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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 13720
[Pagan]
Date Posted:
8/14/2005
8:16:26 am EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 7,323
RSS: 19,977
Comments: 8
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A Real Life Hogwarts? Hogwash
Author: Victoria Coren Source: The Observer (UK)
Title: A REAL LIFE HOGWARTS? HOGWASH
An Austrian school for witchcraft and wizardry has reported a surge in recruitment since the publication of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. When the Hexenschule first opened in 2003, the world's press scoffed, but two years later, it is booming.
Everybody wants to go to Hogwarts! All Europe is rushing to sign up for this school where, presumably, you can fail to hand in homework on the grounds that it turned into a dog. If you let off a stink bomb, I expect the teacher just says: 'Ah, sulphur ... ' and wipes away a sentimental tear. (I'm not saying the school is evil, but it is Austrian.)
Unfortunately, there is a major flaw in the concept of a witchcraft academy, one that JK Rowling neatly masks with pumpkin juice and quidditch. The problem is that magic, 'real' magic of the occultist kind, the kind that must surely be taught by anybody claiming to offer 'a history of magic', is at direct odds with the principle of schooling.
Submitted by and Thanks to: Ian
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Community Thoughts: There are 8 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Over-reactions, Just A Little.. | Aug 16th. at 12:14:47 pm EDT
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Lady-hearted Mojo (Irving, Texas) - Email Me
In reading the some of the previous posts I see, once again, Pagans over-reaching. I went to the school's website and saw absolutely nothing inherently Pagan about it. This site doesn't claim to teach religion and none of the modules teaches anything relating to any form of Pagan religion. It teaches magic, which anyone from a Christian to a Atheist and all those inbetween can practice.
It is obvious that the author's doesn't know the subject well and that she is merely out of make fun of the school, but she is not ridiculing Pagan religion. Again..magic, occultism, and religion are not the same things, although, they can be closely associated. So unbunch your panties and relax.
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| Well | Aug 15th. at 8:17:18 am EDT
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Erihu (Sunset Beach, North Carolina) - Email Me
she got one thing right. Education has always been about taming children, and turning them into team players instead of individuals, IMO. Organized religion has had the same goal in mind. Both of these institutions are hellbent (you should excuse the phrase, lol) on producing sheep, instead of people who think for themselves.
The only difference between myself and this woman, is that I don't see that as being necessarily a good thing :) Oh, don't get me wrong, working for the good of the community is a good thing, but not if you are required to sublimate everything you are to do so. People who think for themselves, who take responsibility for their own actions may actually come to the conclusion to help without threats of punishment. It's amazing really, what a person can do on their own without someone telling them how to think, behave, and feel.
Okay, enough sarcasm :) . Actually, I think the whole idea of this school is pretty cool, so does the rest of my family, especially the kids. On a side note some of us have been seen online learning about Austria, not just the school there. Talk about true education!
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| Here Is My Letter To The Editor | Aug 15th. at 1:29:02 am EDT
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Valkyrie (Idaho Falls, Idaho) - Email Me
I just sent this letter to the editor.
To whom it may concern;
I would just like to write to tell you what a shoddy job your Victoria Coren did on the Hexenschule story. I would just like to clarify some points for her.
First, this school is an extra curricular school. It is not a school that parents send thier children to. Most witches actually don't learn from other witches until they come of age. It is for those older people who want to learn about "real" magick and the science behind it. If she had gone to the school's website and looked at the curriculum, she would have seen that most of the classes are science classes. Just in case she's not sure what science is, I'll list some of those classes for her: botany (that's the science of plants, Vicky) , astronomy (Vicky pay attention, that's the science of the cosmos) , physiology (once more Vicky, that's the science of the body) . If Vicky likes I can get her a full list of the courses the college offers... And just to let you know, Vicky, the school was open before Harry Potter hit the shelves.
Secondly, if Vicky is going to write about a school that teaches things that are a part of a religion that is not her own; I would suggest that Vicky do her homework before writing such yellow journalism. To clarify this point, let me quote her. "'Do what thou wilt, this shall be the only law.'" This quote has completely been taken out of context. tsk tsk tsk Vicky, you can't just read a couple of lines of Alister Crowley and pretend like you know everything about him, what he did, and where we are now. If Vicky had done her homework, she would have known that the "law" acually goes "An it harm none, Do what thou wilt". That law was put into place so that people that actually take the Craft seriously won't use it for selfish reasons (there are bad apples in every religion, as Vicky has proven) . "Even satanists these days are using the devil mainly as a metaphor to represent the shaking off of restrictive social and moral conformity and the embracing of opposites, i.e. selfishness." Also, Vicky, just thought I'd throw this out for ya, Witches are not satanists. We do not even believe in the devil because the devil is just a scapegoat the cristians invented to blame their transgressions on, to ensure their accepted into heaven. If you were a brave person, you'd blame it on yourself because you're the one who did it! And also we don't try to throw off all of social conformity, just the oppressive parts. Selfishness is definately not our intent and if you did your homework on that subject, you would know that many covens and solitary pagans do community service for the community. When was the last time Vicky volunteered for something that had nothing in it for her?
