Italian Witchcraft 🧿 Growing up in Italy with Saints, Folk Magic Rituals, the Evil Eye
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ค. 2024
- Like my content? you can leave me a Tip and get a Tarot Reading at💸 ko-fi.com/activistwitch 💸I was born and raised in a tiny farmer's village in north Italy and what is common knowledge and habit there is likely considered Italian Witchcraft outside of it. However no wise woman or magic practitioner would call themselves a Witch in Italy, or Strega, if anything those rituals against the Malocchio (evil eye), the cult of the local Saints, reading tarot by your loyal cartomancer and folk magick rituals are just part of the local tradition. In this video I go through what I remember being raised within these traditions, including segnature and possibly light exorcism. Italian Witchcraft and Folk Magic are crucially entwined with Christianity and Catholicism specifically so you can see where most of the witchcraft magic around Saints comes from. I talk about Santa Rita da Cascia, who I used to go to sleep asking to my Nonna to tell me her story one more time, and Don Orione, a local saint of my region and the miracles he allegedly performed to be beatified and then canonized a Saint. I'll talk about folk rituals against worms (evil), warts, and the tradition of the egg whites in water on the night's of Saint Peter and Paul to do divination and learn how the harvest will turn out, and I'll also go into the physical manifestations of the Malocchio Evil Eye that I've heard about as a child, and the Tarot tradition that I still carry with me when I read for my friends.
CHAPTERS
00:00 From Saints to the Evil Eye: My Fascinating Journey with Italian Witchcraft
02:58 Premise: The Sociocultural Framework of Italy
11:03 Saints: Catholicism on Steroids
19:39 Italian Folk Magick Rituals: Segnature & Superstition
26:39 The Evil Eye o Malocchio
30:13 Italian Tarot and Marseilles Tradition
RESOURCES
Mary Grace Fahrun - Italian Folk Magic
amzn.to/467ZogP
Dr Angela Puca @drangelapuca
Is Stregheria Italian Witchcraft?
• Is Stregheria Italian ...
Rue's Kitchen Witchery
www.rueskitchen.com/
St Anthony's Tongue Podcast: Santa Rita Patroness of the Impossible
open.spotify.com/episode/6pFQ...
Astralogical @testtubesandcauldrons6701
open.spotify.com/show/64YZV1a...
20 disgustingly misogynist quotes from religious leaders
www.salon.com/2014/10/15/20_d...
Mallorie Vaudoise's Italiak Folk Magic
www.italianfolkmagic.com/
Find me on:
KO-FI 💸ko-fi.com/activistwitch 💸
INSTAGRAM 📷 / activist.witch 📷
WITCHY ETSY SHOP 🛍️ acovenoftwo.etsy.com 🛍️
ALL MY LINKS 🗪 linktr.ee/activistwitch 🗪
The Amazon links are affiliate, which means that if you click on them and buy something I may receive a small advertising percentage, which means that at NO EXTRA COST TO YOU you are supporting my work, thank you!
![เจอประจำ ตอน พักเที่ยง [EP.32]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/jvqk6uJoVks/mqdefault.jpg)
You are my people 🤗!!! I do 100% the same thing as you with cards. Think of the questions. Ensure no body parts are crossed. Pick with the left hand. This is the first time I hear of anyone else doing it in this precise manner.
Honestly!!! Grace you do make me feel like I'm back home in my childhood!!! I don't know why that specifically stuck in my head, I must have seen so many readings done it just felt "obvious" 😅
My family is from Sicily- on both sides- both sides worked very hard to assimilate into whiteness when they came to America. I have heard some whispers of rituals and things like putting a potato on your head if you have a headache…but I am working to learn more about my heritage and this practice of pagan ritual / witchcraft/ spirituality etc ! I’m a they/them too! Exciting to see queer Italian representation
Goodness me I remember the potato ritual??! I'm taking a note so that next time I make a video about Italian tradition I'm absolutely bringing that up! I have a couple of books in Italian with rituals and "spells" that I meant to share, thanks for reminding me! And yeah queerness in Italy is still properly dangerous, it's hard to be ourselves there and it's sad so many have to move away to lead a normal life. I can only hope talking about it and being loud will eventually move things towards a more understanding society
So happy i found your channel! My family is Italian and my nonna shares some folk traditions sometimes. I was looking for more info but the literature ive found so far has been disappointing. You rock!
