This is a simple spell which invokes the power of Aradia to grant a specific request. It was collected from a Wiccan Book of Shadows dating from the early 20th Century.

You will need:

A short, broad beeswax candle (a large tealight is ideal)

Candle holder

Thorn (natural such as hawthorn, blackthorn, or rose thorn)

Matches or lighter

Snuffer

Time: waxing moon is preferred, but any will do at a pinch

Place: any

Using the thorn, inscribe a waxing crescent moon Ͻ on the top of the candle. Light the candle and gaze softly at the flame. Concentrate on your desire, either in words, images, or feelings, as you chant over and over:

Gracious Lady Moon Ever in my sight Kindly grant the boon I ask of thee tonight.

(The honorific ‘Gracious Lady Moon’ is a common title for Aradia.)

Veiled Daughter of spite

From the flames of your mother's sins you rise

Leading the witches in nocturnal flight

Treading Diana's mill by full-moon light.

Dubbed with thy mother's name,

You reclaimed it, and arose as Erodiade,

Mistress of the faeries,

Lady of the night,

Grant to us the gift of respite.

Grant to us the strength within,

To rise above others' sins.

Victim, yet villified,

Though your hand was forced,

You give to us knowledge to continue forth.

Wearing thy blood-mother's veil,

You reclaim her name,

Rising in power as the reborn daughter of Night and Day,

So we call on you, Salomé, of Diana's train,

"And thou shalt be the first of witches known;

And thou shalt be the first of all i' the world;

And thou shalt teach the art of poisoning,

Of poisoning those who are great lords of all;

Yea, thou shalt make them die in their palaces;

And thou shalt bind the oppressor's soul (with power); 1

And when ye find a peasant who is rich,

Then ye shall teach the witch, your pupil, how

To ruin all his crops with tempests dire,

With lightning and with thunder (terrible),

And the hail and wind.

And when a priest shall do you injury

By his benedictions, ye shall do to him

Double the harm, and do it in the name

(Madonna on crescent moon, late 16th Century. The Madonna on the moon can be used as a secret symbol of the Goddess Diana)

This month's Vangelo reading - June 2026

Madonna Diana

Once there was, in the very old time in Cettardo Alto, a girl of astonishing beauty, and she was betrothed to a young man who was as remarkable for good looks as herself; but though well born and bred, the fortune or misfortunes of war or fate had made them both extremely poor. And if the young lady had one fault, it was her great pride, nor would she willingly be married unless in good style, with luxury and festivity, in a fine garment, with many bridesmaids of rank.

And this became to the beautiful Rorasa - for such was her name - such an object of desire, that her head was half turned with it, and the other girls of her acquaintance, to say nothing of the many men whom she had refused, mocked her so bitterly, asking her when the fine wedding was to be, with many other jeers and sneers, that at last in a moment of madness she went to the top of a high tower, whence she cast herself; and to make it worse, there was below a terrible ravine (balza), into which she fell.

Yet she took no harm, for as she fell there appeared to her a very beautiful woman, truly not of earth, who took her by the hand and bore her through the air to a safe place.

Then all the people round about who saw or heard of this thing cried out, "Lo, a miracle!" and they came and made a great festival, and would fain persuade Rorasa that she had been saved by the Madonna.

But the lady who had saved her, coming to her secretly, said: "If thou hast any desire, follow the Gospel of Diana, or what is called the Gospel of the Witches (Il Vangelo delle Strege), who worship the moon."

"Se la Luna adorerai Tutto tu otterai"

"If thou adorest Luna, then What thou desir'st thou shalt obtain!"

Then the beautiful girl went forth alone by night to the fields, and kneeling on a stone in an old ruin, she worshipped the moon and invoked Diana thus:

"Diana, bella Diana! Tu che della grande caduta Mi ai bene salvata! Ti prego di farmi una altra grazia, Di farmi far' un bello sposalizio, Una sposalizio ricco e 'compagnato Da molte signore... Se questa grazia mi farai Sempre il Vangelo delle Strege lo asseriro.

Diana, beautiful Diana! Thou who didst save from a dreadful death When I did fall into the dark ravine! I pray thee grant me still another grace. Give me one glorious wedding, and with it Full many bridesmaids, beautiful and grand; And if this favour thou wilt grant to me, True to the Witches' Gospel I will be!"

When Rorasa awoke in the morning, she found her self in another house, where all was far more magnificent, and having risen, a beautiful maid led her into another room, where she was dressed in a superb wedding-garment of white silk with diamonds, for it was her wedding-dress indeed. Then there appeared ten young ladies, all splendidly attired, and with them and many distinguished persons she went to the church in a carriage. And all the streets were filled with music and people bearing flowers.

So she found the bridegroom, and was wedded to her heart's desire, ten times more grandly than she had ever dreamed of. Then, after the ceremony, there was spread a feast at which all the nobility of Cettardo were present, and, moreover, the whole town, rich and poor, were feasted.

When the wedding was finished, the bridesmaids made every one a magnificent present to the bride - one gave diamonds, another a parchment (written) in gold, after which they asked permission to go all together into the sacristy. And there they remained for some hours undisturbed, till the priest sent his chierico to inquire whether they wanted anything. But what was the youth's amazement at beholding, not the ten bridesmaids, but their ten images or likenesses in wood and in terra-cotta, with that of Diana standing on a moon, and they were all so magnificently made and adorned as to be of immense value.

Blue moon photograph by Sam Roots

"Therefore adoring You as though You were nurturing Venus Herself, whether You are female, or whether You are male, even so, illuminating the night, You are a nurturing Moon."