Raven Grimassi
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Raven Grimassi (b. 1951) is the pen name of the author of over a dozen books on Neo-paganism and witchcraft. He is perhaps best known for his popularization of Stregheria, which he describes as "the Old Religion of Italy... the Witch sect of Old Italy".
Grimassi won "Book of the Year" and "First Place - Spirituality Book" from the Coalition of Visionary Retailers in 1998 for his book The Wiccan Mysteries, and his book Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft was also awarded "Best Non-Fiction".
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[edit] Life
Grimassi states that his early training was a mixture of Italian witchcraft and folk magic. His later interest in Neo-paganism began in 1969, and he was initiated into a system claiming to be Gardnerian Wicca in San Diego (the tradition's claim eventually proved to be false). Ten years later, Grimassi began teaching the "Aridian Tradition", which he describes as a "modern system"[1] of Italian Witchcraft (Stregheria) that he created for non-initiates. According to Grimassi, one of his students was Scott Cunningham. Grimassi also studied Kabbalah and other traditions of Wicca such as Brittic and the Pictish-Gaelic system.
In 1994, the new age publisher Llewellyn Publications accepted his manuscript for Ways of the Strega, which was reprinted the following year as Italian Witchcraft: The Old Religion of Southern Europe . The publication of this book launched Grimassi's professional career as an author.
He currently lives in California and is the directing elder of Arician Witchcraft and co-director of the College of the Crossroads. Grimassi was formerly the editor of the magazine Raven's Call.
[edit] Author
Grimassi places pride in his Italian-American heritage, and has written two books that present a modernized public version of an Italian Witchcraft system based upon an old tradition that was earlier taught to him. Grimassi points out that one does not have to be of Italian descent in order to practice Italian Witchcraft
Grimassi differs from his contemporaries at Llewellyn, such as Cunningham and Silver RavenWolf, in offering footnotes and references in his books, and by suggesting academic texts and older classic works (such as The Golden Bough) for further reading. His publisher, in the "About the Author" section of his books Italian Witchcraft, and Hereditary Witchcraft, describes him as "a recognized expert on Italian Witchcraft and the foremost authority on the works of Charles Godfrey Leland in this particular field". Grimassi displays this text on his personal author website as well[2].
Grimassi's intimation of belonging to a "family tradition" of religious witchcraft, a claim made by a number of other Llewellyn authors and which has never been substantiated, has opened him to criticism. Grimassi responds by saying that, although he wrote about such a family tradition, he never specifically mentions his own family, and it was only Llewellyn's marketing department that made such a statement[5]. Professor Sabina Magliocco, who has criticized some of Grimassi's claims, does point out that "Grimassi never claims to be reproducing exactly what was practiced by Italian immigrants to North America; he admits Italian-American immigrants "have adapted a few Wiccan elements into their ways". After personally meeting Grimassi, Professor Magliocco writes in her letter to the Pomegranate Reader's Forum: "I had the pleasure of meeting Raven Grimassi during the summer of 2001, unfortunately after the final draft of my article had already been submitted to The Pom. He was very gracious and helpful to me. From information he revealed during our interview, I can say with reasonable certainty that I believe him to have been initiated into a domestic tradition of folk magic and healing such as I describe in my article."
Grimassi views Leland's book Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches as a "distorted version" of the story of Aradia, whom he believes to be a mortal woman named Aradia di Toscano[1].
[edit] Bibliography
- 1981: The Book of the Holy Strega
- 1981: The Book of Ways Volume I and II
- 1994: Ways of the Strega
- reprinted as Italian Witchcraft: The Old Religion of Southern Europe in 1995
- 1998: Wiccan Magick
- 2000: The Encyclopedia of Wicca and Witchcraft
- 2001: Beltane: Springtime Rituals, Lore and Celebration
- 2001: Hereditary Witchcraft: Secrets of the Old Religion
- 2002: The Wiccan Mysteries
- 2002: The Witches' Craft: The Roots of Witchcraft & Magical Transformation
- 2003: Spirit of the Witch
- 2003: The Witch's Familiar: Spiritual Partnership for Successful Magic
- 2004: Witchcraft: A Mystery Tradition
- 2005: Well Worn Path: Divination Kit
[edit] Notes and references
- ↑ a b Stregheria.com FAQ. Retrieved on October 13, 2005.
- ↑ a Biography of Raven Grimassi. Retrieved on October 13, 2005.
- ↑ Arician tradition. Witchvox. Retrieved on February 7, 2006.
- ↑ College of the Crossroads. Retrieved on February 7, 2006.
- ↑ a Common misunderstandings about my writings. Retrieved on October 13, 2005.
- ↑ Grimassi, Raven (2001). Hereditary Witchcraft. Llewellyn Publications. 1567182569.
- ↑ Magliocoo, Sabina "...this state of affairs, along with the lack of ethnographic evidence to corroborate the reports of Martello, Bruno and Grimassi, makes the existence of an Italian witch cult among Italian-Americans extremely unlikely." in Spells, Saints, and Streghe: Witchcraft, Folk Magic, and Healing in Italy. Retrieved on October 13, 2005.
- ↑ Magliocco, Sabina (2001). "Spells, Saints, and Streghe: Witchcraft, Folk Magic, and Healing in Italy". Pomegranate: The Journal of Pagan Studies, 13: –.
- ↑ Magliocco, Sabina (2001). "retraction". Pomegranate: The Journal of Pagan Studies, 16: 48.
