The Power of the Witch Part 2: Doubt, Imagination and the Reinvention of Tradition, from the Enlightenment to the Present, with Cultural Historian Jason Lahman, begins October 5
Seven Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
Sundays, October 5 - November 16, 2025
2 - 4 PM ET (NYC Time)
$150 Paid Patreon Members / $175 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time
This class is the first of a two-part survey seeking to understand the archetype of “The Witch” through an exploration of its origins, sources, and metamorphoses over time. For part one, click here.
In this seven week class, we will bring our understanding of the “The Witch” into the modern age. We will begin our journey in the 18th century and the radical changes ushered in by what is commonly referred to as the Enlightenment, an era characterized by profound changes in worldview, including new categories for occult phenomena and a redefining of the real as only that which could be measured. We will look at how religious crises of the time coincided with a new reliance on modern scientific processes which challenged belief in witches, fairies, the devil and magic itself.
We will examine how this demotion of “The Witch”—once feared as a fearful Satanic figure—led her to retreat into memory and emerge in new realms of art, literature and the nursery, culminating in the rise of literary fairy tales, The Golden Age of Illustration, and the dark fantasies of Symbolist art. We will look at the occult revivals of the 19th century, in which women reclaimed a level of power and visibility by aligning themselves with the sibyls, priestesses and witches of old. And we will turn our eye to our own contemporary moment, characterized by a decline of traditional rural lifeways and ancestral connections which has fueled a new hunger for the supernatural and the occult. We will end with look at modern forms of witchcraft and neo-paganism, with an eye towards the ways in which practices of recovered/reinvented witchcraft became part of radical political, musical, artistic and even cinematic milestones.
Through image rich lectures and suggested readings and viewings, students will be invited to engage with the materials and explore their own reflections. In the final class, they will be encouraged to share a final project (in any medium they choose) that touches on the archetypes and materials covered in this course.
Jason Lahman is an artist and cultural historian focusing on science, technology and the occult.
Images: Walpurgis Sabbath (detail), Adolf Münzer, 1906; still from The Love Witch, Anna Biller, 2016.
Seven Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
Sundays, October 5 - November 16, 2025
2 - 4 PM ET (NYC Time)
$150 Paid Patreon Members / $175 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time
This class is the first of a two-part survey seeking to understand the archetype of “The Witch” through an exploration of its origins, sources, and metamorphoses over time. For part one, click here.
In this seven week class, we will bring our understanding of the “The Witch” into the modern age. We will begin our journey in the 18th century and the radical changes ushered in by what is commonly referred to as the Enlightenment, an era characterized by profound changes in worldview, including new categories for occult phenomena and a redefining of the real as only that which could be measured. We will look at how religious crises of the time coincided with a new reliance on modern scientific processes which challenged belief in witches, fairies, the devil and magic itself.
We will examine how this demotion of “The Witch”—once feared as a fearful Satanic figure—led her to retreat into memory and emerge in new realms of art, literature and the nursery, culminating in the rise of literary fairy tales, The Golden Age of Illustration, and the dark fantasies of Symbolist art. We will look at the occult revivals of the 19th century, in which women reclaimed a level of power and visibility by aligning themselves with the sibyls, priestesses and witches of old. And we will turn our eye to our own contemporary moment, characterized by a decline of traditional rural lifeways and ancestral connections which has fueled a new hunger for the supernatural and the occult. We will end with look at modern forms of witchcraft and neo-paganism, with an eye towards the ways in which practices of recovered/reinvented witchcraft became part of radical political, musical, artistic and even cinematic milestones.
Through image rich lectures and suggested readings and viewings, students will be invited to engage with the materials and explore their own reflections. In the final class, they will be encouraged to share a final project (in any medium they choose) that touches on the archetypes and materials covered in this course.
Jason Lahman is an artist and cultural historian focusing on science, technology and the occult.
Images: Walpurgis Sabbath (detail), Adolf Münzer, 1906; still from The Love Witch, Anna Biller, 2016.
Seven Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
Sundays, October 5 - November 16, 2025
2 - 4 PM ET (NYC Time)
$150 Paid Patreon Members / $175 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time
This class is the first of a two-part survey seeking to understand the archetype of “The Witch” through an exploration of its origins, sources, and metamorphoses over time. For part one, click here.
In this seven week class, we will bring our understanding of the “The Witch” into the modern age. We will begin our journey in the 18th century and the radical changes ushered in by what is commonly referred to as the Enlightenment, an era characterized by profound changes in worldview, including new categories for occult phenomena and a redefining of the real as only that which could be measured. We will look at how religious crises of the time coincided with a new reliance on modern scientific processes which challenged belief in witches, fairies, the devil and magic itself.
We will examine how this demotion of “The Witch”—once feared as a fearful Satanic figure—led her to retreat into memory and emerge in new realms of art, literature and the nursery, culminating in the rise of literary fairy tales, The Golden Age of Illustration, and the dark fantasies of Symbolist art. We will look at the occult revivals of the 19th century, in which women reclaimed a level of power and visibility by aligning themselves with the sibyls, priestesses and witches of old. And we will turn our eye to our own contemporary moment, characterized by a decline of traditional rural lifeways and ancestral connections which has fueled a new hunger for the supernatural and the occult. We will end with look at modern forms of witchcraft and neo-paganism, with an eye towards the ways in which practices of recovered/reinvented witchcraft became part of radical political, musical, artistic and even cinematic milestones.
Through image rich lectures and suggested readings and viewings, students will be invited to engage with the materials and explore their own reflections. In the final class, they will be encouraged to share a final project (in any medium they choose) that touches on the archetypes and materials covered in this course.
Jason Lahman is an artist and cultural historian focusing on science, technology and the occult.
Images: Walpurgis Sabbath (detail), Adolf Münzer, 1906; still from The Love Witch, Anna Biller, 2016.