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Leo Martello (1931 - 2000)
Wiccan priest, author, and activist,Leo Louis Martello was born in Dudley, Massachusetts. His parents were Sicilian immigrants and his grandmother was rumored to be a streghe, or witch, who had once used witchcraft to kill a mafioso who had threatened her husband's life. Martello was educated at Catholic boarding school and attended Assumption College and later Hunter College and the Institute for Psychotherapy in New York. He also studied Tarot, palmistry, and handwriting analysis, and by 16 was already working as a professional graphologist. In 1955 he received a Doctorate in Divinity from the National Congress of Spiritual Consultants and was ordained as a Nonsectarian minister by the Spiritual Independents. That same year he became pastor of the Temple of Spiritual Guidance, a position he held for five years. In 1969 Leo Martello publicly announced himself as a witch, claiming that he had been initiated by his grandmother when he was twenty. He organized the Witches' Liberation Movement and the Witches' International Craft Association, working to achieve recogniton as a religion for witchcraft. Martello organized a Halloween "Witch-In" in 1970 in Central Park, and brought a suit through the American Civil Liberties Union against the city when his permit application was refused. His victory in the suit inspired him to organize the Witches' Anti-Defamation League, which later became the Alternative Religions Educational Network, to protect the religious and civil rights of those who practiced Wicca and other NeoPagan religions. Among the organization's activities were a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the town of Salem, Massachusetts for the executions and imprisonmenst of several people during its 1692 witch scare, and calls for a similar suit against the Catholic Church for its executions of suspected witches and heretics in the Middle Ages. Martello also became involved in the burgeoning gay rights movement, and divided his energies between work on behalf of religious freedom for Pagans, gay rights, and, later, AIDS activism. His motto in fighting discrimination and the system was, "The strong find a way; the weak find an excuse." Leo Martello wrote and lectured extensively on the subjects of magic, witchcraft, and the occult. His first book, Weird Ways of Witchcraft, was published in 1969. Witchcraft: The Old Religion was written in 1973 as an attempt to show the pre-Christian roots of Wicca, particularly in the traditions of stregora as practiced by Martello's grandmother in Sicily and as covered by Charles G. Leland in his 1899 work, Aradia: The Gospel of the Witches. Other works included Eye of Newt in My Martini, a guide for urban pagans, Black Magic, Satanism, and Voodoo, and Witches' Liberation and Practical Guide to Witch Covens, as well as numerous books on hypnotism and hand-wiritng analysis. Declining health forced Martello to limit his public appearances after 1989, though he continued to be a source of information and advice for others in the Wiccan community. He passed away in June of 2000. Links: Dr. Leo Louis Martello - Memorial Pages Alternative Religions Educational Network Witchcraft: The Old Religion Q&A NYC Pagan Resource Guide: Community Spotlight - Dr. Leo Martello
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