The College

The Witches College of Holyoak was founded in 1905. It is located on a hill on the outskirts of town. It boasts several beautiful brick academic buildings, three greenhouses, and turn of the century Victorian-style homes for all 120 of its students.

Holyoak is small town in rural New England with a population of just under 11,000 people. A largely conservative farming community, its residents were made to believe that WCH was a school for wayward girls for nearly a century. When witches started to reveal their powers to the world in the 1990s, WCH outed itself too. The college announced their true curriculum not long after the Salem Institute for Witches declared itself in the New York Times.

Although Salem is the true academic powerhouse in the region (often referred to as Harvard for witches), WCH has maintained rigorous standards for its students and has consistently turned out highly successful witches for over a hundred years.

Study

Much like most modern colleges, WCH features four classes of students. Instead of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, the classes at WCH are known as neophytes, initiates, dedicates, and casters. In the first three years at the college, students experience structured classes. As students advance, they are given a wider range of choices in classes. Casters are given the most freedom, and are expected to pursue mostly independent study to strengthen their individual weaknesses.

Graduates of WCH must have mastered all thirteen powers of modern witches, and are granted diplomas featuring their Thirteenth Degree Mastery. The thirteen powers are as follows (in order of how they are introduced in the curriculum):

Listening - the foundation of witchcraft, learning how to be in tune with the world and one's self
Casting - spellcasting, the basic use of magic but with largely temporary effects
Speaking - the art of communicating with animals and nature
Blessing - the epitome of white magic, charms with beneficial outcomes
Channeling - the art of communicating with spirits and reaching back into the past
Forecasting - storm magic, the manipulation of all kinds of weather
Flight - harnessing the power of flying, traditionally done with a broomstick
Healing - healing through the use of brews and potions
Awen - using the power of inspiration and awaking it in others
Transmutation - transforming one thing into another, conjuring need
Weaving - a higher form of casting, weaving spells into physical long-lasting enchantments
Divination - foretelling the future, includes tarot, runes, astrology, and scrying
Curses - potentially takes the form of black magic, charms with negative outcomes

An excerpt from the Fall 2013 Course Catalog

Housing

Students live on campus in six-bedroom Victorian-style houses. Neophytes live five girls to a house with one older girl (usually a Caster) to help them out. Each house is encouraged to stay together for all four years they remain at school.

Neophyte Houses: Honeybee, Hare, Mouse, Toad, Butterfly, Spider

Initiate Houses: Cat, Raven, Wolf, Fox, Dog

Dedicate Houses: Yew, Fir, Elder, Ash, Oak

Caster Houses: Rosemary, Lavender, Sage, Nutmeg

Statue of Serilda Shepherd, founder of the Witches College of Holyoak