Sue Terry: Who I am, what I do…

I’m a teacher, writer, researcher, conference speaker, tutor and lecturer. I have an MA, I’m qualified to teach in universities and I run Owl House Seminars, offering educational courses in literature and the weird, online and in-person, and I aim to make learning accessible to everyone. I’m researching my PhD in feminist occult literary modernism at the University of Surrey and I write about it here. My writing for journals will also be shared here as it evolves. I’m writing a book on fantasy author Alan Garner and I write about that, too.

I have an online shop Owl House Books, where I sell esoterica, occult curios and secondhand books from my own collection. Helping you to help yourself on your esoteric academic journey! 

If you want to explore your interests in myth, magic, alternative spiritualities and you’re looking for something ‘a bit more’ than a zoom talk, at Owl House Seminars you’ll discover a content-rich, focused programme that offers active learning and a chance to discuss subjects not usually available outside a university (and often not inside a university either!), with like-minded people in a welcoming environment that is open to all.

Literature and the Weird themes include:

An introduction to Western Esotericism

Popular occult fiction and folk horror

Myth, the paranormal and the sacred

Urban high strangeness

The twentieth-century occult revival and the creative imagination

Children’s weird fiction

In my courses you can expect discussions of ghosts, the Grail, mysterious landscapes, Jazz Age witches, spiritualism and archaeology, UFOs, magicians, ley hunters and priestesses, paranormal and esoteric currents in modern/ist literature, occultism and women’s empowerment, earth magic and the British counterculture. We’ll explore hidden themes in mainstream novels and rediscover overlooked authors of the weird.  Questions, comments and laughter are encouraged! My courses run throughout the year, evenings, afternoons and weekends, online and in-person. I appreciate your investment of time and finance in my courses and I aim always to add value and resources in return.

Also I offer specialist classes, tutorials and private consultations in the history and practice of the esoteric arts of Tarot and Numerology. I’ve been running those classes for many years and they’re always a lot of fun.

I run business/career change classes to help you discover just what you want and plan how to get it. I specialise in helping people developing creative businesses, from bookshops to museums, artisans, festival caterers, therapists, arts spaces and more. I ran my own strategic business and career coaching consultancy for ten successful years; ask me about consultancy and mentoring.

And…

I am an experienced conference and seminar speaker, host and events organiser. Meeting people to talk about weird stuff is one of my most favourite things.

Some of my previous lectures and talks:

Folklore, Customs and Divination: Traditions of the Turning Year ( January 2023)

The Domestic Occult, or, Every Woman’s Luck (Magickal Women Conference, London, and Centre for Folklore, Myth and Magic, Todmorden, 2022)

Earth Magic and Wandering Objects in Alan Garner’s Cheshire Dreamtime ( Stars, Stones, Stories :Alan Garner Research group talk, online September 2022)

From Colonial India to Trans-Plutonic Dimensions in Space: Just How far can a Lady Archaeologist Travel? (Dr Margaret Murray Symposium, November 2021)

Introduction to Mary Butts, Feminist Occult Modernist (University of Amsterdam, July 2021)

Sometimes a Witch and Sometimes a Bitch: Mary Butts’s Modernist Visions of Magic (MWC , June 2021 )

more talks here

Header photo credit: Caroline Wise 15/10/22. Sue Terry lecturing at Magickal Women Conference, London

I’m based in Manchester and London, online anywhere in the world.