The Secret City: London's Hidden History of Magic, Mystery, and the Occult.

  Buy Now (Book Link) Beneath the ordered, civic veneer of Roman Londinium, a secret world of magic and mysticism thrived. While the public face of the city was one of imperial power and commercial pragmatism, its hidden heart beat to the rhythm of strange drums and whispered incantations. This was the world of the mystery cults, exclusive, initiatory brotherhoods that offered personal salvation and direct experience of the divine, and they found fertile ground in the potent magical atmosphere of London. These cults, imported from the eastern fringes of the empire, were the secret societies of their day. They provided a spiritual counterpoint to the official state religion, a more intimate and powerful form of magic for those who sought it. In London, they added a new, sophisticated layer to the city's ever-deepening occult identity. Underground Roman Mystery Cults The Temple of Mithras: The Soldier's Secret The most famous of these cults is that of Mithras, a Persian god of li...