassi's livelihood, reputation & personal character, and
his good standing in the community. Such tactics are very much like
those used by subjugators to suppress subcultures and to deny their
authenticity.

Suppressed subcultures in Italy have endured a long attitude of

invalidation from Italian elitists, academicians, and commentators.
Breaking from this repressive tradition, scholar Lucia Chiavola
Birnbaum addresses the unwarranted dismissal of authentic folk
traditions in subcultures by Italian scholars in her book Black
Madonnas. She writes about how subcultural beliefs and knowledge
"bypass" the established knowledge and belief of the mainstream culture
in which they reside. Therefore a subculture can contain elements that
seem, in comparison to the dominate culture, very alien and
incongruous (but are actually authentic to the subculture's history and
understanding). This may be the case with Leland's witches and their
tradition, which can be viewed as a "denied culture" at the hands of
Italian scholars intent on subjugating suppressed subcultures.

Birnbaum makes the following statement:

‘The recovery of suppressed cultures is proceeding on several levels in

Italy. Women scholars recover ancient values transmitted by women
persecuted as witches. Historians study the ‘systematic cancellation of
peasant culture.’ Along with historians recovering suppressed peasant
culture (who call its suppression ‘ethnocide’), a popular ethnic revival
in Italy has stimulated the founding of museums dedicated to
vernacular traditions.”

This practice of "ethnocide" has spread from Italy and surfaces among
such organizations as the Italian-American group known as the
Stregoneria Italiana project. Members of this project attempt to actively
suppress the subculture of Stregheria (the Witchcraft of Old Italy) and
169
deny its culture through a campaign of misinformation and
unwarranted allegations.

It is unclear as to how much opposition against the Wicca, Witchcraft,

and the Neo-Pagan community in general exists among the members of
the Stregoneria Italiana Project. Some commentators have pointed out
that Stregoneria Italiana members, as self-proclaimed Christian Witches,
operate under the inherent flaw of this oxymoron. Others have judged
the project members as simply the kind of people who are always hostile
towards any opposing views, an attitude demonstrative of the fear-
based energy of anger. In any case what seems very apparent is that the
Stregoneria Italiana Project resembles the same anti-forces generated
and controlled by the Catholic Church that were at the roots of the
persecution of Witches in the Middle Ages and Renaissance period. This
is evidenced by their continued persecution of Stregheria (authentic
Italian Witchcraft) and its followers.

Like most cults, the Stregoneria Italiana Project requires strict adherence
to the views, opinions and teachings of its leader. Outsiders are
reportedly treated with suspicion and often with hostility, particularly
when offering a contrary view. Badgering, demeaning, and bullying are
typical tactics used by cult leaders and their officers in order to maintain
control. In the case of the Stregoneria Italiana Project many people have
reportedly been ejected or driven out from the forums on the website by
such tactics. For personal safety, mental and emotional health, caution
should always be exercised when anyone is in contact with a cult, cult
leaders, and their operatives.

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 A JOURNEY AROUND THE FIGURE OF THE BEFANA

by Claudia and Luigi Manciocco

This book [House Without A Door] is dedicated to the legend of the

Befana, who has had an important role in the imagination of children. It
is not, however, a book for children even if the child's world, the magic
sphere, the mysteries and games of childhood, the fables and fantasy
are recurring themes. Those who wish to relive with us the magic of the
first wonders of infancy, and understand the meaning and origins of this
extraordinary figure should be prepared to undertake a long voyage that
will carry us back in time, to the origins of man’s history. We'll discover
what makes this personage so mysterious and arcane, because this little
old lady so dear to children has continued to fascinate them for
centuries, and they still await her arrival on the night of her holiday.

It's possible to demonstrate historically through archeological and

anthropological statistics how archaic traces of civilization were
conserved in the traditions of the Mediterranean world and survive
through the form of images and symbols regarding mythic figures, such
as that of the Befana. Some images connected to the figure of the Befana
are revealed in an archaic agricultural context when the homes became
stable and the cult of domestic folklore was established.

In Neolithic culture the houses of villages in Anatolia (Catal Huyuk) and

other places had neither windows nor doors; the only entrance was
through the wide, horizontal roof. The house was entered by a ladder,
which was then withdrawn in a defensive action. The Befana arrived in
the homes through the chimney, an act that in the myths throughout the
world is attributed to mythic figures, as for example, the spirits of the
Montagnais Indians in North America, and above all the Nitu Natmate,
ancestral spirits of the Papua‑melanesiani, as well as other figures who
bring gifts during the Christmas holidays.
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Once the link between the figure of the Befana and the ancestral spirits
is established the Befana presents herself during the big holiday as a
mythical ancestress who returns yearly. Her principal function is that of
reaffirming the bond between the family and the ancestors through an
exchange of gifts. The children receive gifts symbolizing archaic
civilizations where they were considered the representatives of the
ancestors, to whom the offerings were destined, as shown by Levy‑Bruhl
in the structure of the new years' eve festivities in Bering (see page 204,
A House Without a Door). Sometimes the Befana receives offers of food.
In the popular dramatization in Tuscany and elsewhere the Befana is a
masked figure who guides the cortege of postulants and receives offers
from families who, in kind, receive from her the gift of prosperity.

The Befana occupies a pedagogical function of an outside educator who

rewards or punishes, and has an important role in the child's
development. This Big Grandmother presided over the various phases
of the life of the child and of initiation rites, which took place during the
festivities of the New Year. (See chapter 4, the Magical Night, with
enclosed bibliography).

Regarding the stocking hung up on the chimney, she is not only the
container of gifts or of offerings of food but is herself a gift, inasmuch as
a manual product dedicated to mythical figures that are patrons of yarns
and weaving, close to the Befana, such as Frau Holda and Berchta who
visit homes during the Christmas period. The stocking may also have
evocative functions. (see A House Without a Door, chapter IV, page 5).

In the mythical tradition the Befana arrives flying on a broom, or even

on a donkey. This testifies to her association with plants and animals,
which in antiquity had a sacred value as representatives or simulations
of totem‑line ancestors, as well as divinities. In mythology the branch is
home to the spirit of the ancestor, which is why it has assumed the

172
magical function of flight and could have a role of evocation as well as
of distancing from the spirit. These actions were conceived as a voyage,
a flight from a far‑away kingdom.

Besides the link with the cult of the hearth the Befana personifies a close
link to fire itself, whether astral (brought from the stars, appearing as a
meteor) or earthly (for example on the eve of the Befana holiday bonfires
are lit to burn her figure). This action is meant not so much as to exorcise
a negative entity, as to re-accompany at the end of the big holiday the
spirit of the ancestor to the kingdom beyond the tomb through the
symbolism of the ascending fire.

This essay provides the possibility of a transversal interpretation,

through the elements of fire and water. The Epiphany holiday includes
purifying rites, and benedictions with water. The water prepared on the
eve of Epiphany has a sacred and warding‑off‑evil‑spirits value and is
used in critical moments of family life. In the Abruzzo it's called "Water
of the Bboffe" Fire in particular represents a recurring theme throughout
the essay. The third chapter is titled "The Three Fires" and is dedicated
to the figure of the Kings of the Magi, who in the historical tradition were
priests of the sacred fire, a privileged caste who in the Zoroastriana
Persia waited until the fire expired.

Their knowledge of the stars guided them to Baby Jesus, to whom they
carried three gifts symbolic of the regality of Christ over the three
worlds: earthy gold, celestial incense, and myrrh from beyond the grave.
These three substances can be linked to each of the three sacred fires of
Vedic India and Avestica Persia. Therefore it is possible through fire and
gifts to establish a connection between the Magi and the figure of the
Befana in the expectation of the holiday of January 6.

"A House Without a Door" presents this narrative of fantasy, as well as

a serious scientific and anthropological journey. Through the analysis of
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the cult of ancestors and the various rituals connected with this, the
essay reveals and focuses on certain fundamental aspects of rather
well‑known figures, that are however in certain ways still mysterious,
attempting to find an explanation to the evolution of the image and
phenomena that have accompanied her through the years.

174
 SERPENT IN THE MOUND

Por Max Dashu

Under the earth there exists a delicious place,

the dwelling of witches, where all things abound,
especially milk and honey, which run in abundant rivers.

---Basque tradition from Ataún

Many folk goddesses retained their myths and sanctuaries and powers,
but under the Church's heavy hand, ceased to be openly addressed as
divinities. They are called hags with fateful powers, shapeshifters,
indwelling spirits of stones and mountains. Frequently they are
described as living under the christian god's curse.

The tradition of the goddess dwelling in a mountain was old and

widespread before clerics, troubadours and courtly poets entered their
interpretations of the theme into medieval literature. This faery
mountain was said to exist in the Italian Appenines, or to be the
Wartburg in Germany, or Mt Pilatus in Switzerland, or a hundred other
peaks in Europe.

In Italy the mistress of this magic mountain was called "wise Sibillia." It
was said that the ancient sibyl of mount Cumae had taken refuge in a
cave at the crest of the Appenines. Her underworld paradise was
entered through a grotto in the mountains of Norcia, a region famed for
its witches. Nearby was a magical lake fed by water from a cavern.
Whoever stayed longer than a year could no longer leave, but remained
deathless and ageless, feasting in abundance, revelry, and voluptuous
delights. [Guerin Meschino, Salade, in Bonomo, 77]

Antonio Pucci's Libro de Varie Storie (1362) told of a subterranean

paradise with beautiful lammie living in caverns filled with treasures:

175
"And many other marvellous and incredible things were found there..."
In the Reductorium Morale (c. 1360) Pietro Bersuire wrote about the cave
of Sibilla and the happy life in her subterranean world. He alluded to
the place as a historic shrine; a priest told him that a lake in the
mountains near Norcia had been consecrated to demons from antiquity.
[Bonomo, 82, 78]

The sibylline goddess is progressively demonized in retellings of her

myth. In Guerino il Meschino (1391), the devil tempts the hero to visit
the great fata Sibilla. Wise and immortal, she speaks sweetly and with
great charm; "there was courtesy in her beyond measure..." Guerino lies
with her, but mistrusts her. Spying on Sibilla, he finds out that she turns
reptilian under her skirts on Saturdays. He recoils and leaves for Rome,
where he is given absolution. [Warner, 4-5. She suggests that Macco, a
man changed into the serpent-guardian of Sibilla's cave, may refer to the
legendary Wandering Jew Malco, pointing up the christian association
of pagans and Jews.]

In the middle ages Sibillia was regarded as the goddess of the witches.
In Ferrara people said that "wise Sibillia" presided over witch flights as
la signora del corso. She has the power of life. At the end of their feasts,
she touches all the bottles and baskets with her gold wand, and they
quickly refill with wine and bread. The witches gather the animals'
bones into their skins; at the wand's touch, the animals recover their
flesh and return to life. [Bonomo, 72]

Magic arts are taught in the mountain of Sibillia. Serpents dwell in its
underground grottos. These shapeshifting faeries come out of her cave
to dance in the meadows. [Baroja; McCollogh, 48] They too turn into
snakes every Saturday until the pope says Mass on Monday.
[McCollogh, 48]

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In the early 1400s, the Provençal writer Antoine de la Salle wrote an
account of "Le Paradis de la Reine Sibylle" in his La Salade. He travelled
to the ridge of the Sibillini below Mt Vettore and ascended to the
legendary cave. At the summit, he noted, the sea was visible in the east
and the west. Inside an entrance shaped like a "pointed shield" was a
chamber with seats cut into its rock walls. He ventured no further, but
was told that the cave ran deep into the mountain, with doors of metal
leading to the inner labyrinth, followed by doors of crystal. A great wind
rose up there from within the earth. Next came a narrow bridge over a
torrent, and two dragons breathing fire. [Warner, 7]

De la Salle said local permission had to be sought to visit the pagan

shrine because harvests had been damaged by storms raised by visiting
necromancers. His account ends with a sop to the Church: he carefully
distances himself from the devilish sibyl, calling her a false prophet. A
prudent course: by the end of the century, those who made pilgrimages
to Sibillia's mount faced excommunication. [Ibid, 6, 9]

Leandro Alberti had grown up hearing women telling stories about

Sibillia's cavern. In the mid-1500s, he wrote that the many inhabitants of
Sibillia's subterranean palace all took fearsome serpent form at night.
Anyone who wanted to enter must make love to the snakes. Sibillia's
mountain abounded in amorous pleasures. The goddess blessed those
who visited and then returned to the world, and they passed the rest of
their days in joy. [Bonomo, 80-1]

As the fame of the witch mountain spread to Germany and France, many
foreign visitors journeyed to Norcia to see Sibillia's cave. Some came to
consecrate their books of magic at the lake. In the mid-1400s a Saxon
astronomer wrote to Piccolomini asking about an Italian mount of Venus
"in which magic arts are taught." He heard it had a cavern out of which

177
water flowed, "frequented by witches, demons, and nocturnal
apparitions." [Bonomo, 79-81]

Caracciolo's play Magico o Mago refers to people who recount magical

journeys to Norcia where they go "through caverns and grottos well
guarded/ By enchanted serpents and by centaurs." In the middle of the
treasure-filled mountain was a bed of pure gold where Diana reposed
with the sun. Fata Morgana also lived there. All those she embraced and
caressed went home after a year in supreme happiness. [Bonomo, 81]

The people of Norcia were widely reputed to have great magical

knowledge, so much so that the name norcino became a synonym for
sorcerer. [Warner, 10] They called the faery realm la Monte della Sibilla,
"The Sibyl's Mountain." De la Salle's account drew heavily on "the old
chatter of the common people." They told him stories about a knight
who sojourned with Sibilla in her mountain, enjoying all the pleasures
of music, love and feasting.

