elegantshapeshifter

[elegantshapeshifter]

Skepticism of Medieval Pagan Witchcraft vs Skepticism of the Sabbath

Among scholars, there is ongoing skepticism regarding the physical nature of the Sabbath. Was it truly a physical gathering, or merely a visionary experience—a dream or a trance-induced event?

Interestingly, however, no one disputes the existence of offerings to spirits, whether Major Spirits similar to deities (like leaders of witches, of fairies and/or of the Wild Hunt), or Minor Spirits, such as household spirits, nature spirits, fairies, familiars, and so on. These offerings are well-documented, and in rare cases, we even have surviving witnesses to such practices. Similarly, the occurrence of visionary experiences, whether in dreams or trance states, is universally accepted.

So why is the idea of a physical Sabbath questioned? Not because of the ritual itself—it closely resembles the other documented offerings—but due to its collective aspect: the gathering of multiple participants. Historical evidence does not conclusively confirm whether individual practitioners of offerings or visionary experiences ever gathered for such rituals.

It seems plausible, however, that gatherings might have occurred under specific circumstances. People often shared their visionary experiences, just as they might discuss dreams with family, friends, or acquaintances. Likewise, the custom of offering to spirits was common knowledge. These factors suggest that practitioners who shared similar beliefs and rituals could have agreed to meet and celebrate collectively, leading to what we now identify as the Sabbath.

Oddly, most scholarly perspectives neglect the possibility of a solitary Sabbath. Its structure does not differ significantly from a personal offering. A hybrid form—a visionary experience supported by a physical ritual, such as a solitary Sabbath or an extended offering—also seems overlooked.

The crux of the debate lies here: scholars skeptical of Pagan Survivals or Traditional Witchcraft in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period are not disputing the existence of personal practices like offerings, solitary Sabbaths, dreams, or visionary experiences. Instead, their skepticism focuses exclusively on the idea of collective gatherings among practitioners.

Even if we accept the most extreme skeptical scenario—that none of the countless individuals aware of witchcraft beliefs across Europe ever agreed to meet with a neighbor, friend, or family member in an isolated location (such as a forest, clearing, or abandoned building) to perform these rituals—the core of witchcraft would still stand intact.

After all, an individual Hindu today who offers devotion at a home altar, meditates, or dreams of their deities is still considered Hindu, even without participating in communal festivals. Similarly, we would consider an ancient Roman Pagan performing solitary offerings at their household lararium as authentically Roman Pagan.

Why, then, do we set a higher standard for defining Traditional Witchcraft? Why insisting not only on the presence of devotional and visionary practices but also on physical gatherings of practitioners?

In conclusion, when we delve deeper, we see that the few scholars that apparently seems to be skeptical of the existance of a Pagan Witchcraft in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period are not really genuinely skeptical of its existence. Their doubt pertains only to the physical Sabbath as a collective meeting, rather than the broader, solitary, or hybrid practices that are equally significant to the tradition.

[elegantshapeshifter]

On this Night of the Dead I would like to remember Michael Howard, a prominent figure in the Cultus Sabbati tradition.I would also like to take the opportunity to give attention to some very important figures in Traditional Witchcraft who gave their lives so that the cult would continue: Isobel Gowdie, Bessie Dunlop, Andro Man, Sibillia Zanni, Pierina de' Bugatis, and Bellezza Orsini.

Isobel, who died in 1662, is one of the witches who left as much detail as possible in her process, she influenced Margaret Murray's work the most (and the parts she influenced are the only parts of Murray's content that are worthy!), who in turn contributed to the birth of Wicca and the latter to the rediscovery of Traditional Witchcraft. We are all infinitely indebted to Isobel for being here to worship our beloved Gods. Thank you, thank you very much Isobel.

Bessie Dunlop was a woman whose Familiar Spirit was Tom Reid, a ghost of a soldier who died in battle, and who had a vision of the Queen of Elphame, the Domina Nocturna worshipped in British lands.

Andro Man was a man who had had visions of the Queen of Elphame but also of an angel her partner: Christsonday. Thus, in his vision there was a very strong connection between spirits of the Other World (fairies) and angels.

Sibillia Zanni and Pierina de' Bugatis, on the other hand, were two women burned in Italy, Milan, in 1390, for confessing to worship Madonna Horiente, a Goddess who taught them the properties of herbs. Sibillia died without trying to distort the content of her worship; she died out of love for Madonna Horiente.

Pierina, on the other hand, because of unspeakable tortures could not make it and said she worshipped Lucibello, as the inquisitors had forced her to do, but they still sent her to her death. But it does not matter, because they both showed courage above that of anyone else, and we remember them as martyrs of our Ancient Tradition, a tradition that some would like to induce us to forget, because "reconstructionism is dead paper," but we do not forget the blood, nor the tears that spread on the ground mark the history of our worship.

Finally, we remember Bellezza, from Collevecchio, who in the first half of the 1500s was tried and committed suicide in her cell with a nail driven into her throat. Thanks to her we know the connection between Epiphany and witchcraft; thanks to her the cult of Befania has come down to us.

A thought to them and the other women (and other men, to a lesser extent) martyrs of Witchcraft, on this Night of the Dead.

[elegantshapeshifter]

The Devil, Yahweh, Baal, Bael and the confusion: why Natib Qadish (ie Canaanite Paganism) is important to avoid confusion in European Traditional Witchcraft

Hello everybody!

Many of you asked me why did I begin to talk about Natib Qadish, ie Canaanite Paganism, on this blog, whose main topic is European Traditional Witchcraft.

First of all, what is Traditional Witchcraft? Is the contemporary attempt to reconstruct European Pagan Survivals in Middle Ages and Early Modern Period.

While these survivals were usually heavy Christianized, many of them were demonized or "fairicized".

So we have three kinds of Pagan Survivals: Christianization, such as Gods who became Saints, Fairicizations, such as Gods who became Fairies and Nature Spirits or "Neutral Spirits", neither Good nor Evil, and finally Demonization, ie Gods who became Demons.

