The text is a composite. Some of it is Leland's translation into English of an original Italian manuscript, the Vangelo (gospel). Leland reported receiving the manuscript from his primary informant on Italian witchcraft beliefs, a woman Leland referred to as "Maddalena" and whom he called his "witch informant" in Italy. The rest of the material comes from Leland's research on Italian folklore and traditions, including other related material from Maddalena. Leland had been informed of the Vangelo's existence in 1886, but it took Maddalena eleven years to provide him with a copy. After translating and editing the material, it took another two years for the book to be published. Its fifteen chapters portray the origins, beliefs, rituals and spells of an Italian pagan witchcraft tradition. The central figure of that religion is the goddess Aradia, who came to Earth to teach the practice of witchcraft to peasants in order for them to oppose their feudal oppressors and the Catholic Church. Leland was born to Charles Leland, a commission merchant, and Charlotte Godfrey August 15, 1824 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Shortly after his birth, Leland's nurse took the child to the family attic and performed a ritual on him involving a Bible, a key, a knife, lighted candles, money and salt to ensure a long life as a "scholar and a wizard," a fact which Leland's biographers have commented upon as foreshadowing his interest in folk traditions and magic. Leland worked in journalism, travelled extensively, and became interested in folklore and folk linguistics, publishing books and articles on American and European languages and folk traditions. By the end of his life shortly after the turn of the century, Leland had worked in a wide variety of trades, achieved recognition as the author of the comic Hans Breitmann's Ballads, fought in two conflicts, and had written what was to become a primary source text for Neopaganism half a century later, Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches.

While researching regional folklore in Tuscany during the late 19th Century, American folklorist Charles Leland was given a hand written document, the "Vangel," by a mysterious woman named Maddelena. Allegedly, this was the last recorded remnants of an ancient Roman folk witchcraft religion. The autheniticity of "Aradia" has always been questioned, but this book undoubtedly contains at least a few grains of Truth about the subject, and this book has without question influenced and shaped the modern neo-pagan movement.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1875 Edition.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

THIS IS A WITCHCRAFT COOL COLLECTOR'S EDITION - PRINTED IN REALLY COOL MODERN GOTHIC FONTS THROUGHOUT. CHECK IT OUT WITH THE AMAZON SEARCH INSIDE FEATURE. This is the original Witches Bible.

This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages.

Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

Many books and innumerable articles have been published on the subject of "Westerns" since 1960, but the emphasis has been almost entirely on Western movies. Not much attention has been paid to the fiction of and about the American West. This book begins with the assumption that the novel of the West is a sort of autobiography of the West and that the writing must be studied if we are to see what our fiction reveals about ourselves. In these eleven essays C. L. Sonnichsen looks at both popular and "serious" fiction, starting with a consideration of what the West means to America and the world and going on to discuss a number of topics that act as mirrors to our prejudices and emotions. What does our fiction show has happened to our feelings about the Mexican over the last century? About violence? About sex? About the mythical West? The author's final chapter suggests other doors that should be opened--other topics of Western fiction that should be investigated and discussed. In scope and variety of approaches this book is unique. Some chapters will provoke heated disagreement, but the subject is timely. Nothing is more interesting to us than ourselves, and these essays tell something about who and what we are.