The sea is wide and deep with secrets.
And legends are the skeleton keys that unlock them.

Live lectures at 7PM ET on February 15th and 22nd, March 1st, 8th, and 15th - recordings available anytime after each talk!

Our most beloved tales of the ocean ask us to consider the nature of love, home, loss, and who we want to be.

When we speak of selkies, we weigh the force of passion against the rights of sovereignty and self-determination. The ghost ships that drift through stories and songs shed light on our values and fears. And horrors like Scylla and Charybdis ask us to wonder how monsters are made…as do Odysseus’s actions at the end of his journey.

Join us on an odyssey into the wine-dark sea of oceanic folklore and the stories it has washed ashore.

In this 5-week course, we’ll explore sea legends, songs, and poetry from around the world. And we’ll end with a discussion of The Odyssey, a text floating at the intersection of folklore and literature, translated by Emily Wilson.

Why folklore of the sea? A couple of reasons - 

It gives us an excuse to talk about some of the most delightful, profound, and resonant folklore out there. Who amongst us isn’t thrilled by merfolk, moved by selkies, and haunted by monsters made heavy with the past?

The sea encompasses more life and lore than we can ever wrap our heads around. Its scope is too vast to comprehend, which means it’s big enough to cradle all our sweetest dreams and sharpest fears. The folklore and literature of the sea gives us the tools to look within ourselves and outwards to every possibility we could imagine.

The wine-dark sea and its lore is deep and dark enough to hold us, in all our complexities, contradictions, and magic.

The Gates of Carterhaugh Are Open:

(but only until February 9th at midnight ET!!)

Recordings Will Be Available for All Live Lessons!

Our Modules:

Each week of the course will feature a deep dive into one of these FIVE topics
(that's right, we're so excited about this one that we're doing an additional full week of lessons again!)

Here's What's Included

• Five LIVE video lectures with us that you can participate in live or watch later, as you please, during which we'll talk about the week's readings and check in with you! Our lectures and discussions are college-level… but definitely not snooze fests! During these live talks, we'll support you two-on-one, answering questions and diving deep into how the readings can help you re-story your week. These lectures will air every Wednesday at 7PM ET via Crowdcast - February 15th and 22nd, March 1st, 8th, and 15th ($200 Per Live Event = A $1000 Value!)
  
  
• A special BONUS lecture with the amazing Terri Windling - this multimedia lecture on selkie legends is exclusively for enrolled students! (Priceless!?)
  
  
• All course readings as PDFs and/or Links (Minus One!) - We always try to include ways to access the stories that star in our lectures, and we choose our stories with care. Some will be familiar and some will likely be wholly new to you, but they are all worth examining. Prepare to be fascinated and delighted with tales from all over the world in this CUSTOM collection made specifically for this course! (A $15 Value!)
• NOTE: You do have to purchase or borrow the Emily Wilson translation of The Odyssey to fully participate in Week Five!
  
  
• Discussion questions for learning and self-discovery - Even if you don't want to join the Facebook group, we'll make sure you have access to our discussion questions. These questions will help guide your reflections and determine how the folklore we discuss applies to your own journey and can help you achieve the results you’re looking for. (A $200 Value!)
  
  
• Five Gorgeous "Grimoire Pages" - Grimoire pages are beautifully designed PDFs that you can print and make part of your own spell/course notebook! They also summarize each lesson (A $300 Value!)
  
  
• Access to our private Facebook group just for members of "Folklore of the Ocean" - While participation in the course Facebook group is optional, it really is one of the best parts of the course. We have an amazing community of kind, creative, and very smart students, and the discussions that unfold in this space are always a delight and incredibly supportive. In fact, we learn new things from our students every time! (At LEAST a $600 Value... But Honestly? Priceless.)

That’s over $2000 in value… but you only pay $237!!

Curious to see what our videos are like?

Check out this short clip from the first week of our course "Rapunzel's Circle I"!

