It is later revealed in Season 1 that Diana read two inscriptions in the book, one in original ink, by Ashmole, and another in pencil: 'In two parts, the first, anatomical, the second, psychological.' This second inscription is by Diana's father.

Diana returns the book in a flurry and rushes out of the library, where she brushes past a man who looks just like her deceased father. When she slams her hands on the page in fear, the words return to the page and the book burns her with a sigil. As Diana reads through the manuscript, the words of the book magically lift from the page and cover her hands. When Diana summons the book from the depths of the Bodleian Library for her research, she sees that at least three pages have been cut out. In Season 1 of A Discovery of Witches, The Book of Life, or Ashmole 782, is a centuries-old manuscript by Elias Ashmole, a 17th century antiquarian, astrologer and alchemist. What Is 'The Book of Life,' or Ashmole 782, in A Discovery of Witches? Despite the long-centuries ire between witches, vampires, and daemons, Matthew and Diana decide to put the prejudices between their species aside and work together to find the Book of Life. In his quest for the Book of Life, he seeks out Diana, who has become the target of other creatures who think she possesses the secrets of the Ashmole 782 manuscript. He believes the Book of Life, or Ashmole 782, has the answers he's looking for. Witch magic has become less potent over centuries vampires struggle to sire new progeny daemon suicides are on the rise. He wants to explain the origins of the creatures and discover why the creatures are dying out. Miriam Shephard (Aiysha Hart) and Marcus Whitmore (Edward Bluemel), as a geneticist and professor of biochemistry at Oxford, working to study the creature genome. At the beginning of Season 1, he works with two other vampires, Dr. Matthew Clairmont, played by Matthew Goode, is a millenia-old vampire from the revered de Clermont clan of vampires. Who Is Matthew Clairmont in A Discovery of Witches? Her discovery puts her on a collision course with a powerful vampire, Matthew Clairmont. Diana distances herself from the community of fellow witches, and instead dedicates her life to understanding the scientific aspect of magic through the history of alchemy.ĭiana spends most of her time in Oxford's Bodleian Library committed to her research, until the day she checks out a mysterious manuscript, Ashmole 782, that changes her life - and the lives of all witches, vampires, and daemons. But Diana has always been uncomfortable with her magic, finding the whole concept difficult to embrace after her parents' murder for being witches. She's also a witch, one of the three supernatural races that live in the shadows of human society along with vampires and daemons. Who Is Diana Bishop in A Discovery of Witches?ĭiana Bishop, played by Teresa Palmer, is a historian and visiting research fellow at Oxford, studying 17th century alchemy.

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