the magician who invented the modern world: john dee and the lost birth of science

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spk_0 It's the very first light of dawn in late 1583.

spk_0 On the outskirts of London, Dr. John D. loads up a horse-drawn cart with his most prized

spk_0 possessions, brass-estrollables, and telescopes clatter in their cages, leather-bound manuscripts,

spk_0 some of the largest of the private library in England are wedged between crates.

spk_0 In the dim glow, one object stands out, a black obsidian mirror perfectly polished and

spk_0 round, catching the light of dawn.

spk_0 D handles it with care.

spk_0 This dark mirror, a shoe-stone as he calls it, is said to reveal angelic visions.

spk_0 Neighbors Whisper that Dr. D uses it to talk with angels, and now, at age 56, this renowned

spk_0 scientist and royal advisor is leaving England under mysterious circumstances.

spk_0 Why would Queen Elizabeth I, chief mathematician and astronomer, abandon his comfortable home

spk_0 at More Lake, and trek all the way across Europe to the court of a distant emperor,

spk_0 all to pursue conversations with angels?

spk_0 Here is a man at the pinnacle of Elizabethan intellectual society, suddenly departing

spk_0 in secret with his family and his scrying mirror heading east into the unknown.

spk_0 This forgotten journey holds a mystery.

spk_0 Was it just an aging mystic following some weird niche interests, or a mission that secretly

spk_0 sparked the birth of modern science itself?

spk_0 To even begin answering that, we can recall a quote from the late ethno-bottonist Terence

spk_0 McKenna.

spk_0 McKenna believed John D's life represented this transition between two eras, the moment

spk_0 when magic and science were still one.

spk_0 As McKenna put it, John D is the last person to be able to unify into one worldview

spk_0 science and mathematics and magic and astrology altogether.

spk_0 So essentially, John D's quest to speak with angels and Prague may have been the final

spk_0 grand attempt to marry mystical insight with scientific empirical inquiry, and this attempt

spk_0 echoes in our technology and science today.

spk_0 So through this auditory journey, we are going to be delving into this astonishing chapter

spk_0 of history, following John D's footsteps from the hushed libraries of England to the

spk_0 golden halls of Prague, the capital of Bohemia, where an emperor obsessed with alchemy welcomed

spk_0 Europe's strangest geniuses.

spk_0 We'll witness seances with angels, alchemical experiments, standles, and downfall.

spk_0 And we'll come to see how this nearly forgotten adventure of the angel and the emperor foreshadowed

spk_0 the dawn of modern science.

spk_0 This is an exploration that covers historical investigation, a little bit of magical realism,

spk_0 and a big dose of cautionary tale.

spk_0 So settle in and let's travel back to a world on the edge of change.

spk_0 To really understand John D in his life, we need to place ourselves in the late 16th century,

spk_0 which was a time when Europe itself was at a huge crossroads.

spk_0 The year 1583, when John D set out for Bohemia, came during the Renaissance's twilight,

spk_0 a moment of profound upheaval and possibility.

spk_0 The Protestant Reformation had split Europe's religious unity completely.

spk_0 Catholics and Protestants were literally at war for souls.

spk_0 Old certainties about the cosmos were falling apart.

spk_0 Copernicus' heliocentric model, published in 1543,

spk_0 had suggested Earth was not the center of the universe, undermining a millennium of theology.

spk_0 Yet the scientific revolution hadn't fully arrived yet.

spk_0 The word scientist didn't even exist.

spk_0 Instead, natural philosophers like John D straddled a line.

spk_0 They were eager observers and experimenters.

spk_0 They still viewed nature itself as being alive with spiritual forces.

spk_0 In this era, magic and science were very intertwined.

spk_0 It might shock us today, but disciplines we now separate, astronomy versus astrology and

spk_0 chemistry versus alchemy were then just one and the same.