While Christianization lead to the eventual complete assimilization of those Gods with saints, at such extent that nowdays no devotee of such saints see them as "masks for the ancient Gods", there was still a definitive distinction and independence of the Demonized and Fairicized Characters from mainstream Christianity.

However, this opposition between the Gods-Demons and the Christian pantheon, lead us to think: is this opposition not only cultural but also theologically relevant?

Is this opposition between Yahweh and the Demonized Gods theologically relevant or is it just a cultural particularity?

Because, while we can and should respect all the religions, Christianity included, we cannot say just "let's respect Christianity and let's stop to think".

Because, while Christianity historically (not necessarily nowdays, because a lot of Christians see the Gods as other ways to their God, but I say from theologically informed view from the Gospels and mainstream Christianity throughout most of the centuries) saw the Gods as Demons, how should we see Yahweh?

Who is Yahweh?

We know that many of those Demons who appear in Grimoires and also in legends and tales all around the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period have strange names, such as "Bael", "Astaroth"... where are those name from?

They were ancient Canaanite Gods. Yeah, Canaanite Gods who still were worked with as demons in Christian Middle Ages and Early Modern Period.

So, let's recap:

Pagan Gods survive

They survive but as Demons

Demons are usually named as Canaanite Gods

So... why are those Gods/Demons Canaanite? And what is the relationship of all this with Yahweh?

We know from historical sources and the Bible that Ancient Israelites worshipped many Gods, such as Baal and the "Queen of Heaven", Asherah or Astarte.

The difference between the Bible and historical sources is that the Bible says that it was a Canaanite influence from foreigners, while the historical sources says that Israelites were originally polytheistic and indistinguishable from other Canaanites.

And well, those names, those same names, Baal, Asherah and Astarte, are the names that will appear in the names of demons such as Bael and Astaroth.

So, does this mean that we have to choose between Baal/Bael and Astaroth/Astarte vs Yahweh?

Because, if we stop here, from only the acceptance of the biblical and medieval sources, it seems like there is a battle in the sky: Yahweh vs Baal and Asherah or Bael and Astaroth.

You either worship the Demonized Gods or work with demons in Grimoires, and you side with the Canaanites, or you worship God and you side with Yahweh.

However, this is just a superficial way of viewing it.

Another way, it's to see who is Yahweh.

Is Yahweh really in opposition to Paganism?

Where does Yahweh comes from?

And here Natib Qadish help us to understand that actually Yahweh is a variation of Baal Hadad, another Storm God that came from the Shasu or Kenites.

Storm Gods, such as Baal and Yahweh, were then merged with Sky Gods such as El.

Storm is a content while Sky is a container.

Similarly it happened in Proto Indoeuropean religion with Perkunos (Storm God) and Dyeus (Sky God). In fact in many Indoeuropean Paganisms, the storm God absorbed the sky God, such as with Perun, or viceversa the sky God absorbed the storm God, such as with Zeus.

So we don't have a battle in the sky.

The Gods didn't lose against another different God.

We simply have:

Sky Gods such as El and Dyeus

Storm Gods such as Baal, Yahweh and Perkunos

It means that, when somebody in the middle ages worked with the demon Bael, they didn't work with an Entity against Yahweh.

They worked with another name for Yahweh.

However, this give us another worldview.

We can either think that we should "pick a side", either with Yahweh or with the Demons/Gods.

Or we can see that there are multiple cultural expressions of the Sky and Storm Gods, one of which is Yahweh.

So, Canaanite Paganism knowledge is essentially because if we lack these informations, we fall in the idea that there is a Deity that hates our Deities and that there is a battle in the sky, with either one God that is stronger than others, or with one God that can and likes to destroy temples for the other Gods because is an enemy to them and to their devotees.

I don't know you, but I don't like to think that there is a Deity that hates me :D

I think that, despite being Pagans, we should know who Yahweh is, because as contemporary practitioners we usually ask ourselves why did the Gods allowed temples to be destroyed.

And Canaanite Paganism allow us to understand that it's due to a cultural and human interpretation, and not because of a battle in the sky.

Because Yahweh is Baal is Bael, and the Divine spirit of the Storm cannot willingly see itself as the enemy.

Humans, only humans are enemies to each others.

Yahweh is Bael. God and Demon are one.

[elegantshapeshifter]

I think you misunderstood me.

I'm not talking about Neoplatonism, but a tendence towards the One.

As you correctly said, Pagan Neoplatonists approached the One from the perspective of the Gods, while according to me to believe that you can approach the One directly is what leads towards Monotheism, and it's the way in which Christianity used, edited and adopted Neoplatonism.

For the point related to Asherah and Natib Qadish, I see a huge difference between the platforms, Tumblr and Youtube.

In Youtube, you have every time a debate about "what is more likely?", while in Tumblr the theological debate seems to be conflated with the cultural acceptance.

I know that for a long time Gatekeeping has been a problem, and so it's important to state that every kind of practice and belief is valid.

But that is the cultural view. Culturally, of course it doesn't matter about the Israelitic past because Judaism and Christianity are different religions than Natib Qadish.

They still are valid religions.

However, in the marketplace of religions, there isn't just the cultural viewpoint, there is also the probability point of view.

The theological debate. When you ask yourself: "what's the evidence that actually this theology is what is really happeninf upthere in the sky?"

And in Youtube you find a lot of debates about what is more likely: Christians debate Atheists who debate Muslims who debate Jews who debate Pagans who debate Buddhists who debate Hindus and so on.

But this doesn't mean that these religion (and areligion for Atheism) aren't valid and shouldn't be respected.

It's another kind of way to speak.

It's for those who, while respecting each other and respecting the other religions, ask themselves: "what is more likely?"

I think in this platform debates are really seen as something bad, because it's another kind of logic. If you debate Christianity, here people assume you have Christians. There isn't the idea behind that you are trying to do a theological debate while still respecting the other person even when you are listing the reasons why you don't think that what they think is ""happening in the sky"" is not true.

