The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

I've decided to investigate stregheria which is Italian witchcraft. It has an appeal to me as, unlike wicca and post-Crowley paganism, it appears to have a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages.

The "appears" bit is the important bit as I can't be sure if this is documented or conjecture. Has anyone got any more on this?

Goes back farther than that and its not corrupted as this fluff Wicca that the masses follow. Or think they're following. The trouble is that your not going to find too much on it. Its family based. Not meant for the public which is why its still around after the witch trails, it went back to the family kitchen. Look up "Aradia" to find the bridge that connected the two.

yes - Aradia appears to be contested though, more so than the research I am used to reading

However Ive ordered a cheap copy so I will have a looksee thank you.
I do know a strega on here but wanted some other input

For those of you who are unsure of 'Stregheria', you will find this site very interesting.

http://www.stregheria.com/

Thanks LB - I've been on that site. It is quite good but I am looking for critique of Leland's research too

Raven Grimassi has written a number of books on Italian Witchcraft. He claims to be from a Strega family and initiated by one of the family elders. Much like the Irish Witches, the Italians have hidden themselves in the Roman Catholic Church. It is a matter of debate as to how old these traditions really are, but I have an idea they may go back quite a ways.

I would really have to question this tradition and its heritage. Italy wasnt a country until 1861. The Romans had control over the territory from a very early age 396 BC (ish) and even after the Romans the territory was under city states which still held the catholic tradition. Before the Romans there was the Etruscan civilization (800BC to 396BC) and before them was the Iron Age Villanovan culture. I would think (assume) that if there was any non Catholic or folklore native to the area it would have been from these two cultures.

I guess unless you got into Roman/Greek Deities, but I think this is something different altogether.

i don't think that there is too much out there that is documented as it seems to be passed down in family lines.

Italian witchcraft? Strangely interesting! Especially with such a majority Catholic populace.

i have read Aradia, and it does appear to be more genuine (or ast least less contemporary) than Wicca. I have studied various branches of Shamanism, and it seems that Stregheria is a sort of missing link between Shamanism and "modern" witchcraft.

none of it is "all made up" - there are obvious roots, and any religion or practice is bound to change and evolve over the centuries - even those that have written lore changes, so it is going to be even more so for something that is passed down by mouth.

The Etruscan system of belief was polytheistic; that is, all visible phenomena were considered to be a manifestation of divine power and that power was subdivided into deities, much like the Romans and Greeks.

I can't say yet to what extent that is replicated in the strega.

Just one point it is important not to put too much weight on the use of "tribes" or named groups of people.

For example - the idea of the Celts moving across Europe is popular but it is also innacurate. What there was was a visible movement of culture and language - probably by means of communication more than physical movement of people. For this reason it is generally accepted that there was never such a group as "the Celts"


Please include links to copied information.

STABB

If you visit the forum Occult & Witchcraft at occult.be, you will find a few links on Stregheria. A forum search should pull them up.

Witchcraft is only a practise that any religion can use it to its own end, even if the subject may be taboo for them.

So even if a mainly catholic country like Italy were to be practising witchcraft it is no slur on the people or religion.

Just having read a little bit about this, I find myself quite taken with it. One section you might like is:

Leland's influence
To be written: Leland's supposed discovery of Stregheria.

On the question of Leland's contributions, most modern adherents publicly denounce Leland's publication as an accurate reflection of Stregheria and regard it as a work of fiction -- but claim it, more or less, as a grossly inaccurate, highly fictionalized misrepresentation of an actual witchcraft religion. (As an aside, Leland's research concerning the Romani, or "Gypsies" was extremely influential, but much of it is nevertheless considered highly inaccurate.)

As expected, modern adherents of Stregheria are less than forthcoming in reference to their own beliefs and practices. It may be that Leland's book was a more or less accurate representation of Stregheria, and that modern Streghe denounce it because of its accuracy. Another possibility is that Leland's "Gospel", if having actually come from a surviving tradition as he claimed, might represent but a single branch of Stregheria that differs in many meaningful ways from other branches. It should also be pointed out that modern Streghe disagree widely as to which parts of Leland's book were inaccurate. Almost every aspect of Stregheria portrayed in Leland's "Gospel" is publicly accepted by some Streghe but disregarded by others. Which aspects are true and which are false depends entirely upon which Streghe one is asking. This lends to the hypothesis that Leland's book portrayed a hodge-podge of various different witchcraft cells with very different beliefs.

