Aradia: Queen of Witches

"The great god Pan is dead!" This was the voice that was echoing through the streets and campaigns centuries ago, while the new religion arose and the spirits of nature retreated in secluded and lonely places.

A great change was taking place: all that until then was worship and tradition, was to become a "work of the evil one," according to the new vision of the nascent religion.

The traces of the ancient pagan tradition (from the Latin "pagus", "of the fields" or "from the countrysides" and "rustic village", since this tradition survived especially in rural areas with minimal contamination) were to be gradually removed or revised by the new cult.

Nymphs, satyrs, elves, fairies and other enchanted creatures slowly disappeared, leaving an occasional rare track: the fairy people was dying. Together with them, even the ancient gods hid themselves. But Diana, goddess of the wild woods, before disappearing forever, gave birth to a daughter, Aradia, which would have preserved the fire of the Tradition during the following centuries, teaching the millenarian knowledge, heritage of their race, women and men who had managed to make contact with her.

During those centuries, Aradia lived in the heart of Europe's forests, still pristine, often moving with her small court of fairy creatures to avoid being discovered by the exponents of the new religion.

So, in clearings in the woods, or on top of rugged mountains difficult to reach by humans, they were celebrated festivals and rituals in honor of the goddess Aradia and of the magical knowledge of which she was the bearer. Shortly before sunset, all creatures gathered in a circle to hear stories of ancient mysteries or enchanted fairy tales. Most of the time was the toad Bufo Bufo who entertained the audience with his stories until after sundown; other times it was the same goddess, from her stone throne, handed out stories and teachings to all her little people. Often the evenings continued with abundant banquets and music and dancing until dawn.

It is said that only very few men and women were received secretly in the kingdom that for many was legend, for others had never existed. In this way, Aradia fulfilled the mission for which she was born, namely to preserve the ancient teachings of his lineage and deliver them to those who were worthy, thus maintaining an underground traditional continuity between the world of ancient paganism of her ancestors and the one of the future.

Women and men who were initiated into the cult of Aradia were called "witches" and "wizards" by not belonging to the cult and were described as evil beings from the new religious leaders, so as to persecute them for centuries.