Test Tubes and Cauldrons – Details, episodes & analysis

It's a science-heavy one this week, everyone! This week the hosts discuss the intriguing world of epigenetics, where nature and nurture collide. Can you change your DNA? What effect does the world have on our genetics, and on us as people? Does this have any spiritual consequences, as some people claim? Tune in this week to hear about the science behind epigenetics and our thoughts on how this somewhat contentious field has been appropriated by the spiritual world.

RESOURCES & BIBLIOGRAPHY

• A great beginner page for genetics https://www.yourgenome.org/
• A deep dive into the history of DNA structure and function https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/discovery-of-dna-structure-and-function-watson-397/
• The classic 'smoking grannies' epigenetic study https://www.nature.com/articles/s41431-022-01081-2 && https://clinicalepigeneticsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13148-019-0631-3
• The Dutch Hunger Winter https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2579375/
• Trauma and heritability https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6952751/
• Review article summarising how epigenetics can unify Lamarckian and Darwinian principles https://academic.oup.com/gbe/article/7/5/1296/605886

We are back with a long-awaited episode of our Occultists & Scientists series focusing on the life of John Dee and his scryer Edward Kelley. A renaissance man in every right, Dee was a physician, engineer, theologian, astronomer, cartographer, and magician - working with the angels to develop a unique system of angelic magic now described as Enochian. But this tale of the great magician has dark secrets…imprisoned for performing astrology, rumours of being a spy, hooking up with others wives, oh my! Perhaps like most magicians of his time, piousness was just a rumour. Join us as we soar to the skies and explore the magnanimous life of Dr. John Dee.

REFERENCES:

• The Scientific Spirit in England in Early Modern Times (c. 1600): https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/225631
• The Magic and Astrology of John Dee: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057/9781137399472_8.pdf
• John Dee and the sciences: early modern networks of knowledge: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3778877/pdf/main.pdf
• The Mathematicall Praeface to Elements of Geometric of Euclid of Megara by John Dee: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22062/22062-h/22062-h.htm
• At the crossroads of magic and science: John Dee’s Archemastrie: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/occult-scientific-mentalities/at-the-crossroads-of-magic-and-science-john-dees-archemastrie/9D21A2FB0A2E33D9F4D2C0F85A7787E4

BOOKS:

The Queen’s Conjuror: The life and magic of Dr. Dee by B. Woolley

Enochian Vision Magic by Lon Milo Duquette

The Essential Enochian Grimoire by Aaron Leitch

It's a Fel and Han takeover! This week, two of the hosts get together to discuss a synthesis of mysticism and medicine in the ancient world: the Cult of Asklepios. Tune in to hear about who Asklepios really was: the ascent of a revered medic to god-hero, his relationship to Paian Apollo, and his influence on the development of modern medicine via a cult that dominated the ancient world for centuries.

Resources:

• A timeline of Asklepios: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/0003-4819-124-2-199601150-00011

• Medical historians the Edelsteins discuss the historical evidence for the worship of Asklepios: Kirchner J, ed. Inscriptiones Graecae. In: Edelstein EJ, Edelstein L. Asclepius: A Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies. Baltimore: John Hopkins Pr; 1945:374-5.

• Asklepios in Rome: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25609491

• John Scarborough dissects Theophrastus’ Enquiry Into Plants with a modern lens: https://philpapers.org/rec/SCATOH-2

• The Hippocratic ideal: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4263393/

• The evolution of medicine in the ancient world – how rationalism developed: https://aacnjournals.org/ajcconline/article/23/6/437/3976/From-Asclepius-to-Hippocrates-The-Art-and-Science

• Hippocrates, the “father of molecular medicine”: https://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/23/4/507.long

• Hans Dieter Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri In Translation (ISBN: 9780226044477)

• Lindsay Watson, Magic In Ancient Greece and Rome (ISBN: 9781788312981)

• Did it actually work? Placebo effects in the Asklepian sanctuaries: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/tc-2021-0004/html?lang=en

• Frederic Grant, Hellenistic Religions

• Luther H. Martin, Hellenistic Religions

You can still follow us on Instagram @testtubesandcauldrons, or join discussions on our Discord (https://discord.gg/rfJ4eb2DAM) 👾

We’re delving into worlds unseen this episode, as we explore the various spiritual models of the afterlife, as well as how these models play a role in spiritual practice across the world. We also delve into the sticky world of ‘past life regressions’ and how much we can rely on testimonies like these.

In part 2 (coming in 2 weeks!), join us for some more scientifically styled discussion on near-death experiences.

RESOURCES:

• ‘The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven’ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/04/11/the-boy-who-came-back-from-heaven-now-wants-his-day-in-court/

• Decidedly dodgy studies discussing hypnosis to induce ‘past life regressions’: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07481187.2019.1626949 && https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00029157.1999.10404243

• What criticisms have been made of hypnosis? https://bfms.org.uk/memory-and-hypnosis/

Thanks for bearing with us as we switch schedules from weekly to fortnightly releases! You can still follow us on Instagram @testtubesandcauldrons, or join discussions on our Discord (https://discord.gg/rfJ4eb2DAM) 👾

This week, Fel and Han drag Astra along for a riotous exploration of creatures, cryptids, and folklore. Is there any truth to these most mysterious of beasts? What kind of historical or scientific explanations might we have for cryptids? Is Bigfoot real?! Tune into this episode for our thoughts.