spk_0 A royal court might employ an astronomer to cast horoscopes or a physician to distill herbal

spk_0 elixirs by alchemical formulas. The boundaries between empirical observation and sacred mysticism

spk_0 were very, very porous. Even the devout Tuchobrai, Europe's greatest astronomer of that generation,

spk_0 tirelessly observed the planets and cast astrological charts.

spk_0 Astrology and alchemy were regarded as mainstream, scientific fields and Renaissance

spk_0 Prague encouraged by learned patrons. This was a world where you could be a rigorous mathematician

spk_0 and an occult magician without any kind of contradiction.

spk_0 But at the same time, a republic of letters was emerging, which was an international network of

spk_0 scholars, mystics and experimenters who traded ideas and coded letters and secret meetings.

spk_0 By the 1580s, there were clandestine networks of magi, alchemists and mathematicians

spk_0 sharing discoveries across borders. For safety, much of this correspondence was

spk_0 veiled in classical languages or allegory since the Inquisition kept a watchful eye for heresy.

spk_0 But knowledge flowed wherever it could, and John D. himself was extraordinarily well connected.

spk_0 He had traveled through Europe as a young man and made friends among scholars in many countries.

spk_0 Through letters and travelers, news of discoveries or arcane secrets would reach him at

spk_0 mortelike. And in many ways, D's home was a node in this hidden web of Renaissance intellect,

spk_0 a place where navigators, astronomers and mystics would often cross paths.

spk_0 It's important that we think about who John D. was by 1583. He was nothing short of a polymath

spk_0 celebrity in Elizabethan England. Born in 1527, D had studied at Cambridge and then across

spk_0 the continent, becoming fluent in Latin, Greek, and even a bit of Hebrew and Arabic.

spk_0 He was known as Dr. D. The Queen's trusted mathematician and astrologer. An interesting fact

spk_0 is that D had actually been commissioned to select the best astrological date for Queen Elizabeth

spk_0 the First's coronation in 1559, a task that obviously blended astronomy and astrology.

spk_0 He advised the Queen herself on navigation and geography, advocating for English voyages of

spk_0 discovery and even coining the term British Empire. In an era hungry for expansion,

spk_0 D's expertise in cartography and mathematics made him a very valuable asset. Some say that he

spk_0 signed his secret letters to Elizabeth as 007, the original spy code name, a bit of a legend,

spk_0 but it does speak to his secret mysterious spy work and cryptography and intelligence.

spk_0 And at the same time, Dr. D. was a devout student of the mystical arts, an alchemist and

spk_0 hermetic philosopher in the tradition of Hermes Trismagistus. One contemporary described him as

spk_0 one of the great figures of Elizabethan England at a time when science and alchemy,

spk_0 magic and mathematics intertwined. John D. was a collector of knowledge. By middle age,

spk_0 he had amassed the largest private library in England. Over 2500 books and manuscripts housed

spk_0 at his mortelike estate. Friends and students flocked to use his library. It was as if the entire

spk_0 renaissance sat on his bookshelves. He delved into astrology, medicine, optics, history, theology,

spk_0 and even law. But by the late 1570s, D felt that he'd reached the limits of what books alone

spk_0 could teach him. The world was changing too fast, old books held contradictions,

spk_0 and human knowledge felt fragmented. He hungered for direct access to divine truth,

spk_0 something to unify all of these pieces together. D's guiding dream could be described as a quest

spk_0 for a universal language or a universal science. He believed that underlying all the diverse

spk_0 fields of knowledge there was one single system, a god-given code, that tied the mathematical

spk_0 order of nature to the spiritual truths of angels. In the words of one historian, D sought a

spk_0 universal science that would extend the latter from the deteriorating world to the heavens.

