Roma Lister

Roma Lister
Roma Lister, c. 1918

Roma Lister was a folklorist, medium, and occult writer who was mostly active in the early 20th century. ^[1] Her literary associates and spiritual collaborators included a number of widely-published journalists, including Charles G. Leland, ^[2] Lilian Whiting, and W.T. Stead. ^[3]

A close friend and research partner of Leland in the 1890s, she has been cited as a possible co-author of or contributor to Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches , an apocryphal ^[4] scripture of Italian witchcraft. ^[5]

In her memoirs, Reminiscences: Social and Political (1926) and Further Reminiscences: Occult and Social (1927), Lister wrote extensively about her encounters with mediumistic phenomena, ^[6] ghostlore, ^[7] and witchcraft. ^[8]

Arild Rosenkrantz, the noted Danish painter and Anthroposophist, was her first cousin. ^[9]

References

1. "Roma Lister, Aradia, and the Speculative Origins of a Witchcraft Revival". The Public Domain Review. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
2. Keller, John (1969). "Book Reviews: Legends of Florence". Southern Folklore Quarterly. 33 (4): 360.
3. Whiting, Lilian (August 10, 1912). "Miss Hopkins and Mr. Stead". Light. 32: 377.
4. Wheeler, G.J. (2019). "The Finding of Hidden Texts in Esoteric and Other Religious Traditions: Some Notes on "Discovery Narratives"". Correspondences Journal. 7 (2): 339–366.
5. Manns, A.D. (2025). Aradia's Hidden Hand: The Untold Life of Roma Lister. Hexen Press. pp. 19–21.
6. "Roma Lister and the Unforgettable Séance". The Thinker's Garden. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
7. "A Specter That Visited a Dead Queen". Ghost Stories. 6: 29. June 1929.
8. Lister, Roma (1926). Reminiscences: Social and Political. Hutchinson. pp. 123–124.
9. "The Forgotten Mediumship of Julia Rosenkrantz". College of Psychic Studies. Retrieved 2 August 2025.