Aradia
Aradia is a name with various meanings in the fields of Wicca , Neo-Paganism, and Stregheria . From a scientific point of view, the existence of a person named Aradia cannot be confirmed at this time. The origin of the name is unclear and there is no evidence that the name was used earlier than before 1899.
Aradia at Leland
Charles Godfrey Leland published in 1899 the book "Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches" (Aradia - The teachings of the witches) . In this work, Aradia is the messianic daughter of the Roman goddess Diana and the Roman god Lucifer , who was sent to earth to spread the teachings of witches. Leland's key to the world of the moon and shadow of the Italian witches was his friendship, which began in 1886, with Maddalena, a Florentine fortune teller and magician. Through Maddalena he received the manuscript for his book, which contained the details of a hitherto undiscovered religious witch tradition in Tuscany. According to Leland's book, Diana gave birth to a daughter through an act of procreation with her brother Lucifer, who was named Aradia. Diana sent her daughter to earth to teach witchcraft to enslaved, oppressed women and men. She became the first witch, the queen of witches. It promised people freedom from slavery and thus general freedom. After her teachings, she returned to her mother, but her magical powers are still effective on earth and can be used in rituals and invocations.
Leland was convinced that the name Aradia was derived from the Roman or Etruscan goddess Herodias (not to be confused with the Herodias of the New Testament). Herodias, in turn, is the name of the even older goddess Lilith . Leland is referring to the Canon episcopi .
Historian Ronald Hutton came to the conclusion in his book Triumph of the Moon that Leland's identification of Aradia with Herodias was in turn due to the work of Jules Michelet in Satanism and Witchcraft .
Sabina Magliocco sees a connection between the Italian Erodiad (Herodias), the cult of Herodias and Aradia.
In the book Ecstascies - Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath , Carlo Ginzburg develops a theory of how the name Aradia could have come about. From the name of the goddess Hera and Diana the name "Heradiana" developed, then "Herodiana", from that "Herodias", then "Erodiade" and from that "Aradia".
Aradia in Wicca and Neopaganism
Some Wiccan traditions use the name Aradia to invoke the goddess. The origin of the name goes back to Leland, who influenced Aleister Crowley's works and this in turn influenced the work of Gerald Brousseau Gardner , the founder of the modern witch religion Wicca.
Aradia in Stregheria
Strega is the Italian word for witch. Stregheria follows a belief that originated in Italy and began with a woman named Aradia. Raven Grimassi published a book in 1981 called The Book of the Holy Strega , which explains Stregheria practices and teachings and introduces Aradia as the founder of Stregheria . In his book Ways of the Strega , published in 1995, he argues that Leland only published a twisted version of the story of Aradia and that there was a real existence of a woman named Aradia di Toscano in the 14th century in Tuscany; a woman named Aradia di Toscano , who was born in northern Italy in 1313 in the city of Volterra , preached in northern Italy as the female messiah and later fled to what is now Serbia.
The Italian inquisitor Bernardo Rategno is convinced, based on his evaluation of existing inquisition acts of witch trials in his work "Tractatus de Strigibus" (written 1508), that a witch sect had formed around 150 years before his time (i.e. around 1350), which spread very quickly must have.
In the book "Ecstascies - Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath" Carlo Ginzburg writes about a pagan sect of the "Calusari", whose members worshiped a mystical empress named "Arada" or "Irodeasa" in Serbia in the 16th and 17th centuries.
In the late 12th century the Abbot of Corazzo, Joachim de Flora or Joachim de Fiore wrote a prophetic text about a new age, which he submitted to the Pope for approval in 1200: "The age of the Old Testament was under the direct influence of God Father. With the appearance of Christ, the age of God's Son began. Now the age of the Holy Spirit has dawned. Nobody has to rely on faith any more, but only on knowledge and knowledge, on cause and effect. " His writings had a great influence on religious thought in the Middle Ages.
As a result, there was already around 1300 in Milan the sect of the " Guglielmites " (also known as Vilemites ) founded by the Bohemian king's daughter Wilhelmina (Italian "Gugliema" ), who believed that Gugliema was the rebirth of the Holy Spirit and a church with a female pope and female cardinals. [The interrogation records from 1300 reveal that a priest belonging to the sect, Mirano, testified that he and other members had a picture painted of their founding saint Guglielma, who was venerated as the incarnation of the Holy Spirit. Since this was forbidden, they commissioned it as a portrait of Catherine of Alexandria.] Guglielma was actually the Princess Vilemína Blažena, daughter of the Bohemian king. She was born in 1210, appeared in Milan around 1260 to 1270 and died on August 24, 1281 in Milan. She had admirers from both the Visconti family and the Torriani family, two wealthy families at the time who were at odds with one another. Between the two families she worked as a peacemaker. At the same time there was a prominent heretical sect (sisters of the free spirit) on site who preached the teachings of Joachim de Flora and who presumably influenced and shaped the princess.
Guglielma's top follower, a man named Andreas Saramita, was the sect's secretary and chief theologian and reported that Guglielma of Milan claimed divinity as the female Christ before her death. Maifreda da Pirovano, cousin of Matteo Visconti, was the head of the Guglielmite sect after Guglielma's death . Maifreda was venerated by the Guglielmites as the "Popess". Andreas Saramita, Maifreda da Pirovano, Giacoma dei Bassani and the body of Guglielma were burned at the stake in 1300. The sect had at least 50 members of both sexes. For the times, there was an unusual social life within the sect. Women and men had equal rights, there was no exclusion because of poverty or social class. For example, Galeazzo Visconti, son of the ruler, as well as a poor seamstress named Taria or the maid Bianca were members. Everyone should feel part of one big family. In honor and in memory of the Guglielma, meals were regularly held together.
All information about the Guglielmites comes largely from the (incomplete) Impreviaturbuch (protocol book of the Inquisition) of the Milanese notary Beltramus Salvagnius . Due to the course of the process and the keeping of the minutes, there are indications that the torture was used, which means that doubts are generally raised about the statements made in the protocol. Whether this sect was really a free-spirited early Christian sect or a pagan group (Guglielma as the founder of Stregheria according to Raven Grimassi ) with outwardly Christian camouflage can only be speculated at the moment, as long as new material is not available.
Because of all these fragments, it is quite possible that around 1300 a woman lived and worked in northern Italy who preached new social and religious ideas and was worshiped by her followers like a goddess even after death. Over the centuries the traces of her name (Arada, Irodeasa, Aradia, Guglielma) were mixed up, leaving only the social and religious ideas that were apparently passed on underground through oral tradition.
Quotes, notes
- ^ Hutton, Ronald: Triumph of the Moon . In: Oxford University Press . 2000. ISBN 0-500-27242-5 .
- ↑ Magliocco, Sabina: Who Was Aradia? The History and Development of a Legend . In: Pomegranate: The Journal of Pagan Studies . 2002.
- ↑ Chamrad, Evelyn: The myth of understanding: a walk through art history under the aspect of understanding and non-understanding in the interpretation of images . In: Inaugural dissertation to obtain the academic degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Dr. phil.) By the Philosophical Faculty of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf . 2001.