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VAMzzz PUBLISHING Charles Godfrey Leland ARADIA Gospel of the Witches
VAMzzz PUBLISHING
Charles Godfrey Leland
ARADIAGospel of the Witches
AR
AD
IA
Charles G
odfrey Leland
AradiaGospel of the WitchesAuthor: Charles Godfrey Leland
Original title: Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches (1899)Cover image: Diana, Chasseresse by Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1834 – 1912)Lay-out: www.burokd.nl
ISBN 978-94-92355-01-0
© 2015 Revised publication by:
VAMzzz PublishingP.O. Box 33401001 AC AmsterdamThe [email protected]
Charles Godfrey Leland
ARADIAGospel of the Witches
VAMzzz PUBLISHING
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Charles Godfrey Leland August 15, 1824 – March 20, 1903
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contents
PREFACE 7
CHAPTER I How Diana Gave Birth to Aradia (Herodias) 12
CHAPTER II The Sabbat: Treguenda or Witch-Meeting
- How to Consecrate the Supper - 21
CHAPTER III How Diana Made the Stars and the Rain 33
CHAPTER IV The Charm of the Stones Consecrated to Diana 37
CHAPTER V The Conjuration of the Lemon and Pins 45
CHAPTER VI A Spell To Win Love 51
CHAPTER VII To Find or Buy Anything, or to Have
Good Fortune Thereby 55
CHAPTER VIII To Have a Good Vintage and Very Good Wine
by the Aid of Diana 61
CHAPTER IX Tana and Endamone, Diana and Endymion 67
CHAPTER X Madonna Diana 77
CHAPTER XI The House of the Wind 81
CHAPTER XII Tana, The Moon-Goddess 89
CHAPTER XIII Diana and the Children 95
CHAPTER XIV The Goblin Messengers of Diana and Mercury 103
CHAPTER XV Laverna 107
APPENDIX 117
Comments on the Foregoing Texts 119
The Children of Diana, or How the Fairies Were Born 137
Diana, Queen of the Serpents, Giver of the Gift of Languages 143
Post Scriptum
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PREFACE
If the reader has ever met with the works of the learned folk-lorist
G. Pitré, or the articles contributed by “Lady Vere De Vere” to the
Italian Rivista, or that of J. H. Andrews to Folk-Lore, 1 he will be
aware that there are in Italy great numbers of strege, fortune-tell-
ers or witches, who divine by cards, perform strange ceremonies
in which spirits are supposed to be invoked, make and sell amu-
lets, and in fact, comport themselves generally as their reputed
kind are wont to do, be they Black Voodoos in America or sorcer-
esses anywhere.
But the Italian strega or sorceress is in certain respects
a different character from these. In most cases she comes of a
family in which her calling or art has been practised for many
generations. I have no doubt that there are in stances in which
the ancestry remounts to mediæval, Roman, or it may be Etrus-
can times. The result has naturally been the accumulation in such
families of much tradition. But in Northern Italy, as its literature
indicates, though there has been some slight gathering of fairy
tales and popular superstitions by scholars, there has never exist-
ed the least interest as regarded the strange lore of the witches,
1 March, 1897: “Neapolitan Witchcraft.”
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nor any suspicion that it embraced an incredible quantity of old
Roman minor myths and legends, such as Ovid has recorded, but
of which much escaped him and all other Latin writers. 2
This ignorance was greatly aided by the wizards them-
selves, in making a profound secret of all their traditions, urged
thereto by fear of the priests. In fact, the latter all unconsciously
actually contributed immensely to the preservation of such lore,
since the charm of the forbidden is very great, and witchcraft,
like the truffle, grows best and has its raciest flavour when most
deeply hidden. However this may be, both priest and wizard
are vanishing now with incredible rapidity - it has even struck a
French writer that a Franciscan in a railway carriage is a strange
anomaly - and a few more years of newspapers and bicycles
(Heaven knows what it will be when flying-machines appear!) will
probably cause an evanishment of all.
However, they die slowly, and even yet there are old people
in the Romagna of the North who know the Etruscan names of
the Twelve Gods, and invocations to Bacchus, Jupiter, and Venus,
Mercury, and the Lares or ancestral spirits, and in the cities are
women who prepare strange amulets, over which they mutter
spells, all known in the old Roman time, and who can astonish
2 Thus we may imagine what the case would have been as regards German fairy-tales if nothing bad survived to a future day except the collections of Grimm and Musæus. The world would fall into the belief that these constituted all the works of the kind which had ever existed, when, in fact they form only a small part of the whole. And folklore was unknown to classic authors: there is really no evidence in any ancient Latin writer that he gathered traditions and the like among the vulgar, as men collect at present. They all made books entirely out of books-there being still “a few left of the same sort” of literati.
