Aradia

Gospel Of The Witches

same house with such documents, so that I regard the rescue of the Vangelo as something which is to say the least remarkable.

ARADIA

or the

GOSPEL OF THE WITCHES

CHAPTER 1

HOW DIANA GAVE BIRTH TO ARADIA (HERODIUS)

It is Diana! Lo!

She rises crescented. -Krats Endymion

Make more bright

The Star Queens crescent on her marriage night. -Ibid.

This is the Gospel of the Witches:

Diana greatly loved her brother Lucifer, the god of the Sun and of the Moon, the god of

Light (Splendor), who was so proud of his beauty, and who for his pride was driven from

Paradise.

Diana had by her brother a daughter, to whom they gave the name of (i.e.

Herodius).

In those days there were on earth many rich and many poor.

The rich made slaves of the poor.

In those days were many slaves who were cruelly treated; in every palace tortures, in every castle prisoners.

Many slaves escaped. They fled to the country; thus they became thieves and evil folk.

Instead of sleeping by nigh, they plotted escape and robbed their masters, and then slew them. So they dwelt in the mountains and forests as robbers and assassins, all to avoid slavery.

Diana said one day to her daughter :

Tis true indeed that thou a spirit art,

But thou wert born but to become again

A mortal; thou must go to earth below

To be a teacher unto women and men

Who fain would study witchcraft in thy school

Yet like Cains daughter thou shalt never be

Nor like the race who have become at last

Wicked and infamous from suffering,

As are the Jews and wandering Zingari,

Who are all thieves and knaves; like unto them

Ye shall not be...

And thou shalt be the first of witches known;

And thou shalt be the first of all I the world;

And thou shalt teach the art of poisoning,

Of poisoning those who are great lords of all;

Yea, thou shalt make them die in their palaces;

And thou shalt bind the oppressors soul (with power);

And when ye find a peasant who is rich,

Then ye shall teach the witch, your pupil, how

To ruin all his crops with tempests dire,

With lightning and with thunder (terrible),

And with the hail and wind...

And when a priest shall do you injury

By his benedictions, ye shall do to him

Double the harm, and do it in the name

of me, Diana, Queen of witches all!

And when the priests or the nobility

shall say to you that you should put your faith

In the Father, Son, and Mary, then reply;

Your God, the Father, and Maria are

Three devils...

For the true God the Father is not yours;

For I have come to sweep away the bad

The men of evil, all will I destroy!

Ye who are poor suffer with hunger keen,

And toil in wretchedness, and suffer too

Full oft imprisonment; yet with it all

Ye have a soul, and for your sufferings

Ye shall be happy in the other world,

But ill the fate of all who do ye wrong!

Now when had been taught, taught to work all witchcraft, how to destroy the evil

race (of oppressors), she (imparted it to her pupils) and said unto them:

When I shall have departed from this world,

Whenever ye have need of anything,

Once in the month, and when the moon is full,

Ye shall assemble in some desert place,

Or in a forest all together join

To adore the potent spirit of your queen,

My mother, great Diana. She who fain

Would learn all sorcery yet has not won

Its deepest secrets, then my mother will

Teach her, in truth all things as yet unknown.

And ye shall all be freed from slavery,

And so ye shall be free in everything;

And as the sign that ye are truly free,

Ye shall be naked in your rites, both men

And women also: this shall last until

The last of your oppressors shall be dead;

And ye shall make the game of Benevento

Extinguishing the lights, and after that

Shall hold your supper thus:

CHAPTER II

THE SABBAT, TREGUENDA OR WITCH-MEETING -

HOW TO CONSECRATE THE SUPPER

Here follows the supper, of what it must consist, and what shall be said and done to consecrate it to Diana.

You shall take meal and salt, honey and water, and make this incantation:

The Conjuration of Meal

I conjure thee, O Meal!