25 May Dr A.D. Manns
Dr A.D. Manns
LECTURE
The Strange Origins of Aradia: Inside the Hidden Words and Worlds of Roma Lister
First published in 1899 by the American journalist Charles Godfrey Leland, Aradia became one of the most influential texts in the development of modern witchcraft. While it’s commonly thought that the book resulted from a prolonged creative partnership between Leland and Maddalena — an Italian fortune teller and fellow folklore enthusiast — this talk makes the case for the involvement of another author: Roma Lister.
Raised, as she put it, “among witches and wizards” in the Roman countryside, Lister became an avid folklore collector and one of Leland’s closest confidantes in the 1890s. Largely forgotten today, she also developed a reputation as a formidable occultist who could speak to spirits, cast spells, heal wounds, and utter prophecies.
This lecture incorporates new research from A.D. Manns’ new book, Aradia’s Hidden Hand: The Untold Life of Roma Lister (Hexen Press, 2025)
Bio
Dr A.D. Manns is an oral storyteller and historian. A graduate of the Warburg Institute, A.D. Manns wrote his doctoral thesis on propagandistic reinterpretations of the Italian Renaissance magus Tommaso Campanella in Civil War-era England. He has long maintained a deep interest in overlooked history and mystical literature, and has written for a variety of folklore and art-centric publications, including The Thinker’s Garden, Hellebore, Atlas Obscura, Folklore Thursday and Abraxas Journal.