spk_0 He imagined a kind of ultimate synthesis, math, magic, astrology, chemistry, and theology,

spk_0 all facets of one diamond. If he could find the key, maybe the lost wisdom of Adam,

spk_0 the language Adam spoke to God in legend, maybe that could be regained, and humanity's knowledge

spk_0 could somehow transcend the strife of his age. By 1581, D became convinced that the key to this

spk_0 universal science might literally come from angels. After exhausting ordinary scholarship, he

spk_0 turned to scrying, the art of gazing into crystals or mirrors to attain visions and messages from

spk_0 the spirit realm. At first, he tried using another assistant as a medium, a man named Barnabas

spk_0 Saul, to contact angelic intelligences, but it didn't really add up to much and got a little

spk_0 bit dangerous. Conjuring spirits could be construed as dealing with the devil, punishable as sorcery

spk_0 during his time. Then in 1582, a young man named Edward Kelly entered D's life, offering the sought

spk_0 after skill. Kelly, born in 1555, was a little bit of a mystery. He had a checkered past,

spk_0 and by some accounts even had his ears cropped as punishment for forgery or tomb robbing, which was

spk_0 the mark of a criminal. But Kelly claimed to have the gift of scrying, of gazing into crystals and

spk_0 seeing spirits. Desperate for a spirit medium, D took Kelly on despite some initial misgivings,

spk_0 thus began one of history's most extraordinary partnerships. For the next several years at

spk_0 Montlake, behind closed doors and drawn curtains, Dr. D and Edward Kelly held regular sayances,

spk_0 though deep preferred to call them actions or consultations. Kelly would peer into D's polished

spk_0 crystal ball or the black obsidian mirror, and he would go into a translike state. D,

spk_0 sitting at the table with his quill in his notebook, would pray and then ask questions.

spk_0 Kelly, acting as the scrier, reported aloud whatever he saw or heard from the spirits that appeared

spk_0 in the glass. And D would diligently write down every word in detail no matter how cryptic it happened

spk_0 to be. Remember, D was a very highly rational man for his age. He hoped these angelic communications

spk_0 would deliver new wisdom, maybe the very blueprint of nature that he was searching for.

spk_0 Strange messages did begin to pour forth. Angels with names like Yoriel and Michael appeared,

spk_0 according to Kelly, and then dozens of other entities with exotic names, some benevolent and some

spk_0 tricksterish sounding. They spoke of spiritual truths and even worldly events. In one notable

spk_0 session on May 5th in 1583, Kelly had a vision. He saw a great ocean with ships and an executioner

spk_0 clothed in black, beheading a woman. The angels told D this vision signified the provision of

spk_0 foreign powers against the welfare of this land and the death of the queen of Scots. D,

spk_0 dutifully noted in the margin, the queen of Scots to be beheaded. Four years later, in 1587,

spk_0 Mary Stewart, the queen of Scots, was, indeed, executed. And a year after that, the Spanish

spk_0 Armada sailed against England. Somehow, through Kelly's scrying, D genuinely believed he had received

spk_0 the prophetic warning of the greatest events of his time and a divine endorsement of England's

spk_0 struggle against Catholic Spain. Whether one sees this as an angelic prophecy or just an uncanny

spk_0 coincidence, it definitely added to the aura around these communications. It also made the

spk_0 authorities very nervous. Was Dr. D meddling with supernatural powers to shape politics?

spk_0 By the middle of 1583, Dr. D's angelic project had outgrown the confines of his mord-like study.

spk_0 He needed a patron to continue, a rich person to fund his work. He also needed safety from

spk_0 the whiff of heresy. Coincidentally, a Polish nobleman, Count Albert Wasky, visited England that

spk_0 year and was introduced to D. Wasky was flamboyant and ambitious, and some said he aimed to become

spk_0 king of Poland. He consulted D and Kelly's angels for guidance on his prospects. It seems the

spk_0 spirits gave mixed answers, but ultimately instructed D and Kelly on a new mission. They should

spk_0 accompany Count Wasky back to his homeland, then proceed to the court of Emperor Rudolph II in

spk_0 Bohemia. The angels even dictated letters for D to carry, messages to Emperor Rudolph and King

spk_0 Stephen Bathrey of Poland, urging them to reform their ways and accordance with divine will.

