Review: Dark Secrets - The Esoteric Exhibition

I went to see Dark Secrets – The Esoteric Exhibition at the Vaults, Waterloo, yesterday. It’s huge, covering occult sciences, supernatural phenomena, ancient beliefs and esoteric doctrines from ancient times to modern day and from popular traditions to initiatory practices. It’s visually impressive and atmospheric. I enjoyed it and I’m glad I went, but there are also some quite big criticisms I’d make.

Take the photo above, showing a corner of the room supposedly about ancient druids, yet stone circles and similar megalithic monuments predate the druids by about 2,000 years. The symbols on those representations of standing stones include Ogham, an ancient Irish alphabet which probably only began in the common era – the oldest known example is from about the 4th century. The poster on the wall has the title “Celtic Deities”, yet the word “Celtic” is problematic. There was no unified pantheon of gods and goddesses across ancient Ireland, Wales, England, Scotland and Brittany. Cernunnos and Lugh were almost certainly not worshipped by the same people. In fact the term “Celtic” is mostly just concerned with a group of languages from those areas, including Brythonic and Goidelic, as well as some artistic styles. 

I’ll admit it’s possible that information was provided somewhere. The lighting levels are so low that it was very hard to read all the labels. There is an audio guide, but it didn’t cover those things.

Mind you, even the printed labels don’t give as much information as I’d have liked. The exhibition supposedly has more than 1,000 authentic artifacts, but there’s not enough information about the provenance. For example, I’d really like to know where that “Death Spell” doll’s head was discovered, when, and in what collection it normally resides. I’d also like to know why it is considered to be an example of a genuine spell working rather than, say, the work of an artist or a theatrical prop. 

The head itself is in a room entirely devoted to dolls, some of which are described as being used for cursing, and some as being haunted. As the author of a book on magical dolls, this interested me hugely, but I was underwhelmed by the lack of an information trail to follow up, and also the fact that the word “poppet” didn’t appear anywhere, despite that being a historically correct term for magical dolls in English traditions. The word “fetish” appears in some descriptions, but that term was originally used for African objects rather than European ones.

I’m probably being much too critical about all this, I admit. Dark Secrets isn’t intended as a scholarly exploration of esoteric practices, it’s a tourist attraction aimed at the general populace rather than historians or students of the occult. My last photo is from near the end of the exhibition and shows spoons bent by Uri Geller in the 1970s. At least that label does explain that the supposed psychic’s powers were never proven, and that his feats can be reproduced by stage illusion.

I’ll end by repeating that overall, I enjoyed going around Dark Secrets. I discovered many things that I’d like to research further. If you want something a bit spooky to do with your friends at Halloween, then this exhibition is something I’d recommend. And if you happen to know more about the provenance of that doll’s head, or agree or disagree with any of the points I’ve made, please leave a comment.

Dark Secrets: The Esoteric Exhibition is at The Vaults, Leake Street, SE1 7NN. It’s open Wednesdays to Sundays. Tickets are from £21. https://darksecretsexhibition.com/london/

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