Craft Treasures Series: Navi Sousa
First of all, how did you come to the Craft? Or how did you find yourself in the Craft?
I was raised in a family where folk magic is interwoven into Italian Catholicism. That was my first introduction to the Art. In my teen life, realizing that I am queer and daring to be different, I attempted to unalive myself. A Goddess showed up and gave me a choice: die without dignity or live life on my terms. That was all she said. I chose life. And poured through catechisms, mythology books, and museum exhibits until I found Her name. From there I began what is technically dual faith practice. I was devout in the cultural faith I was raised in but began to worship the Olympians and Her. She led me to eclectic Neopaganism, Classical Polytheism, and ultimately to Traditional Wica and Folkloric/Traditional Sicilian Witchcraft. I would say that Craft is NOT the fertility cult we have been led to believe. Rather, in ALL its traditional branches, it is an ecstatic Cult of the Dead, of reincarnation and necromancy, with the promise of rebirth amongst our own until we reach godhood or glorification. So... I came to the Craft in time before time and will return to it in other lives. And in each lifetime, I come into being. As do we all.
Did you encounter elders and teachers early on who inspired and challenged you? If so how?
One of my Elders in Sicilian Craft is Lori Bruno. And her kinsman Leo Martello is a strong influence on my development as a Witch and human being. In person, Lori has challenged me to ask deeper questions, to carve out the person I mean to live as in the world, and that the Priesthood is rooted in service. I also cut my teeth on the writing of Sybil Leek, whose Complete Art of Witchcraft gave me the words to describe my gnosis and experience. My Alexandrian elders Oracle Hekataios and MoonBear have also been inspirations. My first teacher in the Craft, Lady Cerridwen of Earthworld Circle, was a major influence on why I ended up in healthcare! There are other mentors and elders who have been seminal. And ironing names and stories would take almost a lifetime to share.
You have midwifed your own order within a larger family of Italian Craft? How did that come to be?
My first initiatory parents in Sicilian Craft, J.A and E.E, with their elder Ricky, brought me through the crossroads and witnessed my oath. I am forever indebted to them for the experience. However, life intervened and politics interfered, albeit after I had birthed my coven. In hindsight, I was also incredibly young. So I got knocked down and stood up several times. So my original hive kinda imploded, I moved to New Mexico and Florida, while pursuing further training with my elders, as well as working with the Priesthood of Hekate's Torch. On my return to New England, I had also been corresponding with other practitioners of Italian Craft. Notably Beth Mastromarino and Scotti Brancher, Marie Antonia and an elderly Sardinian man I call Antonio. I had also come to stress the streams from the Sicilian Fairy Cult, the Hellenistic theurgist, and Renaissance Angelic Art, with a side of Sufism. I had also integrated my family's folk magic into what I taught and did. I would pit grandma and the aunts with their rosaries against any big wig in the Golden Dawn, but I digress. In time, all these streams converged and my coven mates then asked to codify. So we did, claiming the virtue of the Wolfheart Recension.
You have written books on Diana, Apollo, Angels, and Traditional Witchcraft? Why did you write these books? What do they mean to you?
All of my books are written and offered as madrigals to the Gods and Spirits and those who led me here. Also, they were each born in the time they were needed.
Raven Grimassi was a notable exponent of his version of Stregheria, and Italian witchcraft broadly before he committed more to a pan-European Ash, Birch, Willow system. How did his work impact Italian witchery and folk magic in the States?
Raven's books provided an outer court system that some recommended early on for folks looking for a teacher. Unfortunately, Raven had a penchant on his blog claiming some authority to define what is authentic Italian Craft. He never did possess such authority. And so you saw many of the older lineages in America either start using the term Stregoneria vs Stregheria to differentiate approaches. However, Raven never claimed to publish an initiatory system, though prior to publication, Aridian Ways was Raven's initiatory practice now rebranded in the Arician Ways. There are no secrets there that some insisted there were. Conversely, because of his books, people assume erroneously that we are all just Traditional Wica with marinara sauce. We are not. And even he had admitted as such... Repeatedly.
Could you speak more to the place of Lori Bruno and Leo Martello in the modern Craft? Their legacies. What they have contributed that people may not be aware of? X
Lori is still alive and well, and I recommend reaching out to her personally. That said, in Salem one year, she grabbed the megaphone from the westboro wannabee church's pastor spewing hate, and ended up preaching to the crowd against the hate. She was also awarded the title Defender of the Children of the Commonwealth for work with at-risk youth. Leo Martello was in the Stonewall Rebellion, and organized the first display of "pagan pride" with his Witch In at Central Park. he could at times be acerbic and often put his neck on the line for sexual, gender and racial minorities at a time when others in our Neopagan subculture were bigoted assholes.
What do you consider to be one or two or three of the most significant things that Italian forms of Witchcraft offer to the wider Witchcraft world(s)?
This is an interesting question for me. Our idea of community is not the pagan subculture but rather the people sharing our world, our nation, our neighborhoods. That is the only community we really care about and serve… as Witches, as Priesthood. Our domestic cult and Mysteries are private, reserved for those are worthy of them. And other Witches and people of power are to be worked with in solidarity to better serve that community. Also, magic is real with real beings of agency in real other worlds. It's not infantile mental gymnastics nor is it all about us.
Unless you ground your Priesthood and Sorcery in real ways to reverberate through all the interconnected relationships of existence, you are doing it wrong.
And unless you take the mentality of a Warrior defending yourself, your loved ones, and your community against inimical forces... unless you feed everyone from your table… why bother. To be a Witch makes us heirs of the Royal Blood. We are sovereign. And upon our shoulders rests the whole. As Siberian shamans sing, we alone keep up life.
Navi is a Priestex of the Goddess Diana, whom they serve through the initiatory currents of Sicilian Stregoneria and Italian Continental Witchcraft. They have emerged as primary midwife for the Wolfheart line of Italian American folkloric Craft. They are also an initiate of Alexandrian Wica. Amongst their interests are chai lattes, geeking out about Witchlore and world mythology, and belly dance. Under their former name (Jonathan Sousa), they are the author of A Star From Heaven, Classical Polytheism, and others.
Find out more here: https://linktr.ee/HeartfireCunningWill
Image: Diana, Étienne Delaune (1518-1583)
