Tuscan witchcraft is unique among all other types of witchcraft in Italy since the Ancient Religion of Tuscany has its roots in antiquity Etruscan and contains fewer Roman influences.
The Old Religion
During the Neolithic period of Italy, there was a culture known today as the Cult of the Mother Goddess. The archaeological discoveries relate a particularly abundant period from which an abundant series of statuettes of the goddess and her husband are dated.
Some archaeologists, like Marija Gimbutas, believe that the Etruscans were the heirs of the beliefs and practices of this very ancient cult, but also of another, known as the “cult of the dead”, both of which were formerly practiced on the Italian peninsula. This region is part of what we today call Old Europe, which includes not only Italy but also Greece, the Czech Republic, southern Poland and western Ukraine. The archaic concepts of Old Europe flourished even after the beginning of the Christian era.
This was particularly true across the Italian peninsula. Hellenistic and Roman writers were often astonished to discover traces of primitive practices and beliefs originating from the old Etruscan regions, practices and concepts which moreover closely resembled those recognized in Greece and Rome at that time. There was, among other things, the notion of animism, the omnipresence of signs, divinatory arts, curses and oracles, etc.
Etruscan women had equal if not greater importance than men in society in general but especially from a religious and spiritual point of view, a legacy of the matriarchal religion which once flourished in Old Europe. Another important belief to mention is that the Etruscans believed in the “material” survival of the dead at their place of burial.
They placed objects and personal effects that belonged to the dead, games, tools, etc. in their graves. In archaic Roman religion, we find similar practices at burial sites. This suggests that the cult of the dead was very important.
The Etruscans believed in “supernatural” powers. All acts of Nature were seen as commanded by a spirit or a god. Several omens preceded the appearance or action of a “supernatural” being. In order to establish good relationships with the spirits and deities, offerings were made to them.
In connection with the Etruscan beliefs about omens, is the ancient myth guide animals (totems) and ancestors. The first nomadic tribes in Italy believed in the spirit of an animal that protected and guided them. The Piceni tribe, for example, believed that their guide was a woodpecker, for the Sabelians it was a bull, for the Lucani, a wolf and for the Ursenti, a bear. These and other surrounding tribes had a custom known as Ver Sacrum, the sacred spring.
This required that a few members of a tribe leave for a while to settle further away in the region each spring. At this time, the totem could be encountered in vision, in dreams.
As humans evolved through agrarian societies, the spirits of the meadows and forests were "transformed" into the spirits of the plowed and sown fields. These are the Lasa, beings sharing very close ancestral ties with them. Under the Roman Empire, these spirits were called Lare and were once again transformed into spirits of the home and family, making the Lare protectors of the family, preserving their memory and descendants.
The Etruscans then developed and refined several early pagan beliefs, creating a mystical and magical tradition. Centuries before Rome came to power, the Etruscans worshiped the Great Mother Goddess Uni and her husband Tinia. These deities governed a horde of demigods and spirits and bestowed their powers on the forces of Nature, deciding the destiny of humans.
The Etruscan pantheon was no different from the Olympian gods of Greece, although they worshiped other gods above them. These deities were known as the Involuti or the Mist Gods.
The Witches/Sorcerers of Tuscany are direct descendants of the Etruscan people. For several centuries, they kept their existence secret, whispering to the ancient gods worshiped by their ancestors on nights when the moon was visible in the sky. Generations introduced the Old Religion to their descendants, preserving the ritual and magical knowledge of ancient Italian witchcraft.
In the early 17th century, an Ambrosian monk named Francesco Guazzo wrote a book dealing with the legacy of Italian Witches and Wizards entitled Compendium Maleficarum. In the sixth chapter, Guazzo speaks of the “inherited traces” of Witchcraft in children born to be witches. Several chapters deal with ceremonies in which children are "baptized", dedicated to the "sect" of Witches, in addition to discussing marriage ceremonies between wizards. Guazzo stated that all this was only in order to "propagate" the witch race.
