The Museum of Witchcraft

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The Goddess

Modern witches worship the Goddess and her partner the horned God. The goddess is worshipped in many forms and often as a triple deity representing the maid, mother and crone.

In the Middle Ages witches were sometimes accused of following the classical Goddess Diana. The Canon Episcopi, an ecclesiastical document written in the year 900, portrays Diana as leader of the witches: "...some wicked women, perverted by the Devil, seduced by illusions and phantasms of the night, to ride upon certain beasts with Diana, the goddess of the pagans..."

In 1889 Charles Leyland published a book entitled 'Aradia, The Gospel of the Witches' which tells the legend of Aradia, daughter of Diana, who was sent to earth to establish witchcraft. Leyland claims to have translated the book from a document given to him by a traditional Etruscan witch.

Aradia is one of the many Goddesses recognised and worshipped by Wiccans' today.

Hidden amongst the medieval carvings in churches Shela-na-Gig may sometimes be found. She makes no attempt to hide her sexuality and is an obvious fertility symbol or deity. She is often found in the company of 'green men' peering through a screen of leaves.

In Cornwall the Phoenician goddess Tanit or Tanat was said to have been worshipped, Cecil Williamson talked of a local Coven that named themselves after Tanat.

The Goddess display

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