The knight did not want to leave but feared that he would be damned if
he stayed there. At last he pulled himself away and set off for Rome to
get absolution from the pope. It was denied. The man's squire,
unconcerned about damnation and eager to return to Monte della
Sibilla, convinced him to go back to Sibilla. Later the pope changed his
mind and sent messengers to look for them. But they had disappeared
into the mountain. [Bonomo, Helf, 167]

Tannhauser is a courtly reworking of this legend. Its namesake was a

13th century Minnesinger, cast as the story's hero long after his death.
Sybille's name is changed to Venus and her mountain is called the
Venusberg. After seven years of pleasure there Tannhauser decided to
leave to save his soul: "O Venus, lovely wife of mine/ Thou art but a she-
devil." [McCullogh, 45]

178
Unable to talk her lover into staying, Venus asked him to sing her praises
wherever he went. Tannhauser sought out the pope to get absolution,
but was refused. The pontiff held up a withered branch, saying that it
would have to sprout leaves and bloom before he pardoned the knight.
In some versions he brandishes the papal rod, itself a sterile branch.

So Tannhauser returned to the Venusberg despairing of his salvation.

But Nature herself bears witness for the seeker. The wand miraculously
burst into flower, blooming with roses. Relenting, the pope sent out
messengers to grant absolution to Tannhauser, but they searched for
him in vain. [McCullogh 45-8]

The Swiss version of Tannhauser features Fru Frene instead of Fru

Venus. The Germans knew her as Fru Freke, a protective deity who
governed tree-planting. In Belgium, she was Vrouw Vreke, and her
spirit servitors were the kabauters (cf kobolds). Her Venusberg, in
Margareta van Limburg's 1357 poem, is called the Kabauterberg. The
true Eckhart "wavers between spiritual love of Our Lady and sensual
love of Vreke." This beloved pagan entity was assimilated into christian
guise as Sint (saint) Vreke, her association with sex still intact.
[Eckenstein, 32]

The Venusberg appears in Nider's Formicarius (1438) and several other

15th century sources. Grimm showed its connection with the goddess
Hölle, whose herald Eckhart was said to wait outside the Venusburg.
Some said that the true Venusberg was the Horselberg near Eisenach,
and that Hölle held court under its ground. [Grimm, 935-6]

These goddesses are interchangeable and folklorically linked. Sibilla's

hair is tangled like a horse's mane, like frau Percht, Hölle and the "wood-
woman." Medieval German poets call Venus feine ("faery") and elvinne
("female elf"). [Grimm, 1419, 1415] An Italian witch trial of 1504 places

179
Herodias and "the lady Venus" in Sibillia's mountain, along with
Tannhauser and Eckhart, the herald of Fraw Holle. [Bonomo, 75-6]

The Wartburgkrieg calls the mountain queen Felicia, daughter of

Sibillia. [McCullogh, 49] Her pagan paradise is explicitly counterposed
to the christian one: "had you one foot in heaven and one on the
Wartburg, you'd rather withdraw the first than the last." [Grimm, 1280]

The churchly notion of the mountain faery's perdition worked its way
into German peasant folklore. Modern accounts show her trying to
redeem herself under harsh conditions. Shepherds near Luckenwalde
saw a woman on the mountain, half white, half black, making signs to
them. At last one of them went to her. She said he could have all the gold
in the mountain if he came in to set her free. If he did not release her, she
would have to wait one hundred years for her next potential deliverer.
But the man refused, and the faery sank back into the mountain,
lamenting and moaning. [Grimm 965]

In Italy too the legend was overlaid with christian revisions

compromising the goddess's power and dignity. Guerino il Meschino
says that wise Sibillia had the power of prophecy, but was punished for
her pride in believing that she was chosen to bear the Messiah. God
elevated Maria instead and locked the humiliated Sibillia into her
mountain. In a version told in Agrigrento, the devil forbade the maga
Sibilla from predicting the messiah's birth, and punished her defiance
by making her foresee only evil news. [Bonomo, 77-8]

These themes of the pagan goddess competing with christianity also

turn up in witch trials. In 1522 inquisitor Bartolomeo Spina wrote that
"sapiente Sibilla" presides over witch meetings near the river Jordan. She
always tries to touch its water, but fails; if she succeeded it would
overflow its banks, and she would become mistress of the whole world.
This is yet another variation on the declarations by Regino of Prum, Jean
180
de Meun and the Reinardus that the goddess is mistress of a third of the
world. [Bonomo, 72ff. De Spina says the witches also call Sibillia Domina
cursus.]

As late as 1627 a Sicilian wisewoman tried by the Spanish Inquisition

said that she had been with "the Wise Sibyl's people" at Benevento. In
her version the Sibyl was king Solomon's sister, and her retinue emerged
from a cave in the Tower of Babylon. Both the Sibyl and the virgin Mary
taught the people. But when the "bliss-crowned" virgin Mary was
chosen to be the mother of god, the sibyl threw all her books into the
fire. [Bonomo; Henningsen: Emod] The legend in which the Cumaean
sibyl destroyed books when king Tarquin refused her price is faintly
discernable here.

Sometimes the priesthood succeeded in turning the goddess who taught

witchcraft inside her mountain into the christian devil. But peoples
suspicious of the clergy readily reversed its terms. Rumanian gypsies
spoke of a magical school located deep in the distant mountains, "where
the secrets of nature, the language of animals, and all magic spells are
taught by the devil in person." [Leland, 129]

In a mountain of North Wij, said Swedes, lives the Urko, a great cow
who once ploughed the earth, making lake Sommen and its fjords. A
troll captured, yoked and imprisoned her in the Urberg. When she
finishes her food supply she will be set free. Before storms she can be
heard rattling her chains in the mountain. Some people claim to have
seen her in her magnificent halls. [Booss, 288]

Many cultural pockets continued to affirm the divine nature of the

mountain faeries. The Slovenian vesnas "direct man's fate and determine
the crop of the following year" from their mountaintop palaces. [Pocs,
75] Elsewhere in the Balkans, healers from Kalovac "served the
mountain fairies for four years" and learned from them how to use
181
herbs. They returned to visit them regularly and report on "how the poor
peasants are getting on." [Pocs, 48]

Sibillia and her mountain appear as far north as England. In the Life of
Robin Goodfellow, Sib speaks for the faery folk, explaining that they live
"in some great hill, and from thence we do lend money to any poore man
or woman that hath need..." But the faeries pinch those who fail to repay
them, and withhold prosperity from the stingy. [Briggs, 364]

A "fée Sébile" also appears in French literature. The 15th century lay
Perceforest casts her as the lady of the lake, living in an underwater
castle. In the Lancelot Sibylle l'enchanteresse appears with Morgue and
"the queen of Sorestan." The motif of the threefold goddess holds, even
though they are described as human witches: "the three women in the
world who knew most about enchantment and sorcery." They conspire
to capture Lancelot while he sleeps under an apple tree, imprisoning
him in their castle. [Helf, 425, 423, 271. The Chanson des Saisnes casts
Sibille as a queen who leads the pagan Saxons in revolt against the
Frankish army. She is defeated and forced to marry the conqueror
Baudouin. Aebischer, 235]

In the Italian poem Orlando furioso (1516) the knight Adonia saves a
snake from being beaten to death. She turns out to be the fata Manto,
who reveals that all fatas have to assume serpent form every seven days.
She rewards Adonia by helping his unsuccessful suit for a lady he loves.
Manto was the legendary founder of the Italian city Mantua. [Helf, 167]

Courtly poetry incorporated the mountain goddesses as the tower of

ladies who are Minne, Honor, dame Charity, or as the "white lady" who
appears at the castle heights. Sometimes authentic folk characters slip
through. Certain rocky crags were named after Veleda or Brunhilde.
[Grimm, 895] Rauhe Els, the shaggy woman, carries off Wolfdietrich
from his forest campfire. She takes him to her country Troje, where she
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is queen, living on a high rock. When shaggy Els immerses herself in a
certain spring, she sloughs off her hairy skin to reveal a stunning beauty.
[Grimm, 433]

Learned and courtly literature tended to transpose classical Roman

deities into native legends, but this influence dimmed in Europe's
northern reaches. There, folk versions of the mountain goddess hew
closer to folk mythology. Franconians spoke of an ancient drudenbaum
(witch tree) atop the Harburg mountain. Milk flowed out of its roots, a
dragon watched over a treasure beneath, and a great black bird sat on
its crest. [Grimm, 1536]

The Norse goddess Freyja, as Menglodh the "necklace-glad," is found

among nine divine women, in accordance with the form of many
northern European charms invoking healing goddesses. She lives at the
top of a Hill of Healing:

Long hath it held, for the sick and sorrowful, joy

Each woman is healed who climbs its height,
even of year-long ills. [Fjölsvinnsmáll St 36; Bray, 175]

In Scottish myth, a wise faery lived in a tree on a knoll, offering milk

with initiatory powers. Women gathered at the knoll "some to be seen
and some to seek wisdom." The faery appeared "holding in her hand the
copan Moire ("cup of Mary"), a blue-eyed limpet shell containing the
milk of wisdom." She gave a drink to each of her votaries. [Scottish
Folklore and Folklife, c 200] A MacDonald bard praised "The maiden
queen of wisdom" living under a tree. She saw the entire world, but
remained hidden from the uninitiated. [MacKenzie, 214]

Scottish folk-poems praised the Serpent who dwelt in the hill during the
cold winter. On Oímelc, singers rejoiced in the awakening of the fire-
goddess Bríde:

183
The day of Bríde, the birthday of spring /
The serpent emerges from the knoll.

Other versions of the Candlemas invocation say "On the day of Bríde of
the white hills/The noble queen will come from the knoll," or "the
daughter of Ivor will come from the knoll/with tuneful whistling."
[MacKenzie, 188-9; Carmichael, 583, has many versions.] The
observance of weather omens on this pagan holyday evolved into the
secularized tradition of Groundhog's day.

The Manx crone goddess, Caillagh ny Groamagh, lived in the mount

Cronk yn Irree Lhaa. She too determines the weather on St Bríde's day
(February 1). On that day she was seen as a huge bird carrying sticks in
her beak. If it is fine weather, she emerges to gather sticks to keep warm
through the summer. If it rains she stays home and makes the rest of the
year warm. [Briggs, 58]

Numerous Irish and Welsh traditions speak of faery palaces under lakes,
or in mountain caverns like Knock Ma or Ben Bulbin. In the Colloquy of
the Ancients , Caeilte tells of a faery palace inside a mountain where
beautiful women lived with their lovers, enjoying music, food, drink,
and a marvellous crystal chair. Except for seven Fenians, no men had
entered this mountain chamber. [Wentz, 293]

Snake-Women of the Grotto

In the Jura mountains of Switzerland lived the fate-spinner Tante Arie,

the fée of the Elsgau. On the French side, in Franche-Comté, they said
she lived hidden away in la Roche de Faira, the faery rock. Auntie Arie
was passionately interested in spinning. She used to emerge from her
cavern on evenings when women gathered at a nearby house for
spinning and music-making.

184
Legend said that one night, after one of these spinning bees, young
people scattered ashes on the paths in hopes of finding out what way
Tante Arie returned home. In the morning they saw from her prints that
the fée had goose feet, like Frau Berthe. [Daucourt, Archives Suisses, 174,
in Sebillot I, 447] This divinatory custom of ash-scattering naturally
belonged on an eve of spinners' craft and enchantment, but it had other
expressions. For the Poles it was a spirit divination for causes and
outcome of disease. The Maya of Chiapas, Mexico, also did ash-
scattering divinations invoking the nagual spirits.

Like Hölle and Perchta, Tante Arie rewarded good spinners and tangled
the distaffs of forgetful ones. She appeared at harvest feasts, and
rewarded the hardworking. As a protector of pregnant and birth-giving
mothers, she probably played a part in midwives' invocations and
women's customs blessing the newborn. Mothers told their young ones
that Arie caused fruit to fall from trees for good children, and that she
brought them nuts and cakes at Christmas. [Culte des esprits dans la
Séquanie, Monnier, in Grimm, 412fn] Tables of offerings may well have
been prepared for her in pagan seasons, as was done in many locales for
faeries and spinner goddesses.

On hot summer days, Tante Arie loved to plunge into clear pools in the
caverns of Milandre. She changed into a vouivre, a serpent like Mélusine
and Sibillia. But first she took off her jeweled crown and put it on the
rock rim of the pool. The vouivre fiercely guarded her shamanic crown
against intruders who might try to steal it. [Sebillot, I 445, citing A.
Daucourt's Archives Suisses, Vol VII, 173-6] Another tradition says the
vouivre wears a jewel like an eye in the middle of her forehead, which
she lays aside while drinking from fountains. She flies through the air
like red-hot iron. [Grimm, 1492] In the Lyonnais, she is said to drink
from springs at moonrise. [Benoit, 97]

185
The grotto-serpent appears as far back as Herodotus' account of a cave-
dwelling Scythian snake-goddess, mistress of the land where the Dniepr
empties into the Black Sea. Flying serpent-faeries appear throughout
northern Spain as guardians of treasure. [Menendez- Pelayo I, 288] The
xanas ("dianas") keep treasures under pools in the "serpent caves" of
Asturias. It was told how the xana spread her gold in the sunlight, and
a passing human stole a chalice. Closely pursued, the thief cried out,
"Help me, Virgen del Carmen, it was for you I wanted it!" So she
escaped, but was obliged to give the chalice to a church. [Canellada, 141,
259]

These beautiful snake-women of the fountains are sometimes called

moras encantadas ("enchanted Moors"). [Menendez-Pelayo I, 292,
thought the name came from the Celtic mahra or mahr, meaning spirit.
In fact it resembles mairbh, a Gaelic word for the dead.] The Portuguese
mouras encantadas live in caverns or funeral mounds. They are only
visible on Midsummer night, when they spin or weave with golden
thread, or comb their hair, or lay out figs in the dew. If a human is lucky
enough to pick up this fruit, it changes into gold. [Gallop, 78] The
mouras reward midwifes who attend their births with similar gifts, tile
or coal that turns to gold. In other stories, gifts that seem to be gold turn
out to be coal. [Gallop, 79]

Celtic tales picture a snake wearing a precious stone lying under a hazel
where mistletoe grows. [Grimm, 1492] Giraldus Cambrensis wrote of a
Pembrokeshire well where a viper guarded a golden torque, and bit the
hand of any who would steal it. [Jones, 134] In the same province, a
winged serpent was said to live in Grinston Well, where it coiled up at
night, and another in the Well of the Maidens in Aberdeenshire,
Scotland. [Ross, 348]

186
The Welsh said that serpents came together on Midsummers Eve to
mysteriously blow into being the Glain Neidr ("serpents' stone"). Joining
their heads together and hissing, they form a bubble around the head of
one. They blow it down until it comes off at the tail and hardens like
glass. Pliny wrote of this tradition among the ancient Gauls. They said
that snakes in great numbers intertwined themselves to create an egg
from the foam of their saliva, and tossed it upward with their hisses. It
bestowed victory. [Meaney, 206, 118]

Another Welsh tradition held that the snake-congress took place on May
Eve. The serpent-stones were round, pastel-colored pebbles believed to
confer second-sight and healing, especially of the eyes. The Welsh had
many tales about the healing powers of snakes. [Trevelyan, 170-1]

The German unke was a crowned faery with a serpent's tail. Sometimes
she was all-snake, still crowned and wearing a bunch of keys like the
German apparitions called "white ladies." But the unke's name,
according to Grimm, properly referred to the rana portentosa, or frog of
omen. Unken are also home-snakes who watch over babes in the cradle,
never leaving their side. Other stories say that these snakes come up to
children when they are alone, setting down their golden crowns, and sip
milk with them. Sometimes they leave their crowns behind on the
ground. It is unlucky to kill such snakes; to do so could result in the
death of a child or loss of prosperity. [Grimm, 691ff]

The Finns revered the mammelainen, a female serpent-guardian of

underground riches. The outlander priesthood described her out of its
own dread of any animistic goddess: "femina maligna, matrix serpentis."
But the Letts thought of such snakes as guardians of the home, calling
them "milk-mothers," and left milk offerings for them as emissaries of
the goddess Brekhina. [Grimm, 691, 687]

187
These tales of the snake goddess were part of witch folklore. The witches
themselves are often described as taking serpent form. One of the
Ukrainian names for witches is "snakes." South Russians thought
witches had tails, a sign of their once having been snakes. [Hubbs, 250,
253] Ossetians of the Black Sea also tell of women able to turn into
serpents. During the Burning Terror, German woodcuts show serpent-
goddesses hovering over the bound, dying witch in the sensational
pamphlets churned out by printers in the century after Gutenberg.