I've arrived quite late to this video but still wanted to say that, as an argentinian, I notice so many similarities between what you describe and the folk traditions alive in our society. We, too, do not call these practices magic, and instead talk about superstition (from the perspective of sceptics) or simply name each technique or ritual by its name. Just as where you grew up, there are rituals to cure stomach aches, warts, heat strokes and all sorts of ailments. Saints play a very important part in our folklore and magic as well. Also, the story about hair appearing inside pillows is eerily resemblant of the short story "el almohadón de plumas" by horror writer Horacio Quiroga. Now I know where his inspiration might've come from.
All in all this goes to show just how much Italian culture and folk catholicism has shaped my country and its people. It's so cool !!
Thank you so much for sharing! I do plan on an update and to have a few friends of Italian heritage to share their stories too, fingers crossed 🤞🏽
Please please do some videos on Italian tarot systems, or other forms of cartomancy. We have too much pop-psychology in modern tarot. I would like to hear more the real, down to earth, cartomantic meanings. Your tarot discussion was so interesting. Also, what spreads were used? And how did the village readers use the pips and courts? I think tarot has become so watered down, abstract and vague. I'm sure villagers would have wanted more pragmatic answers than things like "The high priestess says your intuitive water is linked to the moon and the Kabbalah" 😂 New subscriber from South Africa. Adore your channel.
Hey Ryan! So actually I have a video on the Sibille which is a specific kind of cartomancy from Italy based on playing cards so just the pips. From what I remember major, minor were used all together by the csrtomancers my mother visited. Spreads were using a lot of cards. I remember one displayed as a fan where a certain amount of cards were "thrown down". I have a couple of decks that are Marseilles based, one of them is Italian and the meanings of the pips are definitely very different from the pips we read in modern rws tarot. I'll see if I can manage to add a video like that to the ones I ask my audience to vote and chose for next week!
@activistwitch oh thank you so much :) I have a deck of Sibille, but the lady who used to offer Vera Sibille courses online vanished and I haven't been able to track her down. They are si fascinating. I also have 2 Marseille decks, and several other classical decks in my collection. You have inspired me to explore pip decks again. Thank you. Looking forward to any related new material. Salve and blessings. Ryan
My family is from Naples, Italy area, I can feel the energy in my blood ❤
That is a region so rich with magick!
Loved this video so much!!!! Thanks for the information!!
It is indeed very similar to the folk catholic magic we have here in Brazil! These "worms" you described sound like the work of the "benzedeiras" we have here!
@@BM-uc8ny thank you so much for watching! I am starting to realise that indeed a lot of countries in the south of the world do seem to share part of my foll heritage and that always feels extremely validating to me because if from everywhere we converge on the same things then something is indeed at play 😉
Awesome video - glad I discovered channel
Welcome aboard! Hope you find the other videos useful too! ❤️
Very very interesting and informative video. 😊 loved it! ❤
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it!
Fascinating ❤ another great video! I loved hearing your experience. I am also going to incorporate uncrossing in my tarot practice!
Wonderful! I'm so glad I could share something useful!!! Let me know how it goes and if it affects your readings in any way!!!
Thank you so much! I just do a daily message to post, but do not read for people individually. I look at the cards, but also read intuitively. I love how you use the left hand and also the uncrossing. I will make sure to adhere to that when I do my daily post. Glad I found your channel. ❤
So glad you found it useful! Let me know how the adjustments work for you!!!
I've loved our conversations and can't wait to hear about your experiences when revisiting the Saints!
Honestly Astra I cannot believe your patience and my luck in hearing and learning things from you. Because of your approach everything you say makes sense to my brain and that has already helped me immensely. I mean my house is safe because of you, I owe you immensely ❤️
Just came across you & your channel for the first time today & I'm so grateful. My grandparents came to USA from Italy in early 1900s & I've been called to research their practices & didn't know where to start to gain greater understanding and the history/culture of their practices b/c it's in the bloodline. I'm looking forward to watching your videos & learning more . Thank you ❤❤❤
oh that's awesome! do you know what area/region of italy they came from? I really hope what I can share here is useful. I talk more about the italian Tarot practice in this video th-cam.com/video/ycOMPJS1Fkg/w-d-xo.htmlsi=50gWosc6IUfVa-P5
and I just got a couple of books in italian with just old collected spells and I am planning to make a video to talk about those I had heard about before and those I didn't! Would that be of interest?