spk_0 It was a bold and heavenly commission, if true. D was an idealist, and he took it seriously.

spk_0 One night late in 1583, John D. Edward Kelly and their families slipped out of England in secret,

spk_0 joining Count Wasky on a ship bound for the continent. They left behind D's precious library and

spk_0 home, even though he would later return to it to find his library looted and ruined.

spk_0 And so you see, it was a huge gamble for him, a massive leap of faith into the unknown.

spk_0 John D. really believed that his exodus from England was ordained by angels for a higher purpose.

spk_0 A head lay the splendid but treacherous world of central Europe's courts, where princes

spk_0 dabbled in sorcery and scholars searched for the philosopher's stone. If England was too narrow or

spk_0 suspicious for his grand dream, maybe Prague would be different. Little did D know the trials that

spk_0 awaited him. An emperor, both enlightened and unstable, rival magicians, inquisitive priests,

spk_0 and a series of events that would test his devotion to the very limits.

spk_0 It's the summer of 1584. The city of Prague rises before John D. as he arrives after an

spk_0 arduous journey. Think about Prague back then, a walled city of spires and bridges spanning the

spk_0 Vladvar River, home to craftsmen, scholars, and nobles from all corners of Europe. Over it looms

spk_0 the monumental Prague castle, seat of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II. D enters a court like

spk_0 no other, a wonderland of science, art, and the occult. Emperor Rudolph II had just moved his

spk_0 court to Prague a year earlier, in 1583, making Bohemia the center of his sprawling hapspur

spk_0 Gampire. Rudolph's court would become legendary for its patronage of alchemists and astronomers,

spk_0 a true laboratory of the Renaissance. Rudolph II is a really interesting figure. He was a

spk_0 reclusive young monarch at the time, plagued by bouts of melancholy and eccentricity,

spk_0 but also possessing an insatiable curiosity. He gathered around him the greatest and most

spk_0 subversive minds of the time, driven to understand the deepest secrets of nature and the riddle of

spk_0 existence, Rudolph invited to his court an endless stream of geniuses, Danish astronomer Tugobrahe,

spk_0 German mathematician Johannes Kepler, Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno, and even the English

spk_0 magist John D. himself. It's said that the English philosopher Francis Bacon visited or corresponded

spk_0 with Rudolph's circle as well. In Prague's golden years, one might find anatomists, painters,

spk_0 clockmakers, cobalists, and metallurgists all patronized by this same emperor. The court was a

spk_0 true melting pot of faiths and disciplines, Protestants like Brahe and Kepler, Jesuit,

spk_0 mathematicians, Jewish and cobalist scholars, and even some Muslim envoys, all relatively tolerated

spk_0 under Rudolph's reign. Prague became known as an island of intellectual tolerance amid Europe's

spk_0 religious strife. Rudolph's interests leaned especially toward alchemy and astrology. These

spk_0 weren't just fun little hobbies to him. They were central to the way he saw life. One contemporary

spk_0 wrote that Rudolph's Prague became Europe's leading center of alchemical practice and hermetic magic.

spk_0 The emperor established laboratories in his castles and filled his cellars with alchemical furnaces.

spk_0 He collected rare manuscripts on the occult. He also assembled a famous kunstcommer or cabinet

spk_0 of curiosities filled with marvels of art and nature from exotic animals and gemstones to

spk_0 automata and scientific instruments. So essentially Rudolph II turned Prague into this grand

spk_0 experimental workshop, hoping that the secrets of nature and maybe the secret of eternal life

spk_0 would be discovered under his patronage. So it was into this milieu that John D. and Edward Kelly

spk_0 stepped, arriving with the fanfare of their own reputations. And at first they were welcomed,

spk_0 even though maybe just a bit cautiously. News of John D. scholarly fame preceded him.

