I’m enrolled here, and am going to start this post by clarifying that the Grey School of Wizardry is a REAL SCHOOL. It is an online school (they’re working on a program to allow students to attend live on campus at Highspire) that teaches several subjects in the esoteric arts. Yes, it was partially inspired by Harry Potter’s Hogwarts and is like that in various ways (and they do allow people under 18 to enroll), but they do teach real magic(k).
The Grey School of Wizardry (GSW) was founded by Oberon Zell in 2004, so they’re (we’re) celebrating the 20th anniversary this year. Oberon Zell-Ravenheart was the founder and, until 2022, the Headmaster of GSW. Adeptus Oberon Zell is a fascinating person, and he’s still active in the school. He collaborated with several authors and magical practitioners to write the Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard and Companion for the Apprentice Wizard. Both books are highly rated and used as texts at GSW.
I absolutely love this award-winning mini-documentary on Adeptus Oberon Zell (the Wizard OZ).
GSW has over 500 classes spanning across sixteen departments of study, including Wizardry, Healing, Psychic Arts, Wortcunning, Divination, Alchemy, Ceremonial Magicks, and Dark Arts (also known as “DADA”, or Defense Against the Dark Arts). If you enroll as an Apprentice, you select your major (e.g. one of the sixteen departments of study) and a minor (if desired) after you complete your first year. Your first year doesn’t necessarily take 12 months to complete. You can complete your Year 1 studies in less time if you commit to it, or you can take longer (like me). I’ve been enrolled for a few years and am just now completing my first year studies.
As mentioned above, GSW is mostly an online school, but there are other ways to attend. Beginning in 2026, GSW will offer a Boarding program for interested Apprentices. They’ve been working on this program for quite a while, and they regularly provide updates (with photos showing progress on building, etc.) on their Discord server and in various GSW meetings. In addition, there is a virtual GSW campus in Second Life.
We had fun this evening on our GSW campus in Second Life! I represented my Lodge by participating in a Berserker tournament. There’s a lot in those two sentences, so let me break it down: Second Life is a virtual environment where you (as an avatar) can walk around and interact with others. GSW has a virtual campus in Second Life, so you can actually attend some classes live in on GSW’s campus and in GSW’s virtual classroom. GSW Apprentices in Second Life must wear the school uniform and abide by GSW rules (reasonable things like no bullying). (Note: everyone at GSW has a title. There are Apprentices, Prefects, Deans, a Headmaster, etc.) GSW’s virtual campus is accessible to GSW staff and enrolled Apprentices only (and Magisters, which is a different thing). Grounds on the campus are beautiful with virtual lodges, a store, and other buildings. I’ve actually only been on campus a few times in the past few days while getting ready for the Berserker tournament.
Here’s my Second Life avatar in my GSW uniform. I’m in the Stones Lodge (Circle of the Standing Stones), and our Lodge color is green, so we wear green ties.
Back to the Berserker tournament! Berserker is a strategy-based video game for (one or) two players that’s available in only in Second Life as far as I know. I can only find one video that explains and demonstrates it:
I believe our Headmaster bought this game for us to play on campus at GSW, and staff decided it would be fun to set up a tournament with the four Lodges competing against each other.
So tonight we played the first round of the tournament. We played on a GIANT BOARD on tournament grounds in front of a crowd. The Headmaster was in attendance and called the games while we played. Our Lodge had two players and our opponents from the Waters Lodge had two players. My teammate played one of the players from the Waters Lodge first. I snapped this photo from my laptop while I sat in the (virtual) bleachers while he played. (Note: I’ve removed names for privacy; however, we do use magickal names at GSW.)
You can see my teammate on the podium on the left. The Headmaster is directly across from me, sitting in a chair and narrating the action (although this photo was taken before the first game started). The Berserker board is like a giant chess board, and the pieces are way bigger than life-sized for the tournament. The guy in the black GSW uniform is a fellow Apprentice who came to watch the tournament. Others watched the livestream of the games in Discord. (The various arrows you see on my screen are controls that move your head or the camera angle.)
The photo below shows my teammate and myself on the podium after the game. Unfortunately we lost to the Waters Lodge. We were subsequently eliminated (or, as the Headmaster referred to it, we were “voted off the island”). The Waters Lodge will go on to play the winner of the next match, and those two teams will play in the championship. I believe the winning team wins merits for their Lodge and tuition for one year at GSW.
Anyway, it was super fun and I’m hoping we do much better next year. Not that anyone asked, but, in my defense, I only had one day to actually practice!
Here’s the link to the Grey School of Wizardry. You can reach out if you have questions.
