Author Topic: Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches (Read 1665 times)

Nuummite · « **on:** October 07, 2020, 05:52:39 am »

There are now several editions of Charles Godfrey Leland's Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, some with commentaries, essays etc by other people. Which edition do you recommend?

SunflowerP · « **Reply #1 on:** October 08, 2020, 10:32:12 am »

Quote from: Nuummite on October 07, 2020, 05:52:39 am

There are now several editions of Charles Godfrey Leland's Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, some with commentaries, essays etc by other people. Which edition do you recommend?

If one is specifically looking for the commentaries, it'd depend what one wants from the commentary. I'm not familiar enough with the various instances of that to provide recommendations.

If what one's mainly after is the original work, it's long since out of copyright and in the public domain, so I'd recommend getting it free online - f'ex, on The Pagan Library.

Sunflower

Nuummite · « **Reply #2 on:** October 08, 2020, 01:22:56 pm »

Quote from: SunflowerP on October 08, 2020, 10:32:12 am

If one is specifically looking for the commentaries, it'd depend what one wants from the commentary. I'm not familiar enough with the various instances of that to provide recommendations.

I would have been interested in the expanded edition by Phoenix Publishing, but it is out of print, expensive and hard to get where I live. I would be interested in reading about:

The culture of the birthplace of the source material of the book.
How Leland likely handled the material
Comparison to other mythologies and known folklore
Commentary by actual practitioners of Stregheria

According to this article, The Witches’ Almanac edition has at least some of these elements. Then there is an edition by Patricia Della-Piana, but its possible influences from Raven Grimassi worry me. I don't consider Raven Grimassi a reliable source on Stregheria.