I have voodoo and black magick books too.
I practice Strega
UH OK...what is it like, healing with rocks...or more black...spells and such?
its herblism mainly, and midwifery
ok, and what's the midwifery part?
Im just interested, because this is exactly the preactices which were coined "witchcraft"
Midwifery is being a midwife, assisting in all areas of child birth.
Witchcraft has been banded about by the church to justify their killing of women in the middle ages. There is no such thing as a witch.
No one flys on broomsticks etc. Thats a great Gentile myth.
Stregheria is the per curser to Paganism which is also not witchcraft. Neo Pagans or New Age Spiritalists have taken the label Wiccan to suit their needs.
Stregheria or La Vecchia Religione (the Old Religion), was just the Elder woman of the village that knew the knowledge of nature as medicine. They were generally outcast to the edges of the villages, normally widows.
Remember the culture of respecting your Elders, this was all apart of it. The thing was, they were unable to work farms and support themselves, so they sold medicines. They knew what plants could cure as will as kill.
They were not good or evil, they were just normal healers like today, the medical profession today owes many things to these women, that were hunted down and killed, due to petty spats.
You even see the mob mentally on this forum, its no different in a some village. If we were like that today, Erica would of been tied to a stake and burnt.
Strega's are rare today, many have died out. Because now Doctors have taken over their role. But I do believe some old ways need to be kept, others no.
As for the voodoo and Black Magick thats a interest, a learning of other cultures.