RESOURCES

• Pliny’s Natural History: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plin.+Nat.+toc (A specific link to his dodgy explanation of other peoples can be found here

• mentions Blemmyae: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=5:chapter=8&highlight=)

• Visualising the biomass on Earth: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/all-the-biomass-of-earth-in-one-graphic/

• Mythical’ creatures sometimes turn out to be real: https://australian.museum/learn/first-nations/yamuti

• of mammal species may be undiscovered https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5901171/

• Controversial study estimating the number of species on Earth https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1001127

• Which cryptid are you? https://uquiz.com/quiz/X0fZIl/which-cryptid-are-you

LINKS

Follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/testtubesandcauldrons/) & join discussions on our Discord (https://discord.gg/rfJ4eb2DAM)!

In this episode, the hosts (Hanne, Fel and Astra) take a step out of the hard sciences and into linguistics, sociology and psychology—pulling examples from history, personal experience and studies to try and find the differences (if there are any) between the three and why they might develop in the way they do.

RESOURCES:

• The Story of Myth by Sarah Iles Johnston

• What They Say in New England by Clifton Johnson

• The 'good luck' snack that makes Taiwan's technology behave, BBC: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210414-the-good-luck-snack-that-makes-taiwans-technology-behave

• The Case Against B.F. Skinner by Noam Chomsky: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1971/12/30/the-case-against-bf-skinner/

• Ancient Origins of Modern Superstition, British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/membership/events/ancient-origins-modern-superstition

• Half-belief and the paradox of ritual instrumental activism: a theory of modern superstition by Colin Campbell: https://www.jstor.org/stable/591121

• The Science of Superstition and Why People Believe in the Unbelieveable: https://theconversation.com/amp/the-science-of-superstition-and-why-people-believe-in-the-unbelievable-97043

MORE FROM TTAC:

Follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/testtubesandcauldrons/) & join discussions on our Discord (https://discord.gg/rfJ4eb2DAM)!

Alongside a few spats over the appropriate spelling of colour (it does have a u), in this episode the hosts discuss all things bright and beautiful. We chat colour physics, biology, and how our cultural understanding of colours may be less solid than you think! We also examine how this interplays with occult ideas of ‘colour correspondences’ - Jung’s internal alchemy, The Golden Dawn, Feng Shui, and Kabbalah to name a few.

RESOURCES:

• The human eye can ‘see’ infra-red: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141201161116.htm

• Ancient Greek statues - their true colours: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/true-colors-17888/ & https://buntegoetter.liebieghaus.de/en/

• The Black Arts, Richard Cavendish (alchemy primer)

• Colours of The Golden Dawn & Kabbalah: https://www.daneel.franken.de/tarot/GoldenDawn/Coloring%20the%20Classic%20Golden%20Dawn%20Tarot.pdf & http://www.lelandra.com/tarotbook/TreeofLifeColors.htm & http://www.billheidrick.com/tlc1995/tlc1295.htm#iq

• Polyphanes’ wonderful post on the planetary colours: https://digitalambler.com/2019/12/04/colors-of-the-planets/

It is no secret that witches across the world are fascinated with the moon both from pagan and witchy literature to its importance in ancient civilizations as the luminary that rules the popular monthly cycle. Join us for this weeks episode where we investigate the moons evolution from ancient society to modern times and discuss the science of the moons gravitational pull and how it controls the waters of earth among many, many other topics!

*NOTE: We spoke on a wide range of belief systems, some of which we are unfamiliar with ourselves, so if we said something wrong, please correct us and we'll make a note in episode descriptions!

RESOURCES:

Review of the Study of the Moon and Lunacy: https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/1986/01/22165335/p35.pdf?_ga=2.80741470.812012145.1645618604-743710252.1644883191

Overview | Inside and Out of the Moon from NASA: https://moon.nasa.gov/inside-and-out/overview/

MORE FROM TTAC:

Follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/testtubesandcauldrons/) & join discussions on our Discord (https://discord.gg/rfJ4eb2DAM)!

In this episode, the hosts discuss the weird and wacky world of dreams. What kind of spiritual significance was historically assigned to dreams? How does one practice the mysterious art of oneiromancy? How does sleep work on a neurological level, and what even is a dream? Tune in to hear the hosts' thoughts, and strap in for our increasingly unhinged ramblings on the nature of consciousness. Goodnight, listeners!

Happy Black History Month! Celebrate the underrated ingenuity of Black inventors with this book on African-American inventions: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0275966747?ie=UTF&tag=todayinsci-20&link_code=as3

RESOURCES:

• Aelfwine's Prayerbook (bibliomancy/oneiromancy) - https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781870252331/aelfwines-prayerbook/

• 'Serial awakening' experiments to understand sleep phases -https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00542/full

• MRI investigating neurophysiology of sleep - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00221-008-1579-2

• EEGs investigating neurophysiology of sleep - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5462120/

• Great review article on the neurophysiology of sleep and dreaming - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2814941/

We're back! In this episode, the hosts answer your questions. We discuss telepathy, how we met, stigma against occultism in the workplace, the intersection between science & spirituality in our practice, sins against cereal, and more...

BOOKS WE RECOMMENDED:

• Entangled Life - Merlin Sheldrake

• Bad Science and Bad Pharma - Ben Goldacre

• The Hidden Life of Trees: Discoveries from a Secret World - Peter Wohlleben

• The Disappearing Spoon - Sam Kean

• E=mc^2: A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation - David Bodanis

• Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive - Phillip Detmer

• Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History - Jay Burreson and Penny Le Couteur

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot

RESOURCES:

• fMRI study of a mentalist (in an extremely obscure journal...) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3144613/

MORE FROM TTAC:

Follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/testtubesandcauldrons/) & join discussions on our Discord (https://discord.gg/rfJ4eb2DAM)!