Thirdly, I would also like to let Vicky know that "'real' magic of the occultist kind, " isn't capeable of turning people into toads or homework into dogs. It's pretty much just a prayer. But since it's not the same kind of prayer that Vicky would say at her own dinner table, she feels like she has to ridicule it in order to validate her own prayers. "'Real' magic of the occultist kind, " is also the precursor to modern medicine. Witches were the healers. The ones who would make poultices and tinctures to help people however they could. They may not have called themselves witches then, but that is what they are called now thanks to the ignorance and fear of other cultures. Good job Vicky.
If Vicky had done her homework and broadened her mind a bit, perhaps her review might have been better written. Vicky would have gotten quotes from the owner of Hexenschule about his curriculum, students, certificates and other such things of significance. She would have gotten quotes from students who have attended the school to find out just what they did with thier education after they graduated. She would also have realized that the Wiccan/Pagan/Witch/Druid/WhatHaveYou community is alot larger than her own little world of desks and coffee shops and computers and that a graduate of this school could apply the knowlege within thier own lives, not to obtain jobs, but to enrich thier spiritual experience, (but Vicky would probably know nothing of spiritual because she probably goes to a church where the bishop/pastor/father tells her exactly what to believe and how to go about believing it and that if she confesses, she'll go to heaven) . However, that education paired with a ministry education (like the one offered at Cherry Hill Seminary: if the editors would like, I can write the review about Cherry Hill Seminary to ensure that it is done correctly) can prove an invaluable spiritual and income earning tool for many people in the Pagan community. Perhaps in the future, Vicky should stick to topics in which she has some background since she is obviously incapable of doing her homework (Vicky, the internet is sometimes not a good source of information about sticky subjects) .
Sincerely Yours;
Lellewynn
An Informed Witch
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| Still Sounds Intriguing. | Aug 14th. at 2:32:33 pm EDT
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
By the sound of this, the only complaint here seems to be that it is teaching witchcraft a la HP style. Frankly I find nothing wrong with it. The religious types can get away with sunday school and various xtian style schools which they can get away with, whose curriculums I find somewhat offensive, then we should be accorded the same right. It may be hogwash, but what they're trying to push in public schools these days is a lot worse.
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| Homework That Eats Dog | Aug 14th. at 2:11:00 pm EDT
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Ahr-Ohn (Bridgeport, Connecticut) - Email Me
"So anyway, I discovered from the fellow's website (and further investigation) , that all this Crowleyesque magical stuff is heavily focused on the idea that Judaeo-Christian teaching is enslaving us, and doing what we are told is inherently wrong. If you were the headmaster of a witchcraft school, how exactly would you deal with a student who was late with an essay on this subject?"
While it's true that the real mysteries reveal when they jolly well feel like it, the Ritual Mysteries of Mystery Rituals can be taught in a six week period. They simply won't be practiced by the know-it-all graduates.
How long does it take to look at a mass of damp leaves, and begin picking Vision out of Chaos?
Granted, most British Boarding Schools are meant to shape the very souls who should be shaping, I understand Jesus had a reasonably effective style of Lecture.
Summerhillians wear Clothing, to remember that they are free.
Arawn
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| What's Good For The Xians Is Good For Us | Aug 14th. at 2:08:42 pm EDT
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ladynoogs (lowell, Ohio) - Email Me
you know. i'm a huge HP fan, and this university is capitalizing on it.. nothing wrong with that.
as far as the writers underanding of witchcraft, its obviously minimal. sure crowley is a big influence, but he's not the only one.
the idea that we couldn't set rules because our "only" rule is "do what thou will" is nonsense. i went to a Xian university and most of their rules had nothing to do with the Bible or its core value. In any organization you have to have rules.
I could see enough things in witchcraft to fill a semester or two (maybe even enough to build a whole degree) .
If the xians can do it why cant the witches?
i think this author simply sees this university as a threat to the status quo in the educational industry.
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