Righteous, Man.

I read a blog post today, which is a response to the Reuters article on how Wiccans think the characters in True Blood are "giving Witchcraft a bad name." If you haven't seen the Reuters article, you can find it here.

The blog post, also entitled "A Popular TV Show Finally Depicts Sorcerers and Witches Properly," defends the idea that the Wiccans portrayed on the show, as well as the necromancer, are accurate (if sensationalized), and also defends the idea that we need to embrace and use what some call our "dark" or "negative" side. I've addressed this topic in the past in the post "Darth Strega." The "dark side of the force" should be embraced as much as the "light" side. Luke should have used his anger instead of denying it, and accomplished his goal of saving his dad. The two could have flown off into the suns-set together and made sequels. But back to this blog post.

He throws down a lot of smack talk about Wiccans, and of course not all Wiccans are as he describes, but there is an overwhelming contingent of practitioners out there who have diluted and polluted the concept of Wicca to the point of "anything (happy) goes." It's become the new catch word for "Pagan;" It's a safe word to hide behind to make the neighbors happy. Ellen Cannon Reed writes about this in Heart of Wicca. She defends her Wiccan practice as an "initiatory mystery tradition" while acknowledging that there are those out there who call themselves Wiccan who are "crystal-hugging, air-headed veganazis who believe (at high volume) that their way is the way all pagans should be."(page viii Introduction). I believe the blog's author is talking about the later. Here are a few highlights from the article which resonated with me. I encourage you to read the entire article even if you're not a True Blood fan.

Nothing less than the truth about us will ever serve to heal what divisions slice deeply into the blood and body of this world and our cultures. New-agers help to create those divisions by continuing- ironically- the same "witch hunt" started by Christians- except now, the witches are "negative" emotions which must be "banished" or driven from the body as visualized dark clouds, and replaced with visualized "white light" that enters you and "heals" you. This isn't healing; this is amputating half of our own humanity and our natural power. 

Our experts want to be as non-threatening to their neighbors as they can, and truly, who could blame them? But I feel I must suggest that what their neighbors need to know isn't that historical witchcraft really was “all lovely”- all those neighbors need to know is that what our Wiccan friends are doing isn't historical witchcraft; it is, instead, a new-age brew of goodness, peace, pop-culture cabbalism, light, so-called "shamanism", ceremonial magic, and karma, which couldn't harm anyone, at any time, ever- unless you consider massive confusion to be "harm"

Far from misrepresenting historical necromantic sorcery, Antonia embodies it. Women (and men) like her once really existed. They commanded the shades of the dead, made them give omens, divinations, and do favors for them- they threatened them, cajoled them, offered to them, seduced them, and held power over them. It doesn't sound pretty from a Christian or white-light New Ager perspective, but it is the historical fact of the matter.

He recommends the book:  Arcana Mundi: Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman World. This book is full of win. It's not epic win, but win nonetheless. A last quote to ponder:

The term "witch" refers to a region of the Western/Indo-European consciousness which, for whatever historical reasons (and there are many) has survived into our modern day loaded with power. Sure, most of that power is tied into sensationalism and smacks of villainy, but there is something standing behind it- the legitimate image of hedge-crossing, boundary-crossing sorcerer/sorceress who once interacted with the underworld and other more-or-less frightening or forbidden reaches of this reality, for the purposes of power-gaining, divination, and wisdom.

Yeah, I'd agree with that. I have one last note on the idea of embracing your "dark side" or "negative emotions" to share for you Christian readers who are lurking: Jesus did it too.

Matthew 21: 12-13: And Jesus entered the temple of God and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, ‘It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you make it a den of thieves.”

Righteous anger is righteous.


Tomorrow? Mercury in his many forms is a-callin once again! I'm reading Trials of the Moon! Perhaps a discussion on Arcana Mundi!

Will you do the Fandango?

A few nights ago a friend planted a song virus. The line she posted on her facebook status: "I see a little silhouette of a man..."  You know the reply! I bet you've already sung it in your head:

"Scaramouche Scaramouche will you do the fandango?"

Actually, his name is Scaramuccia and he was a stock character in la commedia dell'arte. The character was invented in the 1600s. He's "a big boastful clown" with affected speech and gestures.

"The exact origins of commedia dell’arte are unclear. Most scholars believe it was influenced by ancient Roman and Greek comedy and by the medieval traditions of carnival acrobats and jugglers."