An alternate viewpoint is that Stregheria didn't exist at all before Leland's publication. Some point out that it is impossible for a member of a supposed family tradition to know which beliefs are truly ancient and which were just made up a generation or two ago. Even if records exist, there is always the possibility that said records were falsified. However, this view is often seen as overly skeptical, even among academics.

The above came from:

http://www.historymania.com/american_history/Stregheria#Leland.27s_influence


I've found plenty worth reading at that site.

Stregheria' is the Italian word for witchcraft. I have read somewhat on this subject...but there is so much Fairy Wicca...Wicca...Alexandra I guess it is what one feels comfortable with or one who wants to go into more knowledge.

I'm not entirely convinced by Leland's key source - a manuscript of undefined origin called the Vangelo provided by the strega he claimed to have discovered

You could almost compare the "discovery" of stregheria with Gardner's "discovery" of Wicca. I say it in quotes because both used undocumented, unverified sources. Like I said before I doubt the Italian connection with the origins of this tradition, but it is not unlikely that it has existed and changed since it's creation. With the catholic church in Italy's backyard, I would highly doubt anyone was open about it. It has probably changed from a religious type of belief system to a cultural tradition in order to protect one self from prosecution.

I believe that Gerald Gardner was influenced by "Aradia, Gospel of the Witches". The major deity of "Aradia" is Diana (Artemis) who was a pagan Roman Goddess. It is not that much of a assumption that She emerged into post Roman Italy as the Goddess of the Moon, and Her worship was disguised as that of the Catholic Mary, mother of Jesus. This is an elabouration of my previous post above. Many statues of Mary have her standing on a crescent moon.

I think the romans, greeks or even perhaps eygptians have more to do with the hiden mythos that has been brought into the roman catholic tradition than any Italian witchcraft. As a lover of history and the Arts, I have to keep pointing out Italy didn't even exist until the 19th century. If these traditions were born of any of the city states, I would think the city state not italy would be referenced in the so called "historical connections/documents".

Italy has been the name for the central part of the peninsula since about 100BC - it was used for the whole peninsula from the early dark ages (400AD+). I wouldn't get too tied up with politics of it. It's not really relevant.

It's not about politics. I dont know where you got that. It's about history and history has everything to do about what you asked. To show a ancient family practiced tradition historically there should be documents or something that shows a connection. Italy first came about as a republic in 1808 and was a duchy called modena before it. there was a kingdom of italy in 700adish, but it lasted less than a hundred years and was whiped off the face of the earth in 800adish by the franks. every culture that was in the italy area could have brought this tradition in.

http://www.euratlas.com/narrow_time1.html

just a cool map resource for anyone who studies ancient civs.

You mention the creation of the political entity known as Italy and using that as the means for discounting the "evidence" if there is any - that is what I mean by "politics" :-)
What I read from this is that the documentation that Leland based his work on came from the are that we know as Italy and indeed could have come from any of the groups you mention. The phrase "Italian" witchcraft is a branding as such and doesn't really illuminate its veracity or not.

I play in terms of culture. I merely mentioned the fact italy wasnt created until the 19th century to point out that if a tradition was created from an italian background it is not ages old, and if it is ages old then would it not be called/referenced outside of the italian idenity and would there not be sources that you would not have accounted for previously by limiting yourself to only italian sources.

here are some interesting links on the topic.

http://www.collegeofthecrossroads.org/strega.htm

http://www.stregheria.com/italianfolklore.htm

stregheria It goes back alot further than that , And the ancient witch craft is better then the new age stuff like wicca and pegan, Every one usually forgets the old ways , I practice all the old ways its more effective and belieaveable. More powerfull.

to be honest i use to think the same way,that only the old ways work,but in fact both systems new and old work just as well,it just depends on the person practiing and how dedicated they are to the art they have chosen,of course in all art forms of magick there will always be subtle differences.

Silly question and if so, consider this a bump for such an intelligent and informative thread... I am wondering, do you have to speak Italian to practise Italian witchcraft? I am afraid I am not to well versed in the ways of witchcraft since I have always been considered a Saint lol

As a strega pratitioner i have to say this is a very inmportant thread i was raised stregha and yes it dates back to ancient times both greek and roman a meld into it but it mainly an mediterranian belive as far as it being called italion wichcraft the practioner arent soley italion but stem from the whole of meditteranian culture
any question u can messege me

I should ask my Italian friend I met recently. He may have heard of it! =)

i think wicca is a joke no offense to anyone :)