Charles Godfrey Leland was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 15, 1824. Immediately after his birth his nurse took the baby to the attic and performed a ritual, laying a Bible, a key, and knife on his breast, lighted candles, money and salt at his head. The nurse performed her ritual to ensure the child had a long life as a "scholar and a wizard." Her ritual was more successful than anyone would have guessed. If nothing, Charles Leland was a product of his time. An adventurer, warrior, journalist and one who took delight in the arts. He lived to pursue the occult and, at times, he embellished his work to suit his concepts of what the world should be in his mind. This is the story of a man who fought in the 1848 French Revolution, the American Civil War, who was the creator of the Industrial Arts programs in America's schools, a humorist and the author of Aradia: Gospel of the Witches.