Quick Specs
- Author: Raven Grimassi
- Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser
- Format: Paperback
- Size: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
- Best for: Practitioners seeking pre-Wiccan folk magic traditions rooted in the Plant Kingdom and ancestral spirit work
Before Wicca: The Old World Roots of Witchcraft
Raven Grimassi spent decades as one of the foremost scholars of Italian stregheria, the pre-Christian folk witchcraft tradition of rural Italy known as la vecchia religione, the old religion. His earlier books documented the cultural expressions and regional practices of witchcraft across the European world. Old World Witchcraft goes somewhere different. Rather than cataloguing tradition, it penetrates the deeper substrate beneath all those traditions, what Grimassi calls the enchanted worldview, a magical relationship with the Plant Kingdom and the spirits attached to it that predates any named school of witchcraft by centuries.
This is not a book for someone looking for Wicca with a different coat of paint. Grimassi explicitly moves away from the Gardnerian framework and its God and Goddess liturgy to present techniques that are more animistic, more rooted in shadow work, and more directly connected to the organic memory of the earth. The concept of Shadow here is not a psychological metaphor but a literal understanding of the earth’s accumulated magical memory, accessible through specific plant-based and ancestral practices. If you’ve read through the standard modern witchcraft canon and feel something is missing, this is the book that names what that missing thing is.
Plant Spirits, Shadow, and the Ancestral Current
Grimassi reframes several common witchcraft tools in ways that will challenge practitioners who think they already know their craft. The mortar and pestle, for example, is presented not just as a tool for grinding herbs but as a focal device for interfacing with plant spirits, a casting instrument for spell work, and a veneration point for the Plant Kingdom itself. The practice of creating magical sigils from plant ash is presented as one of the rooted techniques that carries power precisely because it has always been connected to it, not because a modern practitioner invented it last decade.
The ancestral current threads through the entire book, connecting the practitioner to the timeless arts through methods drawn from the old sources directly. Grimassi’s approach to moon magic in this context is notably different from the lunar frameworks found in most contemporary witchcraft books; here the moon connects to the shadow realm and the ancestral memory encoded in the land rather than generic elemental cyclical work. Readers who have found standard spellcraft and witchcraft books too formulaic will find Grimassi’s framing refreshingly uncompromising.
How to Use Old World Witchcraft by Raven Grimassi
How to approach and work with the pre-Wiccan teachings in this book.
- Understand the Shadow Framework First
Begin with Grimassi’s introduction to understand Shadow as the organic memory of the earth. This concept underpins every technique and differs sharply from modern Wicca, so reading it first gives the rest of the book its proper context.
- Engage the Plant Spirit Practices
Work through the plant lore chapters using the mortar and pestle exercises. Grimassi presents this tool not as a kitchen implement but as a focal device for interfacing with plant spirits, casting spells, and venerating the Plant Kingdom.
- Work the Ancestral Current Techniques
Practice the ancestral current techniques in the later chapters. These methods involve specific lunar timing and plant ash sigil work. Grimassi provides exercises for connecting directly to the timeless arts through the organic memory of the land.
The Tarot Fellow Standard
I stock Grimassi’s work because it occupies territory that almost no other book in my inventory covers. His focus on pre-Gardnerian folk magic, plant spirit contact, and the shadow realm gives serious practitioners access to a layer of craft that modern Wicca-adjacent titles tend to gloss over or miss entirely. It complements the Celtic and Norse titles in my Celtic and druidry books section as a distinctly Italian and pan-European counterweight to those northern traditions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Old World Witchcraft suits practitioners with prior craft grounding who are ready to go deeper. The book moves directly into shadow work, plant spirit contact, and ancestral currents without extended introductory scaffolding or basic explanations.
The Old World title refers to a pre-Wiccan worldview rooted in the Plant Kingdom and its spirits. It is not geographically limited to Italy, though Grimassi’s Italian stregheria background and folk tradition inform the perspective throughout.
Yes. Grimassi presents plant ash as a medium for magical sigil drawing and the mortar and pestle as a ritual casting tool and spirit interface rather than a kitchen implement. These practical techniques differ from standard herbal witchcraft work.
Grimassi doesn’t use Wiccan liturgy or a God and Goddess framework. He works from pre-Christian folk roots, shadow realm concepts, and plant spirit contact, making the approach more animistic and older-feeling than standard modern witchcraft titles.
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