Commedia was also the first time where women were accepted as performers. I suggest downloading the pdf linked above. It's a Student's Guide to Commedia and is well written and more informative than a mere wiki article. It also discusses how commedia is still influencing today's comedy entertainment, including everything from Saturday Night Live to the buffoonish dad popular on so many sit-coms. Commedia is the first situation comedy.

There were stock characters: the old man, the bufoon, the zanni (zany!) aka servants, the damsels, the heroes and so on. With each actor committed to a character, only the situation would change. Each had their routine comedy bits or tags which were used in every sketch (d'oh!).

Some of the regular "gags" aka lazzi:

Two servants carry in a ladder and spin around, hitting everyone as they set up (make em laugh!)

Pantalone, a stock character, was famous for having a comic heart attack (Fred Sanford: You hear that Elizabeth? I'm coming to join you honey!)

Scaramuccia was a later edition to the world of commedia, and thought to be derivative of an early character, Il Capitano. The first recorded commedia performance was in 1545. The fandango and Scaramuccia weren't invented until later. Can we guess his schtick was dancing the fandango? ;)

From the holy wiki:

Conventional plot lines were written on themes of adultery, jealousy, old age and love. Many of the basic plot elements can be traced back to the Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence, some of which were themselves translations of lost Greek comedies of the 4th century BCE

Recently I've been pulled towards studying the Italian Renaissance. Looks like this is the start!

Italian-American vs Italian

I have family in Italy. I have family from Italy who came to America. I call myself Italian, but I am, in reality an American, not an Italian. I do not live on that land, I am not involved in the daily life of the country, I am not aware of the political or economical issues or struggles and I don't live them, they aren't my own. I carry that land with me in my DNA. It helped to shape me, but so has this land and that's something native Italians can't say.

New York - Italian immigrants at Little Italy © De Agostini / SuperStock

I've talked before about pregnancy and motherhood being initiations and mysteries; So was immigrating from Italy to America: The journey, Ellis Island (and other ports of entry), the neighborhoods... the customs that developed from keeping the old ways and marrying them to the New World. I think Italian-Americans are more united as a culture than Italians themselves. Over there, it's family first, then town, then region then country.  In America, when the first great waves of immigrants came through, they still kept to their own, as per my cousin's story of the 3 butchers. Nowadays, most Italian-Americans no longer care about differences in region: Many of the old regional conflicts are now lost, even though my Mom swears that "all Calabrians are capadosts!" I have no idea why Calabrians are hard-headed or stubborn and pay little attention to that. Italian-Americans share common experiences that Italians just don't have. Now that we're into the 3rd and 4th generations since the great wave of Italian immigrants, we can see this more clearly.

Here's an article from an Italian-American growing up in the 1950s which illustrates this, as well as dealing with cultural stereotypes. And another link which even brings up that fact that Italians, along with Germans and Japanese were interred during WWII. We all know about the Japanese, and they received an apology at least, but what about the Italians? My Grandfather and all of his brothers fought in WWII and I'm wondering if, for some immigrants, this was done as a way to prove their loyalty and save their families from being put in prison for the crime of being at war with their native country? Something to ponder.

Family trad Witches in Italy and Family trad Witches of Italian descent in America are different too. We are more open here. We can claim the word Strega the same way we can claim the word Witch, the same way Christian Day can claim the word Warlock. If you talk to the older Italians and use the word Strega, they might poo-poo it as an insult. That doesn't mean the term is invalid. After all, that's what many Witches did here in America (over the past 20 years that I've been involved anyway), hiding behind the word "Wicca." The word "Witch" evokes all kinds of imagery and connotations, but using a softer word, a word that was less well known, like "Wicca" was ok. The same thing is happening in Italy: There is less need to hide behind the Saints and other Catholic trappings and Italian Pagans and Witches can start coming out of the closet.

This past Saturday, Janet Farrar (who was kind enough to post here on the blog, both correcting and confirming my rant at the same time!) said that, in Italy, "Strega" is thought of as a term of insult by the Italians who took their workshops. Yes, it has been for a long time, but that's the same as "Witch" being used as an insult. It still is today in America. However, there are many of us, on both sides of the Atlantic, reclaiming the terms. It will take a long time, and in both cases, other, softer words are being used to ease the muggles and bigots into the transition.