Modern Sicilian folklore tells of storm-spirits called draunàra

("dragons"). People at Trapanese say they are rough, bad women with
long wild hair who gather on Monte Cofano. In one story, the chief
draunara gives a ring to the newly-initiated witch to pass over her
husband's forehead, causing him to sleep while she was off frolicking
with the witches. She was to always wear it on the middle finger of her
left hand. [Bonomo, 468]

"Grotesques"

Caverns and grottos and rock formations, as beloved haunts of the the
fées, were often named after them. The French often said that the fées
had created these natural formations, as well as having built megalithic
monuments and scattered standing stones. The doumayselas
("maidens") hollowed out the marvelous grottoes of Languedoc, the
Vivarais and Boullardière over eons of time. The wild formations in
these caverns were attributed to the fées, who sometimes transformed
their belongings and utensils to stone. [Sebillot I, 431]

The Grotte-des-Fées in the Chablais region was once a place of mystery

and power. People did not approach it out of idle curiosity. But the
peasants used to point out a stone hen covering her chicks, a stone distaff
and spinning wheel: "The women of the area claimed to have once been
able to see in the cleft a petrified woman above the spinning wheel."
188
[Sebillot I, 432] The Irish had their own "Rock of the Spinning Wheel
(Carraig a Túrna) in a wild part of the Slieve-na-mban hills. Local people
used to hear the wheel humming in the faery chamber under the rock.
[O'Neill, 189]

The waters of the Sichon river in Bourbonnais descended from la Source

des Fées, a spring full of minerals that calcinated in fantastic formations.
Paysans pointed out the form of a cloth-wrapped sorcière who had
changed herself to stone in flight from a rival magician. [Sebillot I, 430]
Other fées who were sorcières dwelt in the Grotto of the Dead Man at
Ariège. People called them the enchantées or encantados; they were also
variously known in Languedoc as sorcieiros, fados or dounzelos
("maidens").

Some of these grottos extended underground for long distances, like the
Grotte des Fées at Accous in the lower Pyrenees or the Grotte a la Dame
that opens two miles from the Grand-Auvergne, in the lower Loire.
[Sebillot I, 436] Of the wonders of these underground faery worlds,
details often appear in legends about people who visited the good
women's abodes and returned to tell what they saw. In Picardy and
Basque country there were tales of bear mothers. Inhabitants of Menton
(where paleolithic great mothers were later found) told of a woman who
took refuge in a grotto and lived there with a bear. She conceived a child
who was called Jean of the Bear. [Sebillot I, 436]

Innumerable grotto shrines were christianized by building chapels next

to them and renaming the animist goddesses as saints. For example, the
grotto of las Encantadas in Aragón was reassigned to the Virgin. [Gari
Lacruz, 286] But the grotto sanctuaries did not easily relinquish their
deeply pagan character. The dragon-and-chimeric-animal sculptures in
these churches were named "grotto style": grotesque.

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Even the cathedrals commemorated them, in the form of gargoyles with
animal attributes. The French also propitiated the dragon spirits by
carrying large effigies of them on certain festivals: the Gargouille of
Rouen, the Graouilly of Metz, le Grand 'Goule of Poitiers, the Papoires
of Amiens, le Dou Dou of Mons, and the Dragon of Louvain. [Bridaham,
p. x]

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 NEAPOLITAN WITCHCRAFT

Folklorist J.B. Andrews wrote the following article on Neapolitan

Witchcraft in 1897. Although typical in many ways of the stereotype
depiction of Witchcraft, the article does present some valuable elements
obtained by Andrews directly from native Italians who identified
themselves as Witches. Of particular interest is the mention of
Witchcraft being passed within family lines, and the reference to
traditional teachings not taken from available published books. Also
noteworthy is the statement that Witchcraft is divided into specialty arts.
The article deals with them in the realms of earth, sea, and stars.

While reading this article be aware that you will encounter the
stereotypical non-sense regarding witches flying and being in league
with the devil. While this type of distortion makes it difficult to discern
the authentic elements, a keen eye can discover small gems that point to
a living tradition of Italian Witchcraft during the 19th century.

The lore recorded in this article is both delightful and disturbing. The
authentic elements include:

* colored cords used in knot magic

*the mystical use of shadows

*the connection of the moon in spell casting

*the employment of pins and needles in spell casting

*invocations of stars

*the use of body fluids for magical purposes

*the crossroads as a place to perform magic

The Christianized distortions include:

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* invocation of the Devil

* pact with the Devil

* grave robbing (although using bones in magic is authentic)

* diabolism

It is unfortunate to find here such distortions, and the misuse of witch

lore in general, but the following article is presented for those who can
"read between the lines" because of its unique elements.

FOLK-LORE

TRANSACTIONS OF THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY

Vol III March, 1897 No.1

NEAPOLITAN WITCHCRAFT by J.B. Andrews

SOUTHERN ITALY has been for many ages the favorite country for
witches; they come from all parts of the peninsula to the Grand Councils
held under the walnut-tree of Benevento, and even from more distant
lands, for its fame is celebrated in Mentonnese tradition. This tree is to
have been destroyed by S. Barbato in 660, during the reign of Duke
Romualdo, in contending against superstition. Benevento was formerly
called Malevento, a name perhaps significant. The site of the tree is now
disputed, its very existence doubted; but witches still pretend to meet
on the spot where it grew. The Neapolitans have an occult religion and
government in witchcraft, and the Camorra; some apply to them to
obtain what official organizations cannot or will not do. As occasionally
happens in similar cases, the Camorra fears and yields to the witches,
the temporal to the spiritual. There are also wizards, but as elsewhere
they are much rarer; according to the usual explanation they have more
difficulty in flying, being heavier.

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It is said that the devil as a man prefers women; they for their part are
amiable to him, at times even seducing him. There are special
departments of the art -there is that of the earth and of the sea- having
their special adepts. The first will only be treated of now; any witch can,
however, render service to sea-faring folk, in giving a good haul of fish
or averting a storm. Amongst witches by birth are women born on
Christmas Eve, or on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. Whoever
invokes the devil on Christmas Eve before a mirror may become a witch.

An instruction in the methods is by itself sufficient; it is frequently given

by the mother to her daughter, but not exclusively; any one may learn
the art, even those knowing only a single incantation can make use of it.
When a new witch has completed her education, the two women open
a vein in their arms; having mixed the blood, the older witch makes a
cross with it under the left thigh of her pupil, who says : " Croce, croce,
sciagurata sono." There is no visible sign by which to detect them, they
recognise one another by looking into their eyes; then the one who first
leaves salutes the other by striking her with her left hand on the left
shoulder and simply saying : " Me ne vo." In payment for the power he
gives, the devil receives her soul with those of the others she procures
for him; in witness of her fidelity she mocks at religion, and will profane
the Host by trampling on it. But she means to cheat him and save her
soul at the hour of death. She goes to mass, fills her room with pious
pictures, before which, however, she does not work her charms. In her
death-agony she sends for the priest, gives up to him all her apparatus
to be burnt, then confesses and receives absolution. Her companions try
to save some of the most precious objects from the flames. There are
certain crimes for which there is no forgiveness, such as having caused
death or made a hunchback. Among the many devils the head of all is
called Satanasso.

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Especially malicious is the Diavolo Zoppo (the lame devil), proud,
violent, and treacherous ; he occupies himself much with lovers. Others
are Lucibello, Lurdino, Lurdinino, Quisisizio, Turbionone, Scartellato,
Baldassare. Their aid is invoked, they are present at the councils. The
witches go to meet them flying through the air, often on horseback. In
order to be able to fly, after having completely undressed and undone
their hair, they go a little before midnight to an isolated spot out of sight,
away from every sacred object. It is forbidden to see them, but not to
speak to them. Then they anoint their bodies with the following
composition, the quantity varying according to their weight: ten pounds
of spirits of wine, half a pound of salt of Saturn, half a pound of
Dragerio, to be left for four hours in a covered vessel. Then, saying "
Sotto I'acqua e sotto il vento, sotto il noce di Benevento, Lucibello
portami dove debbo andare," they fly away.

The meetings take place at midnight in the country, when the witches
dance and take council together. Anyone seeing them may claim a gift;
thus a hunchback once got rid of his hump. Hearing them singing "
Sabato e Domenica" in endless repetition, he added " E Giovedi
morzillo" (and Shrove-Thursday), a favourable day for witchcraft, as is
also Saturday. This story is one of those most widely spread in Europe.
It is indispensable that the witches should return before dawn: once the
hour has passed, they fall in their flight and are killed. As a proof, it is
said that some have been found very early in the morning in the streets
of Naples lying dead and naked. On their way they can neither traverse
a running stream nor cross roads; they are obliged " to go round them."
They can turn themselves into animals, especially into black cats, but not
into inanimate objects. However, they may become "wind," so as to enter
a house in order to carry off someone, or to transform him, or for other
bad purposes. If when in the house the witch is seized by the hair and
so held until day-break, she dies; but if in reply to her question " What

194
do you hold ? " is said : " I hold you by the hair," she answers, escaping:
" And I slip away like an eel." On entering a house she should say: " lo
entro in questa casa come vento per pigliarmi questo figlio, e a I'ora in
cut me lo rubo, dev' essere presente anche la morte." If she means to
transform the person she says: " lo non sono cristiano, sono animale e
sono eretico, e dopo di avere ereticato, ho fatto diventare questa donna
(uomo o fan-ciullo) animale, ed io divento piu animale di questa donna."
Beside the bed she says: " Io sono venuto per forza del demonio, il
diavolo mi ha portato su di un cavallo, e come diavolo, e non come
cristiano, io mi ho preso questa donna." Their aid is invoked in quarrels.
The Camorrists and bullies bring their arms to have them made
invincible. A witch present at a fight can prevent the blows from striking
home, or she may stop the fight by saying under her breath: " Ferma,
ferma, arma feroce, come Gesu` fermo la croce, come il prete all' altare,
I'ostia in bocca ed il calice in mano."

Witches are much sought after in affairs of the affections between lovers,
and between husbands and wives, and to restore love between parents
and children. They use an " acqua della concordia " and an " acqua della
discordia." To bring back an unfaithful lover the witch goes at night to
the cemetery, digs up with her nails the body of an assassin, with her
left hand cuts off the three joints of the ring-finger, then reducing them
to powder in a bronze mortar, she mixes it with " acqua benedetta senza
morti," bought at the chemist's. The lover is to sprinkle the road between
his house and his sweetheart's with this water, and this will oblige the
beloved one to return.

Another very powerful powder is made by scraping the left humerus of

a dead priest; the powder is then made into a small parcel and hidden
on the altar by the server at a mass paid for by the witch. When the priest
says: " Cristo eleison" she must mutter: " Cristo non eleison." Such a bone
was shown me by a witch; it had been purchased for fifty francs from
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one of the servants of a confraternity. It had belonged to the witch's
mother, who was also a witch, and had been stolen from the objects
given by her before dying to the priest to be burnt. It must be the left
humerus, " the right having been used for giving the benediction."

It is possible to make a lover come in the following manner. At noon

precisely take hold of a shutter or door of the room with the left hand,
shut it quickly three times, then strike the floor heavily three times with
the left foot. This ceremony is repeated three several times; at the end
the shutter is slammed with violence. Each time the door or shutter is
shut, say: " Porta, che vai e vient;" then at the last time of all : " Prendilo,
Diavolo, e non lo trattieni; giacche` set il Diavolo Zoppo, portami N-- o
vivo o morto."

To prevent a lover from liking another, stand in front of a wall so that

your shadow falls on it; speak to the shadow as if to the lover, saying: "
Buona sera, ombricciuola mia, buona sera a me e buona sera a te; avanti
a N--- tutte brutte figure, ed io bella come una luna." In speaking of
oneself, touch the breast; the shadow, in naming the lover; in saying
bella, touch the face; in mentioning the moon, the wall. Witches
undertake to punish the unfaithful. They prepare three cords with knots,
a black cord for the head, red for the heart, white for the sexual organs.
To cause pain in the head, they take hold of the black cord, gaze at a star,
and say: " Stella una, stella due, stella tre, stella quattro, io le cervella di
N-- attacco, glide attacco tanto forte, che per me possa prendere la
morte." This is repeated five times outside the witch's door. For the
heart, say: "Buona sera, buona sera, N-- mio, dove e` stato? Diavolo da
me non e` accostato; diavolo, tu questa sera me lo devi chiamare e qui
me lo devi portare."

