Masters degrees in witchcraft and the occult to be offered in UK and US universities

Surfing the internet can turn up many things. The timeline for these links was prior to Hallow E’en so there is that. Maybe I have been subjected to some sort of horcrux embedded in the links!

Reading this:

Colleges Now Teaching Classes on Occult Rituals and Witchcraft - Slay News

Via this:

Universities set up classes to teach witchcraft, magic (wnd.com)

Led me to this:

British University Plans to Offer Masters in Witchcraft, Magic, and Occult Science (washingtonstand.com)

Which in turn refers to Part IV of this podcast:

Wednesday, October 18, 2023 - AlbertMohler.com

Referring to this BBC article dated 3 October 2023

Degree in magic to be offered at University of Exeter - BBC News which features this image:

Okay, let’s dive in.

“A degree in magic being offered in 2024 will be one of the first in the UK, the University of Exeter has said. The "innovative" MA in Magic and Occult Science has been created following a "recent surge in interest in magic", the course leader said. It would offering an opportunity to study the history and impact of witchcraft and magic around the world on society and science, bosses said.”

Not just the Exeter university:

“Rice University has a certificate, it turns out, here in the United States in Houston. The leader of that program, one of the creators, Professor Jeffrey J. Kripal said, "People have been practicing magical rituals in thinking about the world in magical terms much longer and deeper than the world religions."

Christians have “reservations”.

“Witches are back, and they want academic credit,” Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, explained in a recent podcast. Mohler discussed how these are “universities that once understood the universals, the good, the beautiful, and the true, to be held together within the Christian worldview, which Jesus Christ is the unity of all truth. However, we are now in a time, where Christ is removed as the unity of all truth, he added. These universals have been divided, which leads to programs centered around “ancient paganism,” he explained.

My knowledge of witchcraft is limited to the anecdotes from the works of Shakespeare, movies like the Salem Witch Trials, Witchfinder General and such like. There seem to be good “white” witches and bad witches who either bless or curse, cure or cause “bad stuff”.- maybe there are just smart, good and bad women! No mention of wizards and Hogwarts!

Here’s a profile of the Exeter course leader:

Associate Professor Emily Selove | Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology | University of Exeter

No pointy hat or broomstick in evidence in the photo!

Quite the impressive CV, what could be described as “non-trivial” culminating with this:

“She was the PI of a Leverhulme-funded research project, "A Sorcerer's Handbook," (2019-2022) which will create an edition, translation, and multidisciplinary, multi-authored scholarly analysis of Sirāj al-Dīn al-Sakkākī's (d. 1229) magic handbook, Kitāb al-Shāmil wa-baḥr al-kāmil (The Book of the Complete): blogs.exeter.ac.uk/thesorcerershandbook/ multi-cultural, multi-lingual guide to cursing, healing, and harnessing the power of stars, angels, jinn, and devils, was conceived at the crossroads of many magical and religious traditions, and serves as the intersection at which multiple scholarly methodologies and disciplines can intersect today.”

Seems rooted in 13^th century stuff – I wonder how much progress has been made in the last 800 years, in this field, or maybe science has captured most of what was claimed back then?

Maybe Leverhulme has lots more dosh to hand out? Homepage | The Leverhulme Trust

Onwards!

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