The University of Exeter in the UK will offer a Masters degree in witchcraft, black magic and the occult, beginning in September 2024.It will focus on the history of magic, witchcraft and demonic rituals. “The first of its kind,” a spokesperson from the university said about the program. The course will be taught by Emily Selove, who is now an associate professor in medieval Arabic literature. Selove said university officials got the idea for the occult program after noticing the rise in interest surrounding these subjects. She said she noted a “desire to create a space where research on magic could be studied across academic fields,” as per the New York Times. The program has already received “a few hundred inquiries in recent days” from interested students, according to Selove. “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 said.“Let’s cautiously and responsibly try some new or some old ideas that we’ve thrown out.”Study modules will include Western dragons in lore, literature and art; archaeology theory; the depiction of women in the Middle Ages; the practice of deception and illusion; and the philosophy of psychedelics.” The course will adopt “the lenses of Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions” and “lecturers will explore how magic has influenced society and science.”The Times reported on comments from Christina Oakley Harrington, founder of a London bookstore specializing in literature on magic and spiritualism who is a retired academic. Harrington remarked she knows “many witches” who are excited to hear about the program and are thinking of enrolling. “Not because they’re idiots and think it’s going to teach them how to wave a magic wand and do a spell,” Harrington said. “They’re people who have just a huge curiosity about the world and the way we perceive the seen and the unseen worlds.”