Taking hold of the white cord, is said:: " Diavolo, to in mano ho questo
laccio; to gli lego c---i e c-o, da nessuno possa f/--e ed impregnare; solo

196
a questa f-a possa adorare." The incantation finished, the cord must be
worn in order to keep the knots intact, for if untied the charm is broken.
A lemon, orange, or even a potato, stuck over with pins of various
colours and nails answers the same purpose. The pins and nails are
inserted at midnight in the open air, deeply or superficially, according
to the harm intended. In sticking in each pin, is said: "Stella, stella, delle
fore fore, diavolo quattro, diavolo nove, io questa spilla in testa a N---
inchiodo,gliela inchiodo tanto forte che per me ne deve prendere la
morte." Then knots are made round some of the pins with a cord
secretly bought by the witch for this special purpose, refusing to take
change; if the seller calls her back she tells him that he is mad. In
knotting the cord, is said: "Diavolo Zoppo, io metto questa spilla in testa
di N-- vivo o morto." Then the object is hidden to prevent a
disenchantment, as by throwing it into a drain or into the sea. The
head, heart, or liver of an animal is also used, the head of a cock for a
man, of a hen for a woman.

To prevent an unfaithful lover from sleeping, the woman goes to bed

quite naked, takes hold of the left sleeve of her chemise, saying: " Rissa,
rissa, diavolo, io mi vendo questa camicia, non me la vendo per denaro.
Pulci, cimici, piattole e tafani e I'ortica campaiuola, da N-- ve ne andate,
ed allora pace fossa trovare, quando questa camicia si viene a prendere."
Then, putting the chemise in the middle of the bed, she stands at the
foot, places her arms crossed on the bed, and turns them four times so
that the last time the-palms are turned upwards, saying: "Il letto di N--
non Io vedo, non Io so. Ai piedi ci metto due candelieri, alia testa ci
metto un capo di morte, nel mezzo due spine di Cristo. Diavolo,
per me si ha da volt are, spesso e tan to deve volt are forte, che per me
deve pigliare la morte." Then she must lie down without speaking, or
else she will herself have much suffering. To detach a husband from his
mistress, the wife can go barefooted with unbound hair to a crossroad,

197
where picking up a pebble and putting it under her left armpit she says
: " Mi calo a terra e pietra piglio, tra M-- e N-- un grande scompiglio, e
si vogliono acquie-tare, quando questa pietra qui sotto si viene a
pigliare." She does the same at a second cross-road, putting the pebble
under the right armpit; then at a third placing the pebble between the
chin and breast. Returning to her house she throws the pebbles into the
cesspool, so that they cannot be got at, saying: " M-- allora con N-- fossa
tu parlare, quando queste tre pietre qui dentro viene a pigliare."

To attract a lover, the witch provides a magnet wrapped with a knotted

cord; it must be worn. Much recommended are cakes containing,
according to the case, menstrual blood or sperm. A padlock also serves
to submit a person to one's will. In opening it, say: "N--- di lontano ti
vedo, da vicino ti saluto, ti chiudo e non ti sciolgo, se non farai tutta la
mia voglia.'' Then lock the padlock, put a knotted cord round it, and
keep it in a safe place. It is possible to overcome the protection of holy
medals or other blessed objects, especially if something belonging to the
person can be obtained-a bit of his skin, nails, or clothing; besides this,
the co-operation of four or five witches is necessary. They sing together,
one saying " Tu gli I'hai fatta, to gli la leva,'' another replying "Tuglilafai,
e non gli la nego." The witches also undertake to break spells.
Suspending a sieve on scissors under the bed of a man made impotent,
the witch also places there her shoes crossed; she provides herself with
a rosary without medals or other blessed objects, and a packet of
unwashed herbs, then tearing the packet and scattering its contents on
the ground, she says: " Come io sciolgo questo mazzo, cost sciolgo
questo c-o."

Sometimes a dance of naked witches takes place round the bed of a sick
person, recalling the devil dances in Ceylon, the object of both being to
cure the illness. There must be three or five witches; if five, one remains
at the back, one stands at each corner of the bed, holding between them
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cords which must cross the bed diagonally, then dancing, they sing " Tit
git I'hai fatta, ed io gli la tolgo," going round the bed. When there are
only three witches the left corner at the foot of the bed remains empty,
the cord being held laterally. They cure all diseases, employing
medicinal herbs as well as magic, or even pious objects. Medals of S.
Anastasio are much recommended against infection; they are also most
efficacious amulets against the Evil Eye, as are also spinning whorls and
the well-known horns.

As regards the Evil Eye, witches cannot make it, but they can avert its
influence. A small packet of salt worn on the person is a protection
against it; but according to the Neapolitans it is useless against
witchcraft, contrary to the belief in some other places. For that, a little
bag full of sand is good, the witch being obliged to count each grain
before working her spell, in the meanwhile the hour of her power passes.
A comb, three nails driven in behind the house-door, and the horseshoe
are also recommended against witchcraft. Witches can make storms
cease, or render them harmless, by saying before an open window: "
Ferma, ferma, tuono, come Gesu` fermo I'uomo, e come quello schifoso
prete all' altare, con ostia in bocca ed il calice in mano."

Witchcraft is powerless on Wednesday, during Holy Week, and

(contrary to what is thought in some other countries) on the eve of St.
John Baptist's Day. It is believed that at midnight then Herodiade may
be seen in the sky seated across a ray of fire, saying:

" Mamma, mamma, perche` lo dicesti?

Figlia, figlia, perche' lo facesti? "

The were-wolf is known, but not as the creation of witches. It is a curse

on men born on Christmas live; they are known by the length of their
nails. The malady seizes them in the night; they run on all fours trying

199
to bite, but they retain the human form. If they are wounded so as to lose
blood, the madness is stopped at once. Girls born on Christmas Eve are
not maidens.

The foregoing information was obtained quite recently from witches in

Naples. When asked what books they used, they answered None, that
their knowledge is entirely traditional. The incantations, often
composed in verse, have become in time so damaged that it has seemed
better not to attempt to indicate the verses. Still, literal accuracy in
repeating the spells is believed to be of the greatest importance. A
scarred tongue was shown to me as the consequence of a mistake.

Some of the apparatus of witchcraft mentioned was presented to the

Society that it might be placed in the Cambridge Museum.

I owe much to the kind aid of Signor Luigi Molinaro del Chiaro, of
Naples, founder of the paper, Giambattista Basile, so much appreciated
by amateurs of Italian traditions. Unfortunately it exists no longer.

200
 MARRIAGE OR A CAREER? WITCHCRAFT AS AN
ALTERNATIVE IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY VENICE

by Professor Sally Scully

Despite significant changes in the historiography of European

witchcraft, the figure of the witch seems to remain the inevitable center
of such studies. It is, after all, for his, or most often, her "witchly"
qualities that the person, initially and subsequently, is made visible. All
other aspects of the individual's life drop from the historical record as
she becomes a piece of data. Absorbed into the documents only because
of witchly deeds, real or imagined, the accused is isolated from a
personal context. The text upon which the historian depends presents a
one-dimensional picture, if a picture at all. The defendant is more likely
to become a number, with some court shorthand as to personal
characteristics. Only occasionally is a subject troublesome enough to
leave an atypical trail in the records. Just as multiple trials over a period
of time allowed Carlo Ginzburg to draw a three dimensional
Menocchio,(1) two recalcitrant and recidivist women in seventeenth
century Venice permit a similarly rounded depiction.

The trials of these two half-sisters suggest that the witch's hat was one
of many, taken off and put on at will, signifying a vocational choice
rather than a permanently assumed role. Moreover, what emerges is that
the witch is an identity constructed, not even by contemporaries, but by
subsequent historians. In the last two decades, general surveys of
European witchcraft, based on printed sources preselected for their
shock value,(2) have been superseded by sympathetic and non-
sensational statistical and archival studies of particular, local trials.(3)
Nonetheless, with the witch a given, elements of volition are still lost;
the role of personal choice remains elusive. While the terms "agency"
and "empowerment" already threaten to become abused in the nineties,

201
it may be useful to view those accused of witchcraft as active agents in
their own destinies rather than passive victims of either social ills or
their own marginal belief systems. This can be accomplished if the noun
"witch" is retired and this classification considered not nominative, but
adjectival, describing an act rather than a person.

The element of volition can be restored to witchcraft studies using the

same records which the new historiography employs: the records of the
Roman Inquisition. The Inquisition isolated the individual and treated
him or her as a solitary integer, not as part of a social unit. Its painstaking
trials can sometimes provide insights into the role that those practices
labelled "witchcraft" played in the context of a suspect's life and can
correct for the historian's neglect of motivation. While the plural of
anecdote is not data, gingerly reconstructed biography catches the
individual who otherwise falls through the statistical grid. A career
option rather than a fate or destiny, witchcraft may be considered as
having a place alongside labor and family studies, rather than being an
exotic territory or aberrant growth on the social body.

Many current, local, statistical studies have isolated women accused as

witches, considering them a discrete group rather than integrating them
laterally with other working women. The survival strategies open to
women, marriage among them, also included witchcraft. The Inquisition
documents offer an alternative vertical axis to the inevitable dominance
of marriage, a horizontal shaft which runs through practically all other
documentary trails.(4) In assessments of the choices or lack of choices
open to women, that witchcraft may have been a real option,
manipulated with varying degrees of skill by various women, merits
consideration.(5)

This tale of two sisters(6) demonstrates that the type of witchcraft chosen
and the success with which it was pursued were parallel with other

202
decisions made by or for the two women. Witchcraft practice was an
extension of their composite life-pattern. The success with which it was
pursued could help determine the desirability of other vocational
options. Rather than reflecting a malevolent or exploited life, the women
might have seen their witchcraft as part of an economic strategy which
could also include marriage and prostitution.(7)

An examination of the trials of the seventeenth century Venetians

Marietta Battaglia and Laura Malipiero(8) - accused, one twice, one four
times, of witchcraft - suggests that witchcraft was a role available to
women for managing their lives, operating as individual players on the
social stage. To call it a career option may not be anachronistic. Marriage
was a mixed blessing, playing an ambiguous role in the lives of these
two women, as well as in those of their mother and of their children.
Witchcraft could offer an alternative: in the case of one sister, a negative
alternative, a temporary expedient; for the other sister, a positive way of
finally avoiding marriage. Their use of witchcraft and their success
therein were in an important sense determined by the market and how
well they played it.

The trials also show that magic could range from the non-specialized
incidental to the highly-specialized for which training was, at least in
appearance, required. The form which the trials took on reveals a
diversity which indicates less commonality among witchcraft charges
than most have assumed, which cautions against the practice of isolating
and artificially unifying studies of witch trials. Again, the linguistic or
epistemological clarity imposed by the category "witch" may obscure
diversities and unobserved communalities among those so labelled.(9)

Maria Battaglia used the most available, least specialized, of the

possibilities offered by witchcraft. Laura Malipiero exploited the array
of witchcraft practices, moving from the less to the more specialized and

203
pseudo-legitimate types. Although ultimately Laura also fell into the
hands of the Inquisition, she combined witchcraft with a diversified
professional life and was able to mitigate her sentences. Several of her
pursuits were dangerous, but they were also lucrative and in great
demand. She died in her own bed, left a sizeable estate, and maintained
her final unmarried state. Witchcraft provided her with an alternative to
marrying the lover whom she mentioned in her will only should he still
be with her when she died.(10) He was.(11)

Both sisters manipulated the alternatives offered by society. For one,

witchcraft was negative, an alternative to a hoped-for marriage; for the
other, witchcraft was one of a number of specialities which offered a
positive alternative to three negatively-experienced marriages. The use
of witchcraft as part of a professional package conforms to current
observations of the probability of multiple occupations for working
women in early modem Europe.(12) It is time to consider witchcraft as
part of labor studies, not of some mysterious realm where nothing is
learned about women's choices and opportunities.(13)

Marietta Battaglia was first tried for witchcraft in 1637.(14) She was
already a moglia relitta [widow] at age thirty-eight.(15) In June of 1645,
when she reappears on the stand in a second trial, she is betrothed to
Dominico di Georgio of Rovigo.(16) She plaintively says in this trial that
charges have been brought against her to prevent her pending
marriage.(17) Despite the disadvantages of her first, it is clearly a
desirable union for her, both in her eyes and in those of her enemies.
Otherwise, her charge that they intended to damage her marital chances
would be meaningless. When she is sentenced in 1649, after being
named in a third proceeding, along with Laura Malipiero, their mother
Isabella, and thirteen others, she is tried as a single woman and
sentenced to jail and perpetual banishment.(18)

204
In many respects, Marietta Battaglia's career in magic parallels other
aspects of her life. Hers was the relatively nonskilled role of the fortune-
teller: predicting the piria, throwing the cordella, using the inchiostra
and various types of love-magic, all standard forms of divination.(19) At
no point does the plaintiff allude to her professional training or capacity,
nor do her customers testify as to the efficacy of her magic, again typical
of trials for divination. The extent to which Marietta thought she was in
league with the devil is the issue; her only defense is to question the
motives of her accusers and to indicate that she was, essentially, a
fake.(20) Hers is assumed to be an unskilled trade. She argues that a
particular performance of magic was done for love rather than
money,(21) both acknowledging the possible profit motive and hoping
that this was the only concern of the Inquisitors This desired exoneration
may have been a reflection of her values and those of her culture; it was
not the concern of the tribunal. She was accused of giving the devil his
undue worship.

Love, or at least lust, might lead men to Marietta's house for more than
one reason. Not only was she sought after for love magic, she was
identified as a meretrice [prostitute] several times, and as a woman of
"mala vita".(22) While one must guard against the possibility that such
epithets were intended merely to defame or destroy, or were part of a
standard perception of witchcraft practitioners, Marietta's own
testimony confirms the allegations.(23) It was not unusual for prostitutes
to supplement their incomes with love magic, and/or vice-versa.(24)
Several others named in the sisters' common trial are identified as both
streghe [witches] and as meretrici; a casino [brothel] is identified as
located in S. Giovanni Bragora. This parish is specified elsewhere both
as a center for magic and for general iniquity.(25) The two professions
may have been collated in perceptions of the district; they were
combined in reality in Marietta's life.

