Customer Reviews

Italian Witchcraft: The Old Religion of Southern Europe

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As a professional folklorist and a native of Italy now living here in the U.S., I was very interested to read this book. It contains authentic elements of Italian folklore and folk magic, mixed with various aspects of Italian Witchcraft. But as the author clearly states in the introduction, portions of the material are also mixed with some modern Wiccan elements. I found very little of this mixture, but it is present as the author readily admits several places in this book.

Grimassi states in the introduction that he created a system called the Aridian Tradition for Americans to practice, which is a blend of old and new material. There are two chapters dealing with the modern Aridian Tradition, chapters three and twelve. The remaining 20 chapters all contain older and authentic Italian material, much of it verified by the field research of several folklorists, including J.B. Andrews, Lady de Vere, Roma Lister, and Charles Leland.

For some additional background reading on Italian Witchcraft and folklore, I would suggest The Evil Eye by Elsworthy, and Etruscan Roman Remains by Charles Leland.

This is an absolutely fantastic book! Raven Grimassi, you've done it again! Following your own creed of 'adding, but not taking away', this is an expanded and updated version of 'Ways of the Strega' which so many of us found a strong attraction to years ago. For anyone interested in where the 'Craft' really comes from, where the 'roots' are, and returning to the 'source', this is an essential read. For those looking to understand the 'how's and whys' of what grandma (or 'nonna') used to do, and what they remember from childhood, this is a great place to look. The sections that have been updated from 'Ways' are really interesting, particularly the Tuscan tradition info, and the comparison between what some claim were 'Gardner originals' with what has existed before. As with 'ways', alot of information is hidden amoungst the passages, requiring the reader to seriously think about the ideas presented; one the tricks to how Raven writes, with several levels of meaning available to the aspiring student, making it fun and necessary to reread the book several times. So if the full moon calls you to look skyward and remember the 'Old Ways'; to remember Diana, Artemis, Aradia, Hecate, to think of warm nights in Tuscany, and celebrating Mother Earth, then this will be something you'll definitely find intereting......

As the author addresses in the new preface, Italian Witchcraft is a revised edition of Ways of Strega. I enjoyed the new chapter on Tuscan Witchcraft and found it very enlightening. There are several corrections made in Italian Witchcraft that helped to clear up some earlier misunderstandings, which I appreciated. The expanded chapters also added much to the earlier material from Ways of the Strega.

Although I enjoyed Ways of the Strega, I found Italian Witchcraft to be an even better presentation of the Old Religion. The new appendices shed much light on the influences that transformed witchcraft over the centuries. Grimassi presents a great deal of compelling evidence to show that Gardnerian Wicca was heavily influenced by Aegean/Mediterranean paganism and witchcraft. Grimassi has remained consistent in his views of how Italian Witchcraft influenced modern Wicca, and his arguments are reasonable and logical. His Wicca books also demonstrate the Aegean/Mediterranean influences on the modern version of this religion. Grimassi does not present Wicca and Italian Witchcraft as being the same things, but instead he demonstrates that they are first cousins.

.... While...the book cover does not reveal that ItalianWitchcraft is a revised edition of Ways of the Strega, the author addresses it in the new preface. A notice also appears in the copyright section informing the reader that this book was formerly titled Ways of the Strega.

Italian Witchcraft does indeed have new material.... In Italian Witchcraft, the attentive reader will readily discover an entire new chapter on Tuscan Witchcraft and that several other chapters have been expanded, such as the section on plants and herbs. The book also contains corrections and new appendices, which alone are worth buying the book in my opinion. Personally, I am pleased to have both editions.

This book presents an overview of Italian Witchcraft and folklore, along with its similarities and differences as they relate to modern Wicca. As the author notes, the material in this book is a blend of both ancient and modern elements. Grimassi presents rituals and spells modified for modern use by contemporary practitioners. He also provides a great deal of antiquity for those readers interested in the older ways of Witchcraft. Unlike many books on Witchcraft, Grimassi also incorporates the spiritual aspects, and presents a set of teachings attributed to Aradia, a 14th century Italian witch.

One reviewer here claims that Grimassi states that "Italian commoners and peasants aren't really Catholic, but merely appear to be that way to hide their real spiritual ideas." This is entirely incorrect, as what he actually says is that some Italian witches have incorporated a Catholic veneer to protect themselves from discovery. Nowhere in the book does Grimassi claim that "Italians are all really covert witches" as the reviewer misquotes him as having said.

