Wahya Circle
Thursday Thoughts

World Studies 101
Southern European Practices

As Christianity pushed its way into Folk Magick and pagan worship, the people converted with it more often than not due to fear of retribution. Practices changed, but still with basic threads intact. These threads are seen in the practices of ceremonial magick and ritual held by the Church itself today. It is quite simple to trace many specifically Catholic prayers, rituals, seasonal festivals, and even deities, angels, and saints to corresponding pagan roots.

However, most of this, at least until people became literate and had access to a printing press, was not recorded but oral traditions. The recorded history of Southern Italy before Christianity was quite limited to only those that had access to a scribe and/or were literate and through those oral traditions.

The true holy lineage of the Italian people is only a portion of the Golden Thread that weaves its way through our genetic memories, akashically, into us from our Ancestors and to some the most accurate source of our sapiens history that we have.

Today, the word strega in Italy is still not used to identify village or Folk Healers and is, in fact, considered a derogatory term —at least by older generations, or Elders due to the oppression and abuse they have suffered related to it. We can change this.

Regardless, one of the practices handed down amongst the families of the native people is the value placed on family. It is one of the strongest surviving bonds between people today. Some believe that is why the “mafia” was able to be so successful —as “family” means everything culturally, and this descends through the millennia. Another aspect of native Italian culture that was appropriated by the Church was the concept of a basilica — which was originally used to describe an open public court building which evolved to mean a Catholic pilgrimage site over time.

Some of the advanced concepts amongst the tribes of the land were assimilated into Roman culture and exploited by the Roman Senate and Roman Church.

Another ancient tradition incorporated into the Church as Epiphany, and demonized to some extent, is very similar to Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus, or “Babbo Natale”. Still more popular in Italy today than those stories is “La Bafana”. Demonized by the Church in modern times to be a “witch” flying on her broom, La Bafana is a folk tradition celebrated around the first week of January each year.

Much like the Norse, the families that hold the indigenous traditions celebrate “Winter Solstice” for many days, ending around La Barana.

This woman, a folk hero to many, is said to fly through the sky on that night, bringing gifts as a sign of abundance to children in modern times, and bringing in the new season of life. A Goddess of sorts bringing in the promise to an end of “dark times” and the abundant beginning of a new growing season for all the people.

There are many Practices such as this that we can find if we dig and clear away the corruptive thought of control and assimilation by the Church. Look around the culture you are genetically tied to and see if you can spot an “ancient” tradition.

Modern Children"‘s Story

Below you will find a link to Strega Nona as written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola
and read by Mary Steenburgen.

Let’s take this word and heal it!

Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola

World Studies 101
Italian Indigenous - Origins of “Streghe”

Words with the same origin as strega are words such as “stria”, “strix”, and the many derivatives. The word “stria” is of Latin origin which has a meaning of “a furrow (in Earth) channel (in Water), groove (by Air), hollow; a pleat or flute (by Fire) of a column.” Of course, these can be interchangeable per Element too.

The word “strix” is also Latin for furrow, channel or groove (in the soil). Many believe this was a colonizing way to be derogatory to the native people and say they were “less than dirt”. But, we now know, these indigenous souls were in fact NOT “lower than dirt” In fact, most of them were “salt of the Earth” people who lived WITH the land.

Remember that when repeating words we hear and stand on principles that may not be actually attached to the word we choose. Seek answers. Ask. Look. Divine. Empower positive change in the world, returning it to where it “rightly” belongs.

Everything is not as it seems.

Others have been looking deeper as it may be a hidden misconstruing of truth in understanding of the names the people who called themselves, “of the Earth” or “Earth people”. The jury is still out on that latter thought but it makes sense. We modern Practitioners can help that energy along.

Descendants of stria are words such as “striscia”, an Italian word that comes from Latin fascia (Band, bandage, swathe, strip, ribbon.). That over time gave way to the descendants of “strix” which are “stregone” or “stregoneria”, the modern word appropriated by mostly Americans and used to mean “witch” or “spell”, not “people of Earth” or an indigenous term. But, the word rightly belongs to those who descend from it.

Are you Italian? Have you researched your DNA?

Vitalia - “Land of Cattle”

When studying the land in and around what is now Italy, understand it is a very ancient and rich culture. The name 'Italy', or Italia, is an ancient name for the country as well as the name of the people of Southern Italy. Originally is was spelled Vitalia, most likely from the same root as the Latin vitulus (a one-year-old calf), thus literally meaning 'calf-land' or "Land of Cattle". This land was originally rich farmland as sapiens began to become more agriculturally adept.

