Mystic London: Or, Phases of Occult Life in the Metropolis

The Anglican clergyman and founding member of the Society of the Holy Cross, Charles Maurice Davies (1828-1910), published Mystic London in 1875. The work is a collection of Davies’ observations and researches into urban spiritualism. It includes descriptions of London mesmerists, mediums and seances, and discussions of Darwinism, secularism and the non-religious. Davies, who discovered spiritualism in Paris in the mid-1850s, and became a committed spiritualist after the death of his son in 1865, argued in this work that the principles and practices of spiritualism did not pose any threat to Christianity and that the two movements had much in common and could peacefully coexist. The work is an indispensable source on the presence of alternative religion in London and for the beliefs and practices of nineteenth-century spiritualists. It offers a fascinating insight into Victorian experiences and attitudes towards the occult and the supernatural.