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even the learned by their legends of Latin gods, mingled with lore
which may be found in Cato or Theocritus.
With one of these I became intimately acquainted in 1886, and
have ever since employed her specially to collect among her
sisters of the hidden spell in many places all the traditions of the
olden time known to them. It is true that I have drawn from other
sources, but this woman by long practice has perfectly learned
what few understand, or just what I want, and how to extract it
from those of her kind.
Among other strange relics, she succeeded, after many
years, in obtaining the following “Gospel,” which I have in her
handwriting. A full account of its nature with many details will be
found in an Appendix. I do not know definitely whether my in-
formant derived a part of these traditions from written sources or
oral narration, but believe it was chiefly the latter. However, there
are a few wizards who copy or preserve documents relative to
their art. I have not seen my collector since the “Gospel” was sent
to me. I hope at some future time to be better informed.
For brief explanation I may say that witchcraft is known to its
votaries as la vecchia religione, or the old religion, of which Diana
is the Goddess, her daughter Aradia (or Herodias) the female
Messiah, and that this little work sets forth how the latter was
born, came down to earth, established witches and witchcraft,
and then returned to heaven. With it are given the ceremonies and
invocations or incantations to be addressed to Diana and Aradia,
the exorcism of Cain, and the spells of the holy-stone, rue, and
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VAM
zzz Publishing
VAMzzz PublishingP.O. Box 3340
1001 AC AmsterdamThe Netherlands
Paper booksVAMzzz Publishing is located in the very centre of old Amsterdam, in The Netherlands. Our publishing company creates high quality revised editions of five star occult, witchcraft, Gothic and esoteric classics, mostly written in the Fin de siècle-period and early 20th century.
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Etruscan Magic & Occult Remedies by Charles Godfrey Leland was first published in 1892 as Etruscan Roman Remains in Popular Tradition. Part One of the book offers complete and detailed insight in the Etruscan and Roman rooted pantheon of the Tuscan Streghe (witches). Part Two describes many of their spells, incantations, sorcery and several lost divination methods. Leland found himself at the crossroads of the academic and the romantic and it is precisely this, which makes the reading of his work so enjoyable. His primairy aim was to preserve this ancient traditional knowledge, as he feared, it would soon be wiped out by modernism. Much information in this book, Leland received first hand from the Tuscan witches Maddalena and Marietta. His second work on Stregheria: Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches was published seven years later in 1899. One could state he reached his goal as his books are still of invaluable importance to both the Italian folklore and the modern practitioner of witchcraft. One of Leland’s readers was the late Gerald Gardner, which makes one wonder who was the true godfather of modern witchcraft…
Etruscan Magic & Occult RemediesCharles Godfrey Leland628 pages, paperback ISBN 9789492355003www.vamzzz.com
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Taboo, Magic, SpiritsA study of primitive elements in Roman religionby Eli Edward Burriss200 pages, Paperback, ISBN 9789492355034
In Ancient Rome Mana was the term used for a mysterious, magical medium, which could be helpful or harmful (Taboo). Just like the Chinese qi, it could empower the positive and the negative. Contents: Mana, Magic and Animism – Positive and Negative Mana (Taboo) – Miscellaneous Taboos – Magic Acts: The General Principles – Removing Evils by - Magic Acts – Incantation and Prayer– Naturalism and Animism.
Chaldean MagicIt’s Origin and Developmentby François Lenormant454 pages, Paperback, ISBN 9789492355027
The essentials of magic in Chaldea are presented inside a context of comparison or contrast to Egyptian, Median, Turanian, Finno-Tartarian and Akkadian magic, mythologies, religion and speech. Interesting is the Chaldean demonology, with its incubus, succubus, vampire, nightmare and many Elemental spirits, most of them coalesced with the primal powers of nature.
UnicornA mythological investigationby Robert Brown Jr.124 pages, Paperback, ISBN 9789492355072
Brown Jr. believes the unicorn to be a lunar symbol, and draws on mythology from a wide range of sources all over the world to build his case. The author discusses the heraldic use of the unicorn, relates the creature to ancient goddesses like Astarte, Hecate en the Gorgon Medusa, and provides the reader with lost esoteric Moon-lore.
