00:00 The podcast discusses the use of magic and occult practices in British history, including the tradition of Merlin as King Arthur's advisor.

05:06 Merlin is a figure that combines two different characters, one of whom is a wild man of the woods who acquires wisdom and occult knowledge, and the other is a boy who solves a problem for a king and becomes a wise counselor, and the idea of kings having a wise counselor with secret knowledge was a common theme in medieval kingship.

09:50 Merlin was primarily seen as a prophet in the Middle Ages and was believed to be a historical figure who made accurate prophecies, with his appearance coinciding with the influx of new knowledge from the Islamic world in the 12th century.

14:38 Merlin's fame as a British figure, connected to the British people and their migration to Brittany and northern Spain, contributed to the perception of Britain as a mystical place with a long-standing tradition of magic.

19:22 Richard II's reign unraveled due to his overreliance on occult beliefs, leading him to neglect his duties as a ruler and ultimately be deposed.

23:57 In the 15th century, accusations of sorcery and witchcraft were used as a means to discredit and justify the death penalty against individuals like Joan of Arc, but in the 16th century, the Reformation brought about a shift in the use of these accusations, with Protestants using them to undermine the Catholic Church and convince people that Catholicism was no better than sorcery and witchcraft.

28:47 Dr. John Dee, a self-proclaimed successor to Merlin, had a reputation as an advisor to Queen Elizabeth I despite living in a Protestant country, and this can be attributed to the Tudor dynasty's fascination with Arthurian legends and the occult.

33:32 John Dee, a self-proclaimed successor to Merlin, was a conjurer who communicated with angels through mediums and saw himself as an adventurer in knowledge, believing that knowledge could come from various avenues; he also believed in an imagined British Empire established by King Arthur in the New World, inspired by tales of fair-skinned Native Americans speaking Welsh.

38:04 In Shakespeare's play The Tempest, the character of Prospero embodies influences from figures like Merlin, John Dee, and James I, reflecting the English imperial projects in the Atlantic, while also highlighting the contrast between Prospero's "good magic" and the darker magic represented by Caliban; during the civil wars in the 1640s, there was an increased interest in fortune tellers and prophets, exemplified by Prince Rupert's poodle, Boy, who was believed to be a witch in canine form providing intelligence to Rupert.

42:40 The Puritans viewed their opponents, including Prince Rupert and the royalists, as tantamount to necromancers due to their high church Armenian Christian beliefs, and the reign of James II in the late 17th century was the last period in British history when the occult had a measurable impact on kings and politicians.

47:41 Helen Duncan, a medium, was sentenced under the 1735 Witchcraft Act during World War II due to concerns that she could potentially reveal secrets about D-Day, making it the last public case of the occult intersecting with government policy and practice in Britain.