Aradia or the Gospel of the Witches: Encyclopedia - Aradia or the Gospel of the Witches

Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches

Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches is an 1899 book by Charles Godfrey Leland. It is one of the foundational texts of Wicca and Wicca-based Neo-paganism.

The book is an attempt to portray the beliefs and rituals of an underground religious witchcraft tradition in Tuscany that had survived until Leland's claimed discovery of its existence in the 1890s. The veracity of this claim has been disputed by scholars.

A critical edition of the book was released in 1999, the book's hundred-year anniversary, edited by Mario Pazzaglini.

Aradia or the Gospel of the Witches - Claims questioned

Leland's claim that the manuscript was genuine, or even that he received such a manuscript, has been called into question, and has, in some cases, been treated with extreme scepticism. Witchcraft scholar Jeffrey Russell devoted some of his 1980 book A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics and Pagans to arguing against Leland, as well as Jules Michelet and Margaret Murray, both of whom had theorized about religious witchcraft survivals^[3]. In his Triumph of the Moon, historian Ronald Hutton summarizes the controversy as having three possible views:

1. The Vangelo manuscript represents a genuine text from an otherwise undiscovered religion
2. Maddalena wrote the text, either with or without Leland's assistance, possibly drawing from her own background with folklore or witchcraft
3. The entire document was forged by Leland

Hutton himself is a sceptic, but notes that microhistorian Carlo Ginzburg also discovered (markedly different) witchcraft beliefs in 16th century Italy that are well-documented and widely accepted^[4]. Sabina Magliocco examines the possibility that Leland's manuscript represented a folk tradition involving Diana and the Cult of Herodias in her article "Who Was Aradia? The History and Development of a Legend"^[5].

Aradia or the Gospel of the Witches - Influence on Wicca

One of the roles that Aradia has played in the modern Neo-pagan movement has to do with the compatibility of the book's claims with the thesis of Margaret Murray that Renaissance witchcraft represented a survival of ancient Pagan beliefs. After Gerald Gardner's claim to have encountered religious witchcraft in 20th century England, the works of Michelet, Murray and Leland helped support at least the possibility that such a survival could exist.

The Charge of the Goddess, an important piece of liturgy used in Wiccan rituals, was inspired by the speech attributed to Aradia in the first chapter of the book (sometimes called the Charge of Aradia). Some Wiccan traditions use the name "Aradia" to refer to the Goddess or Queen of the Witches, and Diana is also sometimes used^[6]. Hutton further suggests that the reason that Wicca includes skyclad practice is because of a passage in Aradia^[4]:

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Aradia or the Gospel of the Witches", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki