Italy is an old country that is rich in folklore, ancient rites, and customs. Each offering a profound insight into the Italian soul. There are practices that evolved to suit circumstances but always found a way to bridge the gap between the spiritual and material world. They reflect the constant hope that a benevolent force will intervene. Some have endured into modern times, like these 5 Italian spiritualism practices you might not have heard of.
In Italy, people were using cards to divine their futures long before tarot cards. Different regions had their favorite decks, but really, any would do. For those in search of spiritual direction today, modern platforms such as asknebula.com perpetuate this old tradition of accessible divination, by matching seekers with experienced readers attuned to the great responsibility inherent in reading life's secrets by symbolic means.
Italian cartomancy has changed very little but it still offers hope, clarity and direction in times of uncertainty. However, tradition holds that the cards must have been played with before and sworn over. It’s a strange custom started at a time when the church regarded card-playing as sinful and the cards as tools of the devil. The people believed this sinfulness gave the cards a powerful energy that could be boosted with more card-playing and profanities.
La Benvenuta is a spiritual cleansing practice involving blessed water that early Christian saints have touched. The water is protective against disease and negative energy. The ritual continues in villages throughout Tuscany and in Umbria with water taken directly from native springs and infused with fresh fragrant herbs such as sage and rosemary.
During feasts people anoint their doors and entries with it in recognition of its life-giving powers and its contribution to the human requirement for renewal. It's a combination of pagan spring ceremony and Christian blessing that even today, brings peace and tranquility into busy life.
The Feast of St. John falls on the summer solstice. It’s a time when Italians take to the beaches, plazas and parks in their droves to enjoy bonfires and picnics under the stars. Strangely enough, it started as sun worship and was in full swing before the Romans and was still going strong when the Christians adopted it to honor Saint John the Baptist much later on.
People leap over the fire and dance in its embers to shed the worries of the previous year in a symbolic representation of purification by fire. In Amalfi and along the south coast straw effigies called falò are added to the fire to burn away harmful habits.
The Feast of Saint John was and still is, a natural pause in busy lives. Like Thanksgiving, it’s a time for family and friends and sharing stories about those who are missed and giving thanks and making plans for the future.
Communities in Sicily and Puglia take part in candlelit processions during June and August. They lead venerations of the Madonna through the community, snaking along the backroads with their flickering candles offering faith and hope. The tradition began in the darkest of times, during the plague. The people hoped the Virgin’s divine mercy would be evoked and they’d be saved.
These days, the processions are more about penance and prayer and they travel from shrine to shrine pausing just long enough to light a candle as a votive offering. It’s slow progress, but a sense of belonging that is evoked by soft candlelight and song. There’s the hush of quiet conversation as friends and neighbors find the strength to share their worries as their faith in the power of collective worship is renewed.
This Italian spiritual practice has its roots in a myth surrounding a tarantella’s bite. It was thought that loud music and frenetic dancing could expel the spider’s venom out of its victim. There are better ways to cure a bite today but towns in Salento still enjoy the tarantella spirituale every summer.
They use this joyous event to rid themselves of their anxiety and stress. The ceremonial dancing and call-and-response singing are cathartic. In a trance-like state the dancers move their bodies in spirals and leaps said to mirror life’s journey. Afterwards participants report feelings of release, clarity and renewed vitality, although La Tarantella best stands out for how it brings people together to vanquish their fears in a communal celebration of life.
There are many other villages and towns with spiritual practices that reveal how committed Italians are to bridging the gap between earth and the ethereal. They seek the same timeless wisdom their ancestors once did on how best to live a good life.
