Aradia di Toscano

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Aradia di Toscano, or Aradia de Toscano, is the name given by Raven Grimassi for the folkloric figure whose legend depicts her as having generated a revival of witchcraft within the oppressed peasant class of 14th century Italy. According to this lore, Aradia brought about a return to the "the Old Religion of Italy... the Witch sect of Old Italy"[1]. The name means "Aradia of Tuscany". Grimassi suggests that Aradia di Toscano is the origin of the mythological figure Aradia that appeared in the nineteenth century book Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches. Aidan Kelly also suggested that Aradia may have been a mortal woman, but Kelly's treatment of the idea differs significantly from that of Grimassi.

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[edit] Origins of the Aradia di Toscano story

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The first appearance of a figure named Aradia as a teacher of religious witchcraft is in Charles Godfrey Leland's 1899 book Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches. In that text, Aradia is the daughter of the Roman goddess Diana, who comes to Earth to teach witchcraft and relieve Diana's worshippers of oppression.

Both the figure of Aradia and the book's description of the religious practices of her worshippers played an important role in the development of modern Wicca[2].

[edit] Grimassi's Aradia di Toscano

In 1981, Raven Grimassi published a booklet named The Book of the Holy Strega through Nemi Enterprises. The book described Italian witchcraft practices and teachings and identified Aradia as the source of their revival. Later, in 1995, Raven Grimassi published his book Ways of the Strega. In it, Grimassi argued that Leland had published a "distorted version"[1] of the story of Aradia, and that there really had existed a mortal woman named Aradia di Toscano.

Aradia di Toscano, according to Grimassi, who also calls her "The Holy Strega", or "La Bella Pellegrina" (the Beautiful Pilgrim), was a woman from Tuscany, born in 1313. Grimassi's Aradia was taught witchcraft by her aunt, and used her power to "challenge the existing order". According to the story, she recruited followers from the Lake Nemi region, and it is these followers (called "The Triad Clans") that passed on the Old Religion (Italian witchcraft), of which Grimassi teaches a variant that he calls the "Aridian Tradition".

Some people, while rejecting much of Grimassi's belief system, have tried to independently verify some parts of his history[3]. Sabina Magliocco notes that 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 who had developed into a mythical witch and possibly a goddess-figure. The existence of such a medieval Cult of Herodias among witches is, however, disputed. Magliocco comments that "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." [4]

[edit] Other versions

In 1992 Aidan Kelly, co-founder of the New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn, distributed a document titled The Gospel of Diana (a reference to Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches[5]). The text contained a list of mother and daughter priestesses who had taught religious witchcraft through the centuries. Instead of Leland's goddess Diana and her messianical daughter, Aradia, Kelly's text described mortal human beings. The priestesses' names alternated between Aradia and Diana[6]. Magliocco describes the character of Aradia in Kelly's accompanying narrative as "a notably erotic character; according to her teachings, the sexual act becomes not only an expression of the divine life force, but an act of resistance against all forms of oppression and the primary focus of ritual". Magliocco also notes that the text "has not achieved broad diffusion in contemporary Pagan circles"[4].

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^  a  Stregheria.com FAQ. Retrieved on October 13, 2005.
  2. ^  Hutton, Ronald (2000). Triumph of the Moon. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-500-27242-5. 
  3. ^ Fabrisia: History of Stregheria. Retrieved on October 13, 2005.
  4. ^  a  Magliocco, Sabina (2002). "Who Was Aradia? The History and Development of a Legend" ([dead link]). Pomegranate: The Journal of Pagan Studies 18. 
  5. ^  Sabina Magliocco quotes Silvio Baldassare as stating that the text was Kelly's spoof of The Gnostic Gospels; Magliocco, Sabina (2002). "Who Was Aradia? The History and Development of a Legend" ([dead link]). Pomegranate: The Journal of Pagan Studies 18. 
  6. ^ Kelly, Aidan (1992). The Gospel of Diana. Pagan Online Directory Service. 
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