I know that Christianity isn't Natib Qadish. I know that Judaism isn't Natib Qadish.

I respect Jews and Christians.

But theological debate can happen even if you respect other people.

Because theological debates aren't "is this religion culturally valid?"

But "let's debate together with respect but sincerity about which of our views is more likely to represent "what is happening in the sky"".

Even those debates don't have the presumption to say the final word, it's simply a comparison of points of views.

If we just say "it's all perfectly valid, whether you believe that there is one or many Gods, and reincarnation and fixed otherworld and resurrection and nothing after we die" we are not saying anything.

Yeah, it's valid, but if I'm asking questions and want to compare the different answers in order to see where are the evidences FOR ME, I need a debate.

If people don't like debates they are free to avoid them.

But debating people doesn't mean hating people or seeing as less valid their religion.

It's just shared thinking about what's more likely for oneself to be "happening in the sky".

So, while culturally I respect both Christianity, Judaism and Islam, I don't think they represent what, according to me, is "happening in the sky".

And, according to me, if you believe that Yahweh exists and is the husband of Asherah, the idea of Jesus as the son of the monotheistic God doesn't make sense.

However, if you don't believe in Asherah, of course this doesn't change abrahamic monotheistic ideas.

But for me, the first attestations of Yahweh are evidences that "in the sky' Yahweh exists. And attestations of Asherah are evidences that "in the sky" Asherah exists.

If we take those as evidences for "what is happening in the sky", then it's more difficult to accomodate this with the Jesus story.

That is all that I'm saying.

Steven Dillon's conversion to Christianity: what does it mean to Hellenism and Pagan Community?

Steven Dillon, the author of "The Case for Polytheism" and "Pagan Portals - Polytheism: A Platonic Approach", recently returned to Christianity.

This event made me think a lot. I think this event can teach us that the more you are concerned with "the One" and you think it can respond, the more likely you will go towards monotheism.

The point is that "the One" is us, and is "a thing", not "somebody".

The One is not a person. This is the reason why we worship the Gods, they are persons.

The One, the All, is so big that the idea that it can listen is nonsense.

Monotheism emerges when you think the entire universe can listen to you. Polytheism is the humbleness to understand that only certain parts of the Universe can listen to you.

And when you think you are talking to the One you are always actually talking to a part of it.

This is the reason why Christ, Yahweh, Allah, etc. are parts of the One and not the One.

Even attempts to interact with the entirety of the One are just interactions with parts of the One, ie one of the many Gods.

This is confirmed by Aleister Crowley's experience, we can read from the Liber Astarte Vel Berylli that he considered Allah, Christ and Yahweh as Parts or Aspects of the One, exactly as other Polytheistic Deities, and not as the All/the One in its entirety:

"Let the devotee consider well that […] Christ and Osiris be one […]".

"As for Deities with whose nature no Image is compatible, let them be worshipped in an empty shrine. Such are Brahma, and Allah. Also some postcaptivity conceptions of Jehovah".

"[…] the particular Deity be himself savage and relentless; as Jehovah or Kali."

-

Moreover, Dillon was (is?) Platonic, and the problem is even worse, because sadly the reaction to the problem of evil is very similar between Platonism and Christianity.

However, the Stoic (and maybe the Hindu and Buddhist) worldview completely destroys the problem of evil, because if the Divine is good and we simply don't perceive the goodness and that is what evil is, ie ignorance or misperception, then the problem of evil is solved.

If we, instead, perceive the evil as something real and the Gods as totally good not evil, the problem of evil remains.

-

Finally, a Pagan that comes back to Christianity usually doesn't know history very well, and is unaware of Natib Qadish, ie Modern Canaanite Religion or Neopaganism.

If you listen to Natib Qadish (ie Canaanite and Israelite Polytheistic Neopaganism) and Wathanism (Arabian pre-Islamic Polytheistic Neopaganism) practitioners' voices, you cannot come back to Christianity.

In fact, Christianity doesn't make any sense: Yahweh is a Storm God that comes from Edom to Israel through the Kenites or Shasu, which were nomads. His name meant "to blow", and so he was a variation of Baal Hadad.

In the origin, El was the father of Baal/Yahweh, and his sister was Anat and his mother Asherah. Later, El ie the Sky God and Yahweh ie the Storm God, merged and so Yahweh was seen as the husband of the Goddess Asherah.

In fact in Kuntillet Arjud it's possible to see blessings by "Yahweh and his Asherah". Moreover, even the Bible (read The Book of Judges) witness that people worshipped Asherah/Astarte and Baal together with YHWH.

In Elephantine in Egypt there was a Jewish temple for Yahu-Anat, ie both Anat and YHWH.

So how can Jesus be the son of the only God Yahweh if Yahweh was never a monotheistic God before the Josiah's reform that made Judaism monotheistic?

If Judaism is originally polytheistic then Christianity makes no sense.

By reading the "Cycle of Baal" we'll discover the origin of the Biblical Deity (or Deities?).

I end my dissertation with some interesting quotes from the Bible:

Jeremiah 7:

"17 Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven."

Jeremiah 44:

"17 We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm. 18 But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine.”

"19 The women added, “When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes impressed with her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?”"

"25 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives have done what you said you would do when you promised, ‘We will certainly carry out the vows we made to burn incense and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.’"

[elegantshapeshifter]

Natib Qadish is so fascinating *_*

My country has been invaded by Punics/Carthaginians, and so I feel this connection, even if it's only intellectual.

However, I remember when I talked to some Jehovah's Witnesses, and when they knew that I was Pagan, they tried to explain to me the Baal episode, in which Yahweh have done the miracle while Baal apparently not.

My answer was that this meant that Baal was a high Entity, so only lesser Entities, closer to the earthly plan, were able to respond to the earthly needs, while higher beings were more detached by earthly affairs and so from miracles.

I also quoted the Bible that says the same:

"1 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God"

(Deuteronomy 13)

They didn't know how to reply ahahahaha

But after that episode I'm so much in (intellectual) admiration towards Baal and Asherah

[elegantshapeshifter]

Steven Dillon's conversion to Christianity: what does it mean to Hellenism and Pagan Community?

