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Occult London: Peeking into a Magical Special Collection

Monday, May 18, 2026 4:43

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I got a chance to both see and handle some of the arcane tomes and magical objects in University College London’s Special Collections. How exciting!

The archive contains many items related to the history and practice of magic and western esotericism, including astrology, tarot, spirit summoning and folk traditions. There are books and manuscripts that have influenced the development of subjects such as astronomy and cryptography or are part of modern esoteric traditions. Last Friday morning. the department held an open morning to showcase objects from the collection. Of course I jumped at the chance to go along.

The photos here show just a couple of things on display. At the top you can see a famous cunning man’s notebook. James Murrell, or Cunning Murrell, was a 19th century folk magician living in Hadleigh, Essex. His work involved astrology, herbalism and exorcism. The book is primarily an almanac and contains astrological charts.

The photo at the bottom shows Hebrew mezutot (parchments inscribed with material from the Torah) including amulets.

Experts were there to talk about the items on show, answer questions, and presumably make sure no one sneaked off with anything or attempted to summon something using any of the rituals in the grimoires!

UCL Special Collections is in the basement of the university building on Gower Street,

London WC1E 6BT. You can find out more and get on the list to learn about future open days here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/special-collections

To read more posts like this visit A Bad Witch’s Blog at www.badwitch.co.uk

Source: http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2026/05/occult-london-peeking-into-magical.html

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