Paganism

University of Exeter looks at the best way to summon fairies

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EXETER, UK – The University of Exeter is currently sponsoring a postgraduate research project on how to summon fairies and demons. Researchers will be examining the role of fairies in grimoires dating from the 15th to the 17th centuries, old magical texts which contain instructions for performing spells and necromancy. Fairies have obviously played a major part in British folklore for generations, appearing in the works of Shakespeare as well as local stories and legends. The West Country, where Exeter is situated, is full of such tales, from the uplands of Dartmoor to the coasts of Cornwall. Not always benign, these supernatural entities both fear and fascinate, but the aim of some of the spells in the study is to obtain the help of fairies in achieving the goals of the magician.

Paganism

Column: On the Altar, in the Academy

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When Ronald Hutton’s Triumph of the Moon hit bookstores in 1999 something changed in British Pagan culture. It was immediate. Someone known to be friendly and spiritually sympathetic had put us on the academic map, and shown Pagans we have a rightful place in Britain’s cultural history. The book was eloquent and magisterial, linking Pagan ideas to literature, social justice, liberalism and the broad cultural avenue of western esotericism. The book drew young Pagans who were intellectually gifted to want to study Pagan-related subjects at universities for Masters and doctorate degrees.