spk_0 Rudolph II would have known John D. as the author of learned works and one time adviser to Queen

spk_0 Elizabeth I. Kelly, though he was less scholarly, also could have pretty dashing figure himself,

spk_0 an alchemist who had claimed to possess a powder to transmute metals. According to one rumor,

spk_0 Kelly had found some portion of the philosopher's stone in the ruins of Glastonbury, which is why

spk_0 he was missing an ear, which is essentially, as we mentioned before, a punishment for some kind

spk_0 of illicit discovery. True or not, though, Rudolph II was very eager to recruit anybody who might

spk_0 deliver the longed for alchemical prize of turning base metal into gold. Eventually, D. and Kelly

spk_0 were able to secure an audience with Emperor Rudolph soon after they arrived. It was a moment D

spk_0 had dreamed of, presenting his angelic mission to the most powerful sovereign in Christendom.

spk_0 Imagine John D. and his scholars robe and long beard while Rudolph, a pale man in his early 30s,

spk_0 eyes heavy with thought, listens intently. D. delivered the messages from the angels,

spk_0 essentially letters dictated in England that admonished Rudolph to live righteously and support

spk_0 D's work. He also likely touted his own abilities in natural philosophy and maybe offered to make

spk_0 the philosopher's stone for Rudolph. The Emperor intrigued, but non-committal granted them only

spk_0 that single formal audience. And after that, he referred D. and Kelly to his senior counselors.

spk_0 This was still a good sign. They weren't being thrown out or anything, but it meant they needed to

spk_0 do a lot more work to convince the imperial ministers of their legitimacy and value.

spk_0 However, they would discover that Prague was an absolute snake pit of intrigues.

spk_0 Other alchemists and courtiers viewed the newcomers skeptically or jealously.

spk_0 Giordano Bruno, the maverick Italian philosopher who had been in Prague since 1588,

spk_0 had faced similar resistance and soon left after falling out of favor. For D

spk_0 and Kelly, the bigger threat came from the Catholic Church's representatives. The late 1580s were

spk_0 very tense. The Church, suspicious of anything that smelled like heresy or magical superstition,

spk_0 kept a very close watch on Rudolph's court. The papal noncio, or ambassador in Prague,

spk_0 Philippo Sega, got wind of D and Kelly's angelic adventures, and he warned Rome that these two

spk_0 Englishmen, quote, are on the way to being the authors of a new superstition, not to say heresy,

spk_0 and are known to the emperor and all of the court, end quote. To Catholic authorities,

spk_0 a Protestant like D claiming divine revelations outside the Church's sanction was alarming,

spk_0 to say the least. Soon, another papal noncio, Germano, Maaspina, pressed D and Kelly to explain

spk_0 themselves. D, Ernest, and Pius tried to reassure him that they communicated only with angels of God,

spk_0 not evil spirits. All might have blown over, except that Edward Kelly's temper erected.

spk_0 During one meeting, Kelly launched into a tirade about the corruption of the priesthood,

spk_0 which so enraged the noncio that, as D later heard, the Churchman said that if not for diplomatic

spk_0 propriety, he would have thrown Kelly out the window. And this wasn't an idle threat, because

spk_0 de-finestration, or tossing troublemakers literally out of high windows, was a notorious

spk_0 Bohemian tradition for dealing with unwanted guests, apparently. Under mounting pressure from

spk_0 the Church, Emperor Rudolph felt compelled to act. In 1586, he officially expelled D and Kelly

spk_0 from Prague on charges of necromancy and forbidden arts. It must have been a really devastating moment

spk_0 for John D. He was cast out as a sorcerer when he believed he was on a holy mission for God.

