Speaker 1: Hey, Welcome to The Artifact. Uh, this is Robert Lamb. Oh,
Speaker 1: and I'm Joe McCormick. I mean, I guess you recorded
Speaker 1: this one by yourself, didn't you. That's how we've been
Speaker 1: doing or that's how we were doing them. I don't know.
Speaker 1: We're we're recording this a couple of months in advance,
Speaker 1: so who's to say what happens between now and the
Speaker 1: time when we actually published this. But yeah, it's spring break,
Speaker 1: so we have a repeat episode of The Artifact for
Speaker 1: you as as I think this may be the first
Speaker 1: Artifact repeat, the first Artifact Vault episode ever, but suitably
Speaker 1: it concerns a mirror, which is perfect because we've are
Speaker 1: other Vault episodes this week concerned Gorgon's. Yeah. Okay, all right,
Speaker 1: well let's dive right in. Welcome to Stuff to Blow
Speaker 1: Your Mind, a production of My Heart Radio. Hi, my
Speaker 1: name is Robert Lamb, and this is The Artifact, a
Speaker 1: short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing
Speaker 1: in on particular objects, ideas, and moments in time. Elizabethan
Speaker 1: scholar Dr John d was one of the most learned
Speaker 1: men of the sixteenth century, applying his intense mathematical intellect
Speaker 1: to matters scientific, political, alchemical, and occult. He advised Queen Elizabeth,
Speaker 1: sought communion with angelic beings, advocated British expansion, and plunged
Speaker 1: the depths of human knowledge in an age of great change.
Speaker 1: While D's most famed possession was his expensive library of books,
Speaker 1: he was also known to possess various mirrors and glasses
Speaker 1: of peculiar power. One of these was the magical speculum,
Speaker 1: or the devil's looking glass. If you're envisioning an ominous
Speaker 1: framed mirror of darkness, you may be disappointed to see
Speaker 1: what looks more like a slate painting palette, or perhaps
Speaker 1: part of an ikea end table. The mirror itself has
Speaker 1: a diameter of eighteen point four centimeters and a width
Speaker 1: of three centimeters. It is circular, with a perforated notch
Speaker 1: for hanging, handling, or mounting. The mirror substances that of
Speaker 1: polished obsidian, volcanic in origin and believed to have been
Speaker 1: crafted by the Aztecs between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Speaker 1: If you visited the British Museum you may have seen it.
Speaker 1: The mirrors. A leather case features an inscription informing us
Speaker 1: that it is quote the black stone into which Dr
Speaker 1: D used to call his spirits unquote. These words are
Speaker 1: attributed to the eighteenth century art historian Horace Walpole, along
Speaker 1: with a pair of crystal spheres. D used this object
Speaker 1: in his pursuit of angelology and sorcery, possibly brought back
Speaker 1: from the voyages of Sir Francis Drake. The obsidian mirror
Speaker 1: was likely used in scrying rituals by Aztec priests in
Speaker 1: the worship of tez Catala PoCA, the god also known
Speaker 1: as the Lord of the Smoking Mirror, due to the
Speaker 1: black mirrors used by his priests and his overall connection
Speaker 1: to the dark volcanic glass of obsidian. But D also
Speaker 1: possessed another amazing mirror, an artifact bequeathed to him by
Speaker 1: Sir William Pickering in sixteen seventy five. It was a
Speaker 1: noted curio of the time. D even demonstrated the properties
Speaker 1: of this mirror to Queen Elizabeth herself. As Benjamin Wooly
Speaker 1: points out in his book The Queen's Conjuror, it is
Speaker 1: unlikely that he ever used this mirror in his occult practices. No,
Speaker 1: the Great Perspective Glass had a place in John D's
Speaker 1: purely logical interests. Wooly writes that D kept the mirror
Speaker 1: proudly displayed in a corner of his study. Anyone who
Speaker 1: lunged at the mirror with a dagger or sword founded
Speaker 1: their reflection lunging back at them with like hand and weapon. This,
Speaker 1: of course, is not the typical way of mirrors, and
Speaker 1: the effect was said to be quite unsettling, But D
Speaker 1: explained the effect to his guests via the mathematics of perspective,
Speaker 1: rather than the supernatural. A typical mirror doesn't so much
Speaker 1: as flip your image, but turn it inside out. The
Speaker 1: text on your shirt appears backwards in the mirror, just
Speaker 1: as the text also appears backwards if you were to
Speaker 1: withdraw your head into the shirt and read the text
Speaker 1: from within the garment. So the Great Perspective Glass was
Speaker 1: likely a nonreversing mirror, which can be accomplished by connecting
Speaker 1: two regular mirrors at their edges at a ninety degree angle,
Speaker 1: among other strategies. Of course, even a typical mirror's reflection
Speaker 1: can feel unsettling, is Argentinean writer jore Lewis Borges wrote,
Speaker 1: quote the Crystal Spies on us if within the four
Speaker 1: walls of a bedroom, a mirror stairs, I am no
Speaker 1: longer alone. There is someone there in the dawn reflections
Speaker 1: mutevous stage a show unquote. As we grow accustomed to
Speaker 1: the inside out stranger, how ranger still is the rarely seen,
Speaker 1: non reversed stranger, or the smoky shade of tes Catl
Speaker 1: Polca's dark Realm. Tune in for additional editions of the
Speaker 1: Artifact each week, hosted by either Joe or myself. As always,
Speaker 1: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow
Speaker 1: your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my
Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.