Product Description

Book Description:

"Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches is an 1899 book by Charles Godfrey Leland. The book is an attempt to portray the beliefs and rituals of an underground religious witchcraft tradition in Tuscany that, Leland claimed, had survived for centuries until his discovery of its existence in the 1890s. Scholars have disputed the veracity of this claim. Still, the book has become one of the foundational texts of Wicca.

The text is a composite. Some of it is Leland's translation into English of an original Italian manuscript, the Vangelo (gospel). Leland reported receiving the manuscript from his primary informant on Italian witchcraft beliefs, a woman Leland referred to as "Maddalena" and whom he called his "witch informant" in Italy. The rest of the material comes from Leland's research on Italian folklore and traditions, including other related material from Maddalena. Leland had been informed of the Vangelo's existence in 1886, but it took Maddalena eleven years to provide him with a copy. After translating and editing the material, it took another two years for the book to be published. Its fifteen chapters portray the origins, beliefs, rituals and spells of an Italian pagan witchcraft tradition. The central figure of that religion is the goddess Aradia, who came to Earth to teach the practice of witchcraft to peasants in order for them to oppose their feudal oppressors and the Catholic Church.

Leland's work remained obscure until the 1950s, when other theories about, and claims of, "pagan witchcraft" survivals began to be widely discussed. Aradia began to be examined within the wider context of such claims. Scholars are divided, with some dismissing Leland's assertion regarding the origins of the manuscript, and others arguing for its authenticity as a unique documentation of folk beliefs. Along with increased scholarly attention, Aradia came to play a special role in th

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #211585 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 132 pages

About the Author
About the Author:

"Charles Godfrey Leland (August 15, 1824 - March 20, 1903) was an American humorist and folklorist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and educated at Princeton University, and in Europe. Leland worked in journalism, travelled extensively, and became interested in folklore and folk linguistics, publishing books and articles on American and European languages and folk traditions. By the end of his life shortly after the turn of the century, Leland had worked in a wide variety of trades, achieved recognition as an author of the comedic Hans Breitmann Ballads, fought in two conflicts, and had written what was to become a primary source text for Neopaganism half a century later, Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches." (Quote from wikipedia.org)

Customer Reviews

Well researched and detailed work on the Aradia Manuscript.
This book is a very well researched work upon the subject of the Aradia manuscript - the editors are very well acquainted with the dialects of the Romagna, essential for the proper translation of the work - this volume gives a number of translations alongside the Italian and ends with a new version which does shed more light on this ancient work. Aradia has been gathered from many different sources and is properly a compendium of chants probably handed down from Etruscan times. The book includes other collected works not included in the Aradia manuscript. This volume is very scholarly - it is a serious work far removed from the usual popular "potted history" books. The more serious students of Wicca and Witchcraft will find this volume of great interest - it needs patience - but what worthwhile persuit does not. I recommend this book and its companion Etruscan Roman Remains to all who would seek to know more about the very earliest foundations of the modern Wiccan Movement.
Blessings
Steve

The Definitive Book on Aradia
I just finished reading this book and I'm pleased I chose this extended version of 'Aradia or Gospel of the Witches' put together by the folklorist Charles Leland, to read my first time around.

Aradia basically consists of the remnants of a Witchcraft tradition in Northern Italy in the late 19th century; collected by Leland whilst he was travelling in the area. He became friends with a Witch or 'Strega' (Italian for 'Witch') whom he referred to as Maddalena -- Leland claimed that she provided him with the manuscript and the various sources for what became 'Aradia or Gospel of the Witches'. There is much contention however, as to whether Leland merely fabricated the material but this book about Aradia proves otherwise, conclusively, that aspects of Aradia are in fact genuine.

This extended version of Aradia contains the original transcription by Leland and a second version which has been retranslated to account for all the mistakes he made in the first translation. So, what we have in this second translation of Aradia is a far more accurate transcription of the meaning of the original Italian -- albeit far less beautiful as Leland added in meter and verse to his original translation for effect. It was interesting to see what had changed and I feel the book is worth the money just for these two translations; luckily the book also contains a third version which is a line by line translation and also some very interesting essays connected to Aradia and Leland himself, as well as speculation on the veracity of the manuscript (the manuscript of which was written by Maddalena has never been found, only a letter from her to Leland plus a photograph points to her existence.) If there's one thing one takes away from this book, it's that pieces of Aradia are very real and very alive to this day. Also that Charles Leland preserved a very real and evocative piece of folklore and witchlore; it's something that will keep those of us interested in Traditional Witchcraft compelled for a many years to come.

Now onto Aradia itself (more for those who are interested in Witchcraft):
The manuscript contains the loose details and the mythology associated with this regions Witches. The mythology is very interesting and most certainly my favourite part of the manuscript. In a very brief sense, Aradia tells the story of Lucifer and his consort Diana the Greco-Roman Goddess of the hunt, and how their daughter (a Christ like figure) came to earth. Like all forms of myth these myths are supposed to contain deeper truths and should not be taken literally, contemplating the imagery is helpful to get to its core.

A work of entertainment
No doubt it's a fun book to read. And it is certainly an important book in the history of modern paganism: it's a prop for those arrogating the seniority of "ancient wisdom" to Wicca. But let's not distract ourselves with claims that this is a convincing work of scholarship. It isn't. It was largely a concoction by Leland himself. Certainly his gloss or spin is paramount. While it has at its core a fascinating set of folklore about Italian rural people's beliefs about witches, it does not present historical evidence of "traditional witchcraft". Wicca began in the 50s; its antecedence is far more complex, and interesting, than the facile, naive myth of unbroken descent from the neolithic which that delightful trickster Gardner and his acolytes propagandised.