This is extremely fascinating to me because I feel like we have experienced opposite sides of italy. I never went to mass and my parents signed me out of government mandated school religion hour (yay) and only stepped foot in church on weddings. I lived near city centers tho my dad was from a 200 people population from the south. All that you're saying it extremely extraneous to me (i'm also queer adhd and italy's not very tolerant but you're allowed to carve a place for yourself, which we do) and it makes for a fascinating watch. I never knew my nonna either nor any saint,.
edit: all i know about evil eye is to be humble and not brag and wear fucking chili peppers.
The child in me is actually jealous of the free hour of religion you got. I dont honk tm family cared for the learning itself but for what it would have meant and looked like to others if they were to pull me out of the religion hour. The horrible side of being born and raised in a small community is how important appearances are and in my village gossip broke lives quite literally.
I hear that Italy is getting slightly better since the last time I lived there (over 2 decades ago now) for marginalisations. One of the things that I had internalised and struck me the most once I moved to the UK was that I wasn't forced to be constantly on my own. No one in Italy ever chose freely to be "tainted by association" to sit with me for lunch, or be my friend and come to my house and stuff like that. In any context. It was my reality and all the normal I knew as a fat queer autistic person of colour. Do I know which one of those marginalisation they despised me the most for? No, I just know the UK, for some reason (top of my head is the fat they has to deal with their colonialism, which Italy never had last WWII) didn't see me as such a pariah, and still it took me time to understand how much more was available to me here in terms of dignity that Italy laughed at me in the face for.
I love this video. So much of what you said resonated with me. My parents are both from northern Italy. Every year my mom and Nonna would do the ritual with the water and egg to see the ship 😁 and my dad has told me stories of his Zia, who he swears was a Strega. He also has a story bout her helping him remove a wart! Thank you for sharing!
That's amazing! Do you know where from northern Italy? I will have to try the egg on water next June to see if it delivers on the UK too!!!
@@activistwitch my fathers family is from a town near Padova and my mothers family was in campo Croce. I don’t remember if the ship actually turned out but it was fun to try.
Im so pleased I found your channel. My grandmother was a folk witch (european South African), I am 61 so thats goes a long way back. Also our maternal linage is Greek. I moved from wicca back into a more goddess nature based and house witch practise and prefer no specific label. It’s nice to hear you speaking about your Italian folk beliefs and practises, and I’m are looking forward to watching your videos.
So glad you found me Marthina! If love to bear more about your practice! I don't label myself much either, I guess I'm a hearth witch for dependant I am on my home too. 🏠
I adore your videos and you should absolutely take pride in your work. You have quickly become one of my absolute favorite witchy channels to watch and get info from. I find your story and practice wonderful to listen to/hear about as it resonates with mine in a lot of ways. I’ve had the same experience reading tarot for others, even people who don’t really believe in it. I am interested to see if that trend continues as I grow my craft as I am a very novice witch at this point. Thank you so much for the time you invest in your videos and know they are being so appreciated. Take care!
awwww Em thank you so much, it really means the world to hear that what I do and put together here is appreciated. Reading for others is peculiar isn't it??? I've done "new years readings" for my local community and thankfully everything was quite uplifting. I plan to revisit parts of my italian heritage this year, let me know if something specifically strikes your fancy and I'll see to focus to that!
@acovenoftwo I am hoping to reconnect with my Celtic roots this year! So I wish you luck on your journey! I look forward to hearing more about it. I know you don't work with Persephone (at least I don't think you do) but I would love to hear your thoughts on her if you wanted to do a video like that. But really I will watch anything you post! 😊
Raven, my wife, sort of works with Persephone actually, she's fadcinaywith Kore and the possibility that Persephone birthed herself being Demeter and Hades too at the same time!!! We actually did a ritual as a couple which was centered on her so I'll ask Raven if she feels like sharing her experience of Persephone in a future video then!
@@activistwitch I would love to hear from her if she is comfortable talking about it! I enjoyed the video you guys did together talking about skepticism in witchcraft.
I love everything in your video, from the setting behind you, to the theme in itself! I didn't know anything about magick in Italian culture!
And this is what I love the most about folk magick: it teaches us our history!
