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British Museum Exhibition 19 May – 25 September 2022 https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/feminine-power-divine-demonic “The first exhibition of its kind, Feminine power takes a cross-cultural look at the profound influence of female spiritual beings within global religion and faith. Explore the significant role that goddesses, demons, witches, spirits and saints have played – and continue to play – in […]

University of Exeter’s Professor Rob Gleaves in a presentation to the Department of Classics & Religion UCalgary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilyAlJjGDDA&t=2s “Magic (and occult practice more widely) has held a debated position in Islamic law and theology. For some Muslim thinkers, the practice of magic is unequivocally condemned as unislamic, or heretical, or a sign of the magician’s […]

LIVE online | 5 -20 March 2022 https://creationtheatre.co.uk/the-witch-of-edmonton/#1634803979184-feeffcd6-1027 “If every poor old Woman be trod on thus, reviled, kicked, beaten, as I am daily, she to be revenged had need turn Witch.” In Edmonton, the cattle are dying. The corn will not grow. A local man stabs his wife. A local woman runs mad. A […]

Monday, November 29 Hotel Du Vin Exeter 1:30–3 p.m.  Panel 1: Emily Selove, “Sleep in the Shāmil of Sirāj al-Dīn al-Sakkākī (d. 1229)” Bink Hallum, “From Invincibility to Immunity: The Centesimal Magic Square in Legend, Theory and Practice” 3:30–5 p.m.   Panel 2: Earl Fontainelle, “The Theory of the Pneumatic Vehicle in Late-Antique Platonism and the […]

Molly Batchelor, University of Exeter MA student in Medieval Studies, conducted a thought-provoking interview with practicing astrologer Rebecca Law, reflecting on the differences between ancient, medieval, and modern astrology, and on the role of the professional astrologer today. Download the interview from the link below. Interview with Rebecca Law

https://www.wegottickets.com/event/516190/?mc_cid=d7ee6fec89&mc_eid=d862eafb3c# Exeter Cygnet Theatre October 9, 7:30 pm Artemis Storytelling presents Jo Blake and Dr Martin Shaw. Unearth the unwritten Blodeuwedd, the Frankenstein of flowers. Captured in the pages of a medieval book, the ancient myth of Blodeuwedd describes a woman made out of flowers who was turned into an owl as punishment for adultery. But who was […]

Fringe Expertise? Cross-Cultural Readings of Occult Practices in Premodern Eurasia International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 4-7 July 2022 Sponsored by The Sorcerer’s Handbook: Medieval Arabic Magic in Context Project Organisers: Dr Sarah Ortega, Dr Geoff Humble (University of Leeds) This session seeks to bring together a cross-cultural comparative reading of occult practices and practitioners. The term ‘Occult’ […]

A free digital conference with presentations by Magic and Esotericism research group members Sarah Scaife and Dorka Tamas: In Panel 2: Fantasy & Imagination, introduced here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocPEhK-pKx0 Dorka Támas – Supernatural Vision in Sylvia Plath’s Bee Poems https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXcsGtoz2Zs Sarah Scaife – Dream as vision, dream as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_i10vnxNfU The whole conference is posted here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEB4vEetKBhS6GLX91a7a6g/videos @ExclamationAIJ

A new publication by Magic and Esotericism Research Group member Dorka Tamás https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24692921.2021.1947081 This article discusses Sylvia Plath’s overlooked juvenilia poems and contextualizes them in postwar American culture. The fairy tales were significant cultural products during the 1950s, that also continue to define the culture today through Disney’s adaptations. Plath loved Grimms’ tales; several of […]

July 13th-17th About this event As long as there have been people on this land there has been song, and as long as we dwell upon this land a timeless, uniquely human melody will sound from the confluence of culture and contour. But what is that sound? From where did those lines of song and […]

Co-edited by Soma Chaudhuri and Jane Ward Deadline to submit a 500 to 750-word abstract: August 1st, 2021 https://www.janewardphd.com/the-witch-studies-reader.html “…we are calling for chapter proposals that illuminate how feminists can make sense of the witch—her power and her persecution—in ways that take account of the vastly different national, political-economic, and cultural contexts in which she is currently being claimed […]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_UYo1bOFLQ This is a love talisman from a book of lunar mansions, widely circulated in the medieval world. It is meant to be carved out of ebony, which is way beyond my skill, so I stained it ebony instead. I also did not inscribe it with the correct names, address it with the prescribed incantation, […]

Sakkaki’s Magic Book of Everything (April 30th 2021) Dr. Emily Selove, Senior Lecturer of Medieval Arabic Language and Literature, at the University of Exeter, discusses her Leverhulme-funded research project, “A Sorcerer’s Handbook,” which will create an edition, translation, and literary study of Siraj al-Din al-Sakkaki’s (d. 1229) Arabic encyclopedia of practical magic. In conversation with […]

McMaster University (Online) May 26th https://religiousstudies.mcmaster.ca/news/magicworkshop/?fbclid=IwAR1yDwFnCmyBfZOlZ0JjFURAlkx6bO4nAmpBwTnHD6Z-KKdj_tGX3udZX2k This workshop proposes an interdisciplinary and inter-religious approach to healing in religious traditions. Religious healing can be syncretic between traditions, relegated to the margins of official religion, or use non-mechanical logics to address imbalances of body, spirit, and social identity. By comparing religions, and by fostering dialogue between different […]

By Sarah Scaife http://www.sarahscaife.co.uk/ Uncertainty can be an unsettling aspect of ill health. Come on a gentle journey into more hopeful ways of being with not knowing. Can uncertainty become a friend during times of dis-ease? A series of six pieces broadcast on Soundart Radio 102.5FM and online: Tuesdays at 1:30pm, 09 Feb to 27 April 2021, […]

Ex Historia- Humanities Forum Roundtable Discussion- Beliefs, Ritual, and Popular Myths Date/Time: Feb. 18th from 5:30-6:30pm Event Link: https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/j/97721900257?pwd=TEYycFpJRVJuWXBQcTV6c0NpcHVTZz09 Panelists’ Bios   Ryan Denson- Classics, and Ancient History  Ryan’s research centers upon examining the imaginative ideas of sea monsters and anthropic marine entities in Greco-Roman antiquity. Consequently, much of his work deals with popular narratives involving […]

An article by Nicholas Banner in the Classical Receptions Journal “This article examines the tropological use of the Latin language to evoke the diabolical in supernatural horror cinema. When Latin is intoned in a suitably Gothic context, horror-savvy audiences have every reason to foresee the Devil and his minions arriving in short order, and are rarely […]

Date/Time Thursday 7 January  and Sunday 17 January 2021, 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm Book Now: £10 or £8 or £5 – email boxoffice@ashburtonarts.org.uk http://ashburtonarts.org.uk/whats-on/ Join our conjuror-in-residence,for a highly interactive, online event that uses magic to explore how we can live in challenging times by taking inspiration from the philosophy of the Buddha. Brian isn’t […]

ONLINE VIA ZOOM, 27 FEBRUARY 2021. The Magickal Women Partnership proudly presents the Magical Fiction Forum: Fairy tales, fantasy, magical realism, surreal fiction: this forum aims to bring together leading authors and scholars to discuss the impact and influence of texts that transcend their genre and leave readers enchanted and transformed. Online via Zoom. https://www.magickalwomenconference.com/magical-fiction-forum-2020

Missed the Popular Magic Cafe? Never worry, you can watch the discussion on YouTube, HERE There were so many fascinating questions, that Crystal and I decided to compile a reading list and a travelling list inspired by our conversation. Though we did take very different approaches to it: while Crystal presented a selection of rigorous […]