205
Marietta's other professions were a reflection of the types of magic she
chose. She was a non-specialist - a meretrice, never a cortegiana - who
"serviced" a number of men.(26) Three of these men were angry,
according to her defense, that she had begun to deny them carnal
relations because of a change in heart. In her testimony, she claims that
her pending marriage led these men to denounce her to the
Sant'Ufficio.(27) A witness identifies himself as having been a customer
for seven years. He testifies for the defense that Giacomo Smirno had
also been Marietta's "man" until two months before, and that when she
terminated he beat her, demanded money, and, when it was not
forthcoming, broke her nose.(28) A stray document in this lengthy file,
signed by a parish priest, indicates something never revealed in the trial:
Marietta had been pregnant. On 11 September 1649 he was called
because she had lost a baby.(29) Her sexual practices and her magical
practices, all aspects of economic survival, left her vulnerable in more
than one respect.

Marietta's sexual and social roles were not unusual ones for a lower-
class woman; she did not handle them particularly well. Multiple and
undifferentiated magical and sexual activity were supplemented by
cooking, as would be revealed when both of her sentences were
commuted if she would cook for half-wages at the Arsenale.(30) A
marriage would have offered a traditional escape from these roles. She
was, she claimed, to have been married the very day she had been taken
prisoner. Marietta was condemned for a second time on August 31,
1649.(31) Even her plea against being banned from the city had an
eternal ring: she was so poor she had nothing to wear.(32) She did not
know how to survive outside Venice. The city offered her various means
to survive, but she remained laterally in a fairly low niche. For her,
marriage would have been an improvement.

206
Laura Malipiero, Marietta's half-sister, also had a negative experience of
marriage. The first of four accusations of witchcraft was brought against
her by her Francesco Bonamin, her putative husband of seven years and
the father of her only two children.(33) Laura was officially charged with
bigamy, polygamy, and witchcraft.(34) Her first husband, Todoro
d'Andro, had been taken as a slave by the Turks.(35) Her second
husband used both the Patriarchal and Inquisition courts to get rid of
her. The latter also, by the testimony of his ex-brother-in-law, beat her
and bragged about it, as he had previously beat his first wife.(36) Laura's
third husband, the Bolognese Andreas Salarol, also disappeared.(37)
Her daughter, Malipiera, was so maltreated by her own husband that
her eye was permanently loose in its socket.(38) Laura's mother, Isabella,
was the illegitimate product of an illicit union;(39) her father died,
presumably when she was a child. Laura was his only heir.(40)

Laura's experience of marriage was not romantic; she subsequently

seemed to use her wits and skills to avoid it. Her final lover remained
just that for twenty years. She was able to gain control over her life
through a series of career choices of which witchcraft was one. Even
within the options which witchcraft offered, she moved from the less-
specialized toward a more seemingly normal, prestigious, and better-
paid specialty. Here again, the type of witchcraft chosen is a lateral
extension of the other facets of a woman's life.

The label of business woman may not be either extreme or anachronistic

when applied to Laura. At an early date she managed her life, and those
of others, as a woman of affairs (affari or business). Francesco Caimus, a
lawyer and witness for the defense, informed the court that since 1635
he had been a friend and had represented Laura's affairs "at the [ducal]
palace".(41) She herself handled the interests of the daughter of patrician
Almoro Zane, overlooking the affairs of this noblewoman who lived in
a convent outside Venice.(42) That she had business, otherwise not
207
defined, and had a business sense seems indicated by these glimpses of
her activity.

Asked by the Inquisitors to define her trade, Laura replied that her
professione was that of managing a rooming house.(43) That she chose
this as her professional identity may have been because it was her most
neutral role, but it also may have been her main source of support. She
rented a building from the pastor of San Biagio,(44) and many witnesses
in her trials had lived in her camere, some for a period of years. As
someone who dealt in camere locante [rented rooms], Laura could not
have been a business innocent. She would have had to have been
involved in finance, however low-level, and accustomed to state
regulation and dealings with the government.

The renting of rooms, because of the high probability that the tenants
would be foreigners, or forestieri, was under the control of Venice's
Giustizia Vecchia. In the seventeenth century, there was a magistrate
aided by a judge, or giudice, especially for foreigners. All innkeepers,
"Hosti, Albergatori e Albergatrice", were required to maintain an
alphabetical list of the foreigners staying with them.(45) The Esecutori
contra la Bestemmia had fairly standard actions against operators of
rooming houses who failed to register their foreign tenants; they might
be fined and/or lose their licenses.(46) The camere locante involved
continual state surveillance and put the landlady in a fairly visible
position.(47)

Beyond this, however, her camere locante offered both a stage and the
players for some of Laura's more legally marginal activities. These were
also good business and offered relatively high potential profits. They,
however, would involve her in areas that were of great importance to
the Inquisition. While her business sense may have served her well, she
took risks when she tapped both the current interest in magic and magic

208
books and the current need for medical help. It was these aspects of her
economic life which would involve her in the Inquisition trials through
which she can be known. At one point, her lawyer argued that the trial
was about money rather than about morality or orthodoxy.(48)

When Laura's house was searched by the Capitano of the Sant'Ufficio in

1654, a number of manuscripts were found.(49) Some were rather
crudely written scongiuri [spells]; others were sophisticated herbals and
copies of the Clavicle of Solomon, a magic book which had achieved
popularity only in the previous decade. It is in this book that the
Inquisitors were interested, as they had been especially since the late
1630's, when they first directed their attention to it.(50) Laura's says in
her defense that a roomer had left the books and that, in any event, she
cannot read.(51) The presence of multiple copies in various stages of
completion, however, indicated that a copying and production
operation may have been going on in her house.

Booksellers had been dealing in copies of the Clavicle, and had been
prosecuted for it in Inquisition trials for libri prohibiti [prohibited
books], during the 1640s and 1650s.(52) Those involved in the trials were
as often bookdealers as they were practitioners of the occult arts; there
was a market for these texts in Venice. Laura's business sense rather than
her interest in the magical arts was probably responsible for the presence
of the manuscripts in her house. The multiplication of editions of the
Clavicle of Solomon had been a real concern of the Inquisitors. It was in
the transmission, social and intellectual, not the mere possession, that
they were interested.(53) A defense of illiteracy was irrelevant to them.

Laura's traffic in magical manuscripts and in practices labelled stregarie

[witchcraft], postdated her general involvement in business. Yet even
within her career in witchcraft there was an evolution from the amateur
to the professional, from the less-specialized to the more specialized,

209
from non-lucrative to high-paying magic. In moving from superstitious
domestic exercises to a practice which both aped and mirrored medicine,
Laura moved through several realms of magical operations. Her final
trial, in 1654, had a pattern unlike that of her earlier trials. This trial had
more in common with those of other so-called healers, guaratrice, before
and after the Inquisition. She seemed, finally, to have transcended the
earlier categories of witchcraft. In an unrelated trial a witness said,
gratuitously, that Laura Malipiero [is] the "strega famosissima" [the
most famous witch] in Venice.(54) She had plied her trade well, perhaps
too well.

Laura's practices can be seen to change and evolve from trial to trial; this
unusually lengthy record allows the historian to trace the
professionalization of a specialist. Ironically, it was a husband who first
began Laura on the road which would ultimately provide her with a
citywide reputation and a possible alternative to marriage. In his
attempt, in 1629, to dissolve their marriage, Francesco Bonamin added
the charge of magic to more traditional grounds for annulment;(55)
before the tribunal of the Sant'Ufficio, he accuses her of witchcraft.
Labelled thus were acts of magic performed within her own household:
a token in a shoe, a spell in a purse, holy water in the soup.(56) One after
another, in suspicious accord, five of Laura's step-children testify to the
truth of these charges. Although Laura claims her intentions were
beneficent? the abuse of sacred things was, in the eyes of the Inquisitors,
a heresy. She was sentenced to one year in prison.(58)

In 1630, Laura's witchcraft was of the domestic, private and amateur

variety. When she surfaces in the historical record again, in her second
trial in 1649, it is for public and professional acts of a variety of
undifferentiated magic. Along with fourteen others, among them her
mother and sister, she is accused of various standard types of love
magic, divination and other of the practices which were clearly and
210
frequently labelled "stregarie".(59) Her magic has evolved, and she is
part of a group which exchanges techniques and shares customers. One
might speculate on the role which her year in prison played in her
associations and professionalization. This could be the source of
whatever training Laura had; she alludes to none other.(60) And it is
only now that she pursues publicly the role of strega.(61)

In 1654, when Laura appeared for her third time before the Tribunal, she
was alone and was tried for a more specific form of witchcraft. Her
practice of magic had acquired focus and the appearance, if only
through mimickry, of a profession. She was charged with using
witchcraft to medicate, and her trial took a form which had more in
common with other trials for medical offenses than with her earlier
processi [trials]. Whether heard before the the Sant'Ufficio, as actions
against witches, or before other tribunals, as dealings with charlatans or
healers, proceedings had certain similar features.(62) In her third trial,
Laura's defense differed from her previous two. Alvise Zane, her lawyer
in this new trial, chose to cast the defense in the mold of a medical rather
than a witchcraft trial. He argued that this was a trial about business
concerns. Other Sant'Ufficio processi for medical offenses tended to
follow similar outlines, indicating that this charge was handled
differently. Again, the idea that all witchtrials, and by extension
"witches", are essentially similar, may be more a perception of historians
than of either the practitioners or their prosecutors.

The ways in which Laura's third trial differed from her previous ones,
and from those of her sister, were several. She was presented as someone
with a tradition of training behind her. The legitimacy of her methods
was addressed and defended. Witnesses from the recognized health
professions were called upon to testify to these matters. Also,
testimonials from successful cases were forthcoming. All these intended
to imply the legitimacy of her practices by analogy; the charge that she
211
invoked the devil or abused the sacraments was not directly addressed.
Rather she was covered with the garments of professionalism. In
assuming the appearance of quasi-or pseudo legitimacy, the trial
appropriated the forms of earlier traditions. In the other witchcraft trials,
the issues of training, validity of methods and efficacy of results had not
been addressed; by implication they were meaningless categories. In the
medical trials, they became relevant. The Inquisitors had to be convinced
that "real" medicine, and not some misapplications of holy processes and
procedures, had been practiced. Not incidently, these trials offer a view
of official and lay perceptions of medicine's legal and spiritual
boundaries.

In her third trial, initiated essentially as a malpractice suit, Laura was

presented as someone trained in a legitimate, if marginal, field of
healing. She had learned her trade from pharmacists and barbieritonsori
[barbers], both arte [guilds] licensed and controlled by the state to
perform medical functions.(63) Laura herself indicated that she was
licensed, a possibility which cannot be discounted.(64) Her methods
were presented as thereby supervised and professional. Again, this
feature of her defense is analogous with other trials of those specifically
accused of magical healing. Satisfied customers also attested to the
normalcy of her treatments, as well as to their effectiveness.(65)

Laura's customers would have been hard put to discern the difference
between what she was doing and medical practice as they perceived
it,(66) Medicine as implemented in Venice, as distinct from that taught
at the nearby University of Padua, had much more in common with the
recipes in her handbooks and the treatments reported by her customers
than might be now apparent. Both the Paracelsan treatments, which had
become a competitor in the medical marketplace,(67) and the more
traditional medicine as popularized for a general audience, emphasized
herbs, oils and potions.(68) The most desirable herbs had always come
212
from Crete and Corfu.(69) Recipes given for diet and various mixtures
were the standard feature of medical advice in popular manuals. The
difference between these and those attributed to Laura and other
guaratrici was one of degree rather than kind.(70)

Pharmacists, who dispensed both the advice and the mixtures, were at
the center of most patients' lives. During these plague-ridden years,
pharmacies multiplied so greatly in Venice that a limit had to placed on
them: no pharmacy could be within 100 paces of another.(71) The
barbers performed what mechanical operations were necessary. Even
the state, which requisitioned medical knowledge as part of its defensive
arsenal of survival against both the plague and possible enemy tactics,
referred to the information thus obtained as "secret recipes".(72) Such
medical lore was treated as a valuable political asset and maintained as
a secret of state. Whatever contrived mystery surrounded the cures of
streghe, it would not have seemed remarkable in the environment of
seventeenth century Venetian perceptions of medicine and medical
legitimacy.

The Inquisitors were concerned only to see if any magic, implicit or

explicit worship of the devil, had crept in the interstices of these
treatments. It seems that it had; Laura, like her sister, faked the various
divinatory aspects of her operations.(73) The use of magic by both
women tapped into the perceived credulity of their customers rather
than any primal belief system which the women shared. Recent studies
on witchcraft see women using love magic in an effort to control men,
which assumes that they themselves believed in it. These two sisters
knew it did not work; when they had an alternative source of control,
they used it. The difference between the two sisters is that Laura found
a lucrative trade which addressed the current universal concern with
health and post-plague survival and therefore afforded her a degree of
economic and social mobility unknown to her sister. Marietta Battaglia
213
never performed medical magic; for this she herself turned to others.(74)
The sisters were equal in recognizing witchcraft as a survival strategy,
unequal in their ability to use it to their advantage.

Marietta would have preferred marriage to the expedients which life

otherwise offered her. Laura was able to die in her own bed, with her
last and faithful lover of twenty years in final attendance on her body.
The terms of her will indicate the control she had over her life; the
amounts involved show that she was fairly successful at her pursuits.
The practices labelled witchcraft were not the same, nor was the role
they played in the two sisters' lives, and, by implication, in other
practioners' lives.