ASTERRRR I audibly squealed when I read your name in the comments 😍 I am so glad you found it interesting and honestly I love every little info you shared about your practice and background, I'd anything I want to hear more!!! Thanks so much for the support and availability with French! I think I will try to dust off my school knowledge of it again soon! My favourite book about Vesta/Hestia, my patron deity, is in french and I am now wondering what more there might be that just doesn't get translated!!! Thank you again so so much for stopping by! It means the world from you! ❤️
@@activistwitch my pleasure, gurl 🫀🔥 you're really a pro with video making! Very good job!
Fabulous video! 👍Really informative.
Straight off the bat (less than 5 minutes in) I think I'm hearing about univeral law and manifestation?
This must have been such a interesting environment to grow up in. I love how you've deviated a little to find your own truth! ❤
15:00
I'm so glad you find it interesting!!! Hope you enjoy the other videos here too! I think it's a current theme for me to "keep the past in mind but always be able to understand and adapt to the current needs and understanding of the world" ❤️
@@activistwitchI'm still watching it, I'm on the tarot section. Your practice sounds good. I will definitely check out your videos. I like your humour too, sounds like you had a similar but different experience...I found parts of religion abusive as there's alot of fear mongering especially in Catholicism...I found tarot when I was 13 a very long time ago and never looked back as it can be quite expansive. I agree in the 3 card reading being a good spread as it's direct and straight to the point. Have a great day. Hugs xx🤗
@@prismonthethehorizon5793 I think you're spot on on the religion scaremongering, my village being small was relatively independent on its way to make everything "spiritual" without anyone telling us anything because we were cut off anyway
I love this video!!! You are so great to listen to. I’m not Italian but I love Italian Folk magic. Very similar to Latin American Folk practices. ❤️
Thank so much Karen! I think you're right I see a lot of crossovers with the Latin traditions I've read about!
Spot on! I'm glad i came across this video and I love that you put things in their historical and geographical perspective, this is something often overlooked, unfortunately. I'd not necessarily agree with the "feeling of scarcity" interpretation of the evil eye, as it is atheme that can be found in very remote countries and periods, and from high status people, both intentionally and uninintentonally cast upon the victims. I am specifically thinking of the Lady Rokujo from the "Genji Monogatari" , a japanese XI cenury novel. But other than that, this is absolutely genuinely accurate and interesting
Glad you think so! Admittedly the mentality of scarcity I'm referring to is a. All Italian thing and for what I witnessed was one of the most common reasons for jealousy there, I cannot attest for other cultures but it seems reliably present in the Italian one
Brava,Asa Benedica!
Grazie!!!
Hello, I like hearing & knowing your perspective. would you be able to speak with me about a film I am writing about Trioria.l??
Oh the witches village in Liguria? I know of it but not directly, I am from Piedmont. If that's enough sure thing, you can send me an email at activistwitch@proton.me
Your English is fantastic! Im so glad I found you! I am first generation American. My parents are from Sicily and witchcraft is a very real thing in my family but finding books focused strictly on Sicilian folk magic traditions are difficult to find.
Ah thank you but at this point it's due to the fact I've lived out of Italy more than I lived there, I was born and raised there but ran away as fast as I could 😅 I think I recently saw something pop up about specifically Sicilian magic, I'll ask a friend of mine from south Italy who practices he might know more, would sources in Italian be ok for you?
@@activistwitch Thank you for your response. YES! I would be very happy to have this source as I can read and understand italian and sicilian. Bless you for offering this source! So glad I found you here in TH-cam.
scusami, ho appena ricordato che avevo promesso un link e poi non ho mai risposto, questo era il libro che ho visto su amazon.it e sembra essere disponibile anche all'estero sulla tradizione folkloristica siciliana amzn.to/47Dq89K
Gosh , I remembered with hatred when our village “witch” ( I grew up in a small village near Treviso) , made me drink a garlic infusion every night when I was 5-6yo, agains the “worms”… still nowadays (Im 47yo) can’t really eat garlic !
Although she would also allow me to have a bit of coffee with s drop of prune liquor ( really did love that potion !)
Honestly why did they think a bit of indigestion was us being possesed by evil!?!!? I steered clear from garlic for decades and even now i always under rather than over do it. I am glad you got the nice potion afterwards though!
God, I loved everything about this (new fan here from south Italy, hello!) I keep hearing contrasting opinions on tarot cards and its original purpose, do you have any resources on that specific topic that you can recommend? I'd love to read more on it!
