Deific/Major Familiars and the Table of Offers
As stated before, the Deific Familiar is the first Familiar one has to approach. It corresponds to the patron God or Goddess of the contemporary practitioners, although in the past the concept of “Divinity” in a non-christian sense got lost with the end of real paganism. From then on, these entities were addressed as more powerful Spirits.
In the middle ages and in the first modern era, the Deific/Major Familiar appeared as the head of the Procession of the Dominae Nocturnae (Signore della Notte, Ladies of the Night).
All throughout the Europe of this period, we always find the same theme, although called with different names: there’s a figure, the Deific Familiar, that procedes with a following of Spirits (usually women and associated with Fairies) and human Souls (the so called Witches, that evidently were non other than individuals that were having an extracorporeal experience) passing from house to house.
Those who wanted to have the favors of said Procession and of the Deific Familiar that was the head of it, would completely clean the house, putting everything in order, making the beds, etc. Then they proceded to prepare the table for these Spiritual guests, leaving food and drinks on the kitchen table for the night.
During the night, the Procession would enter the house, stopping to eat, drink, dance and sing and the Deific Familiar, with his/her wand, would have blessed the same food: the Procession could only eat the Spiritual aspect of the food, filling the Material aspect with prosperity and many other virtues.
In the morning, the blessed food was supposed to be eaten and the left overs preserved.
According to some scholars, the theme of the Procession of the Dominae Nocturnae has its origin in the theme of the Wild Hunt or the Procession of the Dead.
The Wild Hunt was the Procession of Spirits of those who fell honorably in battle, according to the Viking beliefs, the Einhejar, together with the Valkyries, guided by Wotan (Odin), and it was said that it could be possible to see it in some occasion in the battlefield.
This theme will slightly change in the christian epoque, becoming the Procession of the Dead, a procession of Spirits of those who died a violent death, suicides, non baptized children and people who weren’t evil enough to deserve eternal damnation in hell, but that could not access Paradise either (the concept of Purgatory was developed from here).
This belief, even if born in the germanic/norse world, will spread throughout Europe, thanks to the extensive preaching of the christian priests, that, while trying to eradicate said beliefs in the population, obtained the opposite effect.
This theme would then be changed and adapted by every culture: Wotan was substituted with local figures, first among all, Hellequin (from “ Helle König”, the King of Hell, from which Dante developed the figure of Alichino, that later became the famous figure of Arlecchino, Harlequin).
From the initial Wild Hunt, two different Processions would be developed:
Procession of the Dead, with a male like Hellequin as the head
Procession of the Dominae Nocturnae, with a female like Diana or Aradia as the head. This theme also received the influence of the beliefs on Fairies. In numerous cases the figure head of the Dominae Nocturnae is also the head of the Fairies (Doamna Zinelor in Romania, the Fata Maggiore in Sicily, the Queen of Elphame in Great Britain).
This introduction is useful to understand how to choose our Deific Familiar. This Familiar was different in each region, although the european theme was the same. It depended on local latent beliefs, while the myth of the Procession was pan-european, thanks to the christian priests.
Said choice must be thoughtful; we’re linking ourselves with a Spirit, a link that will probably last for all our lives. It cannot be taken lightly.
With this premise, the first thing to do is to seek documents of Witch trials in our area. Usually, the most useful ones are the ones before the 1550s, because around this moment in when the Church starts to associate Witchcraft with the Devil, so we risk to find trials that describe Satan as the head of the Procession, instead of other Spirits, like Diana, Aradia, la Signora del Gioco (Lady of the Game), and others. Said trials are completely useless for our ends.
Analizing these trials and the local folklore (like reading books of popular legends about Witches) we need to pay attention to:
the names of the heads of the Witches
the names of the heads of the Fairies
the names of the heads of the Wild Hunt/Procession of the Dead
the names of other figures deriving from pre-christian divinities present in the folklore
The facebook page “Gli Dei della Stregoneria Italiana” already did good part of the job. Of course this work isn’t exhaustive and it’s good practice to try and integrate it with a personal research, but it’s a good way to start.
[Translator note: I will list the names and the regions to help the non italian speakers that benefit from these translations]
Sicily: the Regina delle Fate (Queen of the Fairies), also called Savia Sibilla, Signora Greca, Signora Grazia, Donna Inguanto, Mandotta and Donna Zabella; the Re delle Fate (King of the Fairies) also called Re Cozzo or Re Cucco.
Sardinia: Diana (the sardinian Fate were called Janas); Maimone also called Maimulu and Mamuthone (probably derived from Dioniso Mainoles. Aradia (also called Mama Erodas, Arada, Araja or Rejusta) was also seen as the patron of the Janas.
Calabria: in this folklore, the table were prepared for the Fatae, that the local albanian minority also called Drekezit o Fiatazit. There are also the figures of the Sibilla Cumana, of the local Befana called Papparutu or Pacciarutu and a group of local healers called Cerauli that had St. Paul (substitution to Eracle) as their patron.
