I embarked on a crazy project this month: a timeline of all of Bevington's deans from its founding to the present. This required a jaunt through 250 years of world history and re-reading the entire series to double-check world building details dropped through nine stories and books. 😬

But it turned out to be a great exercise (if a little time consuming). I filled in so much of Bevington's history and now have a real skeleton now to build future stories around. The next book, Rosemary Moon, will be richer for it!

And now I'm pleased to share the deans of Bevington with you:

1774-1779: Prudence Hibbins (Founding Dean)

Element: Air

Notable achievements: Established Bevington as an independent, three-year witches' college, the first in the New World. Created the core curriculum building on traditional European witchcraft (following the writings of John Dee) and founded Bevington’s original three covens with her sisters Faith and Charity.

Legacy: Dean Hibbins was an extremely passionate educator. She came to Bevington from Boston where she and her sisters were the daughters of a Harvard University (then College) lecturer. She obtained a Mastery from the Cambridge Cloister and although not recognized by her male peers, was a Master enchanter and alchemist. The three sisters moved to western Massachusetts to escape the building war for independence and the cities of the New World, seeking enlightenment in nature. With their own inheritance and donations from wealthy magickal families in nearby Albany, they established Bevington College. The town of Bevington and three other nearby towns already had an unusual concentration of magickal families; the witches speculated it was because of the First Nations’ ritual and burial site nearby as well as the proximity to the Ivywhile Court (with which Bevington initially had no ties as the early Deans were very suspicious of the fae). Dean Hibbins was in close correspondence with Adam Weishaupt (who founded the Bavarian Illuminati in 1776). They both despised and distrusted the Roman Catholic church, particularly the Jesuits, and sought to spread the ideals of the Enlightenment. Hibbins believed in alchemy as a path to enlightenment and the curriculum was designed to educate the “Minervean witch” on her path toward attaining a higher state of being. Hibbins required all of Bevington’s students to learn Latin and Greek as well as one modern language (with an emphasis on French). Bevington’s curriculum included non-magickal subjects such as higher mathematics alongside alchemy and divination. Under Hibbins, Bevington was immediately recognized as providing a premier education and its graduates went on to apprenticeships throughout Europe with the old masters.

I am extremely proud to follow in the footsteps of Dean Prudence Hibbins. She was an exemplary educator, devoted to Bevington and its students. 

In her memory, I offer this riddle:

Send your answers to bevingtonarcana@gmail.com!

Coming Soon!

March heralds the Worm Moon, when the ground thaws and our crawling friends return to the surface. Students are reminded that, despite temptation, summoning, enlarging, or enchanting invertebrates is neither clever nor permitted. Let us not have a repeat of the “Giant Slug” event of 2022. Earth mages looking to "connect with the season's energy" should confine themselves to approved practice areas. And no, the Noctua's rare manuscripts are not improved by the addition of "authentic dirt." Anyone caught doing soil-based divination in the Bladelaw will find themselves mucking out the stables until finals. 

Without gloves.

--Charon Carver

 

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