WEBVTT - The Artifact: The Mirrors of Dr. Dee

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of

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<v Speaker 1>I Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and

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<v Speaker 1>this is the Artifact. A short form series from Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on particular objects, ideas,

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<v Speaker 1>and moments in time. Elizabethan scholar, doctor John d was

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<v Speaker 1>one of the most learned men of the sixteenth century,

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<v Speaker 1>applying his intense mathematical intellect to matters scientific, political, alchemical,

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<v Speaker 1>and occult. He advised Queen Elizabeth, sought communion with angelic beings,

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<v Speaker 1>advocated British expansion, and plunged the depths of human knowledge

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<v Speaker 1>in an age of great change. While D's most famed

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<v Speaker 1>possession was his expensive library of books, he was also

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<v Speaker 1>known to possess various mirrors and glasses of peculiar power.

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<v Speaker 1>One of these was the magical speculum, or the devil's

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<v Speaker 1>looking glass. If you're envisioning an ominous, framed mirror of darkness,

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<v Speaker 1>you may be disappointed to see what looks more like

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<v Speaker 1>a slate painting palette, or perhaps part of an ikea

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<v Speaker 1>end table. The mirror itself has a diameter of eighteen

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<v Speaker 1>point four centimeters and a width of three centimeters. It

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<v Speaker 1>is circular with a perforated notch for hanging, handling, or mounting.

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<v Speaker 1>The mirror substance is that of polished obsidian, volcanic in

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<v Speaker 1>origin and believed to have been crafted by the Aztecs

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<v Speaker 1>between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. If you've visited the

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<v Speaker 1>British Museum you may have seen it. The mirrors a

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<v Speaker 1>leather case features an inscription informing us that it is

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<v Speaker 1>quote the black stone into which Dr d used to

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<v Speaker 1>call his spirits unquote. These words are attributed to the

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<v Speaker 1>eighteenth century art historian Horace Walpole, along with a pair

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<v Speaker 1>of crystal spheres. D used this object in his pursuit

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<v Speaker 1>of angelology and sorcery, possibly brought back from the voyages

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<v Speaker 1>of Sir Francis Drake. The obsidian mirror was likely used

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<v Speaker 1>in scrying rituals by Aztec priests in the worship of

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<v Speaker 1>tez Catlepoca, the god also known as the Lord of

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<v Speaker 1>the Smoking Mirror, due to the black mirrors used by

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<v Speaker 1>his priests and his overall connection to the dark volcanic

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<v Speaker 1>glass of obsidian. But D also possessed another amazing mirror,

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<v Speaker 1>an artifact bequeathed to him by Sir William Pickering in

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<v Speaker 1>sixteen seventy five. It was a noted curio of the time.

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<v Speaker 1>D even demonstrated the properties of this mirror to Queen

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<v Speaker 1>Elizabeth herself. As Benjamin Woollowee points out in his book

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<v Speaker 1>The Queen's Conjuror, it is unlikely that D ever used

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<v Speaker 1>this mirror in his occult practices. No, the Great Perspective

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<v Speaker 1>Glass had a place in John D's purely logical interests.

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<v Speaker 1>Wooly writes that D kept the mirror proudly displayed in

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<v Speaker 1>a corner of his study. Anyone who lunged at the

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<v Speaker 1>mirror with a dagger or sword found their reflection lunging

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<v Speaker 1>back at them with like hand and weapon. This, of course,

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<v Speaker 1>is not the typical way of mirrors, and the effect

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<v Speaker 1>was said to be quite unsettling, But D explained the

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<v Speaker 1>effect to his guests via the mathematics of perspective, rather

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<v Speaker 1>than the supernatural. A typical mirror doesn't so much as

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<v Speaker 1>flip your image, but turn it inside out. The text

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<v Speaker 1>on your shirt appears backwards in the mirror, just as

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<v Speaker 1>the text also appears backwards if you were to withdraw

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<v Speaker 1>your head into the shirt and read the text from

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<v Speaker 1>within the garment, So the great perspective glass was likely

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<v Speaker 1>a nonreversing mirror, which can be accomplished by connecting two

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<v Speaker 1>regular mirrors at their edges at a ninety degree angle,

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<v Speaker 1>among other strategies. Of course, even a typical mirrors reflection

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<v Speaker 1>can feel unsettling, is Argentinean writer Jorge Lewis Borges wrote, quote,

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<v Speaker 1>the crystal spies on us. If with in the four

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<v Speaker 1>walls of a bedroom a mirror stairs, I am no

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<v Speaker 1>longer alone. There is someone there in the dawn reflections

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<v Speaker 1>mutely stage a show unquote. As we grow accustomed to

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<v Speaker 1>the inside out stranger, how stranger still is the rarely

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<v Speaker 1>seen non reversed stranger, or the smoky shade of tes

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<v Speaker 1>Catli Poca's dark Realm. Tune in for additional editions of

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<v Speaker 1>the Artifact each week, hosted by either Joe or myself.

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<v Speaker 1>As always, you can email us at contact at stuff

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<v Speaker 1>to Blow your Mind dot com. And Stuff to Blow

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<v Speaker 1>Your Mind is a production of I Heart Radio. For

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