Who is Aradia, Queen of the Witches? Looking at Leland’s Gospel

Oh Aradia, Aradia. So interesting, so influential yet shrouded mystery and misunderstanding. Queen of the witches, daughter of Diana, master of witchcraft, the oppressed, the underclass, who were you? What does your story represent? What does it mean to the modern witchcraft revival?

The answer to the last question is she, quite frankly, means a lot. Not only did Aradia influence Gerald Gardner (the father of the modern Wiccan movement) - this text is one of the main sources of inspiration in his book of shadows - but even today the myth of Aradia is still significant. Check out the #wearearadia movement, where Aradia represents the power of witchcraft as a tool that can be used for the disenfranchised and the marginalized, and did you know that the “charge of the Goddess” comes from Aradia? Leland’s work still lives on and inspires modern witches.

But despite all this, Aradia has gotten a lot of bad rap over the years among some witches and neo-pagans, with some going so far to say that the text is completely false or made up. Part of the reason for this is that some aspects of the text rub up against our modern sensibilities and understanding of what it is to be a witch. Because though Gardner took bits and pieces from this text, when read in its entirety, it can make some modern pagans or Wiccan’s uncomfortable.

Why? Well we’ll soon find out. But first, let’s dive into the myth of Aradia itself as presented in Aradia or the Gospel of the Witches and a little bit about Charles G. Leland.

The Story Behind the Making of Aradia

To begin with some brief context, Leland was an American folklorist and an overall interesting character. During his world travels, he became fascinated with the cultural world-view and magic of the Romany people. He wrote several books on the subject and became an initiate of la vecchia la religione (the old religion) himself before he published Aradia or the Gospel of the Witches in 1899.

He published the book with the help of a woman named Maddalena, who provided him with the source of this ancient lore in the form of a manuscript. She had copied out this manuscript from a supposed original (although this original manuscript has never been found).

Leland was not only Maddalena’s friend but was also her patron - he paid her for her knowledge and lore on “Gypsy” culture. This aspect of their relationship has been problematic for many. People have criticized the authenticity of what Maddalena conveyed to Leland because he paid her, and some doubt her existence at all.

Despite these controversies, Maddalena was the real deal. Not only was she a real person but she was a fortune teller, hereditary witch, and considered “a relic of old Etruscan shamanic witch faith” (Mathiesen 32) to Leland and others.

But because of Maddalena's roots and who she was, Aradia or the Gospel of the Witches was presented as a direct transmission of an old pagan, pre-Christian faith that came from Northern Italy during the time of the book's publication.

Aradia, Diana and Lucifer

Aradia is an avatar of Diana. She is the incarnation of Diana on earth and was sent down by her mother to teach the oppressed, peasant underclass the art of witchcraft to help rise against their oppressors. Aradia is excellent at her craft and considered the first witch who helped teach the peasants “the art of poisoning” how to “[bind] the spirit of the oppressor” and and “How to ruin [the] harvest/ With tempest, thunderbolts and lightning” (Leland 270). By harnessing the power of Diana, Aradia teaches the underclass witchcraft, and in this way, they are “all made to be free” (271).

Pretty cool so far, right?

But there’s more. Aradia is both an avatar of Diana as well as her daughter. Her “father” is Lucifer (not to be confused with Satan), and Lucifer, the bringer of light, is the brother of Diana. So…symbolic incest? Yup. Lots of symbolic incest going on here.

The story goes that “Diana was the first created before all creation; in her were all things; out of herself, the first darkness, she divided herself; into darkness and light where she was divided. Lucifer, her brother and son, herself and her other half, was the light” (Leland 277). So again, very metaphorical. Words like “mother, father, brother, son” are only approximations for bigger creation myth themes going on.

Even more strange and metaphorical is how Aradia comes into the world. The story goes that Diana loved Lucifer, but Lucifer wanted nothing to do with Diana. However, Lucifer had a cat that he loved more than anything. He would sleep with this cat during the night and, because Diana knew this, she made a plan to become one with her beloved against his wishes (i.e. he did not consent!). Diana then came into the world and shapeshifted into Lucifer’s cat, “so she lay with her brother, and in the darkness assumed her own form, and so by Lucifer became the mother of Aradia” (277). It’s all a bit rapey, to be honest!

Key Takeaways

That’s the story of Aradia as laid out in Leland’s book in a nutshell! Truth be told, not much of the book has to do with Aradia at all. Around 10% of the book is concerned with Aradia while most of the spells and stories have to do with Diana herself (because Aradia is essentially Diana - confusing I know).

However, for brevity’s sake, I’ll lay out some general observations that are interesting:

• The relationship between humans and deity’s is not necessarily one of reverence. Almost all examples of invocations contain “spirit bullying” whereby invoking a spirit with a request, you simultaneously withhold something from that spirit if it does not do what you want them to do. 

• There are heavy Christian parallels to the story, such as the figure of a messiah coming down to earth. There’s also Aradia’s relationship to the biblical figure Cain, and the presence of the Catholic church in this world and elites as the “oppressor” in this story. In fact, Leland goes so far as to say that this represents a “counter” religion to mainstream Christianity/ Catholicism. 

• Lucifer (the light bearer) is a key figure in the myth - (and again, is not to be confused with Satan!)

The first and last points have been the most problematic for readers who are part of the contemporary witchcraft revival. Because of Christianity’s overarching influence in our world-view and understanding of what spirituality is, it can be hard for people to imagine a relationship with a deity that is something other than devotional, even though that historically, this type of “spirit bullying” relationship people had with the deities was the norm.

Along with this, modern witches have wanted to separate themselves as far away as they could from Satan because of the idea that witches are in league with the Christian devil. Because of these crossovers in understanding as to who Lucifer is (either a pagan Greek/Roman figure or the devil of the New Testament), it’s obvious why Lucifer’s involvement with the Aradia story makes some people so uncomfortable.

Here I have laid out for you a few key point of the story. If you’re interested in witchcraft and want to get down to the roots of modern Wicca, there’s a new translation of Aradia or the Gospel of the Witches and it’s a must-read. The new and improved translation from the Pazzaglini family (who are natives to the region where Maddalena was originally from) provides an even better rendering of the original Italian manuscript, and additional materials provided by three other authors are especially helpful in understanding what part this goddess had to play in the modern witchcraft revival.