Steven Dillon, the author of "The Case for Polytheism" and "Pagan Portals - Polytheism: A Platonic Approach", recently returned to Christianity.

This event made me think a lot. I think this event can teach us that the more you are concerned with "the One" and you think it can respond, the more likely you will go towards monotheism.

The point is that "the One" is us, and is "a thing", not "somebody".

The One is not a person. This is the reason why we worship the Gods, they are persons.

The One, the All, is so big that the idea that it can listen is nonsense.

Monotheism emerges when you think the entire universe can listen to you. Polytheism is the humbleness to understand that only certain parts of the Universe can listen to you.

And when you think you are talking to the One you are always actually talking to a part of it.

This is the reason why Christ, Yahweh, Allah, etc. are parts of the One and not the One.

Even attempts to interact with the entirety of the One are just interactions with parts of the One, ie one of the many Gods.

This is confirmed by Aleister Crowley's experience, we can read from the Liber Astarte Vel Berylli that he considered Allah, Christ and Yahweh as Parts or Aspects of the One, exactly as other Polytheistic Deities, and not as the All/the One in its entirety:

"Let the devotee consider well that […] Christ and Osiris be one […]".

"As for Deities with whose nature no Image is compatible, let them be worshipped in an empty shrine. Such are Brahma, and Allah. Also some postcaptivity conceptions of Jehovah".

"[…] the particular Deity be himself savage and relentless; as Jehovah or Kali."

-

Moreover, Dillon was (is?) Platonic, and the problem is even worse, because sadly the reaction to the problem of evil is very similar between Platonism and Christianity.

However, the Stoic (and maybe the Hindu and Buddhist) worldview completely destroys the problem of evil, because if the Divine is good and we simply don't perceive the goodness and that is what evil is, ie ignorance or misperception, then the problem of evil is solved.

If we, instead, perceive the evil as something real and the Gods as totally good not evil, the problem of evil remains.

-

Finally, a Pagan that comes back to Christianity usually doesn't know history very well, and is unaware of Natib Qadish, ie Modern Canaanite Religion or Neopaganism.

If you listen to Natib Qadish (ie Canaanite and Israelite Polytheistic Neopaganism) and Wathanism (Arabian pre-Islamic Polytheistic Neopaganism) practitioners' voices, you cannot come back to Christianity.

In fact, Christianity doesn't make any sense: Yahweh is a Storm God that comes from Edom to Israel through the Kenites or Shasu, which were nomads. His name meant "to blow", and so he was a variation of Baal Hadad.

In the origin, El was the father of Baal/Yahweh, and his sister was Anat and his mother Asherah. Later, El ie the Sky God and Yahweh ie the Storm God, merged and so Yahweh was seen as the husband of the Goddess Asherah.

In fact in Kuntillet Arjud it's possible to see blessings by "Yahweh and his Asherah". Moreover, even the Bible (read The Book of Judges) witness that people worshipped Asherah/Astarte and Baal together with YHWH.

In Elephantine in Egypt there was a Jewish temple for Yahu-Anat, ie both Anat and YHWH.

So how can Jesus be the son of the only God Yahweh if Yahweh was never a monotheistic God before the Josiah's reform that made Judaism monotheistic?

If Judaism is originally polytheistic then Christianity makes no sense.

By reading the "Cycle of Baal" we'll discover the origin of the Biblical Deity (or Deities?).

I end my dissertation with some interesting quotes from the Bible:

Jeremiah 7:

"17 Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven."

Jeremiah 44:

"17 We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm. 18 But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine.”

"19 The women added, “When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes impressed with her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?”"

"25 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives have done what you said you would do when you promised, ‘We will certainly carry out the vows we made to burn incense and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.’"

[elegantshapeshifter]

Tales of regional devils, elements of Christianity, remnants of beliefs in old Slavonic spirits and demons, combined with variations in folklore to provide a rich tapestry of demonology. Since in the majority of Polish witchcraft confessions there were no references to familiars, it can be suggested that the personification of the devil was an analogous concept. 

However, the familiar nature of devils could equally be perceived as a continuation of the tradition of the domovoi (house spirits), who were an important part of ancient Slavonic mythology. They were mischievous, rather than harmful spirits who looked afer the home and were placated with offerings of food. Christianity, according to Pełka and Baranowski, demonized these harmless creatures. The lingering spirit of the Christian could conveniently be viewed as a Slavonic water or forest spirit, and many of them were identified with liminal Christian situations, such as death without the appropriate rites, for example suicides or the death of unbaptized infants. Thus from a brief examination of the trial records and printed sources, one can see that the portrait of the devil serves a variety of purposes and beliefs and appears to be distinctly different within elite and popular cultures.

- Jewish, Noble, German, or Peasant? The Devil in Early Modern Poland by Wanda Wyporska.  [Demons, Spirits, Witches Vol. 2 :Christian Demonology And Popular Mythology - Gábor Klaniczay, Éva Pócs (Eds.)]

[elegantshapeshifter]

"I can't connect to nature because I live in a city" Incorrect.

"I can't connect to nature because I can't travel" Nuh-uh.

"I can't connect to nature because I-" Wrong.

Anyone can connect to nature. Please, remove the mindset that nature is something *out there*. Nature is all around you.

The dandelions peeking through pavement cracks, the birds you don't notice on your windowsill, the brambles in the alleys, the storms and sunshine.

All of this is nature. You are surrounded by it. Notice it, learn about it. Write down when you notice the days getting longer, when more butterflies appear and when ripen blackberries ripen. Connect to the nature that lives outside your window, just past the boundary of your front door.

Watch nature documentaries, build a small windowsill garden, let the spider in your room corner stay for a while.

Connection is not determined by proximity, but by effort.

[elegantshapeshifter]

Friendly reminder to witches and pagans who want to incorporate ancestral beliefs into their practice: be mindful that a lot of modern nations and their current dominant culture are relatively new, and even the concept of a national identity is very, very modern. Modern borders may not necessarily reflect the world your ancestors lived in.

