Leland's Aradia
In 1899, the American folklorist Charles Leland published Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, a book which he claimed was the religious text belonging to a group of Tuscan witches who venerated Diana as the Queen of the Witches. He also claimed that he had been given the book by a Tuscan woman named Maddalena, although historians such as Ronald Hutton have disputed the truth of these such claims.
Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches began with the tale of Aradia's birth to Diana and Lucifer, who is described as "the god of the Sun and of the Moon, the god of Light (Splendour), who was so proud of his beauty, and who for his pride was driven from Paradise". Diana instructed Aradia to "go to earth below / To be a teacher unto women and men / Who fain would study witchcraft". When Aradia descended, she became the first of all witches, and promised her students that "ye shall all be freed from slavery, / And so ye shall be free in everything".
Aradia was described as having continuing power to affect the world after she returned to the sphere of Diana. For example, in "A Spell to Win Love", the "Invocation to Diana" asked Diana to send her daughter Aradia to perform the magic. Leland's Aradia had a chapter containing folklore about the night assembly or banquet titled, "The Sabbat: Tregunda or Witch Meeting," which involved Diana. Leland commented in the Appendix, "I also believe that in this Gospel of the Witches we have a trustworthy outline at least of the doctrine and rites observed at these meetings . They adored forbidden deities and practised forbidden deeds, inspired as much by rebellion against Society as by their own passions."
Leland speculated that this folklore ultimately had roots in ancient Etruscan mythology.
Leland also equated Aradia with Herodias, explaining his speculation that Herodias was actually Lilith: "This was not... derived from the Herodias of the New Testament, but from an earlier replica of Lilith, bearing the same name... So far back as the sixth century the worship of Herodias and Diana by witches was condemned by a Church Council at Ancyra". Pipernus and other writers have noted the evident identification of Herodias with Lilith. Historian Ronald Hutton suggested in Triumph of the Moon that this identification with Herodias was inspired by the work of Jules Michelet in Satanism and Witchcraft. Anthropologist and field folklorist Sabina Magliocco, on the other hand, is willing to consider a connection between the Italian Erodiade (Herodias), the Cult of Herodias, the night assembly, and Aradia.
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