There were many other native peoples in the land we now call Italy. Tribes such as the Oscans (close to the Samnites), Ligures (mad up of 15 tribes), the Apuli (3 tribes), the Secani, some Ancient Greek tribes, Samnitics (7 tribes who rivaled Rome for about 50 years before being assimilated around the 4th century BCE) and even some of the Celts (7 tribes ) were touched by this territory.

As invaders came, a word was formed and “streghe” was that word.

Seeing the original meaning of the word makes it easy to understand why those who were, and are, effected by it have grave disdain for its use. We are asked by many Elder Italians to equivocate the use of the word to mean something similarly derogatory as the American term “nigger”. But, the power needs to be shifted.

Much as the African-American society now has disdain for use of the word “nigger” outside of their own culture. Some have in fact embraced that it is a word that reminds others that their blood-kin were stolen from the land of Niger.

Looking at the word strega, it too is often considered a derogatory term used to disparage and condemn the Folk Medicine ways of rural people as well as disempower and further oppress the already marginalized and vulnerable.

But we can change this.

Those are usually elder women, much as the word witch itself has been used for the same purpose across Europe and many other places around the world.

Yes, we understand, as with all indigenous we have encountered on our Journey, a word’s meaning is molded by those who smith or appropriate it. Again, in the case of “strega” – it was not meant to always be for good, as you can see from its meaning in origin, although it may have arisen from a true misunderstanding that “got away” from people.

The people did already have a name and it was disregarded by those who colonized them, but that genetic difference may now be forever lost to time. However, the Folk Medicine practices that are native to the land AND are still found in and are called by those original names. We are wise to not lose those. Again, most native people simply call themselves “human”, just as many of the other indigenous humans of Earth.

Power of Words

Words morph and change constantly in our modern society, recreating themselves into different contexts of use amongst different peoples. An example of this is the kids of today telling each other, “you got no ‘ris”. (rizz)

What does that mean?

It means that person has no charisma and is coming off harsh.

This is not the first time that words have been “made up” or have lost meaning. Look at the Victorian Era when it was cool to make up Latin sounding words that meant NOTHING like their root words… like, “discombobulate”. They just made up words that were assimilated into language.

As Practitioners and knowing the power of words, we are wise to Focus the path of this energy from the words we utilize. This seems to be a time in our life as sapiens that we need to finally open our eyes and respectfully look at our neighbors, our Kindred, who have always been here with us and view them as humans too.

“Witch” and our concept of witchcraft has a somber and very traumatic history that spans from Europe to the Americas to Asia and beyond. Primarily where women, the life givers and healers of all things, were executed or marginalized en mass. This seemed to be because of the dominant, world conquering, Christian patriarchal narrative that played out. That narrative continues today with a multiple head growth shown through Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and other “big book”, patriarchal driven faith practices.

The indigenous healing practices of village herbalists and wise folks were considered ‘evil”, and a threat to Christian doctrine.

It is further noted, that there are economic and political means that drove the witchcraft hysteria and inquisition in Europe as capitalism claimed the labor and life blood of the peasant (paisano) and (contadino) farmer class of the indigenous people.

The modern and historical witchcraft practices of indigenous Europe have multiple variations, but all were at one time a form of place-based methods and systems used by folk healers. They utilized this to maintain a healthy and balanced relationship with the animate forces of nature for which we are inextricably linked, just as with all cultures we have seen to this point.

The popular idea of Italian witchcraft that resembles new age spirituality, or Paths such as Wicca, is not historically or culturally accurate and does not relate to the actual embodied Folk Healing practices in Southern Italy or in the communities of Italian natives. It is largely speculative to regard any pre-Christian spiritual or healing practices in Southern Italy in the same light as our modern concept of witchcraft. It simply does NOT fit because of basic cosmological differences in our modern mindset and the mindset of those animists of thousands of years ago.

Sapiens have changed, Medicine and Magick have evolved.

“The first thing magick changes, is you.”

The prolific cosmological beliefs through time in Southern Italy were intertwined with the art, ritual, and social expressions of daily appreciation of their Experiences, existence of all, and celebration of seasonal changes. All of this is evidenced to us through their art that is found to this day and held by the Church. Any pre-Christain traditions that might be considered “witchcraft” were passed from person to person and family to family, adapting to the conditions and needs of each generation as it presented.