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Dr. Leo Louis Martello (1930 – 2000)

Written and compiled by George Knowles

Dr. Leo Louis Martello was an American Witch.  He first came to prominence during the 1960’s as a leader involved in the early spread of Contemporary Witchcraft in America.  An author with a number of book to his credit, he was also a certified hypnotist and graphologist.  A colorful and sometimes controversial figure, he is perhaps best known as a staunch activist in such issues as:  Civil Rights, Animal Rights, and Gay and Lesbian Rights.  He is particularly famed for his manifesto seeking retribution for atrocities caused to Witches during the Witch hysteria of the 1600’s, and filing suits of $500 million against the Roman Catholic Church and $100 million against Salem, Massachusetts.

Leo Martello was born on the 26th of September 1930 in Dudley, Massachusetts.  His father was an immigrant Sicilian who owned a small farm, but this was the time of the Great Depression, when poverty, joblessness, homelessness and hunger were all too prevalent throughout the United States.  As he struggled to raise his young son, they were forced to move first to Worcester and then to Southbridge, during which time Leo was baptized as a Catholic.

Perhaps due to the stress of the times the marriage between his parents deteriorated and they were divorced while Leo was still very young.  As a consequence Leo was sent to a Catholic boarding school to begin his education.  Leo later contended that the following six years at boarding school, were the unhappiest years of his life, a time he was regularly up to mischief and often in trouble.

As a child, Leo had many psychic experiences and in his early teens began to study palmistry and tarot with a Gypsy woman.  He also learned about hypnotism and graphology.  By the time he was sixteen, he was making radio appearances, giving handwriting analyses and selling articles to magazines, at the same time continuing his education at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts.

At the age of 18, Leo moved to New York and there studied at Hunter College and the Institute for Psychotherapy in New York City.  This he managed to do on his own, supporting himself with a variety of odd jobs.  A year later aged 19, he won a gold medal for the best fiction written by a teenage author in New York City.

Up until this time Leo had little knowledge of his ancestral heritage, except for his father’s brief references to his resemblance to his maternal grandmother in Sicily called Maria Concetta.  His father reported that Leo physically resembled his grandmother, and that he had inherited her temperament and psychic abilities.  Maria had been a well-known Strega Maga (a female Witch) and a High Priestess of a secret coven called ‘Goddess of the Sikels’.  After the sudden death of a local Mafiosi by heart attack, it was rumored that she had caused his death after he had threatened to kill her husband for not paying protection money. 

After moving to New York, Leo’s father informed him that there were cousins from the old country there who wished to meet with him.  After meeting with his cousins, he was told they had been watching him for years, waiting until he was ready to be brought back into the Old Religion.  On the 26^th of September 1951, Leo was initiated into his cousin’s secret Sicilian coven, and thus he became a Stregone Mago (a male Witch).  The initiation involved a blood-letting oath never to reveal the secrets of the coven, its members or any of their secret teachings.

In 1950 combining his talents as a hypnotist and graphologist, he studied handwriting obtained under hypnotic age regression, and worked professionally as a graphologist analyzing handwriting for businesses and various corporate clients.  He also founded and was director of the American Hypnotism Academy in New York from 1950 to 1954, and treasurer of the American Graphological Society from 1955 to 1957.

In 1955 aged 25, Leo was awarded a Doctorate of Divinity degree by the National Congress of Spiritual Consultants and became an ordained minister of the Spiritual Independents-Nonsectarian.  He served as pastor for the Temple of Spiritual Guidance from 1955 to 1960.  No-longer accepting the theology of the National Congress of Spiritual Consultants, he then left this position to pursue wider interests connected with witchcraft.

In 1964, Leo traveled to Morocco in North Africa and for a year resided in Tangiers studying oriental religion, magic and witchcraft.  Returning to New York and in order to promote the truth about witchcraft, Leo next sought the permission of his Sicilian coven to go public as a Witch.  With their consent, he contacted other friends and associates leading to his initiation into Gardnerian, Alexandrian and Traditionalist traditions.  In 1969 finally going public, Leo had his first book on Witchcraft published:  Weird Ways of Witchcraft (New York – HC Publishers, 1969).

Leo was one of the first American witches to go public and championed such causes as:  Legally incorporated tax-exempt Wiccan churches, Civil rights for Witches to hold public activities and demonstrations, and Paid days off from work for Witches on their holidays.  To aid his work, he founded the Witches' Liberation Movement and the Witches International Craft Association (WICA), for which in 1970, he launched the WICA Newsletter and Witchcraft Digest.  By the mid-1980’s, this Newsletter had gained a circulation of around 3,500 nationally.