Apulia: the Patrona de la Cheise, figure similar to the Donne di Fori/Donne di Fuori/Patruni di Casa/Patruni di Luocu Siciliane. One salutes her saying:”Bon ggiorne a la Patrona de la Cheise, u mmaile ca esce e un bbeine ca triese” (”Good morning to the Patrona de la Cheise, an evil that goes away and a blessing that enters”). To protect yourself from the apulian Streghe, the Masciare, the locals said “Driana meste ca va pela vì” (”Master Diana that travels the roads”). The local paganism of the V sec. a.C. consists in the cult of a divinity of the Sun (Mitra or Apollo?) and a divinity of the Moon (Diana?). Dioniso is the god linked to the Tarantismo, substituted by St. Paul in later times.
Basilicata: the Madonna Nera di Viggiano, probably derived from Persefone, has a black face and wonders between the fields of wheat and the cattle, it was a dark divinity from the shadows of the earth’s womb, the farmers’ Persefone, an infernal goddess. We also find prayers to the Santo Sole (Saint Sun), probably a remainder of Apollo or Helios.
Molise: the cult of St. Cosma and St. Damiano comes from the cult of the Dioscuri and in part from the cult of Priapo. This region shares with Campania the figure of the Ianare, the local Streghe, and as a result of Diana that gives the name to these Streghe.
Campania: Diana gives the name to the local Streghe, the Ianare/Janare and it’s linked to the cult of the Noce di Benevento (the Walnut tree of Benevento), together with Godan (Odin) and Iside (Isis). The folklore mentions other gods: the Zucculara (Hekate), Cupindo (Cupido), Erodiade (Aradia) and the Sepilla la bella (the Sibilla Cumana).
Lazio: Aradia lead the Streghe to Rome and gathered them together the day of St. John, near the homonym basilica. We also read about the Meridiana or Marianna, a demon of noonday, probably deriving from Diana. Cupiddo (Cupid) was also worshipped.
Abruzzo: this region shares with Umbria and Marche the cult of the Sibilla Appenninica (also called the Sibilla Picena or the Sibilla di Norcia); probably derived from the cult of Cibele, Cupra, Nortia or Venere; others think this figure was the Sibilla of the god Pico. The goddess Angizia in the origin of the figure of St. Domenico di Cocullo. Some of the other cults are the goddess Ancharia and Ercole Curino, the goddess Maia, the god Hermes, the Pasqua Pefanij or Bboffe, a feminine figure linked to Epiphany.
Tuscany: the tuscanian Befana, has the same origin of the venetian Redodesa; the Fantasma, a figure linked to Hekate; the Maga Accina on mt. Amiata, linked to the Sibilla Appenninica. The belief in Diana and Aradia is documented by the archbishop Sant’Antonino in the XV sec d.C., long before Leland.
Emilia-Romagna: the goddess head of the Streghe is called the Domina Cursus and Sapiente Sibilla. Other pagan figures of the local folklore are: the Borda, deriving from Borvo/Bormo a celtic god that presides the thermal and spring waters; the Fata was corresponding to the germanic Perchta, seen as a nice old lady, very clean and with a welcoming attitude.
Again, it is vital that you make your own research by looking up the names of these divinities and accessing the documents of the trials.
Once obtained these names, starting from the region(s) that we choose as a point of reference and the call that we feel towards a specific divinity, we can operate the decision of our Deific Familiar.
Now that we have chosen our Deific/Major Familiar, we can start with the Tavolo delle Offerte (the Table of Offerings), a table spread with food and drinks for our Familiar and their Procession.
Thoroughly clean the house (or at least the room in which you’ll operate this ritual, usually the kitchen).
Set the table (if we’re forced to work in other rooms, an altar will suffice) with a clean tablecloth, table napkins, cutlery, dishes, glasses, a bottle of wine or another drink of choice and the following meals (first course, second course, side dish, dessert or fruit). You’ll also need one or more chairs, so that our guests can seat.
Recite a prayer to manifest that we’re leaving this offering to our Deific Familiar and its following, inviting them inside, allowing them to dance, eat, sing and drink inside our house and asking them to consume our food and to bless it after they consumed its Spiritual aspect, and to cast their blessing upon us, our house and to its inhabitants.
We can light some incense and leave some musical instruments as a further offer. Adding candles and tapers that represent our Deific Familiar, statues or images of them, flowers and so on, it’s also acceptable. These are contemporary additions, but the banquet is the necessary base of the offering.
In the morning, we will approach the table, thank the Deific Familiar and we’ll eat the blessed food. Upon finishing the meal, we’ll thank the Deific Familiar once more, we’ll tell them goodbye and procede to clean up.
WHEN AND HOW OFTEN LEAVE THE OFFER?
The foundation of the relationship with a Familiar Spirit is to nurture them, in order to fuel the link between ourselves and the Spirit. In the past, the Strega fed their Familiar once a day. In this age, some people make offering everyday, others a few times a week or even once a week. In my opinion [TN: the author’s opinion] we should make an offer at least once a week.
[Translated and adapted from https://tradizioneitaliana.wordpress.com/2018/04/04/introduzione-alla-stregoneria-tradizionale-iii-i-famigli-deifici-e-il-tavolo-delle-offerte/]