For example: immigration documents record my great-great-great grandparents immigrating from Germany in the 1870s. But my ancestors weren't German -- they were Bavarian. They were both born in the country of Bavaria and fled to the USA after the unification of the German Reich (no, not that one). They wouldn't have spoken German as a first language -- they would have spoken Bavarian. And if I wanted to incorporate their culture into my practice, I would need to narrow my search to Bavarian folk practices. Other regional practices from other parts of modern Germany wouldn't have been relevant to my ancestors.

There's a similar situation with another great-great-great grandfather, who immigrated in the 1850s iirc. He was from Lombardy, near Milan, and was fleeing the unification of the Kingdom of Italy. He probably very much did not identify as Italian.

And on the other side of my family we have a Northern English line we've been able to trace back to the 1100s, and those ancestors from the Middle Ages probably identified as Northumbrian rather than as English. My "Scottish" ancestry probably actually comes from that same line, because Northumbria was a border state between England and Scotland.

Modern resources like Ancestry.com and other genealogy sites will use modern country names and borders, which can sometimes give us false understandings of where our ancestors actually came from. This is why it's important to do your own research and fact-check outside the ancestry documents.

[elegantshapeshifter]

There's levels to ancestral connection, and you shouldn't skip any of them.

Take this as your reminder to first of all, spend time with your spirits, without expecting anything in return. Heavy on that last part. You don't make and maintain a genuine connection with someone just by showing up to their doorstep every time you need something from them. Treat them as people because they are. Your people. You should care for them as much as they care for you.

Be it ancestors (specifically direct blood lineage or adoptive family, any deceased human relative) or ancestral spirits (in general, that is, all ancestral allies and hereditary connections not just your ancestors). Just make time to hang out. Walk up to their space, a cup of your favorite drink in hand, give them their preferred drink and just chat. Don't ask anything in return. If you have an altar for them, do that. But it can be just going to visit their graves and giving libations and flowers, and telling them how your life's going, sharing memories together, remembrance, or just to listen. It can also be going to the beach or a river, and same thing, pour a drink and talk to them, and listen back. It can be your plant allies, while you're watering them, or putting eggshells or honey or sugar water or other good nutrients and fertilizers on their soil. It can be visiting your ancestors in dreams, and spending time with them there. There's so many ways to do this.

The second level to this is letting them sit in your body too. Listen. Become familiar with how they make you feel. With the signs of their arrival and presence. With the signs they communicate with and what they mean to you. With how they let you know they have a message, or that they're in for a visit. And let them in. Dance to your grandma's favorite beats. Sing your grandpa's favorite songs. Make a family recipe and share a meal with them, enjoy it for them and with them.

Ancestral reverence isn't just the big rituals and they're not the most important aspect of it, it is the everyday coexistence, in your little but constant everyday ways.

Do as you do but also as they did. You're an extension of them and they're an extension of you. They not only walk with you, you carry them within you.

Honor that.

[elegantshapeshifter]

Trance

Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli or is selectively responsive. This state is necessary to carry out a successful travel outside the body and in ancient times, the most used tecniques were an ointment based on allucinogenic herbs and hydromancy.

HYDROMANCY IN THE PAST

Éva Pócs, a Hungarian ethnographer and folklorist, reports in her book about táltos, a folkloric figure with supernatural powers similar to a shaman, “Between the Living and the Dead“ a very interesting case: in a XVIII trial against three táltos, a witness claimed to have seen one of them go outside at dawn on the last day of Pentecost, pick up a plate, look into it and transform in a fish. After that, she disappeared for three days. Pócs considers this one of the most interesting details, since it describes a real technique of travel outside the body.

Andrea Romanazzi in his “Guida alle streghe in Italia” reports that on the day of the dead it was possible to see the shadows of the dead inside bowls of water. Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg in his “Storia Notturna“reports that sometimes the Dominae Nocturnae tied to Witchcraft, like Fraw Holt, showed to the mortals the images of the dead and their destiny in basins of water. Still Ginzburg in his “Benandanti“, writes about a case that tells us how the procedure for hydromancy could be structured (the accused was trying to contact entities tied with Witchcraft):

The case of Lucrezia Peloso is very similar: during her process in 1582 the accuser affirmed:”I’m sayin that Lucretia, wife of Hieronimo Peloso does the anguistara and she told me that she is sure to be able to see the future and the past, that she did it multiple times and that it’s not against the church, that it’s actually a holy thing to do the anguistara.” The anguistara (jug) is a rite that put together christian and pagan proceedings: they would have either a virgin or a pregnant woman take water from three wells during the night of St. John and put it aside. When needed, a jug would be filled with it and either a virgin or a pregnant woman would kneel before a candle, recite three Pater Noster, three Hail Mary, the Prayer to Saint John and look into the jug. In the case of Giuliano Verdena we just read about a particular formula “White angel, holy angel”. This verse was widespread in multiple variants and employed for different purposes, like finding a lost or stolen possession. Some of the variants are:

White angel, black angel show me who took my money

White angel and holy angel, for your holyness and my purity, show me who took these money

White angel, Holy angel, for your holyness and my purity, show me the truth and who took [item]

This angel was probably a Spirit associated with water or the person’s guardian angel.

Francesca Medri, a woman that had always live in a small village and grew up in a magic culture that she had deeply assimilated, in one of her testimonies, told the inquisitor to have a sort of elf always around her, that in a precedent recount she had overlapped with the figure of an angel, that could be the same who helped her to find lost items during the anguistara rite.

EYE FIXITY

Sometimes, the scrying happened without a pre-established material base: it was pure and simple eye fixity a point. Emma Wilby in her “Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits” recounts the episode of a man in the 1600s that saw the King and Queen of Fairies by gazing into falling fern seeds. Robert Kirk in his “The Secret Commonwealth”, reveals that scottish clairvoyants could see the Fairies thanks to eye fixity and that some could force it, by keeping said eye fixity for prolonged time. The pierced stone used to see Fairies that it’s often found in folklore, probably does the same thing.