As for the evil eye, whenever one of us at home would feel suddenly sick or unwell my mom (and my grandma who taught her) does something that we call "l'uocc" (which essentially means 'the eye', Campania moment). She'd take a clean coffee cup and pour oil in it, then take a clean plate and wash it I think 3 times? and after that she'd take the oil and dip her fingers in before letting some drops fall on the plate in a very cross-like pattern. Then she'd take the plate and walk with it towards the person while doing the cross sign 3 times. Then she'd take the plate and hover it over the person's head and move it slowly in a circle while murmuring words. I always feel too awkward asking what she says but I'm pretty sure it's prayers. She'd do this exact thing 3 times, and the part that I always remember very vividly is that whenever she does this the room falls really quiet. She does this to this day on occasion.
I know there's more of those lying around in my head but they're not coming to me right now.
Another one I think about very strongly is the cult of the skulls in Napoli - it's really not uncommon to walk around the city and occasionally run into a church that has very strong skull motifs on the front in some way or form, which if I'm pretty sure it's partially because of the plague in the 1600s. The lack of burial space just made people go pay respects to their dead in the common burial crypt, some of them even 'adopting' skulls for good luck or so I recall. I just find it very peculiar because usually very direct imagery of death symbolism and worship doesn't tend to be attributed to Catholicism, just like how you said that we don't really like to call all these things 'witchcraft'.
I loved all the things you've talked about and illustrated! It's stuff like this that really makes me feel like despite the hyper-regionality we do have many cultural beliefs and elements in common (aside from the patriarchy issue Unfortunately).
You're so lucky to have the gift for the malocchio on the family! I know it's not something that you can easily learn unless your family has the gift and it passes and it's taught generation to generation so if I were you I'd be pestering your mother to learn! I hear usually on some places the "rite of passage" is done on Christmas evening so we're close enough to December, let me know if you manage ;)
I heard about the Neapolitan tradition of "adoptig the skulls" and it sounds lovely like a way to extend your spiritual family, have you ever done it?
I am currently reading Radical Tarot by Charlie Claire Burgess and they mentioned a book that's supposedly all about the history and evolution of tarot rather than the divination side of it and it's called "a wicked pack of cards", it's only available physically though and because I'm trying to move my library to digital I haven't got myself a copy yet leaving the link here (I think it should regionalise depending on your location so hopefully Amazon Italia has it or can get it for you) amzn.to/3MMRZg2
@@activistwitch Thanks for the book recommend! Noting this down.
And no, haven't done it @ skull adopting. I've visited the Fontanelle there and have been to the city many times before - I recall very vividly the Fontanelle being full of small house shaped boxes with skull heads and there were offers or ex votos in there.
I don't recall which church it was but one in the city center had a section full of ex votos and amongst these there were a bunch that had bones in them (teeth being prominent). That left me with an odd and unsettling feeling to this day, more than the Fontanelle did.
I'm only very recently digging into this side of local culture because like you the Catholic and heavily patriarcal side of things has left me as a queer person somewhat jaded, so we'll see about being taught 😭
I wouldn't know if my interest with all of it at the moment is one of active will to practice or because it's part of a past I'd like to understand better. But it just felt really, really nice and validating to hear you talk at length about this, so thank you for that.
Thank you for the interesting video! Out of curiosity, do you offer tarot readings?
So glad you found it interesting, and yes I do! First link in the description iis my ko-fi where you can get a "pay what you can" tarot reading "Italian style" here's the direct link ko-fi.com/s/53d6b699a1
I am glad you talk about this. I am catholic but don’t really practice. I have found folk practice and rituals more soothing.
Gosh to hear it's s shared experience! My family read ferry more into folk risks than mass on Sundays
This was quite a fascinating talk. I am curious whether men are veer are involved in these practices - particularly gay men.
Men in general beyond their sexual and gender identity were involved. People that did segnature were indiscriminately of any gender as supposedly the power passed through generations of the same family
Hi from Italy, i ve Heard of different people that saw Santa Rita and padre pio, but i dont trust them so much, even though It can definetly be true. But i know a woman that was actually Just dead at the hospital, the hunsband was rushing at the hospital because they called him saying they were trying to "bring her back" kinda (i dont know the wors in english) and in that state she saw a woman, She felt She was Santa Rita, and She said her to go back, and this woman Is totally trustworthy
thats so interesting! I mean it makes sense, it's impossible things and healings that canonise saints and this sounds exactly like that!