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Là-BasA Journey into the Selfby Joris-Karl Huysmans378 pages, Paperback, ISBN 9789492355058
The plot of Là-Bas concerns the novelist Durtal, who is disgusted by the emptiness and vulgarity of the modern world. He seeks relief by turning to the study of the Middle Ages. Through his contacts in Paris, Durtal discovers that Satanism is not a thing of the past but alive and kicking in turn of the century France. The novel culminates with a description of a black mass.
Devil-worship in FranceOr The Question of Luciferby Arthur Edward Waite240 pages, Paperback, ISBN 9789492355065
In Devil-Worship in France, Waite attempts to discern what is genuine from what is fake in the evidence of 19th century Satanism. To get the answers he spends a great deal of time investigating the French Masonic echelon, debunking a “conspiracy of falsehood” and determining what should be understood by Satanism and what not. Huysmans’ diabolical novel Là-Bas (1891) inspired Waite to write this sceptical analysis.
Testament of SolomonA First Century AD Grimoire76 pages, Paperback, ISBN 9789492355041
A first century AD grimoire, and therefore the oldest, and least known, of all grimoires (magical instruction books) in the occult tradition. The book describes health inflicting demons of zodiacal decans, summoned by King Solomon, and how he controlled them to use their forces to build his temple and more. Translated by F. C. Conybeare, appeared first in the Jewish Quarterly Review of October, 1898.
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Fairy Mythology (Volume 1)Romance and Superstition of Various Countries 1by Thomas Keightley404 pages, Paperback, ISBN 9789492355096
Fairy Mythology (Volume 2)Romance and Superstition of Various Countries 2by Thomas Keightley404 pages, Paperback, ISBN 9789492355102
The term Fairy covers all kinds of nature spirits, not just the tiny sugar sweet creatures hovering around flowers. A unique and impressive book on this subject, published in a revised 2 volume-edition. No wiccan or pagan can afford to leave these books unopened. About Elves, Dwarfs, Kobolds, Trolls, Changelings, Meremaids, Nisses, Fairies, Brownies, Puck and other Elemental spirits all over the world.
OphiolatreiaRites and Mysteries of Serpent WorshipAuthor: Hargrave Jennings186 pages, Paperback, ISBN 9789492355126
An account of the rites and mysteries connected with the origin, rise and development of serpent worship in various parts of the world, enriched with interesting traditions, and a full description of the celebrated serpent mounds & temples, the whole forming an exposition of one of the phases of phallic, or sex worship.
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Amazons - Two publications in one book -I. The Amazons by Guy Cadogan RotheryII. Religious Cults Associated With the Amazons
by Florence Mary Bennett328 pages, Paperback, ISBN 9789492355089
Contents I: The Amazons of Antiquity – Amazons in Far Asia – Modern Amazons of the Caucasus – Amazons of Europe – Amazons of Africa – Amazons of America – The Amazon Stones. Contents II: The Amazons in Greek legend – The Great Mother – Ephesian Artemis – Artemis Astrateia and Apollo Amazonius – Ares.
Voodoos and ObeahsPhases of West India Witchcraftby Joseph J. Williams374 pages, Paperback, ISBN 9789492355119
This work goes into great depth concerning the New World-African connection and is highly recommended if you want a deep understanding of the dramatic historical background of Haitian and Jamaican magic and witchcraft, and the profound influence of imperialism, slavery and racism on its development. Williams includes numerous quotations from rare documents and books on the topic.
VAMzzz PUBLISHING
Goddess of Witchcraft
Where Leland’s Etruscan Magic and Occult Remedies
deals with the entire pantheon of old Italian gods and
nature spirits, worshiped by the streghe, Aradia is focused
on Diana or Tana, her daughter Aradia and Lucifer.
Aradia, the queen of the Italian witches, or streghe is as
Leland concludes: ‘evidently enough Herodias, who was
regarded in the beginning as associated with Diana as
chief of the witches. This was not, as I opine, derived
from the Herodias of the New Testament, but from an
earlier replica of Lilith, bearing the same name.’
This wonderful book describes the creation according to
Italian witch-lore. We also read about the witch-meeting or
sabbath (treguenda) and it contains many original magical
recipes, like spells for love and good fortune. Diana is
further connected to the Moon and the fairy world.
VAMzzz Publishing revised this book with a Post Scriptum,
containing biographical info on Charles Godfrey Leland,
his witch-informant Maddalena and historical proof
the witch-tradition is indeed linked to 2000 years
of Diana worship.
9 789492 355010
