The University of Exeter in England will offer a postgraduate degree in magic and the occult. Coursework will include the study of Western dragons in lore, literature and art; the depiction of women in the Middle Ages; and the philosophy of psychedelics.https://t.co/naz0k1auSy
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 13, 2023
You can’t teach Jesus at the university.
But you can teach witchcraft.
This is very normal.
A university in the United Kingdom will be offering the country’s first ever postgraduate degree in magic and occult science, according to a report.
The University of Exeter will be offering the Master’s degree beginning in September 2024 amid a recent surge of interest in the history of witchcraft and magic, Emily Selove, an associate professor in medieval Arabic literature who is heading the program, told the New York Times.
The course will explore magic’s influence on society and science through the lens of Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions, the Times reported.
While students won’t attend Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions classes, the program offers unique courses such as a study of dragons in Western culture, literature and art and the depiction of women and witches in the Middle Ages.
Selove said she’s already been contacted by hundreds of prospective witches and wizards who are interested in the opportunity to explore such topics across academic fields.
“If we are looking for truly new and creative solutions to the problems that we as a society face, then we need to be honest and courageous about the fact that some of our tried and true methodologies do have a limit,” she told the newspaper. “Let’s cautiously and responsibly try some new or some old ideas that we’ve thrown out.”
Yes.
The university is going to use witchcraft to solve modern problems.
Very normal.
Interest in magic and the occult has become widespread, especially among the *****er, less religious generations — evidenced by numerous TikTok where the hashtag #WitchTok has videos viewed more than 50 billion times about identifying characteristics of witches and how to rid homes of bad energy, according to The Times.
Witches have also emerged as feminist symbols, according to Dr. Christina Oakley Harrington, a retired academic of medieval history and the founder of the London bookstore Treadwell’s, which specializes in literature on magic and spiritualism.
I think witches were always feminist symbols.
Arguably – and factually – these words are synonyms. Witches were the original feminists, and modern feminists are simply witches.
No one can explain the difference between the two, because there is no difference.