I read both marsigliesi and rider waite. Look for the similariry not the differece. The world Is totally different too. In the rider waite interpretation looks like "end", in Italy Is the best card of the deck, like "the everything" .The tarot are considered evil and witchcraft. The things on pillow (but also walls) are from witchcraft, not from simple evil eye. Evil eye can be done even when someone wishes good on you, too complex to explain how but It can id the Person wishing good is unbalanced in someway. Usually evil eye makes me very nervous, you can really see when someone has It when you are a Little Expert on that. On other people It gives headache, if its really strong It can give headache more le less stron and you can start breaking things It depends. Energy Is continuosly shared, there Is no way that someone throws It at you and nothing happens. You can send It back, you can cleanse, you can wait for It to heal because Is not such a big deal unless someone Is really hating on you. In that case it can become a problem
And its an Universal thing not and Italy thing.
I know the son of a woman who healed the Worms.. he says It worked. Without the garlic. Garlic instead Is something used as a medicine even for the ones Who believes in nothing at all. Dont know why they used both on you 😶 The oil and water ritual Is used also to heal il fuoco di sant Antonio and It seems to work way Better than meds. Seen both approach on different people, the oil One works immediately 😅 meds not so much.. I would definetly look for somone Who can heal It while taking the meds... I dont know much about italian's traditions but there Is the healing side that Is not considered so much witchcraft, or not at all since you call on saints Jesus and that, and there Is also witchcraft, and that i dont know much about. I would like though.
I know about the fuoco di sant'antonio but thankfully no one in my circle ever needed clearing from it. I think you're right in wanting to differentiate witchcrafts from working with saints, though the way it's done in rural Italy would hardly be considered ok by catholic law, though the work with saints and even jesus to be called upon to break the malocchio I guess is the reason why generic "italian folk magic" is a much better term to describe the practices you mention. thank you so much for sharing this was so interesting!
@@activistwitch even if you call It magic its not ok to them. 🤦🏻♀️ You are praying to God, magic Is from the Devil 😅 there are witches, actual practicioners, and they are totally witches who do baneful magic too, and are considered evil and forbidden. Even astrology Is evil 😅 basically, you can meditate (maybe, It depends) or pray. All the old women in small country are on the line between "praying" and evil. Some of the keep what they do hidden to avoid being called Witch. God, or evil. When i found out that Reading Cards was considered from the Devil too i was almost 30, some people freaked out and the hotel i used to go to started making excuses to avoid having me here 🤦🏻♀️ what can we do? They are confused 😅
Gosh I'm so sorry to hear. In my village it was very normalised and we didn't have even Just social "Witch hunts" with keeping people away, on the contrary the Village cartomancer was held by everyone on such high regard. I really am sorry to hear it can get like that in some places still despite how intrinsically superstitious Italy had always been and still is
@@activistwitch dont worry i am not Sorry. I am Simply like " so you think i am a Witch and do you really wanna piss a Witch? 😩 That sounds like dumb, for sure 😅 but the woman was kind before that so i am ok with She Is Just scared 🤷🏻♀️ She s lucky i still like her very much.
💖💖💖💖💖
@@activistwitch absolutely 💗💗💗
You are A MOTHER .however, you have things that you dislike, you do not want to Be mothered. I also have an autistic daughter , you are blessed, adn thatnk you for sharing.
Im actually NOT a mother?
@@activistwitch that was a compliment not a judgment.much love.
I want to talk to with you, but how?
Well as you can see I read and reply to comments 😉 failing that there's my Ko-Fi / email
not me seeing this at 555 subscribers 😅
Thank you for watching! Hope you enjoy the other videos too!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️U
Thank you for the support!
The maiden-mother-crone archetype was never supposed to have anything to do with the gods. The gods are perpetually young (except for those that have always been old, like the Fates).
The issue remains for women in general.
The Toxicity Of Objectifying Women In the Craft And Other Occult Trads
www.patheos.com/blogs/teaaddictedwitch/2018/07/objectification-women-craft/
No one person is ever they.
The singular they isn't actually new. According to The Oxford English Dictionary, the singular they showed up in writing in 1375-over 600 years ago! The OED also suggests the usage is even older since written language usually reflects trends already present in spoken language
www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=www.scu.edu/media/offices/provost/writing-center/resources/Tips-Singular-Pronoun-They.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwikt6rp8eKCAxVrTEEAHfqdAEEQFnoECA8QBg&usg=AOvVaw2IPOxTEMBy_0NW60HskInK