I'm on different Italian Stregoneria groups on Facebook and the internet. I don't mean "Italian Witchcraft" where everyone is American and interested in what the Italians do, I mean groups of Italians, speaking in Italian living in Italy. It's giving me a chance to practice my skills. I'll write up more conclusions, as well as the answers to the questions I posed on the groups, if anyone does indeed answer and I didn't completely mess up the Italian!

Prisencolinensinainciusol

My Italian is improving. After last night's google translate Apollo chicken debacle, I've been diving into the language more. I suppose immersion is the best technique for me. Now I just have to ge to Italy! Until then, I'll keep working through texts and listening to Italian pop songs. But wait, this one is supposed to sound English! I realized my listening comprehension was improving when I watched this youtube video of an interview with artist Adriano Celentano. He's been a huge star in Italy since the 60s with a long and consistent string of albums and movies. As for the song mentioned in the title, this is what the holy wiki has to say:

In an interview, Celentano explains that the song is about "incommunicability" because in modern times people are not able to communicate to each other anymore. He added the only word we need is prisencolinensinainciusol, which is supposed to stand for "universal love." Celentano's rationale for the song was that, after releasing albums about ecology and social issues, "having just recorded an album of songs that meant something, I wanted to do something that meant nothing."

According to various unofficial sources, it's an Italian style pop song written in complete gibberish to express how Italians hear the English language. The artist saw kids rocking out to American songs despite not understanding the words, and this was his answer (beware: It's fascinating and yet can make you queasy! Also, beware the super cheesy 60s music video!)




Hopefully back on track tomorrow with some fun and perhaps fascinating info on Italian Fairies and my Fairy Garden!

Sunday Dinner

Earlier tonight, hubby asked me about Italians having two kitchens. A friend of his had moved into a house that had two kitchens and was told it was an Italian thing. The upsatirs one was pristine, vintage, barely used at all, and the downstairs one had seen the most use and things had to be replaced there. He was asked, because he is Italian by marriage, why do Italians have two kitchens?

I have to admit, I have no real answer. I just know that everyone in my family did. The downstairs one was where the family would gather and the upstairs one was for "company." It wasn't just a summer use kitchen where things were cooler in the basement, we had Christmas eve down there too. Upstairs was much smaller as was the formal dining room (plastic on the seats n all).

Since it's Sunday, I thought I'd post this oldie but goodie.

Sunday Dinner for Italians
"True Italians will love this, those of you who are married to
Italians will understand this, and those of you who are friends with
Italians will remember and fwd it to your Italian friends."

• Italians have a $40,000. kitchen, but use the $259 stove from Sears in the basement to cook.
• There is some sort of religious statue in the hallway, living room, front, porch and backyard;
• The living room is filled with old Bombonieri (they are too pretty to open) with poofy net bows and stale
almonds;
• God forbid if anyone EVER attempted to eat Chef Boy-Ar-Dee, Franco American, Ragu, Prego or anything else in a jar or can! (Tomato paste is the exception.)

The following are Italian Holidays:
• First weekend in October - Grapes for the Wine
• 3rd weekend in August - Tomatoes for the Sauce.

• Meatballs are made with Pork, Veal and Beef. We are Italians, we don't care about cholesterol.
• Turkey is served on Thanksgiving, AFTER the manicotti, gnocchi, lasagna.
• If anyone EVER says ES-CAROLE, slap 'em in the face -- it's SHCAROLE.

• If they ever say ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP, let the idiot know that there is no wedding nor is there an Italian in the soup. Also, the tiny meatballs must be made by hand.
• No matter how hard you know you were going to get smacked, you still came home from church and stuck half a loaf of bread in the sauce pot, snuck out a fried meatball and chowed down
• It's GRAVY, not "sauce."

Sunday dinner is at 1:00.
The meal went like this...
• Table is set with everyday dishes. It doesn't matter if they don't match, they're clean!
• All the utensils go on the right side of the plate and the napkin goes on the left.
• Put a clean kitchen towel at Nonno & Papa's plate because they won't use napkins.
• Homemade wine and bottles of 7up are on the table.

• First course, Antipasto...change plates.
• Next, Macaroni (Nonna called all spaghetti Macaroni)...change plates.
• After that, Roasted Meats, Roasted Potatoes, Overcooked vegetables...change plates.
• THEN and only then (NEVER AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MEAL) would you eat the salad (HOMEMADE OIL & VINEGAR DRESSING ONLY)...change plates.
• Next, Fruit & Nuts - in the shell (on paper plates because you ran out of the other ones). Coffee (Espresso for Nonno, "Merican" coffee for the rest) with the Anisettes (Hard Cookies to dip in the coffee).
• The kids go play...the men go to lay down. They slept so soundly you could perform brain surgery on them without anesthesia... the women clean the dishes.

