1 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:09,440 Speaker 1: Hey, Welcome to The Artifact. Uh, this is Robert Lamb. Oh, 2 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:11,440 Speaker 1: and I'm Joe McCormick. I mean, I guess you recorded 3 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: this one by yourself, didn't you. That's how we've been 4 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:15,520 Speaker 1: doing or that's how we were doing them. I don't know. 5 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:18,120 Speaker 1: We're we're recording this a couple of months in advance, 6 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: so who's to say what happens between now and the 7 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:24,680 Speaker 1: time when we actually published this. But yeah, it's spring break, 8 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: so we have a repeat episode of The Artifact for 9 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,000 Speaker 1: you as as I think this may be the first 10 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:35,160 Speaker 1: Artifact repeat, the first Artifact Vault episode ever, but suitably 11 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:38,040 Speaker 1: it concerns a mirror, which is perfect because we've are 12 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: other Vault episodes this week concerned Gorgon's. Yeah. Okay, all right, 13 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: well let's dive right in. Welcome to Stuff to Blow 14 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: Your Mind, a production of My Heart Radio. Hi, my 15 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 1: name is Robert Lamb, and this is The Artifact, a 16 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 1: short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing 17 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 1: in on particular objects, ideas, and moments in time. Elizabethan 18 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: scholar Dr John d was one of the most learned 19 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 1: men of the sixteenth century, applying his intense mathematical intellect 20 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:19,840 Speaker 1: to matters scientific, political, alchemical, and occult. He advised Queen Elizabeth, 21 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: sought communion with angelic beings, advocated British expansion, and plunged 22 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:27,479 Speaker 1: the depths of human knowledge in an age of great change. 23 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:32,640 Speaker 1: While D's most famed possession was his expensive library of books, 24 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: he was also known to possess various mirrors and glasses 25 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:39,920 Speaker 1: of peculiar power. One of these was the magical speculum, 26 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 1: or the devil's looking glass. If you're envisioning an ominous 27 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:53,559 Speaker 1: framed mirror of darkness, you may be disappointed to see 28 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 1: what looks more like a slate painting palette, or perhaps 29 00:01:56,760 --> 00:01:59,880 Speaker 1: part of an ikea end table. The mirror itself has 30 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:03,680 Speaker 1: a diameter of eighteen point four centimeters and a width 31 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: of three centimeters. It is circular, with a perforated notch 32 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: for hanging, handling, or mounting. The mirror substances that of 33 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:14,480 Speaker 1: polished obsidian, volcanic in origin and believed to have been 34 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:17,800 Speaker 1: crafted by the Aztecs between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. 35 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: If you visited the British Museum you may have seen it. 36 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 1: The mirrors. A leather case features an inscription informing us 37 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: that it is quote the black stone into which Dr 38 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: D used to call his spirits unquote. These words are 39 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 1: attributed to the eighteenth century art historian Horace Walpole, along 40 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 1: with a pair of crystal spheres. D used this object 41 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:45,640 Speaker 1: in his pursuit of angelology and sorcery, possibly brought back 42 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:49,120 Speaker 1: from the voyages of Sir Francis Drake. The obsidian mirror 43 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:53,240 Speaker 1: was likely used in scrying rituals by Aztec priests in 44 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 1: the worship of tez Catala PoCA, the god also known 45 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 1: as the Lord of the Smoking Mirror, due to the 46 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:03,959 Speaker 1: black mirrors used by his priests and his overall connection 47 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: to the dark volcanic glass of obsidian. But D also 48 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: possessed another amazing mirror, an artifact bequeathed to him by 49 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: Sir William Pickering in sixteen seventy five. It was a 50 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: noted curio of the time. D even demonstrated the properties 51 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: of this mirror to Queen Elizabeth herself. As Benjamin Wooly 52 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 1: points out in his book The Queen's Conjuror, it is 53 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 1: unlikely that he ever used this mirror in his occult practices. No, 54 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: the Great Perspective Glass had a place in John D's 55 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: purely logical interests. Wooly writes that D kept the mirror 56 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:42,200 Speaker 1: proudly displayed in a corner of his study. Anyone who 57 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 1: lunged at the mirror with a dagger or sword founded 58 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 1: their reflection lunging back at them with like hand and weapon. This, 59 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:54,120 Speaker 1: of course, is not the typical way of mirrors, and 60 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:56,920 Speaker 1: the effect was said to be quite unsettling, But D 61 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:01,080 Speaker 1: explained the effect to his guests via the mathematics of perspective, 62 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:06,160 Speaker 1: rather than the supernatural. A typical mirror doesn't so much 63 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: as flip your image, but turn it inside out. The 64 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: text on your shirt appears backwards in the mirror, just 65 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 1: as the text also appears backwards if you were to 66 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: withdraw your head into the shirt and read the text 67 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:23,279 Speaker 1: from within the garment. So the Great Perspective Glass was 68 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: likely a nonreversing mirror, which can be accomplished by connecting 69 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 1: two regular mirrors at their edges at a ninety degree angle, 70 00:04:31,279 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: among other strategies. Of course, even a typical mirror's reflection 71 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:41,040 Speaker 1: can feel unsettling, is Argentinean writer jore Lewis Borges wrote, 72 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: quote the Crystal Spies on us if within the four 73 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:48,680 Speaker 1: walls of a bedroom, a mirror stairs, I am no 74 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:53,600 Speaker 1: longer alone. There is someone there in the dawn reflections 75 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 1: mutevous stage a show unquote. As we grow accustomed to 76 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:02,160 Speaker 1: the inside out stranger, how ranger still is the rarely seen, 77 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: non reversed stranger, or the smoky shade of tes Catl 78 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: Polca's dark Realm. Tune in for additional editions of the 79 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:19,080 Speaker 1: Artifact each week, hosted by either Joe or myself. As always, 80 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:22,200 Speaker 1: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 81 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:34,200 Speaker 1: your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is 82 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my 83 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:39,920 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 84 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:41,800 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.