.: Articles / Consider the Sorcery

Consider the Sorcery, by Donna Freydkin

Special for USA TODAY 11/13/2002

You won't be soaring around on broomsticks, scoring at Quidditch or slaying dragons at Europe's first real academy of witchcraft.

In fact, unlike fictional master magician Harry Potter, who learns his craft at the mysteriously magnificent Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and resumes his adventures in the upcoming film version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (opening Friday), the students at the Hexenschule here study decidedly down-to-earth subjects to become certified witches and wizards.

"Just because you can make chamomile tea doesn't make you a witch," says co-founder and instructor Sonja Kulmitzer, 28. "To be a real witch, you need to know healing skills and be utterly familiar with the curative powers of roots, herbs, spices and plants."

That's why at the Hexenschule - that's German for witch school - you'll learn which plants can cure headaches and coughs, and how to make your own lucky charms and talismans. And although Hogwarts may have its enchanted ceiling, towering turrets and twisting staircases, the homespun Hexenschule is naggingly normal, located in a bright, one-floor apartment in an average nondescript row house in this bucolic Alpine town about 140 miles south of Vienna. Amulets and witchy posters hang on the walls; classes take place in a comfortable living room crammed with furniture, massage tables and books.

List of school supplies

Wannabe witches and wizards start off with Module 1: Energy by learning meditation skills to help them relax. Once they're sufficiently mellowed out, they study energy-based healing methods and how to feel and use the power of the earth's energy to help others. Sure, it may sound esoteric, but the class actually focuses on the basics of meteorology, astronomy and astrology. The studies help students get in touch with their subconscious and recognize and follow intuitions by finding and channeling sources of energy in nature. That entails spending hours repetitively using a pendulum or dowsing rod to help locate energy sources in the earth. Practice, instructor Andreas Starchel says, makes perfect. "Getting in touch with your deepest senses forms the foundation of everything that witchcraft is about," he says. "If students do this right, they'll learn to be hyper-aware of everything around them."

Supplies needed (They can be bought online for about $94):

• Protection charm, to boost your protective circle.
• Special innocence resin, to cleanse your aura and shield your protective circle.
• Meditation CD, to help you relax and learn rune meditation techniques.
• Y-divining rod and spiral tool, to help you easily locate water and energy sources.
• L-divining rod, to help detect human energy sources.
• Pendulum, to help you ascertain the distance to specific energy sources.
• Tensor, to help you examine human energy zones.
• The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield, just because.

That is, when the 10 to 15 local students, dressed in sneakers, jeans and sweaters, aren't combing nearby forests and meadows for plants and herbs with healing powers.

According to Hexenschule's two founders, everything is based on the premise that witchcraft is, in fact, a traditional science applied in non-traditional ways - devoid of black magic and any religious overtones.

"A witch is just an ordinary person who looks at life holistically," says co-founder Andreas Starchel, 35, who spent 20 years studying witchcraft before becoming a teacher.

"We want our school to become the norm and to set the quality standard in witchcraft education."

Students study such standard-issue college subjects as astronomy, botany, anatomy, alternative medicine and biology, along with classes in oracles, tarot cards, horoscopes, dowsing and magic. No, they will never learn to talk to snakes like Harry Potter, but students become proficient at everything from therapeutic massage to preparing restorative teas.

"For years, my close friends told me I was a witch, because I was sensitive and had these intuitions about things like what herbs can help cure what ailments," says Karin Isamberth, 41, a housewife in Salzburg who enrolled in the Hexenschule in 1999 and hopes to become a certified witch next year. "Rather than just going out and buying them at the corner store, I decided to learn the nitty-gritty about natural remedies and how to make them myself."

Seven courses of study

Like Isamberth, most of the 100-plus witches-in-waiting don't live in the Klagenfurt area but are from elsewhere in Austria as well as Germany, Switzerland, England, Hungary and Italy. They take online classes (www.hexen-schule.de) and rarely meet one another.

The few local students do hook up for, say, herb-seeking outings, followed by a lively dinner discussion at a nearby pub, or tarot-reading classes.

"We meet up for several days in a row, for long blocks of time," Starchel says. "And we teach the students to differentiate between their perception of what witches do and the reality of what being a real witch entails. People would be quite shocked to know that our students look and act very normal. You won't see any warts, hairy chins or black cloaks."

Indeed, Kulmitzer and Starchel, who prefers to go by his druid name, Dakaneth, started offering organized courses in witchcraft in 1998 to help preserve mystical traditions that were well on their way to being forgotten. Initially, Hexenschule's three-year program consisted of monthly seminars that required students to travel to Klagenfurt. "People were immediately interested in our courses, but it was just too far for most to travel, so we brought it to them," Kulmitzer says. "Now we offer virtual classes in both English and German, which has been a major attraction."

Four years later, their effort has evolved into a degree program composed of seven courses of study, such as energy sciences and astrology. After completing a course in about six months and proving their competence with a written exam, students move on to the next one.

Certified mastery of witchcraft

Most finish the seven courses in three to five years, write a 20- to 30-page thesis and earn their Venefica (Latin for witch) degree, certifying them as masters of witchcraft. Only three students have graduated so far, but more than 100 are taking the courses. Isamberth and nine others are completing the individual tests.

Hexenschule's founders freely thank Harry Potter for the surge in attendance.

"Before the movie came out last year, we had 40 students," Kulmitzer says. "Now we have more than double that. We think it's quite funny how the movie benefited us."

But unlike Potter, you won't need to buy cauldrons or capes to study at this school. Instead, students purchase items such as a protection charm to boost their protective circle, software to calculate star constellations, tarot cards, and herbs for making oils, creams and powders.

"Most of our students are here because they want to learn the art of natural medicine, because it's very popular here in Austria and Germany," Kulmitzer says. "They're learning about positive energy, the power of water and the benefits of herbal remedies."

Most students are women, the majority in their 30s and 40s who likely would be more at home at an Earth Day rally than in a college library.

Some are university students earning their witchcraft degrees to augment their diplomas in medicine or natural sciences; others are homemakers or retirees curious about obscure herbs and spices.

"Being a witch is my life. It's a state of mind, but I am still learning," says Isamberth, who says she has incorporated everything she has learned into her daily routines.

"I learned the concepts of witchcraft at the school and live my life according to the philosophy. Now, for example, if I am having a low-energy day, I know to cook myself a meal heavy on paprika, because that gives me an instant infrared energy boost.

"And now, I know what teas to make for my friends to help cure their aches and pains."

Isamberth takes most of her classes online but does manage to attend select sessions in Klagenfurt so she can bond with her fellow sorcerers. Once a semester, the students who are able to travel come together for a four-day seminar that celebrates ancient traditions and allows them to show off their potion-mixing and talisman-developing skills.

For in-person study at the Klagenfurt facility, students pay about $250 for each course; a virtual class with additional online coaching is $145. Each post-course test costs $70. The complete education runs about $2,240.

But these intrepid witches aren't in it for the money, Hexenschule's founders say. And that's a good thing, because the school's degree isn't officially recognized by any government or institution, and few certified witches will ever make a living solely by practicing their craft. Starchel earns his keep as a technician at Klagenfurt University, while Kulmitzer pays her rent as a jazz and soul singer.

"No, the degree is not official," Starchel says. "But our students aren't here for the piece of paper. They're not here to get rich, but to enrich themselves."