The documentary trail which Marietta and, especially, Laura left is rare.
The latter sister's record is the fourth longest in the Venetian
Inquisition's records, the longest for witchcraft. Full biographies of
accused witches are few, although historians who follow archival leads
will surely find more. It seems inevitable that LeRoy Ladurie, one of the
earliest to show how Inquisition records might be mined for social
history, should have found a French "witch", although even he arrived
at her through a literary record.(75) In Ireland a fourteenth century
witchcraft trial lets one know Alice Kyteler,(76) yet it is hard to see what
aspects of her life and trial may be typical, as it is well outside of the
chronological parameters, 1550-1650, of the general European
witchcraze. Marisa Milani, and her students of popular literary tradition
at the University of Padua, have carved similar biographies out of
Venetian records.(77) In Germany the Pappenheimer family's trial in
1600 occasioned an historical novel, but it has yet to be dealt with as the
non-fiction it was.(78)

How representative these few biographies are cannot be evaluated until

historians work through the records and add to these isolated pictures

214
of the accused. As reviews of recent general studies on witchcraft
indicate,(79) it is too early for syntheses; much spadework remains to be
done before a crop can be contemplated, much less harvested. As
historians read across the records, it might be time to relinquish the
coherence which they, following the lead of the tribunal, have in turn
imposed upon the documents. Only as the details of individual lives are
recovered can they be understood and interpreted; only then can a
pattern, if it exists, reveal itself. Wresting the individual from the general
record is the job of the microstoria. There are no microstorians, only
those whose research has been interrupted by the archival discovery of
a compelling personal story.

Distinctions among the accused can and will be made. Laura and
Marietta are urban, they are Venetian, they are seventeenth century.
Other conditions may have pertained in rural areas, on the Italian
mainland, earlier. In sixteenth century Modena and Friuli, Mary O'Neill
and Carlo Ginzburg found the practice of enduring local folk beliefs
treated as witchcraft.(80) Using the Venetian Sant'Ufficio archive,
Marisa Milani and Guido Ruggiero have created biographical sketches
of mainland and sixteenth century women.(81) Here the historians tend
to assume their subjects' sincerity, even when the latter themselves
protest their duplicity. This attitude of respect is a laudable attempt to
avoid demeaning the subjects or alternative systems of belief. Still, the
author of a classic study of contemporary gypsies, while discussing
whether they believe in their own powers to predict, points out that they
do not tell each other's fortune.(82) Initial skepticism might be a useful
analytical attitude, as well as showing respect for the ability of the
women to exploit, as survival mechanisms, the opportunities available
to them. The sympathetic urge to take seriously the folkways of an area
or an era is understandable, yet the examples of Laura and Marietta offer
grounds for an intellectually healthy suspension of belief.(83)

215
Until many more individuals' stories are found and evaluated, these
unusual biographies permit speculation: the word "witch" was and is an
interpretive category which may not be useful and could, in fact, obscure
historical investigation and understanding. The acceptance, application
and repetition of the word paves the way for a single-field theory,
reducing many and perhaps irreconcilable phenomena through a false
intellectual economy. The identification of "witches" by historians might
mask real diversity, as well as important commonalities, among those
accused. The label and the accusation itself played an undiscovered role
in the social intercourse and discourse of the time; the lay rhetoric of
accusation, admission and denial encodes a whole conversation to
which we are not yet privy.(84) In a Kuhnian sense, if witchcraft trials
are read for significant deviances, not only as to time and place, but
nature of offense, a new order may offer itself, but not until the older
paradigm is abandoned.

"Witches" existed, then as occasional and diverse personifications of a

category of offense, and now in the eye of the historian. Caught in the
historical spotlight for only a moment, the accused subjects can present
no more than that image of themselves which was deemed witchly.
Language imposes the need for a single unifying structure not
necessitated by the phenomena under investigation. This suggestion
flies in the face of Carlo Ginzburg's latest work, Ecstasies, which sees in
the literary sources a pattern indicating the persistence of a universal
subculture of witches or shamans.(85) Ironically, the historian who
initiated microstorie has created a macrostoria which deals with images
rather than with the recovered realities of individual lives. That practices
so widespread and deeply entrenched should be so simply and singly
explained seems to make the European witchcraze once more a chapter
in intellectual history.

216
The clear-cut distinction which pits the essentialist against the
constructionist in studies of homosexuality(86) is more murky here:
"witch" is used as a noun, however occasionally. Yet a stance borrowed
from their dispute is useful. The noun strega is rarely used in the trials
surveyed and never by the prosecutor or the defendant; it designates a
trade, like "baker" or "prostitute", not an identity. It is vocational,
occasional and external, not an internal, dominant and determining
characteristic. It has become the essence of these women only because
they are frozen in a particular kind of historical document; they are
isolated in the transcript of a witch trial.

The use of the noun by historians too often assumes an identity and
reification which cannot be proved to exist. By retiring the nouns "witch"
and "witchcraze" as remnants of an earlier marginalizing
sensationalism, these categories can be integrated in a new and more
socialized synthesis. Liberated from the isolation imposed, first by
history and then by historians, these women can indeed be seen as
agents, more or less successful, in their own destinies.

ENDNOTES

1. Carlo Ginzburg, Il formaggio e i vermi: Il cosmo di un mugnaio del

500 (Turin, 1976) trans. John and Anne Tedeschi, The Cheese and the
Worms (Baltimore, 1980).

2. Reference is made here to most studies of witchcraft before the last

two decades. These works dealt with exceptional, if not exotic, cases.
They culminated, in a sense, in Norman Cohn's Europe's Inner Demons
(New York, 1975), essentially a work in intellectual history. He examines
only printed, literary texts and subsequently argues that the witch craze
was the product of the intellectuals. Cohn's was the last of the non-
archival studies, except for the idiosyncratic work of Carlo Ginzburg
[see following note]. It is ironic that one of the methodologically newer
217
studies, Ruth Martin's Witchcraft and the Inquisition in Venice, 1550-
1650 (Oxford, 1989) should rely on Cohn for its general categories and
parameters.

3. Examples of this newer trend in witchcraft studies: Scotland, Christina

Larner, Enemies of God (Baltimore, 1982); France, Robert Mandrou,
Magistrats et Sorciers en France au XVIIe siecle (Paris, 1968), E. William
Monter, Witchcraft in France and Switzerland (Ithaca, 1976); Robert
Muchembled, Les Derniers Buchers: Un Village de Flandre et ses
Sorcieres sous Louis XIV (Paris, 1981); Germany, H. C. Erik Midelfort,
Witch Hunting in Southwestern Germany, 1562-1684 (Stanford, 1972);
Estonia, Sweden, Norway, inter alia, Bengt Ankarloo and Gustav
Henningsen, Early Modern European Witchcraft: Centers and
Peripheries (Oxford, 1990); Spain, Gustav Henningsen, The Witches'
Advocate: Basque Witchcraft and the Spanish Inquisition (Reno, 1980);
Italy, Carlo Ginzburg, I Benandanti: Stregoneria e culti agrari tra
Cinqucento e Seicento (Florence, 1966) translated by John and Anne
Tedeschi as Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth
and Seventeenth Centuries (Baltimore, 1983), Giovanni Romeo,
Inquisitori, esorcisti e streghe nell'Italia della Controriforma (Florence,
1990); and Martin, Witchcraft and the Inquisition.

Essays on the Spanish Inquisition, in Mary Elizabeth Perry and Anne J.

Cruz, eds., Cultural Encounters: The Impact of the Inquisition in Spain
and the New World (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1991), by Noemi
Quezada, Maria Helena Sanchez Ortega and Stephen Haliczar, suggest
important comparative studies between it and the Roman Inquisition.
The records of both Inquisitions have begun to be surveyed for patterns
and possibilties: John Tedeschi leads the way in The Prosecution of
Heresy: Collected Studies on the Inquisition in Early Modern Italy (New
York, 1991), with an excellent bibliography; see also William Monter,

218
"The Mediterranean Inquisitors" in his Ritual, Myth, and Magic (Athens,
OH, 1983), pp. 61-77.

4. The documents reinforce this centrality of married life, especially in

Venetian studies where participation in political life was determined by
lineage. Wills, dowry records, genealogies, all pressed into service to
reveal women's lives, all present women as spouses. The career options
for women have been enlarged by Guido Ruggiero (The Boundaries of
Eros: Sex Crime and Sexuality in Renaissance Venice [New York 1985],
e.g. pp. 146-147) to include prostitution as an extension, rather than
parallel, of marriage. See also, Thomas Kuehn, Law, Family, and
Women; Toward a Legal Anthropology of Early Modern Italy (Chicago,
1991), passim, for the centrality of family in legal documents.

5. Martin does acknowledge the role of money in witchcraft practices,

but gives it one page (Martin, op. cit., pp. 238-9). Although Guido
Ruggiero, in Binding Passions: Tales of Magic, Marriage, and Power at
the End of the Renaissance (New York, 1993), p. 138, does allude to love
magic as a profession, he tends to see reliance on it for reasons of sexual
and social security, not the economic survival of the perpetrator.

6. The women are identified on three occasions as having a common

mother, Isabella: Archivio di Stato, Venezia (hereafter ASV) Sant'Ufficio
(hereafter SU) Busta 104, sp.comp. Anzola, 40v. 26 April 1649; Ibid.,
spine of 26 January 1646; Ibid., 41r. n.d.

7. There have been few new studies of prostitution in Venice. Ruggiero,

see above, n.4, is best in considering the social and economic nature of
prostitution but treats it as a sexual strategy and extension of marriage.
A third category is required to look at it as an economic strategy. An
article by Achillo Olivieri, "Eroticism and social groups in sixteenth-
century Venice: the courtesan" (Phillippe Aries and Andre Bejin,
Western Sexuality: Practice and Precept in Past and Present Times
219
[Oxford, 1985], pp. 95-102) talks about sexual specialization as a variety
of the rationalization of economic life in the 16th century (p. 97), which
is provocative in the context of the present paper. Studies of figures such
as Veronica Franco and other exceptional courtesans do not aid the
study of the occupation as an economic ploy for lower class women. On
Franco, see Margaret F. Rosenthal, The Honest Courtesan: Veronica
Franco, Citizen and Writer in Sixteenth Century Venice (Chicago, 1992).

Elizabeth Cohen, working in Rome, sees no distinction between

"meretrice" and "cortegiana": E. Cohen, "'Courtesans' and 'Whores':
Words and Behavior in the Roman Streets," Women's Studies 19 (1991):
201-208. Rosenthal and Ruggiero (e.g., Binding Passions, pp. 38-48)
assume a Venetian distinction. The words are not used interchangeably
in the records surveyed for this article; the word "cortigiana" is never
used.

8. Marietta Battaglia is also called Elisabetta Battaglia. Her trials, one

initiated in 1637, the other in 1645, are both in ASV, SU, Busta 94.

Laura Malipiero was tried in 1630, in 1649 and in 1654. She was again
accused in 1660, but her death, apparently, forestalled a fourth trial. Her
record is contained in ASV, SU, Busta 87 (1630) and Busta 104 (1649,
1654, and a transcript of the 1630 trial). Busta 104 is entirely occupied by
proceedings against Laura Malipiero, and in the case of the 1649 trial,
co-defendents. It contains over a thousand loose folio pages. Although
there is random pagination, given the unbound status of the materials
and the multiple trials, to use page or folio numbers would be confusing.
All citations must, therefore, be by date.

9. This alternate reading is proposed in the nature of a Galilean thought-

experiment and is not intended to be ideological or contentious; utility
and clarity are its only subtext. Kathleen Biddick, in "Genders, Bodies,
Borders: Technologies of the Visible," Speculum vol. 68, (April, 1993):
220
389-418, performs a similar experiment with an infinitely more elaborate
and theoretical intellectual superstructure.

10. Laura Malipiero's will, first unsealed in 1988 for the author, is noted
in the work of her notary, Ludovico Angaran (ASV, Notarile,
Testamenti, Busta 8-9, no. 26, dated 2 October 1645). In it, she makes
provision for Luca da Parisi, with whom she has lived for many years,
only should he still be living with her when she dies.

11. ASV, Busta 104. Laura died mid-trial, after the testimony of 18
December, 1660. Capitano Michael Cataneo, of the Sant'Ufficio, testifies
that she died in bed while he was guarding her. Dr. Petrus of the San
Marco Prison and Luca di Parisi, "agent" of Laura, testify to this. On 11
January, 1661, she was buried at S. Giovanni Nuova, in the "sepoltra
della Madona" ordered by Luca and Pietro Bonamin, her step-son.

12. Barbara Hanawalt, in her introduction to Women and Work in

Preindustrial Europe, which she edited (Bloomington, 1986), repeats this
generalization, p. ix. Although focussing on the north, Martha C.
Howell, Women, Production and Patriarchy in Late Medieval Cities
(Chicago, 1986) and Merry E. Wiesner, Working Women in Reformation
Germany (New Brunswick, 1987) concur. Again, Italian working women
have not yet received their due. It is interesting that even here, women
are first and foremost part of the family economy. It seems hard to get
them out of the house.

13. If witchcraft is looked at, for the moment at least, as an occupation

motivated by essentially economic ambitions and necessities, the reason
a preponderance of women were accused becomes clearer: it was their
class, rather than their gender, which made them dependent upon such
expedients. That their class may have been a function of their gender
goes without saying, but too many megatheoretical issues befog some
cultural/social analyses of the practitioners (not victims, if choice was
221
involved). To remove the offense to the economic arena also allows the
inclusion of men in the temporarily genderless category, as they were
included in reality. On this theme: Stuart Clark, "The 'Gendering' of
Witchcraft in French Demonology: Misogyny or Polarity?," French
History, vol. 5, no. 4, (December, 1991): 426-437.

14. Charges were brought in 1637; she was condemned on 16 November

1638 (ASV, SU, Busta 94).

15. loc. cit. Mariettta was said to be "naturalis" (Ibid., 2 September 1638),
as was Isabella herself.

16. Ibid., 22 June 1645.

17. Ibid., 7 August 1645.

18. Marietta had been condemned to a year in prison in 1638 (16

November 1638). She was now condemned to lashing in front of S. Pietro
in Castello, ten years in prison and perpetual banishment from Venice
(31 August 1649). The usual banishment would have been either five or
ten years (Martin, Witchcraft and the Inquisition, p. 220, n. 7).