Leo, sometimes a controversial man, received much publicity in 1970 when he organized the now famed “Halloween (All Hallows Eve) Witch-in" in New York City’s Central Park.  The New York City Parks Department initially refused to issue a permit for the ‘Witch-in’, but soon changed their minds when Leo secured the services of the New York Civil Liberties Union and threatened to file suit for discrimination on behalf of a minority religion whose rights were being violated.  On Thursday the 29^th of October just two days before the event, the permit was granted. 

On the evening of the 31^st October 1970 (the Eve of Samhain, Halloween’s Eve and All Hallows Eve), the “Witch-in” in Central Park New York was a tremendous success.  Over a 1,000 people attended the “Witch-in”, which was filmed and turned into a documentary by Global Village.  The highlight of the evening was when Witches and non-Witches alike, held hands in an ever-widening circle and danced a Witches reel.  They sang new words to the old folk tune "London Bridge is Falling Down":

“Witches meet in Central Park, Central Park, Central Park,
Witches meet in Central Park.  For our Lady”!

After the success of the “Witch-in”, Leo then founded the Witches Anti-Defamation League, later renamed the Witches Anti-Discrimination Lobby (WADL), which he dedicated to ensuring Witches' religious rights.  By the late 1980's, the League had established chapters in every state in the U.S.A.

He then drafted his now famed ‘Witch Manifesto’, which called for a National Witch Day parade and the condemnation of the Catholic Church for its torture and murder of Witches during the Inquisition.  He also sought and proposed a $500 million lawsuit against the Church for damages, the proceeds of which would to go to the descendants of victims, paid for by the Vatican.  A further suit for $100 million was made against Salem, Massachusetts for damages in the 1692 Witch Trials.  Imaginative but impossible goals to be achieved in this late day and age.

While working professionally as a writer, graphologist and lecturer, Leo made numerous public appearances speaking at many major festivals, events and gatherings, helping to educate others about the craft.  His definition of a Witch was:  "A wise practitioner of the craft, a nature worshipper and a person who is in control of his/her life", and inline with his own Sicilian tradition, he felt that “A Witch must not condone injustices”.  Regardless of sensitivities, he taught not to turn the other cheek, but to be strong and right a wrong when needed.  He also felt that there was too much emphasis on personalities in the broad Pagan community. 

The following is an extract from his book:  Witchcraft: The Old Religion (Seacaucus, N.J. University Books, 1973):

"In the Craft, there is no hard dogma. Hard drugs are forbidden. Mindless morons can't be a compliment to our Mother Goddess. Sex is sacred, not something to be exhibited at a peep show. Power is something personal, not to be used over others, which is contrary to Craft ethics. Those who think the Old Religion will make them masters over others are slaves to their own self-delusions. A happy person is always a powerful person and is hated by those who aren't. A happy person is in many ways selfish; in the Craft we must protect our best interests and ensure that the power that comes from joy remains constant, knowing that none of us are immune from the vicissitudes of life, but that our Old Religion will help us handle and adversity. The Craft has survived for thousands of years. After everything else has come and gone, it will remain. And one day, in the coming Age of Aquarius, there will once again be magnificent temples to the Goddess".

Leo retired from public life in the early 1990's, yet he continued to give his help and advice whenever leaders, groups and others asked for it.

Sadly Dr. Leo Louis Martello passed into Summerland on the 29^th June 2000.  Following his wishes, the Rev. HPS Lori Bruno of Medford, MA, an elder in Leo’s tradition and the administrator of his estate, had his remains cremated.  In October 2000, Lori also officiated at a very moving memorial service in NY.  It was held at the Gay and Lesbian Center where many people had shared their experiences with him throughout his years.

During his time Leo was a prolific writer and wrote numerous magazine articles and books.  His major published credits and his legacy to Witchcraft include:  Weird Ways of Witchcraft;  Witchcraft: The Old Religion;  Black Magic, Satanism and Voodoo;  Understanding the Tarot;  It's Written in the Stars;  It's Written in the Cards;  Curses in Verses;  Witches’ Liberation and Practical Guide to Witch Covens;  Your Pen Personality;  and The Hidden World of Hypnotism.

Blessed was he, may he rest in peace.

End.

Sources

The Encyclopedia of Witches & Witchcraft  - By Rosemary Ellen Guiley

The Witch Book (The Encyclopdia of Witchcraft, Wicca and Neo-paganism)  -  By Raymond Buckland

The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and   -  By Shelley Rabinovitch & James Lewis

Most helpful in compiling the above was Lori Bruno' memorial tribute which can be seen at:   http://www.geocities.com/leomartellomemorial/bio.html

Plus numerous other websites to many to mentions.

First published on the 25th June 2004, 17:02:08 © George Knowles

Best wishes and Blessed Be