This book is annotated with a rare biographical sketch of the author, written by Elizabeth Robins Pennell.Indefatigable in research, Mr. Leland collects from the mouths of Italian peasants all the information still surviving concerning witches and their rites. Much of this he incorporated in his previous writings, and much more-some of it, we are glad to think, on the point of appearance-has yet to see the light. It is difficult to over-estimate the interest of these survivals in Italy of pagan faith and rite, and it is eminently desirable that so much of them as possible should be preserved. They are on the verge of disappearance, and what is not now reclaimed will inevitably perish. On this point Mr. Leland insists. There are still, however, some few people in the Northern Ramagna who know the Etruscan names of the twelve gods. Invocations to Bacchus, Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, and the Lares may yet be heard, and there are women in the cities who mutter over the amulets they prepare spells known to the old Roman, and have lore which may be found in Cato or Theocritus. Aradia (Herodias), it may be said, is, according to the Vangelo of the witches, the daughter of Diana by her brother Lucifer, the god of the sun and of the moon, who for his pride was driven from Paradise. Aradia - not, Mr. Leland thinks, the Herodias of the New Testament, but an earlier replica of Lilith-is the chief patron of witches and the teacher of witchcraft. Deeply interesting is all that is said concerning her, and the book, which translates the poetic invocations, is a treasure-house to the student of witchcraft and myth.Contents:PREFACECHAPTER I - How Diana Gave Birth to Aradia (Herodias)CHAPTER II - The Sabbat: Treguenda or Witch-Meeting--How to Consecrate the SupperCHAPTER III - How Diana Made the Stars and the RainCHAPTER IV - The Charm of the Stones Consecrated to DianaCHAPTER V - The Conjuration of the Lemon and PinsCHAPTER VI - A Spell To Win LoveCHAPTER VII - To Find or Buy Anything, or to Have Good Fortune TherebyCHAPTER VIII - To Have a Good Vintage and Very Good Wine by the Aid of DianaCHAPTER IX - Tana and Endamone, or Diana and EndymionCHAPTER X - Madonna DianaCHAPTER XI - The House of the WindCHAPTER XII - Tana, The Moon-GoddessCHAPTER XIII - Diana and the ChildrenCHAPTER XIV - The Goblin Messengers of Diana and MercuryCHAPTER XV - LavernaComments on the Foregoing TextsThe Children of Diana, or How the Fairies Were BornDiana, Queen of the Serpents, Giver of the Gift of LanguagesDiana as Giving Beauty and Restoring StrengthNote