To wrap it up, the main non-insomniis tecnique of contact with the Other Side in Traditional Witchcraft was tied to scrying either on a specific surface (hydromancy) or even without it, like the british cases. The aid of virgins, children and pregnant women is obviously not necessary, although the “angel white/black/holy” formula can be used, adapting certain parts.

[Translated and adapted from https://tradizioneitaliana.wordpress.com/2018/04/04/introduzione-alla-stregoneria-tradizionale-v-la-trance/]

Mentioned books:

Between the Living and the Dead: A Perspective on Witches and Seers in the Early Modern Age: A Perspective on Seers and Witches in Early Modern Age by Éva Pócs

Guida alle streghe in Italia by Andrea Romanazzi

Storia notturna. Una decifrazione del sabba (published in english as “Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath”) by Carlo Ginzburg

The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries by Carlo Ginzburg

Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic by Emma Wilby

The Secret Commonwealth by Robert Kirk

[elegantshapeshifter]

The idea that some pagans have that you cannot view a deity as a lover, a close friend, as your child, as your parent, is so funny to me as someone who is both Hindu and pagan

In bhakti, there are different types of Bhava, or feelings. There is Shanta Bhava, where the devotee is peaceful. Dasya Bhava, where one serves the deity wholeheartedly and finds joy and bliss in service. Sakhya Bhava, where the deity is a friend of the devotee. Vatsalya Bhava, where the devotee sees the deity as their child. Madhurya/Kanta Bhava, where the devotee sees the deity as their lover.

And to call these practices "humanization of deities" just feels disrespectful to me. If you don't understand it then that's completely fine. But to disrespect forms of devotion just because you think it's "too weird to be real" is just not okay.

[elegantshapeshifter]

Hindus are being gangraped, lynched, and having their property destroyed in Bangladesh rn. Amidst all the news coming out of there don't forget about the minority that always ends up dealing with the brunt of chaos. in 1971 most of the victims of the genocide were Bangladeshi Hindus and everyone conveniently leaves this detail out.

(And i know some mf will either no true scotsman this or say that it's all lies and that all the videos coming out are fake or propaganda from the BJP or something instead of another event in a long chain of violence. The Hindu population has crashed from 30% at independence to 9% today. Estimates say that in the next 30 years, Hindus will be extinct in Bangladesh)

[elegantshapeshifter]

What is Traditional Witchcraft?

With the term Traditional Witchcraft we are designating the recovering of Historical Witchcraft, meaning all the cults that are proven to be present in Europe between the X and the XVIII a.C.

Those cults had a pre-christian origin, but were not exact copies of the Religions of the Gentiles (Roman, Greek, Celtic, Germanic, etc.) since around the X century, as attested by the Canon Episcopi (906 e.v.), in the Frank-Germanic area there was a peculiar commixture of elements, both pagan and christian, that originated Medieval Witchcraft as a whole.

The fundamental difference between Medieval Witchcraft and the Religions of the Gentiles is the Animism shift: Gods started to be considered simply Spirits, more powerful, but Spirits nonetheless.

The Spirits that a Witch worked with, the Witch’s allies, were called Familiars, so we could say that Historical Witchcraft was a cult of Familiars.

From the Frank-Germanic area, Traditional Witchcraft found its ways throughout all of Europe, mostly thanks to the sermons of the christian preachers against these beliefs, that sorted the opposite effect, spreading them through the whole continent.

Combining and interlocking with the local prechristian remainings in the various countries, regions and cities, Traditional Witchcraft was declined in different variants in every place it’s ever got to: we have a Traditional Sicilian Witchcraft, where the practitioners were called Donne di Fuori and were lead by a Regina and Re delle Fate, a Traditional Calabrese Witchcraft tied to the cult of the Fate, and so on.

If we use the term Traditional Witchcraft as a synonym of its contemporary recover, we can make a distinction between:

- Hereditary: encompasses all the practices that allege to derive directly form all the way back to the age of Historical Witchcraft, being passed on without interruptions. (Cochrane, Grimassi, ecc.) Of course, academics do not acknowledge the existence of any of these. For instance, prof. Magliocco verified that Grimassi did inherit some magical practices from italian relatives, but it wasn’t a cult; Grimassi took the devotional aspect from Wicca. Similar considerations were made for the other hereditary traditions.

- Revivalist: inspired by folklore, the trials and the figure of the Witch with no presumption of inheritance. Leave speace for personal initiative and the influence of other traditions, mostry contemporary, like Wicca and other pagan religions, without slavishly following history in every minute detail. Most notable revivalist authors are: Gemma Gary, Nigel Pearson, Nigel Jackson, Paul Huson, Robin Artisson, Sarah Ann Lawless, Peter Paddon.

- Reconstructionist: tries to recover, starting from the thorough study of folklore, trials and historical documents, the exact practices and beliefs of the Historical Witchcraft. For instance, the pantheon of Spirits, the festivities, the structure of the Sabbas, the structure of the offers and so on. An important aspect for those who practice Reconstructionism is the recovery of the forgotten names of the “Gods” (it would be more correct to say, Major Familiars, or Deific Familiars), that can be found only in the documents of the trials and in folklore. The idea is to reopen the connection with these Spirits. Reconstructionism means paying homage to those Spirits and allow those interested to start a connection with them.

In addition to this first division, practitioners trace another distinction between:

Operative Witchcraft: the magic part, spells, hexes, markings, divinations and all that has to deal with obtaining something o with the oracular function, obtaining knowledge from what is unknown.

Ritual Witchcraft: the devotional, religious aspect of Witchcraft.

