Ella Duke, Magic & Witchcraft in Scotland, Summer 2026
This journey through Scotland was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Although the schedule felt crammed at times and we only had about 4 weeks, I have gained so much from this experience. Coming into this, I was extremely anxious. I had never traveled alone before, let alone internationally. I knew absolutely no one and little about the course material we would be studying. This opportunity was a leap of faith for me. I felt stuck where I was in my schooling and definitely had some FOMO because all my friends were studying abroad. My knowledge of witchcraft was little to none, as I had studied the Salem Witch Trials in high school and visited Salem my freshman year of college. Everyone I know has read The Crucible, and I am no different. When I first heard the numbers for the Scottish Witch Trials, I was in disbelief. Almost 4,000 were accused, and it is estimated that ⅔ of them were executed. Why had we not learned about this in school? The simple answer is that there weren’t enough records/records were kept poorly/records were kept by men. Most women and men were strangled, burnt at the stake, and then their ashes were either raked into the soil, scattered to the wind, or tossed into rivers. One of these burial sites lies under the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle, where a sad excuse of a memorial was made. I think a really meaningful part of this journey was seeing some of the memorials and seeing the only known burial site of an accused woman, Lilias Adie. A huge takeaway was learning about individual women and keeping their stories alive, as these stories are few and far between. As far as the academics,I loved the concept of the field journal and tried my best to write creatively. I hadn’t written like this since high school due to my major focusing on research based writing. I had never thought about writing about landscape, and I had no idea how deep you could go with it. A lot of the exercises we did, such as the sound walk and charm walk, were super mindful moments for me. I felt present, calm, and genuinely grateful for everything that led up to that moment. Taking in the world slowly, through all senses, and feeling every emotion tied to each place was life-changing for me. At home, I feel like I don’t even have time to breathe, let alone take in moments as we did on this trip. I think having the field journal, along with having time to take in the little details, will make the memories of this trip last forever in my mind. It feels like I have fallen in love with academia again. I distinctly remember the point in this trip where I had that realization. It was in the conference room at the University of Edinburgh while hearing a fellow student, Ellie, talk so passionately about her learning experiences. I looked around the room to see the eager faces of my classmates and professors and felt pure joy to be there in that moment. What a privilege it was to learn, not to mention in an entirely different country. I have always had a complicated relationship with education, sort of a love-hate connection. I enjoyed learning, but my stress over grades has always been exponential. I care more about percentages than I do about making sure I learned something. I think the way education is set up is idiotic and makes it extremely competitive. I would give anything to just be able to learn without having panic attacks about my grades every week. I got a little off track there, but I believe this trip was pivotal to my journey in higher education.
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