Isis and the witches
The myth of Isis from Ancient Egypt to the 1600s
As we know, Isis was the patroness of the family, pregnant women and healer, and also the goddess of sorcery and witchcraft.
She had not hesitated to make "great-grandfather" Ra bite the heel in order to know, in exchange for her healing, his true Name. This knowledge enabled her to take away his "solar power."
From Isis was born the "Isiac cult," rich in mysteries and esotericism, which spread in Rome from the last years of the Republic, opposed by the nobles and the Senate, which allowed it only outside the walls of the Urbe, and persecuted under Tiberius.
Under Caligula, however, it was rehabilitated and even raised to state religion. It had its own initiatory alphabet and, as a symbol, one or two vipers entwined in its tail. The first degree of initiation was the knowledge of one's "secret" name, a Kabbalistic Name that makes each person master himself: the "Great Word." So that the Kabbalistic Name of God would always remain among men, Isis instituted initiations and mystery, which, according to Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch, were the remedy that gave immortality.
Isiac temples sprang up a bit all over Italy:
- in Turin, where the Isiac cult was maintained even in the Savoy period of the 5/600s in which Turin hosted alchemists, necromancers, people devoted to esoteric rites, etc., and became part of the Masonic rites. The Savoys, in fact, since nothing is known about the founder of the lineage, Umberto Biancamano, were trying to prove an Egyptian origin!
- in Bologna
- in Florence
- in Campania
- in Pompei
- in Benevento
The latter is particularly well known for its "witches," and, most likely, these are none other than the followers of an original Isiac cult, transformed over the years into a demonic cult, devoted solely to magical powers. It was the Lombard duke Romuald who was converted by Bishop St. Barbatus and who had the famous evergreen walnut tree uprooted under which the witches gathered after washing in the Sabato River.
The references with the original Isiac cult are numerous: they worshipped the "golden adder," purifying water is a fundamental element for the cult of Isis, they then doused themselves with ointment (perhaps a powerful hallucinogen), etc. A curiosity. The female adepts who were not in Benevento, anointing themselves, recited this magic formula in order to fly:
Unguento, unguento, mandame a la noce di Benivento, supra aqua et supra at vento et supra ad omne maltempo.
Poor Isis, reduced only to protector of sorceresses! However, in compensation, they also dedicated a liquor and an important literary prize to her!
