Pam Grossman, an author and the host of the popular The Witch Wave podcast said people did not need to be “woo-woo” to be interested in magic. “Whether or not one believes in magic, it is still worthy of academic rigor because human beings have practised magic for thousands upon thousands of years, and therefore it is worthy of study and attention,” she said. This weekend, Grossman is leading the Occult Humanities Conference, hosted by New York University.

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The University of Exeter said it was the first British university to offer a degree in magic, but other universities have offered courses and certificates on the subject. The University of Amsterdam offers a specialisation in Western esotericism. The religion department at Rice University in Texas offers a certificate in Gnosticism, esotericism and mysticism. Career paths could include work in museums or art organisations, leading spiritual retreats, or pursuing further academic research in the field, Selove said.

Magic is sometimes thrown around as a synonym for false thinking, said professor Jeffrey Kripal, who helped create the Rice University certificate program. “People have been practising magical rituals and thinking about the world in magical terms much longer and deeper than the world religions,” Kripal said. He added that the defunding of studies in the humanities could lead to a more polarised world that is less prepared to cope with the biggest issues facing society.

South-west England has a long history of witches and witchcraft, and a concentration of people who are interested in the subject. The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, about 100 kilometres west of Exeter, has a collection of more than 2000 artefacts representing British magical traditions, from medieval magic to modern Wicca, which is part of the contemporary pagan movement.

Selove said she had received a few hundred inquiries in recent days from students interested in the master’s degree. “If we are looking for truly new and creative solutions to the problems that we as a society face, then we need to be honest and courageous about the fact that some of our tried and true methodologies do have a limit,” she said. “Let’s cautiously and responsibly try some new or some old ideas that we’ve thrown out.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.