The Temple of Diana at Nemi

What aspires to be the cult of Diana in neopaganism, draws its sources from the Roman poet Ovid's account of the Nemoralia festival. This was a torch bearing procession on the first full moon of August- from Rome to a temple at Lake Nemi, headed by a high priestess and her entourage dressed in garlands. Pilgrims of this procession brought with them votive offerings of fruit, flowers and clay effigies of their wishes. This much was found in archaeological digs of the site. However, the tradition has a darker side when it comes to the high priesthood's rites of succession, namely a fierce and bloody fight to the death, that no less inspired Caligula to take it to the Circus. As for the temple itself, it was apparently Etruscan in design, dating back to roughly 300BC and probably devoted to the goddess Artume, well before she became associated with the Greek Artemis. In fact it seems every poet or philosopher who came along after that, had their own romantic spin on it. This is the problem with Roman culture, it's a fashion statement of every ethnic group it invaded, more often than not; introduced by foreign slaves. In essence, the three goddess figures, found among the ruins, each represent a different ethnic aspect in an attempt to appease the whole. The cult ended with being converted to „Maria Assumption“ by the Council of Nicea to keep it a harvest holy day. It was not until the republication of Ovid's „Metamorphosis“, during the Italian Renaissance, that occult interests were piqued, aside from its phenomenal influence on western art and literature for generations to come. Nonetheless, Rosicrucian claims to its secret traditions is undermined by the fact that Ovid's works took a great deal of scavenging for enough old manuscripts to make a tangible publication. Still, the question remains of how much artistic license was used to please the public fancy. The same can be said of Charles Leland and Gerald Gardner.

The temple fell into ruin since the rule of Emperor Constantius II, who had ordered the desecration and destruction of such temples. Pagan sacrifices became punishable by death, while any use of "Magic" or divination was regarded with extreme prejudice. This was even worse during the rule of Theodosius, when it became legal doctrine and continued well throughout the Middle Ages, especially the Crusades. Then came the persecutions for heresy and blasphemy in plague ridden Europe, against anything that deviated from the dictates of Christian dogma. It was not until the Italian Renaissance, with new trade opening up to the Atlantic and the Silk Road, that an interest in the ancient was reawakened Hermeticism grew as a secret practice, a polyglot of forbidden ancient ritual and mysticism gathered along the way. Of course they would revive any lost traditions found in old manuscripts, whereas the rest tends to be passed off as the folklore of illiterate peasants. This is what us well-versed pagan traditionalists refer to as the "It is written" brigade, as it is too Aristotelian in its academia and fails to recognize oral tradition as a learning tool of craftsmanship. This is why so many trade secrets become allegedly "lost". The same argument persists in debates about Celto-Germanic culture, often referring to written accounts by such historians as Tacitus, who paid well for their information second hand. Traditionally, in the Celto-Germanic mentality, to write certain things down was a revealed disclosure that could undermine its potential, hence runes were originally meant to be used as magical symbols, rather than form words. An example of this is well illustrated on the Franks Casket of Wieland the Smith.