Italian Magic - Tumblr Posts

Italian Folk Magic: Benedicaria, Stregoneria and Stregheria

When it comes to Italian folk magic, there are three branches that you need to know about.

Benedicaria is the Italian style of Catholic folk magic. You might see some similarities between Benedicaria and Latin American practices of Santeria or Louisiana Voodoo. For example, I have noticed the use off eggs as cleansing agents within all three traditions.

Saints, archangels and various Madonnas are often called upon for help during Benedicaria work.

Stregoneria is the Italian word for witchcraft. It is used to refer to all types of witchcraft but in an English context it is used to specifically refer to witchcraft of Italian or Italian-American origin. As such, a lot of Stregoneria practices and customs can also be found in Benedicaria. The main difference is the fact that Stregoneria does not need to involve Catholicism in any way.

Historically, those who practiced stregoneria were usually women. They were called witches but actually acted as healers. They used a mixture of local herbs and natural medicine combined with spiritual traditions or “magic” in order to heal people. They would heal everything from a physical sickness to a spiritual sickness. As medicine advanced, these natural healers became less sought out.

Because these healers were labeled as witches, some claimed they used evil and dark magic to conduct their work. They could heal but also curse people. Despite the fear mongering, many of these local healers were able to continue their work. A lot of these practices survived even to today. the Malocchio and methods to get rid of it is a good example of a well known spiritual healing practice surviving.

Stregheria is a style of Italian-American influenced magic. It was created by Raven Grimassi, an Italian-American and child of an Italian immigrant from Naples. Grimassi was heavily influenced by Wicca when he created this system of magic and rituals.

Grimassi claims that the Stregheria tradition has roots from ancient Italy and the ancient Etruscans. However, there is no historical evidence that validates his statement.

Those who practice Stregheria also follow the book Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches by Charles G. Leland. This book claims to be a religious text of pagan witches in Tuscany that survived. However, the sources in this book are extremely questionable and many believe that Leland made up most if not all of the book. Leland’s book tells the story of a goddess named Aradia – said to be the daughter of the goddess Diana and the biblical Lucifer.

Stregheria, in reality, looks to be a modern religion with heavy wiccan influences.

Hi, I’m back on this account again. I was absent for a while because of technology issues. I’m still trying to figure out this app though.

I follow from this blog. I mostly just repost stuff.

🍓🍓

I like Percy Jackson

I am an INFP-T

Some of my favorite shows are The Vampire Diaries, Lucifer, and Teen Wolf.

**DNI: maps/nomaps aka p3dos, prejudice people (TERFs, racists, homophobes, ect), if you think age regression is k!nk, support toxic ships( are a pro shipper/l*licon and related), if you’re against Free Palestine

Hashtags (ignore, they’re to help me find stuff)