33 Posts from December 2016

Open Participants 2017, The Network

Frankenstein, Agrippa, and Magic

Christina Hendricks on December 31, 2016December 31, 2016

Beaded, by Myriams-Fotos, licensed CC0 on Pixabay Though the upcoming term is promising to be one of my most busy, I have high hopes for participating in Networked Narratives, a new online course (?… or more like an event, a happening, a creation?) organized by Alan Levine and Mia Zamora. According to the description of the course, we will be looking at questions like: How have networks transformed our ability to tell, share, and participate in stories in the […]

Open Participants 2017, The Network

Latin Reader (5): Nutrix ejus terra est.

Laura Gibbs on December 31, 2016January 4, 2017

Today, it's Emblem II from Michael Maier's Atalanta fugiens: Nutrix ejus terra est. Yesterday, we had an embryo in the belly of the Mercury-Wind, and today we have a little baby being suckled by the Earth. This one is more mythology than alchemy, as you can see the Earth here with the goat-nurse of Zeus on the left and the wolf-nurse of Romulus and Remus on the right:I think the wolf is the most nicely drawn of the three:Here is […]

Open Participants 2017, The Network

A Haiku Siren/ Irrevocable and Now/ Wailing and Wailing

tellio on December 31, 2016

Returning from Kevin Hodgson’s blog posts about haiku I felt obliged to comment Poetry is the world already transformed. Glad you are finding the deep well of grace that poetry is. And that you have drunk from it, deeply. Here are some other drinking sources: A unique multigenre haiku by Scott Helmes Some haiku from the Japanese master, Issa. An essay on the haiku as ‘Western’ form (really eyeopening). I felt the form in this especially deep drink of […]

Open Participants 2017, The Network

Latin Reader (4): Ventosa alvus

Laura Gibbs on December 30, 2016January 10, 2017

Now that I can get musical accompaniment for the "fugues" that accompany each emblem in the Atalanta fugiens, I am really going to enjoy doing these posts! I did Emblem XXXVI because it had showed up in Roos, and now I'll go back to the beginning and start with the first emblem: Portavit eum ventus in ventre suo.Portavit eum ventus in ventre suo.The wind carried him (portavi eum ventus) in his stomach (in ventre suo).Note the nice wordplay on ventus (wind, […]

Digital Alchemy Gold, Open Participants 2017, The Network

Roos. Alchemy and Mysticism (4)

Laura Gibbs on December 30, 2016February 1, 2017

Here are the other summary posts from Roos's Alchemy and Mysticism. I'm beginning the Macrocosm section of the book today at p. 34.Roos opens the Macrocosm section with a quote from the Timaeus about God creating the world as an illustration of his own perfection: "By turning it he shape it into a sphere, giving it the most perfect form of all."The first illustration is a weird and gorgeous walled courtyard from the Livre de Artephius, and there is also […]

Open Participants 2017, The Network

In the Shadows | #DDA1 for Netnarr

tellio on December 30, 2016

My first go at the #netnarr Daily Doodah Alchymystry. You control the pace of this narrative, the direction, and the volume. You can ‘reply’ to it. Or make your own. A simple ‘choose your own adventure’. For me, I took the word “shadow” as a narrative entire and looked for images on tumblr and Google Images that…fit. Let’s play! The second zeega below is one I screencast with my own pacing. Compare yours to mine.

Open Participants 2017, The Network

In the Shadows | #DDA1 for Netnarr

tellio on December 30, 2016

My first go at the #netnarr Daily Doodah Alchymystry. You control the pace of this narrative, the direction, and the volume. You can ‘reply’ to it. Or make your own. A simple ‘choose your own adventure’. For me, I took the word “shadow” as a narrative entire and looked for images on tumblr and Google Images that…fit. Let’s play! The second zeega below is one I screencast with my own pacing. Compare yours to mine.

Open Participants 2017, The Network

Latin Reader (3): De secretis Naturae.

Laura Gibbs on December 29, 2016January 4, 2017

Here is an item for the Alchemical Latin Reader from Atalanta fugiens which is online at Hathi Trust and also at Dresden; the Dresden copy is the source I used for the image below. I chose this one because it shows up in Roos; see the Roos post (and comments!) for more context. There's also a Wikipedia article about this fascinating book.Here is a full-sized view of the image. For a hand-colored version, see Adam McLean's website: Emblem XXXVI.If you look closely, the alchemical symbol for Mercury […]

Open Participants 2017, The Network

In which The Kid overhears the Origin Story of The Digital…

The Adventures of the Internet Kid on December 29, 2016December 29, 2016

In which The Kid overhears the Origin Story of The Digital Alchemist … dreaming of disruption …

Open Participants 2017, The Network

Roos. Alchemy and Mysticism (3)

Laura Gibbs on December 28, 2016December 29, 2016

Here are the other summary posts from Roos's Alchemy and Mysticism. I'm still on the Introduction to the book, starting today at p. 28.Roos has now moved into the allegorical reading of Paracelsus: "These Paracelsian Tria Prima [mercury, sulfur, salt] are not chemical substances, but spiritual forces, from whose changeable proportions the invisible blacksmiths or craftsmen of nature produce the transient material compositions of the objective world."Ooooh, I really like this passage: "Finding the correct source material for the Work […]

Open Participants 2017, The Network

Strange things happen when you in the #netnarr World. Horse has…

The Adventures of the Internet Kid on December 28, 2016December 28, 2016

Strange things happen when you in the #netnarr World. Horse has gone all shadowy.

Open Participants 2017, The Network

LUX UMBRA DEI EST

Laura Gibbs on December 28, 2016December 28, 2016

It's the first Daily Digital Alchemy challenge: Shadows of A Different World. Instructions: "Alchemists know that shadows of a different dimension reach into this world. Capture an unworldly example of a shadow of a different world. It should indicate something more than we can see with our own eyes."I decided to go with this beautifully paradoxical Latin saying: LUX UMBRA DEI EST. Light (lux) is (est) the shadow of god (umbra dei). I made a cheezburger cat with it, and you can also see […]

Open Participants 2017, The Network

What Horse saw through the #netnarr porthole

The Adventures of the Internet Kid on December 28, 2016December 28, 2016

What Horse saw through the #netnarr porthole

Open Participants 2017, The Network

NetNarr: Exploring the Notions of Digital Alchemy

dogtrax on December 28, 2016December 28, 2016

I am diving into the unknown terrain of Networked Narratives, an adventure set to unfold in 2017 across multiple platforms. Facilitated by Mia Zamora and Alan Levine, two people I always enjoy playing around with on the Web, NetNarr officially launches next month as a university course and an open education invitation. In other words, you don’t need to take Mia’s course to engage in the work. I’m still figuring out what it is (but am intrigued by the concept of […]

Open Participants 2017, The Network

Latin Reader (2): Astutam vulpem gallus voret

Laura Gibbs on December 27, 2016December 27, 2016

Here is an item for the Alchemical Latin Reader from Stoltzius's Viridarium chymicum of 1624 (PDF download); I chose this one because of the fox. This fox is both devouring a rooster (as you would expect) and being devoured in turn (paradoxically). The poem explains:Tertia Clavis Basilii (Basil's Third Key)E petris aquilae rigidum conjunge Draconem: Exuret pennas, solvet et ille nives. Cum sale coelesti sulphur servare memento, Astutam vulpem gallus ut inde voret. Ales mersus aquis ad vitam ex igne redibit, Sentiet atque parem vulpis […]