In Historical Witchcraft and, subsequently in Reconstructionist Traditional Witchcraft, that is its recover to the present day, this aspect develops in different practices:

Choosing a Deific or Major Familiar

The Table of Offers in its honour

The Waiver of Christianity (optional)

Working in Trance (often using Hydromancy)

Working in Somniis (in dreams)

Discovering your Animal Familiar

The offer to the Animal Familiar and other Familiars you want to work with (Plant, Dead, Faery, etc)

Celebrating Sabbas in particular dates (different from the ones in Neopagan Wheel of the Year)

The Procession of the Dominae Nocturnae

The physical execution of the Wild Hunt

[Translated and adapted from https://tradizioneitaliana.wordpress.com/2018/04/04/introduzione-alla-stregoneria-tradizionale-i-cose-la-s-t/]

[elegantshapeshifter]

The Festival of the snake catchers or snake-charmers) (Festa dei Serpari di Cocullo) is an annual festival held on May 1 in Cocullo, Italy in honour of St. Dominic di Sora, patron saint protecting against snakebite and toothache.

Its origins date back to paganism and have roots in an ancient celebration in honour of the Italian goddess Angitia (goddess of snake-charmers). The festival involves a procession carrying the statue of St. Dominic, draped with live snakes, through the streets of the village.

[elegantshapeshifter]

Religious Medievalism: “Stregheria”, Wicca and History - part 2

[TN: thank you for the hearts and reblogs! I’m happy that you appreciate these translations! If sometimes they sound weird is because English is not my first language and the articles are written in proper, well phrased Italian, which makes it more difficult to translate.

I also want to reiterate that this article is a translation, synthesis and re-elaboration of the following articles

https://tradizioneitaliana.wordpress.com/2020/11/12/medievalismo-religioso-stregheria-wicca-e-storia/

https://medievaleggiando.it/la-legittimazione-storica-della-wicca-margaret-murray-e-la-manipolazione-delle-fonti/

https://medievaleggiando.it/il-vangelo-delle-streghe-e-linizio-della-wicca-il-fascino-di-un-falso-storico/

The first being a rectification of the two that follow.

Lastly, I lost this article two times. I had to rewrite the whole thing TWO TIMES. Imma take a well-deserved nap rn. Enjoy the reading, witches! ]

It’s correct to talk about pre-christian remainders that are confirmed by the trial’s documents. This remainders aren’t supposed to be considered as untouched, but as rielaborations influenced by the christian context; they are created in the Medieval age from previous remainders and, sometimes, even figures that were apart from the pre-existing Divinities, that emerged in the Medieval collective immagination to satisfy the needs that the Christianity wasn’t able to satisfy; an actual Medieval Pantheon of Spirits.

Historical sources (Burchard of Worms, William of Auvergne and many others) confirm the existence of food offerings to these entities. They were believed to go from home to home to consume the offering, dance, celebrate and bless the houses, followed by a Procession of female Spirits (Procession of the Dominae Nocturnae) or male Spirits (Wild Hunt/Procession of the Dead).

The existence of physical offerings demonstrates the effective existence of a cult of these new Medieval divinities, even if in a christian society and operated by people that probably defined themselves as christians.

A minority of people (that could sometimes even decide to waiver christianity, except for the social obligations) had ecstatic experiences of travel with said Procession of Spirits. In time, this legend was modified and altered, until it became the legend of the Ludus (Sabba), the celebrations that played out in one place and didn’t involve going from home to home; from then on the people that were having these experiences started reporting of going to the Ludus (Sabba) by flight.

In Europe’s Inner Dreams, Norman Cohn states that some of these people did truly dream of being Witches and to have partecipated to Ludus (Sabba) even though they never moved from their home.

From then on, we start referring to the Dream Cult of Witchcraft by affirming the presence of:

Legends of Witchcraft (Procession, Ludus (Sabba), etc)

Spirits tied to non-christian, medieval figures, similar to Gods

People that, influenced by those legends, experienced them in ecstatic / oniric fashion

Cohn states that the physical rite was rarely executed in the past and that it was consistently performed only in medieval and modern times, demonstrating the presence of a yearning to experiment altered states of consciousness, other realities, other worlds, and the will to interact with Spirits.

The Ludus (Sabba), happened mainly in somniis (in dream), but it could also be emulated in physical form, through a process called ostension; in this regard, Sabina Magliocco, professor of Anthropology and Religion at the University of British Columbia, writes:

[Sabina Magliocco. Who Was Aradia? The History and Development of a Legend. Pomegranate: The Journal of Pagan Studies, vol. 18, 2002.]

LELAND’S GOSPEL OF ARADIA

Diana/Herodiade’s presence in tuscanian folklore as Spirits at the head of the Witches is attested long before Leland; in C15th BCE, the archbishop of Florence, Saint Antoninus of Florence while writing about popular beliefs reported:

“De quibusdam aliis superstitionibus, et primo de mulieribus credentibus se cum Diana vel Herodiade nocturnis horis equitare, vel se in alias creaturas transformari, ut dicitur de his, quae vulgariter dicuntur Streghe vel Ianutiche”.

[Giuseppe Bonomo. Caccia alle streghe. La credenza nelle streghe dal sec. XIII al XIX con particolare riferimento all’Italia. Palumbo Editore, 1985]

Sabina Magliocco demonstrated that similar variants of Aradia (Arada, Araja, Sa Rejusta, Redodesa, etc) existed in various regional folklores that referred to Herodias, so it’s probable that Aradia was an abbreviation or corruption of Herodias. Legends on Herodias and Diana that fly in the air at the head of the Witches are present in all of Europe, since Medieval times onward.

[Sabina Magliocco. “Aradia in Sardinia: the Archeology of a Folk Character”, in D. Green and D. Evans, ed., Ten Years of Triumph of the Moon: Essays in Honor of Ronald Hutton, 40–60. Bristol, UK: Hidden Publishing, 2009.]

[Sabina Magliocco. Who Was Aradia? The History and Development of a Legend. The Pomegranate: The Journal of Pagan Studies, Issue 18, Feb. 2002.]

We can also rule out that the Gospel was completely a fabrication from Leland, since the medievalist Robert Mathiesen proved by analizing the papers, that the Italian sections were almost untouched except for corrections of “precisely the sort that a proofreader would make as he compared his copy to the original”.

