On Thursday, Feb. 10, Rowan After Hours collaborated with the Spiritualistic Study Club to put on RAHnaissance, a night of revelry inspired by the popular festival attractions and aesthetics of medieval Europe. 

Attendees could have their fortunes read with Tarot cards, make flower crowns and joust with each other like knights in medieval times. 

The food followed suit. Rather than a modern-day potluck, most RAH events are known for, a sumptuous feast of turkey legs, grilled vegetables and boiled potatoes were a lot of those who came out to participate.  

“We wanted to create the authentic Medieval Times experience,” Holly Felker, the president of the Spiritualistic Study Club, said.

Felker is a Senior Biology Major and a practicing secular witch, believing in the existence of magic and its application in daily life through the powers of practical thinking and mindful meditation. Felker is just one of over 120 club members who practice and adhere to similar beliefs, and Thursday’s events served primarily to introduce the club to the greater Rowan community.  

“Part of the reason we’re doing this is to bring more exposure to the club,” Felker said. “SSC is about people of different practices and faiths coming together to learn and practice. Some do practice witchcraft, some are pagans. That stuff originates back in these times.”  

The Spiritualistic Study Club, chartered in November of last year, serves as a judgment-free place to discuss and explore all forms of spirituality, with Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism coexisting alongside more niche or obscure systems such as witchcraft and the occult. 

In a time of growing secularism, where religious and spiritual affiliations are waning especially among young people, many people may feel lost and confused in the world, without a self-evident sense of purpose. The Spiritualistic Study Club, among other religious campus institutions, offers students a place to learn about and embrace many forms of spirituality, ideally for the sake of enlightenment.  

“We’re not just a ‘witchy club.’ We’re about coming together and sharing our spiritualistic beliefs, whatever those might be,” Felker said. 

Though the Spiritualistic Study Club has already left an impression on the student body with RAHnaissance, they have many more events planned for the future, including paid trips to Medieval Times and similar events centered around the Spring Equinox, coming this March.

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