The Age of Giants, II

As it says, here,

"In those days there were on earth many rich and many poor. The rich made slaves of all the poor. In those days were many slaves who were cruelly treated ; in every palace tortures, in every castle prisoners. Many slaves escaped. They fled to the country ; thus they became thieves. Instead of sleeping by night, they plotted escape and robbed their masters, and then slew them. So they dwelt in the mountains and forests as robbers and assassins, all to avoid slavery."

"Diana said one day to her daughter Aradia:

Tis true indeed that thou a spirit art,
But thou wert born but to become again
A mortal ; thou must go to earth below
To be a teacher unto women and men
Who fain would study witchcraft in thy school ...

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 ;
And when ye find one 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
Of me, Diana, Queen of witches all!

For I have come to sweep away the bad,
The men of evil, all will I destroy!

'Ye who are poor suffer with hunger keen,
And toil in wretchedness, and suffer too
Full oft imprisonment ; yet with it all
Ye have a soul, and for your sufferings
Ye shall be happy in the other world,
But ill the fate of all who do ye wrong!'

Now when Aradia had been taught, taught to work all witchcraft, how to destroy the evil race of oppressors, she imparted it to her pupils, and said unto them,

When I shall have departed from this world,
Whenever ye have need of anything,
Once in the month, and when the moon is full,
Ye shall assemble in some desert place,
Or in a forest all together join
To adore the potent spirit of your queen,
My mother, great Diana. She who fain
Would learn all sorcery yet has not won
Its deepest secrets, them my mother will
Teach her, in truth all things as yet unknown.
And ye shall all be freed from slavery,
And so ye shall be free in everything :
And as the sign that ye are truly free,
Ye shall be naked in your rites, both men
And women also : this shall last until
The last of your oppressors shall be dead ;
And ye shall make the game of Benevento,
Extinguishing the lights, and after that
Shall hold your supper,

And thus shall it be done : all shall sit down to the supper all naked, men and women, and, the feast over, they shall dance, sing, make music, and then love in the darkness, with all the lights extinguished ; for it is the Spirit of Diana who extinguishes them, and so they will dance and make music in her praise."

This, the Gospel of Aradia, is a true tale, for it retells the story of Frodi amongst men helping them throw off the thieving giants and tyrants, as told by Saxo in the 1200's, as told amongst the English as Robin Hood in the 1400's, and as actually enacted by the Picardi Adamites of Bohemia, who held naked, free love rituals around fires in the woods, and stole from the priests and sheriffs of surrounding towns to foster their free life in the woods.