spk_0 But the Emperor had a curious change of heart, recognizing maybe that these men might still produce

spk_0 something valuable, and sympathetic to their plight, Rudolph quietly relented and allowed them to

spk_0 stay in Bohemia, just not in the capital. He arranged for D and Kelly to be hosted by a wealthy

spk_0 nobleman ally, Count Villum of a Rosenberg, at his estates in southern Bohemia. Count

spk_0 Rosenberg was one of the most powerful lords in Bohemia, and luckily for D and Kelly,

spk_0 a passionate enthusiast of alchemy. He effectively became their patron and protector,

spk_0 so in late 1586, the two English magi with their wives and children relocated to his castle and

spk_0 the provincial town of Trebonne. The castle at Trebonne proved to be a really ideal refuge.

spk_0 It was far from prying eyes with a patron who delighted in the alchemical arts.

spk_0 Thick smoke soon crawled from the castle's chimneys day and night as D and Kelly set up a

spk_0 laboratory in a tower room overlooking the courtyard. They built a kiln from tiled bricks,

spk_0 as noted in D's diary, and their Kelly began furvishly conducting experiments.

spk_0 And it was here in Bohemia that the most famous alchemical feat attributed to Kelly occurred.

spk_0 On December 1586, in the presence of Count Rosenberg and D, Edward Kelly performed a projection,

spk_0 a term for transmuting a metal into gold with a tincture. D wrote in his diary that Kelly,

spk_0 quote, made a public demonstration of the philosopher's stone, one small grain projecting upon an

spk_0 ounce and a quarter of mercury and produced nearly an ounce of the most pure gold.

spk_0 Now, if this was true, it would be extraordinary. The alchemist's dream fulfilled in a castle kitchen.

spk_0 Words spread quickly among those in the know, and years later, D's son Arthur D would recount

spk_0 that Count Rosenberg delighted much in alchemy. I've often heard him affirm, sometimes with oaths,

spk_0 that he saw transmutation of putered dishes into silver with the goldsmiths that Prague bought from them.

spk_0 And that Count Rosenberg played at ports with silver quotes made by projection.

spk_0 Another report collected by Antiquary Elias Ashmol claims that two Englishmen in Prague had seen

spk_0 Sir Edward Kelly turn a piece of brass warming pan into pure silver without even melting it down.

spk_0 They supposedly sent that piece of silver back to Queen Elizabeth in England to prove it.

spk_0 Even though they are secondhand, these accounts do suggest that Kelly convinced many, many people

spk_0 of his ability to manufacture precious metal, even if it was just in small amounts.

spk_0 Modern historians suspect Kelly may have staged managed these transmutations with

spk_0 a slight of hand or pre-prepared tinctures containing gold chloride. But at the time, even a hint

spk_0 that the philosopher's stone was in reach caused huge amounts of sensation, as you can imagine.

spk_0 Emperor Rudolf, hearing of Kelly's successes, grew very keen to bring Kelly back to Prague

spk_0 despite the earlier banishment. For now though, D&Kelli remained under Rosenberg's patronage

spk_0 relatively content. D continued corresponding with learned figures and expanding his diaries

spk_0 within jelly crevulations, while Edward Kelly balanced between summoning angels and chasing gold.

spk_0 Southern Bohemia became their workshop, this strange mix of monastic retreat and mad scientific

spk_0 laboratory. And in the midst of all of this feverish activity, it seemed like John D never lost

spk_0 sight of why he'd come in the first place, the angelic communications. He believed that the

spk_0 angels were gradually revealing nothing less than a new holy language and knowledge system that

spk_0 healed the world. And this brings us to the heart of John D's mission in Bohemia, and one of the

spk_0 most uncanny intellectual endeavors of the age, the birth of the Inokian language and the conception

spk_0 of language as a kind of technology. Inside a candlelit chamber at Trebon Castle, John D

spk_0 and Edward Kelly sit at a table covered in papers. On the table lies a large crystal ball in a frame,

spk_0 or sometimes the flat obsidian mirror propped up at an angle. Between them is a scrying table

spk_0 painted with mystical symbols, one D designed under angelic instruction. The air is thick within

