AUDIO

About the Witches’ Goddess and women who go by night with Diana, Herodias, or “the witch Holda,” with commentary on the demonization and romanizing interpretation that the clergy insisted upon, and authenticating heathen tradition in the face of doctrines that insist upon early and complete christianization. (11:03 minutes)

Max reading from and discussing her book Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion

Book release party on Aug 2, 2016, in Berkeley CA.

Shifting meaning of “weird”

What are the heathen origins of the word “weird,” and its connection to Wyrd, the Three Wyrd Sisters, the fates?

Strigas, and the Three Weird Sisters

The witch-name stria / striga / striges (a Latin export) and how it differed from Italian strega. Then, revelations from priestly penitential books that interrogated women about pagan observances (“Do you believe, as some women believe, that…?) Especially interesting are questions about the offerings that women make to the Three Sisters, or Fates, in the Decretum of Burchard of Worms, 1000 years ago.

The “Miracle of the Bones“

A widespread story in which the witches feast on an animal, then wrap its bones in the skin, to be brought back to life by a Goddess or by ancestors. This tale is found in witch trial testimony as well as in folk orature, especially in the Alpine region, but as far away as Estonia, where it is the Earth goddess who performs the resurrection. Italian accounts show the Goddess touching the bones with a wand, while the witches pronounce the spell, “Sorge Ronzola” (“Get up, Bossie!”)