Victorian Women and the Occult

In today's episode we explore the 19th century fascination with spiritualism and the occult and particularly the key role women played in this as consumers and mediums. 
We will discuss the different activities which fell under this spiritualist umbrella from mesmerism to seances and specific examples of women who  were followers of or worked as spiritualists, both the sincere and fraudulent . 
This conversation touches on why women were perceived to be more effective communicators with the dead in relation to  particular Victorian notions about femininity, as well as whether they were victims of these practises or used them as an opportunity to gain independence. 

Images
Instagram - @themuseumoffemininty

Sources
https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-victorian-supernatural
https://fgcu.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fgcu%3A30530/datastream/OBJ/view/Fragile_Spectres__How_Women_of_Victorian_Britain_used_the_Occult_and_Spiritualist_Movement_to_Create_Autonomy.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9ance
https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/photographs-from-a-seance-with-eva-carriere-1913