spk_0 sense. D murmurs prayers in Latin preparing the space. Kelly eyes closed or fixed on the crystal

spk_0 begins to breathe rapidly. His pupils dilate as if seeing something beyond. The angelic action

spk_0 is underway. For hours on end, this was the scene nearly every day for extended periods,

spk_0 as D and Kelly attempted to systematically converse with angels. And what they produced

spk_0 was astonishing. Entire texts of a new language dictated letter by letter by spirits and written

spk_0 down by D. This language, which D eventually called angelic or Inokian, comprised a unique alphabet

spk_0 vocabulary in syntax. The angels conveyed it through Kelly in a curiously mechanical fashion.

spk_0 Often they presented grids of letters in a table, some grids 49 by 49 in size.

spk_0 Kelly would report the letters one by one as he saw them flash in the crystal, while D

spk_0 painstakingly noted them. Later the angels gave them techniques to unfold messages from these

spk_0 later grids, reading them in a different direction to reveal coherent words and sentences.

spk_0 It was like a divine puzzle or encryption. And over months, the angels delivered a length

spk_0 the discourses in this strange tongue. D would then ask for interpretation and the angels

spk_0 through Kelly translated the Inokian into English for him or taught him the Inokian grammar a bit by

spk_0 a bit. And so what are we to make of this? To a skeptic, it might seem like Kelly was inventing

spk_0 gibberish on the fly, but analysis shows that Inokian has consistent grammar and syntax,

spk_0 not unlike a real language, something that is just beyond a simple hoax. D for his part was fully

spk_0 convinced that this was the Urspraca, the original language for creation spoken by angels and

spk_0 Adam before the fall. In Renaissance thought, the idea of an Urspraca or primordial language was

spk_0 taken very seriously. Many academics of the time speculated whether Hebrew or the mythical language

spk_0 of Atlantis or some other tongue was the first language that perfectly encapsulated truth.

spk_0 These angels explicitly told him that their language was the one used to create the world.

spk_0 In fact, they referred to it as the language of Inok, the biblical patriarch who walked with God

spk_0 and was taken to heaven without dying. According to apocryphal lore, Inok received knowledge

spk_0 from angels and recorded it in a lost book. D likely knew of these legends, so receiving the

spk_0 Inokian tables from his angels seems like a validation of his greatest hopes. He saw this angelic

spk_0 language as a tool or technology for harnessing spiritual truth. If nature was created by God

spk_0 speaking, let there be light, then knowing that original divine language might confer command over

spk_0 nature. It was almost like de-hope to learn the programming language of the cosmos,

spk_0 and the angels were providing what looked like a systematic code with its own alphabet and even

spk_0 keys. They delivered something called the Inokian keys, which were a series of incantations.

spk_0 So to use a modern analogy, it's like De and Kelly believed they were slowly downloading a

spk_0 cosmic operating system, one character at a time, from beings in a higher dimension.

spk_0 If we resist the urge to frame this as just a cult gibberish, we could actually see it as a

spk_0 proto-scientific experiment, because we start to see John De's work in a new light. He wasn't

spk_0 content to just accept mysteries. He wanted repeatable methods to contact angels. They had set prayers,

spk_0 sigils, and tools, a procedure essentially, and a structured language that could encode that knowledge,

spk_0 and in doing so, De was incredibly ahead of his time. He prefigured the idea that information and

spk_0 language underlie reality structure, an idea that resonates today in fields of quantum

spk_0 information theory to computer science. De was, of course, influenced by Pythagorean and Platonic

spk_0 Thought, which taught that mathematics is the language of nature. As a mathematician himself,

spk_0 he believed that numbers in geometric forms had mystical power and truth within them.

spk_0 In the hermetic worldview, language, number, and symbol were part of the fabric of reality,

spk_0 not just human inventions. This notion persisted. Libnitz, a 17th century philosopher, later dreamed of

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the magician who invented the modern world: john dee and the lost birth of science

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