Real Magic Schools — The Magic of Modern Day

May 7, 2018L. Jagi LamplighterMagical Extemporania0

I am posting the first part of an article and a link to the rest:

The interior of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City via Wikimedia Commons.

Hogwarts Actually Exists?

Here’s 10 Real-Life Schools for Magick

Hogwarts might be fictional, but schools for magick are real—they were common not only in the ancient world, but still exist in our current day and age. Here are ten real-life magick schools.

Have you ever wanted to study magic in an official capacity? Do castles, potion-making classes and robe-wearing faculty appeal to you? If you said yes to the above questions, you can apply to a Hogwarts like LARP experience in Poland or enroll in this elf history course in Iceland. But if you desire instruction in the subtle art of magick, at a true, real-life Hogwarts, I’d encourage you to keep reading. What do I mean by magick? Simply this (as described by Ultraculture’s founder Jason Louv):

“Broadly speaking, I use the word ‘magick’ as a simple and taboo-tweaking shorthand for a vast spectrum of religious and consciousness-altering techniques from across the world’s cultures and world history, incorporating shamanism, yoga, martial arts, prayer, meditation, self-hypnosis, study of world religion, trance, inspired art, dancing, the grind of daily living and everything in between. More practically speaking, anything that helps in disciplining the self into becoming a greater and more broadly helpful individual.”

Believe it or not, schools just like Hogwarts that taught these disciplines once existed. Some still exist today. Others are… let’s say “legendary.” You’ll have to come to your own conclusions about them. The following list is the result of my researches into the recondite curricula of the magi and ascended masters around the world. That’s right, it was revealed to me in abstruse initiatic sibilations from my super-secret rainbow-aureoled advisors in the occult sciences. Now that’s either a load of BS, wishful thinking or brutal truth. Which is why you need to remember that this is your path. Take it or leave it. Do as thou wiltwith the information below. Here’s my list of ten real-life Hogwarts:

1. The Brethren of Purity

Arabic manuscript illumination from the 12th century CE showing the Brethren of Purity via Wikimedia Commons.

This 10th/11th century consortium of philosophers and physicians from Basra (in modern-day Iraq) was a legit secret society with a knack for productivity. Their greatest work was a fifty-two treatise volume on alchemy, mathematics, theology, and cosmology called Rasā’il al-Ikhwān al-safā’ (Treatises of the Brethren of Purity). Like the Assassins, who have been immortalized in the hit video game series Assassin’s Creed, the Brethren of Purity were members of the Ismaili denomination of Islam.

2. The College of Astrology at the University of Paris

Teaching at Paris in the late 14th Century. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

In the 1370s, Charles V, the king of France (also known as “The Wise”) established a College of Astrology at the University of Paris. Believe it or not, the college (which also taught “astrological medicine”) was supported by the pope and was given class materials and two endowed fellowships.

The Norton Street Magic School in Marylebone, London

Image from Francis Barrett’s The Magus via Wikimedia Commons.

This 18th century institution was run by the self-described arch-wizard, Francis Barrett. Barrrett was the author of The Magus, a magical textbook that, as I’ve written elsewhere, borrowed a lot of material from Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa. Barrett only accepted twelve students at a time and taught classes on “eternal wisdom” and the “hidden treasures of nature.”