[Robert Mathiesen, Charles G. Leland and the Witches of Italy: The Origin of Aradia, in Mario Pazzaglini (ed.), Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, A New Translation, Blaine, Washington, Phoenix Publishing, Inc., 1998.]

Mathiesen also demonstrated that the original Gospel was actually a lot smaller and that it has been filled with other material coming from folk tales and legends that he had previously gathered and wrote down in these volumes: “Etruscan Roman Remains in Popular Tradition” (1892), “Legends of Florence Collected From the People” (1896) and “Unpublished Legends of Virgil” (1899).

Probably, Maddalena only transcribed the folk legend of Diana/Aradia, that Leland then has assembled with many other legends that he had collected before.

In summary, there’s no universal Gospel of the Witches, no ancient text, but many legends that are probably ancient or re-elaborations deriving from an ancient substrate, since the theme of Diana/Herodiade as the heads of the Witches has medieval origins.

The presence of legends leads us to believe that someone did indeed put them in place, practicing ostensions: many people starting from tales and popular beliefs, tend to start emulating them. In a religious context, this means that probably there were believers in a cult that worshipped Diana, Aradia/Erodiade and Lucifer/Apollo, but it was NOT a giant alternative religious group or cults that were communicating with other cults that practiced the same faith in different places; they were merely spontaneous emulations of people that sometimes would gather with friends and relatives to emulate these legends.

 Sources:

The following articles are the main source for the whole article, that is merely a translation and re-elaboration of them

https://tradizioneitaliana.wordpress.com/2020/11/12/medievalismo-religioso-stregheria-wicca-e-storia/

https://medievaleggiando.it/la-legittimazione-storica-della-wicca-margaret-murray-e-la-manipolazione-delle-fonti/

https://medievaleggiando.it/il-vangelo-delle-streghe-e-linizio-della-wicca-il-fascino-di-un-falso-storico/

[Giuseppe Bonomo. Caccia alle streghe. La credenza nelle streghe dal sec. XIII al XIX con particolare riferimento all’Italia. Palumbo Editore, 1985]

[Sabina Magliocco. “Aradia in Sardinia: the Archeology of a Folk Character”, in D. Green and D. Evans, ed., Ten Years of Triumph of the Moon: Essays in Honor of Ronald Hutton, 40–60. Bristol, UK: Hidden Publishing, 2009.]

[Sabina Magliocco. Who Was Aradia? The History and Development of a Legend. The Pomegranate: The Journal of Pagan Studies, Issue 18, Feb. 2002.]

[Robert Mathiesen, Charles G. Leland and the Witches of Italy: The Origin of Aradia, in Mario Pazzaglini (ed.), Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, A New Translation, Blaine, Washington, Phoenix Publishing, Inc., 1998.]

[elegantshapeshifter]

Very useful post.

I also remind that Folk Magic is indeed Folk Catholicism. There are Pagan elements, like the Fairy Folklore, and Fairy Magicians like Donne di Fuori, but they all died out in the last century. For example Henningsen talks about the last Donne di Fuori in the '80s.

So now Italian Folk Magic is completely Christianized. However, there are still Pagan characters in Folk Legends and Tales about Fairies/Folk Spirits.

People still know about Pagan characters like Janas, Salvanel, etc. But they are not part of Folk Magic anymore. Nowdays it's all related to Saints and Catholic Christian characters.

Hello! I am just starting my journey on reconnecting with my traditional roots as an Italian practitioner. My great grandparents came from Italy in the mid 1900s, but unfortunately passed before I had the pleasure of asking about their practices. Can I ask a good starting point for someone who is trying to reconnect all on her own?

Hello!

I am so happy that you are wanting to reconnect with your roots! I'm sorry you didn't get the opportunity to ask your grandparents, my deepest condolences for your loss.

In terms of resources, my recommendation for anyone starting out is to go to folklore sources or to read books by authors who don't simply reference other witchcraft authors. I highly recommend reading Italian Folk Magic: Rue's Kitchen Witchery by Mary-Grace Fahrun. It's mostly her personal experience with Italian folk-Catholicism and magic with plenty of anecdotes, recipes, superstitions, and various rituals. I think it's probably the best widely available source out there. She also has a youtube channel! In a similar vein, the website Italian Folk Magic has some great posts about Southern Italian and Sicilian magic.

Other online resources I've found useful are Gail Faith Edwards' writings on Southern Italian healers and folk medicine (it's split into 2 parts–– there's a lot of great information if you're into herbalism/ green witchcraft). I also love this article detailing witchcraft history, superstition, and more throughout Italy. It goes into a lot of detail and has some information about herbal properties and their uses as well.

Here are some festivals and traditions from across Italy tied to folk belief: Focara of Novoli, The Campanacci in Basilicata, The Feast of San Domenico and the Ritual of Serpari of Cocullo, Naca Procession in Southern Italy, Dance of the Devils, Celebration of Santa Lucia, The Feast of Mamma Schiavona––There are many others (mostly Saint feasts) that have pre-Christian roots or have significant rituals attached.

Most information that I have collected comes from anthropological and folklore sources that aren't very accessible. There are some videos available of documentary footage of Italian anthropologist Ernesto de Martino's work detailing folk tradition: here's a clip of La Taranta. This documentary isn't in English, however you can still get a lot out of it even if you don't speak Italian (unfortunately there are no subtitles). The documentarian that worked with de Martino, Luigi Di Gianni gives some of his recollections here. Here is a clip documenting the Feast of Mamma Schiavona. Otherwise, everything else is behind a paywall on sites like jstor, sagepub, and other academic publishers. I would recommend reading anything by anthropologist and folklorist Sabina Magliocco (I have copies of her work), as well as de Martino's Magic: A Theory from the South (which I also have a pdf of). The academic texts can be a little dense and daunting, but they're worth the read.

I have uploaded some of what I have to WeTransfer, but it will only be up for 1 week (until July 10th) so if anyone else would like to download them, you can for a limited time!