19. Marietta's second trial in 1645 is essentially about her divination in

predicting the piria. The piria was Venice's reigning form of popular
gambling, equivalent to betting on the outcome of a sports event. Here,
however, the event was characteristically political. Bets were placed as
to which of thirty-six Venetian patricians would be electors in the
fortnightly elections to the Maggior Consiglio. To have prior access to
the outcome would make one relatively rich. See Fiorin, Alberto, "Lotto,
Lotterie e Altro Ancora" in Tanti e Denari: Sei Secoli di Giochi d' azzardo
(Venice, 1989), pp. 126-127: "Le Pirie". The role of the fortuneteller was
to predict the winners; the Inquisitors' concern was that the devil might
be called upon to produce this result.

222
20. Ibid., 22 June 1645.

21. Ibid., 1 September 1638. The next day, when Marietta again testified,
she again disclaimed the profit motive. She said she did these things "per
simplicita et non per malitia, ne per soldi" (Ibid., 2 September 1638). It is
interesting to speculate that she may have guiltily perceived her fault as
taking ill-gotten gains, and have had no sense of the Inquisitors' interest
in her actions, perhaps underlining the economic essence of her activity.

22. Marietta is identified on several occasions as being a meretrice and a

woman of "mala vita" (Ibid., sp. comp. Vicentus, 2 March 1645; Ibid., sp.
comp. Jacobus Modena, 9v).

23. Cf. footnote 27 below.

24. See infra, the trials of both Marietta and Laura. Martin discusses this
connection (Witchraft and the Inquisition, pp. 234-5). See also Mary
O'Neill for the connection between love magic and prostitution:
"Magical Healing, Love Magic, and the Inquisition in Late Sixteenth
Century Italy", in S. Haliczar, ed., Inquisition and Society in Early
Modern Europe (London and Sydney, 1987), pp. 88-114, and Ruggiero's
Binding Passions, esp. Chapter Three. Love magic and love medicine
will be an important consideration of my monograph on Laura and her
circle.

25. Thus, Busta 104, f. 41r, co-defendant Menega is called a meretrice, as

is Andriana. The implication is that they work out of a casino (Ibid., sp.
comp. Anzola, 26 April 1649). Again, although these might be simply
subjectively connected in the mind of the witness, the objective
geographical detail of the location of the brothel mitigates against this
cautious reading. It should be noted, however, that Laura Malipiero is
called many things, but never a meretrice.

223
26. cf., above, n.7. See Ruggiero, Boundaries, e.g. 146-7, for a statement
of the normal, normative and useful role of prostitution at an earlier
date. That prostitution was also an extension of the economic strategies
open to women is acknowledged in current studies, e.g., Ruth Mazo
Karas, "The Regulation of Brothels in Later Medieval Europe," Signs, 14
#2 (Winter, 1989): 400-01. That the meretrice-strega is a further, lateral
extension of this career choice, another economic strategy, is the
argument here.

27. SU, Busta 94, Marietta Battaglia (7 August 1645). Defensiones, #5;
pending marriage, #7.

28. Ibid., 17 August 1645. Sp. Comp. Aloysius (Alvise).

29. Ibid., 10 September 1649.

30. Ibid, undated paper. Marietta Battaglia worked at the Arsenale from
27 April 1639 until 18 November 1639, at half pay. On 10 February 1654,
after five years in prison, she volunteered to work again at half pay. She
had been condemned to jail for ten years on 31 August, 1649, and to
subsequent banning from the city.

31. Ibid., 7 August 1645. The condemnation is dated 31 August 1649. The
date seems to be correct, and not that of the copy, because five years after
her incarceration, i.e. in 1654, she requested half-way amnesty.

32. Ibid., 10 February 1654.

33. That neither party mentions the children in what was, essentially, a
divorce trial is an indication of how individualistic and non-family-
oriented these Inquisition documents are. The children are mentioned
incidentally in the later trials, and the daughter is on the stand in one
subsequent trial (cf., infra, n. 38). Yet that two children were born of the
Bonamin-Malipiero liaison is never noted in the proceedings, either

224
before the Patriarchal Court in 1629 (the file is in the Patriarchal
Archives, Filci. Causarum ancea Nullitatis, beginning 2 May 1629) or the
Inquisition in 1630.

34. The trial is contained in ASV, SU, Busta 87; see e.g. May 8, 1629 for
the list of charges. She was charged initally with having been previously
married to Todoro d'Andro (charge #3) and with having slept with
brother Lorenzo Bonamin before marrying Francesco (charge #2). They
had been married seven years according to witnesses and the
documentation in the Patriarchal Archives (cf. Liber Matrimonium pro
forensibus Incipiens: 18 Jan 1622 to 21 June 1623 [begins 26 March 1623]).
After reciting these charges, Bonamin adds "e di piu aggiungo come la
sudetta Tarsia e strega . . ." (SU, Busta 87, 15 January 1630) The latter
charge may have been incidental to his wish to be relieved of this
marriage (he was remarried within a year; his next wife was widowed
before 1643), but it was the prime interest of the Inquisitors, the area of
their proper concern.

35. Todoro or Todorino had been taken by the Turks (ASV, SU, Busta 87,
testimony of witness, Ibid., 24 September 1629), made a slave, and
recently liberated. Several witnesses (17 September 1629) attest that he
was seen back in town. He is, nonetheless, never called by the tribunal.

36. Ibid., 27 April 1630, testimony of Antonio Regazzoni. Laura herself

alleges, in her defensiones (Ibid., 9 April 1630, #2), that Franceso wanted
to kill her, treated her cruelly and one time wounded her at least
fourteen times.

37. At one point Laura is called a widow after her marriage with Salarol,
but she herself says simply she does not know what became of him
(Busta 104, 20 November 1646).

225
38. Malipiera's name also changes within these trials. She also is called
Helena (Busta 104), Laura Malipiero testifies 25 February 1649: "Ho una
figlia chiamata Malipiera Bonhomina, che e' orba di un'occhio havuta
colpo marito, e' puta de 24 anni."

39. Isabella, described as Corcyran, or from Corfu, was the illegitimate

child of nobleman Giovanni Paolo Malipiero who had been stationed on
Corfu. She next appears married to Laura's father at Candia on Crete,
where Laura was born. How and when they came to Venice is not clear,
but Laura is said to have grown up in the Greek monastary in Venice
(Busta 87, 28 February 1630; Busta 104, 26 June 1649), and reappears on
the historical scene at age fifteen (Archivio della Scuola di S. Giorgio dei
Greci, Venice, Capitol di San Zorzi de Greci, No. II [old shelf mark, 189,
1601-1618] 187). Isabella is 80 in 1650 and therefore presumably was
born ca. 1570. Her father died on Corfu in 1598. (ASV, Barbaro, Arbori,
Misc. Codici I. Storia Veneta. p. 414).

40. ASV, Notarile, Testamenti 8-9, #26.

41. ASV, SU, Busta 104, 11 August 1654.

42. She handled the affairs of Suora Zane; according to Caimus the
convent was at Verona (loc.cit.). Franco Moroni says that Laura
medicated the same nun at Piove di Sacco (Ibid., undated folio before 21
April 1654).

43. Laura Malipiero. Ibid., 25 Feb 1654: "La mia professione e d'affitar
camere, e letti a persone foreste." In an undated, loose, signed document,
Busta 104, the parish priest of San Basio confirms this.

44. This seems to have been commonly understood, cf. Busta 104, f.18r,
18v, 36r, sp. comp. Catharina, 20 November 1646, etc.

226
45. On the landlady as an occupation, cf. a brief mention by Peter Burke,
"Classifying the People" in Historical Anthropology of Early Modern
Italy (Cambridge, 1987) (hereafter Historical Anthropology), p. 37. In the
Venetian census, generally conducted by the Provveditori alia Sanita'
after particularly severe plagues to count, literally, souls, too few are
listed as occupation landlord or lady [cf. ASV, Provv. alla Sanita', Busta
568, Decime, where there are only one or two landladies in all of the
Castello]. As Burke points out, the census was taken by the parish priest,
who may not have considered some occupations worth mentioning:
"The presence of the mediator is most obvious, however, in the case of .
. . women providing services . . . the priests may not always have
considered landlady to be an occupation" (P. Burke, Ibid.).

That the laws regulating the renting of rooms existed is evident

throughout the sources. Cf. ASV, Compilazione Leggi, Busta 210.F. for a
collection of decrees dealing with forestieri. Also, ASV, Consiglio Dieci,
leg, 15 April 1578 was the standard text reissued periodically on the
illicit housing of foreigners. See Giorgio Fedalto, "Stranieri a Venezia e a
Padova, 1550-1700" (Girolamo Arnaldi and Manlio Pastore Stocchi,
Storia della Cultura Veneta, 4-5: Dalla Controriforma alla fine della
Repubblica [Vicenza, 1984], II, pp. 251-279) for a discussion of the
foreign communities in Venice.

46. Actions against noncompliant landlords were common: e.g., ASV

Esecutori contra la Bestemmia, Raspe, Busta 69, p. 81r, 2 Dec 1651;
against a camerante for allowing a forestiero to lodge incognito. See also
ibid., 83v, 22 Dec 1651, for similar charges and loss of license; also 100v.,
Margarita.

47. Her tenants were often, by definition, not only foreigners, but
businessmen. They identify themselves as such when testifying at her
trials. E.g., Dimitri Manopoli of Candia, a merchant of caviar and oil,

227
lived in Laura's rooms. He introduced his friend from Florence,
Lanfredino Capelli, who had business near S. Giovanni in Bragora, and
the latter stayed for four years (ASV, SU, Busta 104, 23 July 1654). Signor
Paolo Paidi from Zante also lived there for an extended period (ibid., 9
July, 1654; ibid., Dimitri Ferrantes, n.d.). Not only was husband
Bonamin a silk merchant and husband Salarol a Bolognese, but Laura
was surrounded by men subsequent to these liaisons who were
international businessmen. Although in some ways socially marginal,
the role of landlady offered Laura a range of associations, both political
and commerical, which were legitimate and included her in the
mainstream of enterprise and its regulation in the city.

48. Defense counsel Alvise Zane says the trial is about asking for money
for treatment and that the interests of the accusers are "pecuniario e
bursale", not issues of "heresia o miscredenza" (Ibid., unbound sheets,
n.d.).

49. Ibid., Inventario, not dated. The books are also present in the Busta,
labelled "Scritti di Laura Malipiero". Captain Zuanne Greco of the
Sant'Ufficio had confiscated the books by order of the tribunal; he
describes them in detail (Ibid., 15 February 1654).

50. A survey of the trials in the decades preceding Laura's reveals an

increasing interest in the Clavicle of Solomon on the part of bookbuyers
and sellers, and, active or reactive, the Inquisitors. It begins to be
mentioned in the last years of the 1630s; cf., ASV, SU, Busta 90, contra
Fra Antonio Balbi, a reference 11 June 1639 (the earliest?), but the
intrigue surrounding the work in this trial does not build up until 1646.
Alo in Busta 90 is testimony that the Clavicle was translated from the
Latin (sp. comp. Dominicus de Michelis, 1 December 1640).
Subsequently there is a quickening of references and, presumably,
interest, on both sides.

228
51. ASV, SU, Busta 104, Defensiones, 11 August 1654. Francesco Caimus
related that another lawyer's mother had to read and write letters for
Laura. On 9 July 1654, barbiertonsor Louis Marin testified that Laura
was illiterate. The extensive illiteracy defense may indicate that the
lawyers understood the seriousness with which the Inquisitors took the
magic books and especially tbe Clavicle.

52. Dealers in books were clearly involved in the transmission of this

text. Thus, Boniface Cabiana (ASV, SU, Busta 103, 27 May 1647) sells
magic books near the Rialto, and "deals in C. Agrippa and a book with
little signs and secret circles"; Giacomo Batti (Ibid., 15 February 1648),
who has a librero on the Frezzeria, deals in magic books with the corone
Adonoi, from the Clavicle. Carlo Ponti, Pittori is accused of having had
the Clavicle open to the commentary (ASV, SU, Busta 105, 26 January
1645), and there are many charges in his trial concerning the book. Fra
Marco Pio Pini (Ibid., 27 January 1656, sp. comp. Ludovicus) is accused
of reading the Clavicle. The whole of Busta 102, 695 folios, is against
monks accused of using the Clavicle.

53. Cf the trial of Fra Verigola above, n. 50, where the copying of the text
is clearly the issue. The multiplication and transmission of the work, not
just the reading of same, seems often to be the Inquisitor's concern.

54. Laura is called this in the trial of Laura Corner, Busta 103, 1 April
1648: ". . . Una altra chimata Laura Malipiero strega famosissima . . . ".
The woman had been searching for someone to help her and had
bypassed Laura in favor of the accused.

55. cf. above, footnote 31.

56. Stepdaughter Antonia gives the most complete rundown of this

household magic (Busta 87, 5 February 1630); the four other children
concur in remarkable precision.

229
57. Five stepchildren testify: Antonia (20 years old, 5 February 1630),
Horatio, Margarita (also 20, loc. cit), Niccolo and Lucretia Bonamin.
Horatio, 16 years old when he testifies (14 February 1630), remembers in
detail events from seven years earlier. Although Laura is worried that
another son, Pietro, will testify against her (Defensiones #7, 9 April
1630), he does not and it is he who assists Luca di Parisi in retrieving
Laura's body after her death. The cittadino family is listed in Teodoro
Toderini, Genealogie, v.I, but only the male children are accounted for.

58. Laura's sentence was recorded on 7 September, 1649 (Busta 104).

59. Laura's sentence (7 September 1649) refers generically only to

"maioribus criminibus" and does not list them, as sentences usually do.

60. It is her second experience of institutionalization, the first being her

stay in the Greek monastery. It is interesting to speculate on Laura's
prison experience there and its possible "educational" value. It is likely
that Laura did not learn her magic from ancient rooted folk traditions or
at her mother's knee, as more romantic historians would like it. Rather,
her knowledge of standard practices was received in prison. Twentieth-
century parallels on the negative value of prisons in creating criminals
present themselves. See Giovanni Scarabello, "La Pena del Carcere.
Aspetti della Condizione Carceraria a Venezia nei Secoli XVI-
XVII:L'Assistenza e L'Associazionnnismo" in Gaetano Cozzi, ed., Stato,
Societa' e Giustizia nella Repubblica Veneta (sec. XV-XVII) Vol. I
(Castelfranco, 1980): 317-376, where he does talk about the associations,
formal and informal, formed in prisons. In vol. II of the same work,
Scarabello discusses eighteenth-century prison reform and its
recognition of the negative cross-fertilization in jails "Progetti di riforma
del diritto veneto criminale nel settecento," Stato, Societa' et Giustizia,
vol. II (Castelfranco, 1985), pp. 379-415.

