Aradia or The Gospel of the Witches (original 1890; edition 2010)

by Charles Godfrey Leland, Prof. Robert Mathiesen (Introduction)

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Member:	plutopsyche
Title:	Aradia or The Gospel of the Witches
Authors:	Charles Godfrey Leland
Other authors:	Prof. Robert Mathiesen (Introduction)
Info:	The Witches Almanac (2010), Paperback, 172 pages
Collections:	Your library
Rating:
Tags:	spirituality and religion, esoterica

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Aradia by Charles Leland (1890)

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English (3) Italian (1) All languages (4)

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The story of Aradia and the information that she supposedly passed on to Charles Leland. I think that this has since been discredited, but it is a good book to read for refernce to the origins of modern witchcraft both from the Wiccan and Stregheria perspective. (

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lkrough2 | Feb 10, 2007 |

An important source for wiccan history. (

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lizw | Jan 7, 2006 |

The edition I would recommend is: Leland (1998). Aradia or the Gospel of the witches: A new translation by Mario Pazzaglini and Dina Pazzaglini. Washington, Phoenix Publishing.

I'm not sure about the 2004 translation - the 1998 by the Pazzaglini is very good indeed, in terms of translation; they also offer Leland's translation (in which he often sacrificed meaning for rhyme), an Italian translation and the "original" dialect.

There is some discussion of the veracity of the ms., which is interesting but in some ways ultimately a question for the historian - the impact of Aradia is huge, no matter what the provenance.

tole_lege | Oct 22, 2005 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Charles Leland	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Drew, A.J.	Introduction	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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Series (with order)

Canonical title

Aradia

Original title

Aradia, Gospel of the Witches

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1890

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Epigraph

"It is Diana! Lo!
She rises crescented."
~ Keats
Endymion

"Make more bright
The Star Queen's crescent
on her marriage night."
~ Keats
Endymion

Dedication

First words

Preface: If the reader has ever met with the works of the learned folk-lorist G. Pitre, or the articles contributed by "Lady Vere De Vere" to the Italia Rivista, or that of J . Andrews to Folklore, he will be aware that there are in Italy great numbers of strege, fortune-tellers or witches, who divine by cards, perform strange ceremonies in which spirits are supposed to be invoked, make and sell amulets, and, in fact, comport themselves generally as their reputed kind are wont to do, be they Black Voodoos in America or sorceresses anywhere.

This is the Gospel (Vangelo) of the Witches:
Diana greatly loved her brother Lucifer, the God of the Sun and of the Moon, the God of Light (Splendor),
Who was so proud of his beauty, and who for his pride was driven from Paradise.

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Disambiguation notice

My copy's (c) notice
says this was first published in 1890,
and this volume was republished in 1990.

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Wikipedia in English (9)

Aradia

Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches

Charles Godfrey Leland

Chas S. Clifton

History of Wicca

Skyclad (Neopaganism)

Timeline of religion

Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Hexagradior

Wikipedia:WikiProject Neopaganism/References

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Book description

Aradia, Gospel of the Witches, a most influential and remarkable book, is the forerunner and one of the key sources of the modern Witchcraft revival ...
This work, written during the late 1800s (1890), was the result of a 10-year friendship between Leland and Madeliana, a semi-literate peasant woman born of an Italian witch family. By presenting a strange and intersting mixture of Italian Witchcraft Doctrine, Aradia opened the door to a hidden world.
In the words of author Doreen Valiente, " ... a picture emerges from it of an ancient and secret cult, La Vecchia Religione - 'The Old Religion' - with its distinctive beliefs and practices, time-worn until it has become like some ruined building of olden days with the last remaining stoned gilded by the setting sun."

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