Leo Martello (September 26, 1930 – June 29, 2000) was an American Wiccan priest, gay rights activist, and author. He was a founding member of the Strega Tradition, a form of the modern Pagan new religious movement of Wicca which drew upon his own Italian heritage. During his lifetime he published a number of books on such esoteric subjects as Wicca, astrology, and tarot reading.
Born to a working-class Italian American family in Dudley, Massachusetts, he was raised Roman Catholic although became interested in esotericism as a teenager. He later claimed that when he was 21, relatives initiated him into a tradition of witchcraft inherited from their Sicilian ancestors; this conflicts with other statements that he made, and there is no independent evidence to corroborate his claim. During the 1950s, he was based in New York City, where he worked as a graphologist and hypnotist. After beginning to publish books on paranormal topics in the early 1960s, he publicly began identifying as Wiccan in 1969, and stated that he was involved in a New York coven.
After the Stonewall riots of 1969, Martello – himself a gay man – involved himself in gay rights activism, becoming a member of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF). Leaving the GLF following an internal schism, he became a founding member of the Gay Activist Alliance (GAA) and authored a regular column, "The Gay Witch", for its newspaper. In 1970 he founded the Witches International Craft Associates (WICA) as a networking organization for Wiccans, and under its auspices organized a "Witch In" that took place in Central Park at Halloween 1970, despite opposition from the New York City Parks Department. To campaign for the civil rights of Wiccans, he founded the Witches Anti-Defamation League, which was later renamed the Alternative Religions Education Network. In 1973, he visited England, there being initiated into Gardnerian Wicca by the Gardnerian High Priestess Patricia Crowther. He continued practicing Wicca into the 1990s, when he retreated from public life, eventually succumbing to cancer in 2000.
LeoMartello (September 26, 1930 – June 29, 2000) was an American Wiccan priest, gay rights activist, and author. He was a founding member of the Strega...
as such they do not view it as being supernatural, but a part of what LeoMartello calls the "super powers that reside in the natural". Some Wiccans believe...
Craft Association, established by LeoMartello in 1970 Witchcraft Information Centre & Archive, established by Dr Leo Ruickbie in 1999 WICA (FM), a radio...
Simon Magus Nicholas R. Mann Al G. Manning (1927–2006) Anthony Marais LeoMartello (1930–2000) Louis Martinié Martinus Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers...
revealing an Italian pagan witchcraft tradition, for example those of LeoMartello and Raven Grimassi, must be "match[ed] against", and compared with the...
O’Brien, Earl Galvin, Dan Smith, Jim Fouratt, Billy Weaver, Jerry Hoose, LeoMartello and others. Space usage at Alternate U was arranged with AU staffer,...
it. Anderson was in correspondence with the Italian-American Wiccan LeoMartello, who encouraged Anderson to found his own coven. Circa 1960, the Andersons...
actor, writer and director whose family comes from Calascibetta, Sicily. LeoMartello, (1931–2000) author, lecturer, gay civil rights activist, and an early...
interest in pagan religion. In autumn of that year, he tracked down LeoMartello (1931–2000)– a prominent gay-rights activist and pagan witch, who practiced...
Some of the Pagan Way lecturers promoted their works, including Dr. LeoMartello. Herman was tolerant of quite a lot, but would rein in adult activities...
it. Anderson was in correspondence with the Italian-American Wiccan LeoMartello, who encouraged Anderson to found his own coven. Circa 1960, the Andersons...
Dialogo delle false esercitazioni delle scuole d'Aonio Paleario (1795) LeoMartello revived the concept of witchcraft (specifically the Italian Stregheria)...
football player. Vittorio Gassman, 77, Italian actor, heart attack. LeoMartello, 69, American Wiccan priest, gay rights activist, and author, cancer...
and artist Princess Marie Adelheid of Lippe (1895–1993), German writer LeoMartello (1930–2000), American writer Stephen McNallen (born 1948), American writer...
disclosed during a drunken conversation with the ship's captain, a man named Martello, that he had been raised as female: speaking in Italian, Falleni stated...
(2001). Satanism Today, ABC-CLIO Incorporated, ISBN 978-1-57607-292-9 Martello, Leo L. (1972). "Our Lord Sathanas". Black Magic, Satanism, Voodoo. pp. 31–34...
The Prince of Wales Tower is the oldest martello tower in North America and is located in Point Pleasant Park, Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia...
They planned to travel round the city through the day, starting at the Martello tower at Sandycove (where the novel begins), visiting in turn the scenes...
il dentone Alberto Sordi: Guglielmo Bertone Franco Fabrizi: Francesco Martello Romolo Valli: Father Baldini Armando Trovajoli: Himself Lelio Luttazzi:...
force from USS Flag at Tybee Island, Georgia, to occupy the lighthouse and Martello tower on the northern end of the island. It would later be the Army base...
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