[The audio/video quality is a little wonky - to get this clip onto this page, Brittany resorted to some very creative tech magic. You can expect clearer sound in our live lectures. In this clip, you can see us responding to our students in real-time. We're reading from the live chat that happens alongside each live video!]

FAQ

• "Um, what exactly IS Carterhaugh?" - The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic is an award-winning online school dedicated to classes on fairy tales, folklore, and all things fantastic. It was created by Sara and Brittany in 2016 as a place for those who dreamed of elven battles while studying economics, those who have always sworn they could see ghosts, and those who longed for a school of magic to send them an unexpected acceptance letter. We aim to use our knowledge and passion for these subjects to share their wonder, solidify their importance in society, and spread a bit of magic into the world. Want to know more? Check out our "About" page by clicking here!

• "When will I hear from you/get access to the first lesson?" - You will hear from us each week on Friday, for 5 weeks, starting February 10th, 2023 - we generally get things out by noon, but sometimes there are evil technology fairies! Rest assured that we'll keep you updated if that happens though. We will send an e-mail and post in the private Facebook group! You'll also get our live video lectures each Wednesday of those 5 weeks at 7PM ET!

• "What if I can’t look at any of the materials that day / can't come to the live lecture?" - You do NOT have to watch the videos on any specific date – they are yours to view whenever is best for you! This is one of the many reasons why online courses work so well – they can fit everyone’s schedule :). The replays of each live lecture will remain up throughout the course, so you can catch up whenever you'd like!

• “I’m just a folklore fan. I don’t want to ruin my enjoyment with a bunch of academic stuff.” - We are the last people in the WORLD who would ruin your enjoyment of folklore and literature!! Believe us, we’re just as passionate about the beauty and wonder of these tales, and we know that part of that wonder lies in their mystery. We will never tell you what a tale “means." These tales are meant to be explored, meant to inspire personal meaning. We’ll give you folkloric history, and how the tales have been interpreted in the past, but we’ll never tell you what you “have to” believe about any folkloric story and we’re CERTAINLY not the kind of professors who are gleeful about “ruining” folklore for people!

• “Guys, I love this, but money is SO tight right now….” - We understand this feel so hard. Money is tight for so many. This is why we’ve made this 5 (yes, 5!) module course as affordable as possible AND packed in all the enchantment, mystery, story, and community you crave right now. We're also offering three different payment plans (and an early bird deal!) to help you find an option that works. Our school is an investment, and it’s one that you deserve - we know our community and the magic we make together is worth it, and we would love for you to join us.

• “How involved are you guys? Is this just a thing where I get access to a bunch of stuff and then good luck?” - NOPE! We are 100% involved in our courses from start to finish. Our students always rave about how accessible we are, how quickly we respond, and how we make everyone feel welcome in our school. We’re always jumping in to answer questions and offer encouragement in our private course Facebook group, and we’re also available via e-mail anytime you need help with anything (or just want to share an insight privately with us!)

• “I hate Facebook. Do I HAVE to participate?” - The private Facebook group is really how the course community comes together. Discussion is incredibly active, people are always extraordinarily kind, and it’s seriously like no other discussion form we have ever seen. So while it is absolutely not required, it really does add to your enjoyment of the course if you participate there! We’ve had students make fake names just for our courses before though, so you don’t have to embrace all of Facebook to be a part of our private group! All of this said, if you really, really don’t want to be a part of Facebook in any way, you are free to simply enjoy the community in the live lectures, and talk to us one-on-one via e-mail if you have any questions, want to respond to discussion questions, or have any other thoughts you want to share!

As always, if you have additional questions at any time, don't hesitate to get in touch with us at [email protected]

Featured In:

Also?

We are feminists and disability scholars who support the LGBTQ+ community and believe that Black lives matter.

Period.

The gates of Carterhaugh are open...

but only until February 9th at midnight ET!!

Recordings Will Be Available for All Live Lessons!

If You've Read This Far...

If you've read this far, clearly something about our school resonates for you. You feel it in your spirit.

You can be the magical soul you want to be.
Art and stories can help you get there.

Dive beneath the waves with us at Carterhaugh - you won't regret it.