Plants and particularly herbs have always been associated with witches. In Homer's writings, witches were found in forest glades. Ovide said that they met on hills of grass. With the Hellenistic period, we have references relating that witches practiced and lived in the cities, obtaining their herbs in public markets or in cemeteries, and therefore did not necessarily live behind all civilization, as hermits. It is also said that witches of this time could practice under a roof, indoors.
It is interesting to note that the word "witch" in ancient Greek is "pharmakis", literally "herbalist" and that it is from this word that the word pharmacy was created. To the Romans, the word "witch" was called "venenum", referring instead to poisonous herbs. From venenum, they created the word veneficium, the Latin word for “witchcraft.” The Latin name for witch is therefore today "venifica", but formerly referred to the meaning of "wise woman".
It is thus very clear that the witches of this time and this region knew how to use herbs. In the folklore of this region, each plant is said to be inhabited by a spirit or consciousness, the Numen, and it was this which gave the plant all its magical and/or healing properties. The concept of Numen evolved to later become that of fairies or spirits of Nature.
In Tuscan witchcraft, it is believed that there is a very intimate relationship between fairies and witches/wizards, both possessing a deep knowledge of magic and being very connected to nature. In Tuscany, the Queen of the Fairies is known as Alba or Turanna. Aldegano is an ivy fairy spirit and Tarabug is the spirit of the street (plant) and guardian of the reeds. Rue and ivy are among the most used magical plants in Tuscan witchcraft. Rue, ivy, salt and wine are used to invoke the Goddess and to summon spirits and fairies.
Related to the belief in fairies are the three deities or spirits of Destiny, known as Maratega, Rododesa and Befana. They rotate the lives of all humans, weaving the history and destiny of each individual, and cut the thread of life when conception is complete. We can compare them to the Norns of the Scandinavians (Urd, Verdandi and Skuld), to the Fates of the Romans (Nona, Decima and Morta) or to the Fates of the Greeks (Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos).
Divination is an important aspect of Tuscan witchcraft and is used in an attempt to gain insight into the destiny woven by the three Fata (fairies) of Destiny. Befana is also an ancestral spirit whose symbol is a woven stocking. Stockings or socks were also hung above the fireplaces on the night of January 6 in the hope of Befana's visit. The home is a symbol of family life and unity and it was a place where one found warmth and companionship. During the night of January 6, Befana filled the stockings with gifts for the children, thus creating contact with each new generation.
Attilio is a spirit of homes and associated with the Lare, the ancestral spirits inhabiting homes. Setlano is a fire spirit invoked for divination. Traditionally, when a fire burns inside a hearth, omens of the future can be seen in the interpretation of the flames and sparks. The elemental beings of fire are the Salamanders and can appear in the flames in the form of oracles.
Mena, another fire spirit invoked for love and marriage, usually appears in the form of a serpent. The young women and men then ask their questions to the fire, watching the changing flames to get their answers. Those who hope to find their soul mate call on the Marta spirit. It is also known for rekindling the fire of passion in a couple, hence its association with divinatory fire.
Primitive practices are the keystone of Tuscan witchcraft and a sign of the antiquity of this tradition. Several aspects of this ancient form of witchcraft have been preserved in the archives of the Italian Inquisition. One particular case that needs to be taken into consideration involved a woman called Elena Draga. In 1571, she was brought before the Inquisition for using witchcraft to heal people. One of his spells was to rub a piece of raw meat on a wart.
Then she buried the meat, so that as it decomposed, the wart would disappear. Another of his cures was to wash a sick person with water, then during the third or fourth phase of the moon, one had to wait for low tide and throw the dirty water into the ocean, so the illness would go away . We also note that most curative practices in the coastal regions of Italy were based on the lunar phases and used the tides of the oceans.
Witches/Wizards are very attached to their ancestral tradition and have always protected it, rarely discussing this subject to the uninitiated.