230
61. Laura's last husband has, by this point, come and gone. As of at least
1644, she is with Luca di Parisi. She is, and will be, on her own
economically. Laura's defense, handled by lawyer Alvise Zane, begins 6
June 1649 and ends 12 August 1649 (Busta 104, separate sheets). Her
sentence is 7 September 1649; she is to be pilloried, whipped and jailed
for ten years. The sentence is suspended on 17 May 1650. Isabella was
condemned on 9 September 1649 to be pilloried and jailed; her sentence
was suspended 24 May 1650 because of her "decrepita state."

62. It can only be suggested that the form of "the medical trial" conforms
across venues and tribunals. The trial of a woman for medical
charlatanism in Paris (Pearl Kibre, "The Faculty of Medicine at Paris;
Charlatanism and Unlicensed Medical Practice in the Later Middle
Ages," Bulletin of the History of Medicine 27 [1953]: 1-28), and another
in Provence (Joseph Shatzmiller and Rodrigue Lavoie, "Medecine et
gynocologie au moyen-age: Un example provencal," Razo: Cahiers du
Centre d'Etudes Medievales de Nice 4 [1984]: 133-143, for a malpractice
trial from 1326), have similarities with the trials of those the inquisition
tried as guaratrice, or healers. Such analogies indicate that when major
research will be conducted on both individual medical and witchcraft
trials, there will appear to be a conformity of approach when the charge
is medical.

The citing of legitimate training, methods and satisifed testimonials will

dictate the form of the defense, whether of a charlatan or witch. The
medical witchcraft trials of the Venetian Sant'Ufficio share these
common features which differentiate them from other stregarie trials.
An exhaustive list of references is not approriate here, but cf. the
Sant'Ufficio trials for healing of Maria Colonnna (Busta 90), Gerolama
Biglioni (loc. cit.), Angela Greca (loc. cit.), Marietta Greca (Busta 74), and
Bellina Loredana (Busta 77), where education and efficacy are always
discussed.
231
Although Martin discusses the healers at some length, and her citations
are useful, she does not differentiate their arena from the others (Martin,
passim and esp. 139-147), nor does she realize that the trials continued
after the 1640's. While historians such as Giovanni Romeo may be tired
of hearing that witches were healers, he gives this aspect its due (cf.
Romeo, Inquisitori, p. 233) when he discusses "medicina empirica". It is
not argued here that all witches were misunderstood healers, but that
those that were guaratrice drew on a different tradition for their defense
and prosecution.

Monica Green's article, "Women's Medical Practice and Health Care in

Medieval Europe," Signs, (Winter 1989): 434-473, touches briefly on the
guaratrice-witch confusion, and, more important to her argument, the
levatrice or midwife figure and historians.

63. Barbers, pharmacists and surgeons testify as to Laura's training and

the orthodoxy of her methods. E,g, Antonio Gallo, barbiero, who also
says she was an excellent medical practitioner (Ibid, 30 July 1654); Louisi
Gallo, barbiero, and Andrea, chyrurgus or surgeon, both testify that they
trained her (loc. cit). On 9 July 1654, Laura herself had said she never
medicated anyone without getting the opinion of the barbieri first, a
clear nod to her perception of medical expectations.

64. When Laura is on the stand, she says she would not have performed
the illicit acts, for fear of losing her license. That the Sant'Ufficio and/or
the Provveditori alla Sanita' (or Guistizia Vecchia?) licensed empirics at
certain times in Venetian history is agreed upon by most historians.
Reference is made to them in a number of trials and their existence seems
assured; to this day, however, they have not been found. Busta 77, contra
Bellina Loredana, Defensiones, 10 Dec. 1624: #3, "Che Madonna Bellina
con la licenza dell'Illmi. Proveditori all Sanita', dispersa certo oglio. . . .",
232
seems to indicate that the Provveditori handled such licensing. In Busta
90, Maria Colonna is said to have possessed a "licenza all'Inquine. di
ongere o'medicare." That the Inquisitors viewed Laura as a medical
professional may be indicated by the language of their commutation of
her sentence (17 August, 1656), when they stipulate that she not practice
her "art of medicine." For an ingenious discussion of what such
references to licenses may have meant, see Ruggiero, Binding Passions,
pp. 163-166.

65. Satisfied customers abound in the third trial: e.g., Anzola and her
family (16 July 1654); Emmanuel Stamatis on behalf of Captain Scioppi
(30 July); and a succession of witnesses in the last two weeks of July. In
Laura's 1649 trial, only when the category of medical magic is addressed
are there testimonials as to her effectiveness: 26 June 1649, Defensiones,
#20; 10 June 1649, et al. But these are in the minority in this earlier trial.

66. Seventeenth-century perceptions of good health and proper medical

care were more important to these testimonials and evaluations of the
guaratrice/streghe than than the state of academic medicine. Lucinda
McCray Beirer's Sufferers and Healers: The Experience of Illness in
Seventeenth Century England (New York, 1987) points the way to a new
line of investigation which may have more to do with social realities
than have previous studies. The "reader response" approach to health-
care could be written for Venice if the Inquisition trials were used
carefully. Reactions to guaratrice as healers rather than witches (cf.
Giacomo Garzoni, in Busta 75, who experiences Serena, not as a witch,
but as a healer), may help us understand the medical concerns and
preoccupations of the general public. See also E Burke, "Rituals of
Healing," Historical Anthropology: 207-220.

67. There is no good history of medicine, popular or learned, for Venice.

Loris Premuda, "La Medicina e l'Organizzazione Sanitaria," in Girolamo

233
Arnaldi and Manlio Pastore Stocchi, eds., Storia della Cultura Veneta: Il
Seicento (4/II, Vicenza, 1984), pp. 115-150, approaches a beginning, but
its administrative interest is evident in the text as well as the title. He
does, in this respect, discuss the pharmacists (pp. 139-143). See Richard
Palmer, "Pharmacy in the Republic of Venice in the Sixteenth Century,"
in A. Wear, R. K. French and I. M. Lonie, eds., The Medical Renaissance
of the Sixteenth Century (Cambridge, 1985), pp. 100-117, for the success
of the Paracelsus underground in Venice. Paracelsus, of course, had
been in the employ of Venice in the 16th century.

68. The trial of Bellina Loredana (SU,Busta 77) offers a particularly rich
picture of the use of special oils and unguents and their assumed
medical effectiveness.

69. Here as elsewhere, Laura's Greek background may have enhanced

her reputation. See Palmer, "Pharmacy", p. 101, on the general
importance Venice played as an herb center and on the particular
importance of Crete and Corfu to this trade.

70. Medical handbooks such as Girolamo Manfredi's Il Perche (Venice,

1567) begin and end with injunctions about food, characterizing the
general alimentary approach to health which is characteristic of popular
medicine at the time. Prospero Alpiano, De Balsmao Dialogo (Venice,
1591) focussed almost exclusively on balsam; by the time of Don Silvio
Boccone's Il Museo (Venice, 1697) there are many more herbs,
substances and recipes. In the medical field, Laura's herbals, found
among her manuscripts, would have earned her more credibility than
her editions of the Clavicle.

71. Palmer, op. cit., p. 103.

72. The language of these official medical holdings, with references to

"secret recipes", could not help but condition popular perceptions of

234
medical propriety. Cf. Secreto predervativo et curativo di arcani olivieri
medico alla sanita' (Venice, 1567) and "Secreti in Materia di Medicar la
Peste dato per Scipion Paragatta in Stampa. 1576. 3 sett." in ASV, Capi
di Consiglio de'Dieci, Ricordi o Raccordi, 1480-1789 (3 September 1576).

73. Laura instructed her helper, Gerolama, to lie about a vision (Busta
104, 27 January 1654 and passim). Part of the modem witch lore seems
to assume that the women accused of witchcraft believed in what they
were doing. Thus Sanchez Ortega says women used love magic to
control men and Ruggiero, despite acknowledging that the women
knew their magic didn't work, sees them providing themselves and
others with social security. Although Ruggiero (Binding Passions, p.
138) does allude to love magic as a profession, he tends to see reliance
on it for sexual and social security, not the economic survival of the
perpetrator. He goes on to assume that the Latisana women believed in
their lore, a role which would seem romanticized if they were non-
believers seeking a professional niche. He deals with the possibility of
charlatanship, but not its implications, on pp. 155ff.

74. Thus barbertonsor Zuremus went to Marietta's house daily to

medicate someone there (SU, Busta 94, 9 March 1645). This was her only
"brush" with the medical establishment.

75. Emmmanuel LeRoy Ladurie, Jasmin's Witch (New York, 1987),

published originally as La Sorciere de Jasmin (Paris, 1983).

76. L. S. Davidson and J. O. Ward, eds., The Sorcery Trial of Alice Kyteler
(Binghamton, NY, 1993).

77. Marisa Milani has perhaps done the best job of unearthing
individuals and folkways from the sixteenth century documents of the
Sant'Ufficio. Despite her excellent ethnographies, some records offer
alternative readings; cf. La verita ovvero Il processo contro Isabella

235
Bellochio (Venezia, 12 gennaio-15 ottobre 1589) (Padova, published
within the University, 1985); "Il caso di Emilia Catena, meretrice, striga
et herbera" in Museum Patavinum, III (1985): 75-97; Piccole Storie di
Stregoneria nella Venezia del '500 (Verona, 1989); et al.

78. Michael Kunze, Highroad to the Stake: A Tale of Witchcraft, trans.

William E. Yuill (Chicago, 1987). The earlier literary-historical
treatments of witch trials by Arthur Miller in "The Crucible", and Aldous
Huxley in The Devils of Loudun, assumed a cultural consensus which
allows the witchtrials to work as metaphor. There is an element of this
in Kunze. On the popular level, there is still an implied assumption of
what the witch phenomenon meant and an appropriation of this
meaning for various arguments. E.g. Lois W. Banner, In Full Flower:
Aging Women, Power and Sexuality (New York, 1993), Chapter Five,
"Aging Women, Power and Sexuality: From the Wife of Bath to the
Witch". There is a romanticizing feminism that wants there to have been
witches.

79. Two recent attempts to tap new interest in the field (Joseph Klaits,
Servants of Satan: The Age of the Witch Hunts [Bloomington, 1985] and
Brian P. Levack, The Witch-hunt in Early Modern Europe [London and
New York, 1987] were discussed in a review article and found to be
premature (Philip Benedict review of Klaits and Levak, Journal of
Modern History 61 #3 [Sept 1989]: 571-73). The present author concurs.
By the time synthetic studies are appropriate, not only will the data have
changed, but the terms of the discourse, the vocabulary itself, should
have been radically altered.

Current attempts to integrate the newer data are better represented by

tentative essays, e.g., in Ankarloo and Henningsen, Early Modern
Witchcraft: Centres and Peripheries (Oxford, 1990), than by attempts to
synthesize. Even an admirable macrostria on the Venetian witchcraft

236
trials elides Laura Malipiero with a Laura Malipietra tried in 1584 (ASV,
SU, B. 52) and confuses Laura's 1649 sentence with that of her mother,
Isabella (Martin, p.220). Martin says there were no medical trials after
1641 (p. 189). However, Busta 104 contains a major medical trial taking
place in 1654. Busta 100 contains no copy of the Clavicle of Solomon
(Martin p. 45, n. 43); Busta 104 does. Such lapses in a well-researched
general study may be inevitable, but they make it difficult to get the
particular individual into clear focus. Microstorie are the prescribed
corrective.

80. Mary O'Neill, "Magical Healing, Love Magic and the Inquisition in
Late Sixteenth Century Modena" in S. Haliczar, ed., Inquisition and
Society in Early Modern Europe (London, 1987), pp. 88-114. The customs
described pertain to the area around Modena and have a decidedly rural
aura when compared with Venetian models. Carlo Ginsburg, in I
Benandanti, is most clearly dealing with agrarian ritual.

81. Marisa Milani, in Antiche Pratiche di medicina popolare nei processi

del S. Uffizio (Venezia, 1527-1591) (Padova, 1986), concentrates on
sixteenth century trials when folk medical practices, even in Venice,
seem to have been more prevalent. By the seventeenth century, it is here
argued, magical medical practices had taken on an urban
professionalism of their own, and the lines of transmission more those
of an illicit business than of family or tribal wisdom.

82. Jan Yoors, The Gypsies (New York, 1967) pp. 84-87.

83. In the longer monograph on Laura and her circles, I will discuss the
ritual of lying before the Sant'Ufficio. Analogies with twentieth-century
relations with the Internal Revenue Service suggest themselves: ultimate
respect for the institution served but many ploys existed to free oneself
from this particular arm's demands.

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84. Thomas V. Cohen's "The Lay Liturgy of Insult in Sixteenth-Century
Italy", Journal of Social History, 25 #4 (Summer, 1992): 257-277, is an
interesting model of alternate readings. Peter Burke, The Art of
Conversation (Ithaca, 1993) is also suggestive. Natalie Davis's Fiction in
the Archives: Pardon Tales and their Tellers in Sixteenth Century France
(Stanford, 1987) is instructive in methods of reading between the lines.

85. Carlo Ginburg, Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath (English

translation of Storia Notturna, Turin, 1989), New York, 1991. Actually
the book should not have come as a surprise; behind the microstorie of
I Benandanti and Formaggio there was assumed an enduring meta-
network which connected and contained seemingly distinct subaltern
cultures. John Martin, "Journeys to the World of the Dead: The work of
Carlo Ginzburg" in Journal of Social History 25 #3 (Spring 1992) offers a
much fuller and fairer assessment of Ginzburg's centrally important
work. The direction the latter has taken, however, seems regressive in
the context of the present paper.

86. A good introduction to the essentialist vs. constructionist debate

among historians of homosexuality is probably David Halperin, One
Hundred Years of Homosexuality (New York, 1990), along with the
controversy it has engendered.

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