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."
-The Gospel of the Witches
I think one of the major themes this PBP of mine is going to have is to show the vastness of the Western Mystery Tradition/Neopaganism, both the spirituality and the philosophy. We might not be practicing the same religion as was done in Late Antiquity, but we are part of that memetic legacy. We celebrate a eucharist, derived from the ancient Eleusian Mysteries and the Dionysian Mysteries, much like Christians do. We also cast circles, a practice we can see within works like the Lemegeton (sometimes called for its first section, Goetia). We don't need to steal from other traditions to have something full (but more on Electicism when I get to E).
Here , I want to begin discussing some of our unique deities within our traditions. Her name is Aradia (which some state comes from the Latin for Altar of the Goddess). According to the Gospel of the Witches written by Leland, she is the daughter of Diana and Lucifer (though modern traditions seem to shy away from the name Lucifer, I personally don't), and thus a balance of darkness and light, sun and moon. She is called Queen of Faries, First of Witches, La Bella Pellegrina (Beautiful Pilgrim), protector of the opressed, and many more titles that can be found here.
Aradia was sent down (some say initiated into a tradition to do this) to free the oppressed and enslaved of medieval Italy from the rich and the Catholic Church. She instructs them on magic, some that would make the fluffy-and-light-based Wiccans cry out, "but what about the Rede, Harm None!" She also instructs them on the Sabbat, giving a charge very similar to the modern Charge of the Goddess. In factm, the Gospel is where Doreen Valiente got the inspiration, as well as a bit from the Blue Equinox and the Gnostic Mass of the EGC. The call to skyclad, or nude worship, is also called out, to be done "...until the last of your oppressors shall be dead."
The Sabbat meeting then follows a eucharistic pattern. This can be seen in the conjuration of Diana:
I do not bake the bread, nor with it salt,
Nor do I cook the honey with the wine,
I bake the body and the blood and soul,
The soul of (great) Diana, that she shall p. 14
Know neither rest nor peace, and ever be
In cruel suffering till she will grant
What I request, what I do most desire,
I beg it of her from my very heart!
And if the grace be granted, O Diana!
In honour of thee I will hold this feast,
Feast and drain the goblet deep,
We, will dance and wildly leap,
And if thou grant'st the grace which I require,
Then when the dance is wildest, all the lamps
Shall be extinguished and we'll freely love!
So what major influence does Aradia have on the world, and how do we come to worship her?
Well Aradia's name is basically everywhere you look now-a-days, especially in women's groups. The popular web-comic/series MS Paint Adventures has a character named Aradia Megido, who is a troll in the series.
To begin in the veneration of this goddess, I would first suggest reading the Gospel of the Witches, beyond getting a glimpse at her and the Neopagan Diana, its also a pretty damn good read, and in some ways, a social commentary (some think Leland forged the book with Maddalena as social commentary about the oppression of the lower class in industrial society, though I forgot where I read it at, I know, bad form to not have references, I have more important things to do at this time, like help take care of my sister who got her wisdom teeth removed). Besides that, I would look into some Italian/Tuscan folk practices. Interestingly enough, one can look to folk Catholicism for extra info that could possibly point them in the right direction.
However, beyond my suggestions, as long as respect is involved, I don't think there is a right or wrong way to worship Aradia, being a somewhat new goddess.
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ADDENDUM: Looking back on this post, I have to say that some things came off really weirdly with writing, so I thought I would take the time to mention a few things:
* I know there are many traditions within the WMT and Neopaganism, some of which do not draw inspirations from what I have mentioned in this post and in future posts. Certainly, Asatru and other Heathen traditions basically don't draw from the same source at all. I think that first paragraph could have been worded better. However, since a influential majority of Neopaganism was influenced by Wicca, which in turn, is a modern movement within the WMT, a lot can glean information from this.
* Skyclad as a term does not originate from Neopaganism or from the Gospel of the Witches, I am aware of that. It comes from a Jain origin. However, I used it out of a sense of the fact that it is a commonly used term to describe ritual nudity in Neopaganism.
* The quotes from the Gospel of the Witches was obtained at the Sacred Texts Archive here.
* I still can't find that damn "Aradia as Social Commentary" thingy.
* The next PBP post will be on Babalon.
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