Three Talks on Witchcraft

A morning of thought-provoking talks and interactive discussions from world-leading experts.

This mini-summit is a focused morning of deep-dive talks and group Q&A, designed to explore ideas in greater depth.

Have you ever wondered how witchcraft has been understood across history? How spiritualism blurred the line between magic and religion? Or how modern witches are finding community and identity in the digital age?

We’ll explore these ideas through three talks:

Spiritualism and Witchcraft

Trace the long relationship between witchcraft and spiritualism, from the biblical Witch of Endor to the rise of Victorian Spiritualism. Discover how séances, mediums and ghostly encounters blurred the line between religion and magic – and how these traditions continue to shape modern witchcraft and spiritual practice today.

Generation Magic: The Quest for Community and Identity in the Digital Age

Explore the return of folklore, witchcraft, and romantic myth in contemporary culture, from manifestation and tarot to the cottagecore aesthetic. Discover how a new generation is turning to magic not as escapism, but as a way to reclaim identity, resist disenchantment, and build community in an uncertain digital age.

Sylvia Plath, Witchcraft & Radical Poetry

Sylvia Plath, best known for The Bell Jar (1963) and her vivid, powerful poetry, grew up in Massachusetts near Salem - a place steeped in the history of the witch trials. In this talk, Dr Dorka Tamás explores how that legacy shaped Plath's imagination, and how the figure of the witch runs through her work as a lens for examining power, identity, and injustice. Drawing on both the fictional "evil" witch of fairy tales and the real historical women condemned by patriarchal systems, Plath's poetry reveals deep concerns about control, authority, and those unfairly accused.

What to Expect:

🧠 Three 45-minute talks that go in-depth on their niches

🗣️ An interactive Q&A with all speakers

🎨 A focused morning of insight and practical takeaways for creative and curious minds

👭 Connect and learn with likeminded individuals

Doors open at 9:30am, talk starts at 10:00am - come down early to grab a good seat!

Follow us on IG @seedtalks

Speaker Bios:

Dr Julia Phillips is an Honorary Senior Research Associate and lecturer at the University of Bristol. She received her PhD for her research examining how witches and witchcraft were featured in newspapers in Victorian Britain. Her work has been published in books, academic journals and popular magazines, and she is a regular presenter at conferences and events. Her primary research interests are the study of witchcraft in the 19th century and the development of modern Pagan Witchcraft in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Dr Jessica Lloyd May is a historian and folklorist, who specialises in contemporary and historical expressions of community, identity, and ritual. Her work explores the ways traditions, from folklore customs to witchcraft and romantic myth, intersect with contemporary culture. She holds a PhD in history from the University of Nottingham and has been published in Český Lid Journal, The Conversation, and The Feminine Macabre, and presented her research internationally. She is also the director of a tabletop gaming company, Spectre Miniatures, which has led her contributing to a recent AHRC IAA project looking at the gamification of archive materials as learning aids.

Dr Dorka Tamás is a researcher and teacher based at Royal Holloway, University of London. She earned her PhD in English literature from the University of Exeter (2022) and her Master’s degree from the University of Sussex (2018). Dorka is specialised in twentieth century women’s poetry, particularly Sylvia Plath, the legacies of early modern witch-hunt in literature, and post-1945 American culture. She has spoken at the Sylvia Plath Literary Festival at Hebden Bridge (2022), at numerous academic conferences, and at the Romancing the Gothic lecture series. She is the author of Sylvia Plath and the Supernatural, published by Cambridge University Press (2026) and the editor of The New Sylvia Plath Studies, forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.