Program Overview: This ThD is designed for advanced clergy, teachers, and scholar-practitioners within Wicca, Paganism, Druidry, and other earth-based and occult traditions. It moves from foundational history and textual literacy (Year 1), through comparative and hermeneutical depth (Year 2), into ministry and applied theology (Year 3), specialization and proposal development (Year 4), and original dissertation research (Year 5).
Core threads:
• Journal prompts (private, reflective, submitted to mentor)
• Discussion prompts (forum, peer responses required)
• Presentation / public-speaking challenge (recorded talk, ritual facilitation, or live teaching, upload to clapper and tag your mentor for review)
• Creative/expressive arts assignment (visual art, music, poetry, craft, movement, or altar/shrine work)
A note on sourcing: All linked readings and videos are free, open-access, or public-domain. Because Wiccan and occult source material is incongruent in scholarly quality (much of it is practitioner-authored, pseudonymous, or of contested historical accuracy), every course pairs primary/practitioner sources with critical-academic framing so students learn to read devotionally and critically at once.
• ISTA = Internet Sacred Text Archive — https://sacred-texts.com/
• HL = The Hermetic Library — https://hermetic.com/
• IA = Internet Archive — https://archive.org
• PP = Harvard Pluralism Project — https://pluralism.org
• BCRM = Research Methods for the Social Sciences (BCcampus open textbook) — https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/jibcresearchmethods/
• SEP = Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — https://plato.stanford.edu/
• IEP = Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy — https://iep.utm.edu
• WP = Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org
YEAR 1 — Foundations
Course 101: History and Theology of Wicca and Modern Paganism
Description: Traces Wicca from its 20th-century emergence through Gerald Gardner, Doreen Valiente, and the diversification into Traditional, Eclectic, Dianic, Reclaiming, and Druidic paths. Distinguishes devotional claims from historical evidence.
Course 102: Comparative Religion I — Indigenous, Polytheist, and Earth-Based Traditions
Description: Situates Wicca among global animist, polytheist, and land-based religions to build comparative literacy and guard against cultural appropriation.
Course 103: Research Methods for Religious and Esoteric Studies
Description: Trains students in academic research design, source evaluation, ethnographic method, and citation practice, applied specifically to the challenges of researching oral, initiatory, and secrecy-bound traditions.
Course 104: Ritual Practicum I
Description: Applied study of ritual structure, tools, and the wheel of the year, paired with facilitation skills.
YEAR 2 — Textual and Hermeneutical Studies
Course 201: Hermeneutics — Interpreting Sacred and Esoteric Texts
Description: Introduces philosophical hermeneutics (Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Gadamer) and applies interpretive theory to Wiccan and occult texts, which pose unique problems: pseudonymous authorship, oral transmission, cipher and coded writing, and living/evolving canons.
Course 202: Comparative Religion II — World Religions in Dialogue
Description: Deepens comparative work into major world religious traditions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam) to prepare Wiccan clergy for interfaith work and chaplaincy.
Course 203: History of Western Esotericism and Occult Philosophy
Description: Covers Hermeticism, Renaissance magic, Rosicrucianism, the Golden Dawn, and Thelema as the philosophical and ritual ancestors of much modern Wiccan practice.
Course 204: Wiccan Ethics and Moral Theology
Description: Examines the Wiccan Rede, the Threefold Law, and virtue ethics frameworks, in dialogue with broader moral philosophy.
YEAR 3 — Ministry, Magic, and Applied Theology
Course 301: Pastoral Care and Counseling in Pagan Communities
Description: Skills for chaplaincy, grief support, rites of passage, and community conflict, adapted to Pagan/Wiccan contexts (often without institutional support structures).
Course 302: Magical Theory and the Theology of Magic
Description: Examines competing theologies of magic — psychological, energetic, animist, and the “Law of Attraction” adjacent models — and their coherence with Wiccan cosmology.
Course 303: Gender, Body, and the Sacred in Earth-Based Traditions
Description: Explores Goddess theology, the God/dess polarity model and its critics, Dianic and queer Pagan theologies, and embodiment practices.
Course 304: Interfaith Chaplaincy and Public Ministry
Description: Prepares students for public-facing ministry: hospital/military/campus chaplaincy contexts, media representation, and public speaking under scrutiny.
YEAR 4 — Specialization and Dissertation Proposal
Course 401: Directed Readings — Area of Specialization
Description: Independent study, mentor-guided, in the student’s chosen specialization (e.g., Druidic traditions, folk magic, eco-theology, occult history, ritual studies).
Course 402: Advanced Research Methods and Ethnography of Religion
Description: Deepens methodological training with qualitative interviewing, participant-observation ethics, and mixed-methods design for studying living ritual communities.
Course 403: Dissertation Seminar I — Proposal Development
Description: Workshop course for developing the dissertation proposal, literature review, and methodology chapter.
Course 404: Teaching Practicum — Pedagogy for Seminary and Community Education
Description: Prepares students to teach, having completed this program’s own model of pedagogy — for use in covens, community ed, or future seminary teaching.
YEAR 5 — Dissertation
Course 501: Dissertation Seminar II — Research and Writing
Description: Structured writing support through the dissertation’s core chapters.
Course 502: Dissertation Completion and Oral Defense
Description: Finalization, formatting, and oral defense of the completed dissertation before a committee.
Course 503: Capstone Ministry Project
Description: A applied ministry project (teaching series, chaplaincy placement, community rite, published resource) demonstrating integration of theology, scholarship, and service.