Throughout the book Grimassi presents both cultural, historical, and folklore material to support his contention regarding a survival theme related to Italian Witchcraft. While Grimassi is clearly interested in the historical elements, he is also flexible enough make the following comment regarding the teachings of Aradia: "in the final analysis it is really unimportant whether the teachings are ancient or modern, for the Strega find them to be sound and practical. One reviewer chooses to regard his honesty and flexibility as being "contradictory" in nature.

this is a very good book but is far too adavanced for the beginner. Now let me make this clear he does give you the ancient history of Strega dating bact to the Tuscans but the rituals he gives out are mainly his tradition that he developed called the Aradian tradition. Dont get me wrong its a nice tradition but it has nothing to do with Sicialian Strega which is kept as a guarded secret. So far there is no book that has published these secrets... So if the pantheon of the Strega calls to you or the way of the Strega is right for you than this is the closet you will get to this tradition. But if you are a beginner please get Hereditary Witchcraft or his other book Wiccan Mysteries otherwise you will be lost ...

At last a book that sets the record straight on the origins of modern Wiccan traditions. Grimassi presents many of the documented sources pre-dating Gardnerian Wicca that are erroneously attributed to Gardner and Valiente, and which clearly demonstrate an Aegean/Mediterranean origin for the majority of beliefs and practices in modern Wicca.

The book includes a great deal of reliable ethnographical material rooted in Italian folk customs and folk magic. It also examines and incorporates the field study research into Italian witchcraft peformed by such folklorists as J.B. Andrews, Lady DeVere, Roma Lister, and Charles Leland at the close of the 19th century.

As noted in the introduction to his book, Grimassi also presents modern rituals mixed with various elements of modern Wicca, and thus creates a workable contemporary system that retains much of the older aspects of Italian witchcraft while at the same time making it fully accessible for modern practitioners.

There is no finer nor more complete book available on the topic of Italian witchcraft than this book, and his other titled Hereditary Witchcraft. Both are the definitive works on the Italian Craft.

This is a must have volume for anyone interested in the often ignored and unknown tradition of Sregheria. Easy to read and highly informative, this should be on the bookshelf of any well read Wiccan. Not only a great beginning point for the seeker, it is full of well researched historical references to an ancient Craft tradition that has remained vital to the present day. I found this book to be a treasure for the soul, and a pleasure to read. A great resource and reference for ritual and spellwork.

When I decided to investigate Strega Witchcraft, I found the sources to be greatly lacking: many authors treat the subject of Italian witchcraft in passing (Silver Ravenwolf, Patricia Telesco), but I could not find indepth material on this path of the Craft. I was therefore happy to come across Raven Grimassi's book.

I am not going to criticize the techniques that Grimassi presents, but what I am going to criticize is Grimassi's basic theoretical assumptions. Grimassi specifically re-worked some of the material in this book to counteract the objections of critics of his first publication of this book. Unfortunately, he creates for himself a whole new set of problems. He spends a large part of the book trying to make clear that Charles Leland and his work on Eutruscan religious practice was the predecessor of Gerald Gardner's work. He spends lots of time building on this historical "evidence" for the primary nature of Italian Witchcraft -- until, in the last section of the book, when he admits that the Tenants of Aradia have been altered quite a bit historically, he declares that 'historical accuracy of religious texts is not important, so long as they have meaning for their believers' (paraphrase mine). Why worry then, about historical "first-ness" thoughout the rest of the book if the practice of Strega has meaning for him?

Moreover, he tries to claim that Italian "commoners" and "peasants," aren't really Catholic, but merely appear to be that way to hide their real spiritual ideas -- this is patly ridiculous: Roman Catholocism can hold an appeal for people just as Strega can, and to say that Italians are all really covert witches is as naive as it is presumptuous -- Italy becomes either the country with the greatest "cover-up" in history, or the world's largest center of self-denial, according to Grimassi. Let's be honest: I have no doubt that some people hid their religious ideas for fear of persecution, but to undermine the importance of other religious traditions to their adherents is simply arrogant. I am not saying that Grimassi is, in any way, "simply arrogant," but if he wishes to gain the acceptance he clearly wishes for, he will have to extend that same acceptance to other traditions, regardless of their "primacy," "historical basis," or contradiction to his own ideas.

This book is really nice. It's true that in Italia a lot of people also if they are catholic make a lot of rituals and charms. For example my grandmother teach me how to cancel the "malocchio" and her mother was a natural healer, everyone known she went to church but she was a "strega". As an italian I'm a bit disappointed when I read on books that some practices of witchcraft come from Spain, France. Italy is never mentioned. Like the other two country (probably the most catholic of all europe) we have quite the same lore. Here the witchcraft is very alive : people make folklorist ritual with eggs, salt,some people regularly go to "bone healer" when they have problems with bones. Grimassi wrote in his book a lot of interesting stuff, but the witchcraft you can see most if you come to Italia is a kind of natural one, a magic that you can do with poor items of everyday life. Ciao a tutti sorry for language mistakes! Chiara