-----------------------------

Funny how very common this experience is to so many people. Not sure if I've posted this before, but I don't care, I'm in the mood. It's one of my kiddo's favorite songs. There's no vieo, just a picture of the singer, but it's the best recording ever!



Here's another with Luna Mezzo Mare and two women doing a tarantella and playing tamburellos!

La Vecchia and "The Black Book"

"Ay! La vecchia!"
This phrase was used by my Grandparents to mean "the old days," as in lamenting how things used to be. Others might hear the phrase and think of an old person, or old age. The context and inflection give us the definition as much as the words used. I'll go so far as to say that the Italian language, like Shakespeare, was not meant to be read, it was meant to be performed, hand gestures and all. The old ways, and the old days, were not forgotten. After all, Italy is the land that coined the phrase: "Revenge is a dish best served cold." Italians have long memories. Especially Italian Women.

I will let you in on somewhat of a secret; It's an open secret. We don't hide it, but unless you've been around us, you won't really get it: Every Italian Woman has a Black Book, whether it be a literal one, or in their head. (It has nothing to do with the "little black book" of lover's contact info.) I thought it was a generational thing, and to some degree it is, then again I've been around less Italians in the past few years. As I have taken up the mantle of my position, I have come to realize that I, too, have a Black Book. And it is filled. And it contains notes from my Mother's Book and my Grandmother's too.

"Arrite arready! What's this book thing ?" It's every gift ever given or received, every favor done or received, attendance at funerals, weddings, baby showers, and for all important family events. Italian accounts paid and receivable.

My Mom called one day to ask me a question. Hubby picked up the phone and took the call, so she asked him: How much did Aunt blah blah and Uncle So n So give you for your wedding 7 years ago? Hubby was stumped, wondering why she'd think he'd remember that. I took the phone, "opened my book" and gave her the number. Of course she had to know, she was going to their son's wedding the following week and had to give a gift!

I know who was and wasn't at my Grandmother's wake when I was 11 because of the wakes we did and did not go to in the 10 years following. There were obligations. "I don't even know this person," I protested. Her reply: "They came when your Grandmother died." I thought my Mom was being silly, but now I remember exactly who was and was not at my Father's wake 10 years ago. I know who owed my Grandmother favors, I know who my Mom has beef with and why and won't ever forget who did and did not support us in the past few years. There are people I'd love to write off but then I remember they were there for me at certain points. Cred, however, gets used up. How this started, I have no idea. It sounds very Mafia, doesn't it? Speaking of... Hubby thought I was crazy (that not all Italians could possibly do this, it's just my odd family) until we were watching The Sopranos. There's a wonderful scene where Tony and Carmela are getting ready for a wedding and she's sitting at the kitchen table and... writing the gift in a Black Book. Hahaha!

I've been doing a lot of blahblah lately, so here's something more practical:

I've been told by many "Scholars" that the stuff in Leland's Aradia is made up. My Grandmother never read any Leland, but somehow she knew what to do on a Tuesday. What she told me isn't exactly what's in Aradia: Gospel of Witches, but it's close enough (given differences in region and dialect) for me to call it the same thing. I'm not going to repost it here because honestly, Leland mixes two different things: The first part is removing "The evil eye" using oil. He calls it a common courtesy between Wizzards. o.0? He also neglects to describe the gestures he mentions or the "special incantation," which I know they wouldn't let him overhear unless it was midnight on christmas eve. But I digress. The second part is a Petition to Diana to go out and find what you need and lead you to it.

Tuesday is THE day of the week to go shopping for that hard to find item. It's the day of Mars, dies Martis, and therefore action and the number 9, which is why most prices are $X.99. To do this, just concentrate on what it is you need and head on out shopping. I don't need to detail a ceremony for this, do I? Hold it in your mind, make an offering if you wish, then get on out there. It might not be the first place you go, but if you listen to your inner voice, you might notice it's amped up a bit, or you just might happen by a store, or feel compelled to pop into a certain place. Something to keep in mind: You might not find the item you thought of that day, instead you might come across something else that you had been looking for but had forgotten!


Let me know what you find :)