Half Two: When Tudor polymath John Dee meets a person who claims he can converse with angels, his path to understanding the universe all of the sudden turns into clear. At their instruction, the pair start looking for the fabled thinker’s stone. However the angels develop more and more demanding, and shortly Dee should confront a horrible ultimatum.
Centuries later, an odd incident in a French city means that angels should be with us.
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A key supply was The Diaries of John Dee (1998), edited by Edward Fenton. A number of different books had been very helpful:
John Dee’s Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy and the Finish of Nature (1999) by Deborah Harkness
The Years of the Wizard: The Unusual Historical past & Residence Lifetime of Renaissance Magicians (2025) by Rachel Morris
The Arch-Magican of England (2011) by Glyn Parry
The Secrets and techniques of Alchemy (2012) by Lawrence M. Principe
Prophecy: Prediction, Energy and the Battle for the Future, from Historic Oracles to AI (2026) by Carissa Véliz
The Queen’s Magican: The Life and Magic of Dr Dee (2002) by Benjamin Woolley
The next web sites and articles additionally helped us inform John Dee’s story:
“Phantom being pregnant: The psychological well being situation that mimics a child’s arrival” by Rosemary Counter, Nationwide Geographic (11 September 2023)
“Some Workmen’s Wages in 1588” by Elizabethan.org
“A robotic in Prague and an elixir for Rudolph II” by Habsburger.web
“John Dee: Elizabethan 007, scientist, magician and spy” by Historical past Additional (8 October 2021)
“Nothing However Solitude” by Christopher P. Heuer, Lapham’s Quarterly (14 Could 2019)
“Arithmetic, navigation and empire” by Alex Grover, Royal Museums Greenwich (8 July 2019)
“Martin Frobisher’s North West Passage expedition 1576–78” by Royal Museums Greenwich
“The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth” by A. L. Rowse, Historical past As we speak (Could 1953)
“Elizabeth I’s Coronation Procession” by Tudor Occasions (16 August 2019)
“John Dee and Edward Kelly: By means of a Glass Darkly” by Michael Wilding, The Brazen Head (18 October 2020)
I beforehand wrote about predictions right here and about Dan Kahan’s work right here. For extra on “badges of membership” see “Local weather-Science Communication and the Measurement Downside”, Advances in Political Psychology (20 February 2015) by Dan M. Kahan and “Id: Dan Kahan” by Casual Science.
For the story of Gilles D’Ettore, we drew on the podcast collection The Mystic and the Mayor (2025), in addition to the next articles:
“French city reels from fortune teller scandal” by Chris Bockman, BBC (27 Could 2024)
“«Se faire flouer ainsi par une prétendue voyante…» : l’affaire du maire d’Agde «ensorcelé» sidère” by Christian Goutorbe, Le Parisien (23 March 2024)
“Remark le maire d’Agde est tombé sous l’emprise d’une voyante ventriloque et la voix de « l’archange Michaël »” by Samuel Laurent, Le Monde (18 April 2024).
“France’s ‘swinger’ capital rocked by fortune teller scandal” by Harriet Marsden, The Week (4 June 2024)
