Hudson Valley
MAJARIA
Italian American Magic & Ancestral Healing Circles
A 6-month local folk gathering for the remembering ones who want to gather, heal, ritual, and connect with others interested in this huge part of our ancestral way of being.
Hosted by MaryBeth Bonfiglio, founder of RadiciSiciliane.
Join us in the Hudson Valley
To the Italian American witches, healers, artists, and seekers of the Hudson Valley (and beyond if you are willing to travel!)— this is for you.
Whether your people came here generations ago or only just arrived, there is a whisper rising in many of us now — a call to remember. And not to hold tight to some nationalistic way of being, in fact it’s the opposite of that. It’s to unravel a bit, to remember a deeper way of being, how our people believed in the unseen and cared for each other.
These gatherings are in houses to reconnect with the magic, devotion, and deep earth-rooted wisdom of our Italian lineages. To gather in community, and to heal what was broken in the crossing over the sea, losing language, assimilating, hiding their magic to “fit in”.
If you’ve felt that pull… if you’ve been yearning for others who know what it’s like to carry a culture half-kept and half-lost, to be liminal…
If you know there’s more to your heritage than food and feast days (those are extremely important but so are the stories, rituals and ways of being within them, they can’t just exist on their own) — that there’s medicine and mystery waiting to be reclaimed, that there is healing to be tended to — then come.
MAJARIA is a 6-month in-person circle for Italian Americans called to the path of ancestral healing, folk magic, and cultural remembrance.
We’ll meet once a month from November 2025 through April 2025, sharing stories, rituals, remedies, and rites — both remembered and reimagined — rooted in our diverse Italian and Sicilian traditions.
We will connect, make, ritual, and be paesani.
You can come to one or come to them all. You will be welcomed.
What to Expect
A Circle of Kin
local(ish) folks of Italian descent gathering with intention, humility, and heart
Offerings & Rituals
from divination and folk remedies to prayer, food, and seasonal practices
Stories & Teachings
passed down or pieced back together, personal or communal.
Cultural Inquiry
a space to explore the complexities of being Italian American: assimilation, survival, and sacred inheritance
Shared Magic
laughter, wine, grief, recipes, songs, and spells— what was passed on to you? Bring it to the circle!
Between Circles
a private chat group to stay connected, share insights, and decide who’s bringing the cannoli.
When, Where & Cost
You may come to just one circle, or commit to the full six-month journey.
The space will be casual, intimate, and alive with ritual — grounded in both structure and spontaneity, offering both teaching and sharing.
Cost
These circles are offered by donation — with a suggested minimum of $25 per gathering to support space rental and materials. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Location
TBA, pending head count. It will be in or near Kingston, NY.
Register Now
Sunday | November 2, 2025
The community and personal altar creation, offerings to the dead, story telling. Devotional practice intention setting for next 6 months.
Thursday | December 11, 2025
Community ritual for Santa Lucia | Talk: Mal’occhio and our inherent healing ways
Thursday | January 8, 2026
Collective protection making: amulet making / protective bags | Talk: herbs, salt, and amulets.
Thursday | February 5, 2026
Community ritual for Sant Agata | Talk: regeneration for the inner Italian experience - who we are becoming, who we were, and who we don’t want to be.
Thursday | March 12, 2026
Folk amaro making spell together | Talk: the potent power of our ancestral gut and bitter herbs for ancestral healing and community sharing.
Wednesday | April 8, 2026
Final ritual / festa together.
Registration
If you are registering for select dates, you can adjust the pricing to reflect the number you plan to attend.
Please be sure to indicate which dates at checkout.
You don’t have to speak the language.
You don’t have to know the recipes.
You don’t have to prove your bloodline or birthplace.
If you’ve heard the call — that is enough.
You carry the spark of the majara — the cunning women, the midwives, the folk healers, the bone keepers.
It’s time to tend that flame. Together.
About MaryBeth, your host.
Marybeth Bonfiglio is a writer and community weaver who was born raised in NY (Jamestown, NY). She’s a writer, a mother, and comes from grandparents from Sicily and Northern Italy. She’s the founder of @radicisiciliane, a project devoted to reweaving the threads of Italian + Sicilian culture, language, and folk tradition through immersive travel, ancestral reconnection, and soul-deep remembering. She lives between Sicily (3 months a year) and the Hudson Valley (Kingston, NY the rest of the time) working at the crossroads of magic, land, and lineage.
