OCCULT LONDON

From the alchemical experiments practised by Queen Elizabeth I's favoured scientist Dr Dee to the arcane rituals of magicians like Aleister Crowley in the 20th century, this book uncovers ritual and magic in London in a study of occultism in its widest sense. Starting with a prevailing fear of witchcraft in the Elizabethan era, the author follows a chronological account of the major occult figures in the capital's history. The architects of the Restoration, including Wren and in particular Nicholas Hawksmoor, have been studied for the underlying principles in their designs which are believed to derive from the Cabbala and the "sacred measurements" of the biblical Temple, with Wren's pupil Hawksmoor suspected of incorporating a mesh of occult symbolism into his churches. Swedenborg, William Blake, Madame Blavatsky and Aleister Crowley all left their mark on London, together with secret societies like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Legends such as Spring-Heeled Jack and the Vampire of Highgate Cemetery are examined, and the book concludes with a gazetteer of notable occult sites. Bloomsbury, described by Peter Ackroyd as a nexus of occultism and marginal spiritualism, is home to the British Museum whose Egyptian holdings inspired the founders of the Golden Dawn. Caxton Hall in Bow is where Crowley performed his rites of Eleusis. Other landmarks are Freemasons' Hall in Covent Garden, the Warburg Institute housing the Crowley archive, and outlying sites such as the Black Madonnas of Willesden. 192pp, paperback.