On Wed. 2/25/17, the Networked Narratives (http://netnarr.arganee.world) discussed the foundational theme of this open connected course – Alchemy!
Original published to https://storify.com/MiaZamoraPhD/what-is-alchemy-our-first-netnarr-twitterchat
Welcome to the 1st #NetNarr twitterchat! Please introduce yourself and mention where in the world you are.
— Networked Narratives (@netnarr) January 25, 2017
So many FANTASTIC people introduced themselves, and we had a couple of guest experts on hand:
I'm John Stewart, historian and teacher, and I'm in Oklahoma #NetNarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
hi everybody, I'm Laura, living in NC, teaching online for U of Oklahoma… and #NetNarr has turned me into an alchemy book sleuth@netnarr
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
Just a warm up question to get us acclimated:
Warm up ?: On a scale from 1-10, how much do you know about Alchemy? (1=nothing, 10=everything) #NetNarr
— Networked Narratives (@netnarr) January 25, 2017
People were making claims and adjustments on their own alchemy knowledge ;)…. Then the first question:
Q1: Where in the world was alchemy practiced & what historical eras were most significant for the practice of Alchemy? #NetNarr
— Networked Narratives (@netnarr) January 25, 2017
A1) before the internet. People had to keep busy somehow. #netnarr
— Keegan🦔Long-Wheeler (@KeeganSLW) January 25, 2017
Was there any part of the world that practiced it more than others? #netnarr
— Richonda (@apoeticlife) January 25, 2017
A1) About 600BC-1900AD and all over the world. China, India, Middle East, Europe, North and South America #netnarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
A1 #netnarr a great thing about alchemy: it spread far and fast, lasted long…and much was discussed in international language of LATIN 🙂
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
Alchemy supposedly died around 1700, but it was clearly practiced throughout the 18th c. and into the 19th #netnarr https://t.co/4ZfIiIhD2H
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
@jstew511 Wow! I didn't know the alchemy tradition persisted all the way until the 1900s! #netnarr
— Katherine Marzinsky (@KMarzinsky) January 25, 2017
So druids are considered alchemists too? #netnarr
— JZM (@Ignis_Mentis) January 25, 2017
Druids weren't known for their alchemy. More astronomy #netnarr https://t.co/mVedOZoGI9
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Was latin the primary language used with alchemy? #netnarr
— Victoria Sardinas (@Vick_Sardinas) January 25, 2017
did different communities from different locales know of each others practices? What links? #netnarr
— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
Arabic cultures served as an exchange between distinct Chinese, Indian, and Greek traditions. Melded them and improved them #netnarr https://t.co/nGaydbr3wp
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
A1 #netnarr alchemy spoke to philosophers/scientists theologians doctors artists… one of best/weirdest science-art mergers of all time!
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
why was it thought to have died? Was it outlawed? #netnarr
— Rissa Candiloro (@RissaCandiloro) January 25, 2017
any chance there are modern day alchemists alive & practicing today? #netnarr
— hailey (@stryii) January 25, 2017
Did alchemy ever play a role in undermining certain economies? Not that it was limited to producing gold, but that's what I hear.
#netnarr— Alex Grimes (@TheCollector314) January 25, 2017
It was outlawed, but that's actually a sign that it was doing well. You don't outlaw things that people aren't doing #netnarr https://t.co/1VddDtSX8h
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Did alchemy meet different needs from mainstream medicine or science? It fascinates me that it was able to exist alongside them #netnarr
— Katherine Marzinsky (@KMarzinsky) January 25, 2017
Did alchemists communicate? share? trade? publish? #netnarr
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
All I knew about alchemy is that it was made illegal in England. #netnarr
— JZM (@Ignis_Mentis) January 25, 2017
Did Alchemy really die? I feel like ancient tools are still used today… Why would it die when it's interesting? #netnarr
— Alicia-Rae (@Acqua121793) January 25, 2017
Alchemy died because it was too expensive and did not provide good results. There were more useful alternatives #netnarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
A1 #netnarr check out Waite for modern interest / revival https://t.co/4Y79s0PmSd his books online! Arthur Edward Waite (1857 – 1942),
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
A1 #netnarr but it has lived on very much in art and psychology, mysticism of various kinds, because it still "does its job" well@jstew511
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
Its always about the money 😉 #netnarr
— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
Alchemy wasn't always about money. In China it was much more about medicine. In India, about medicine and reproduction #netnarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Things never die out completely; see Kevin Kelly pursuit of technology that never dies https://t.co/li5xuyI4uA #netnarr
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
Alchemy was a part of medicine, chemistry, botany, mineralogy, metalurgy until they broke away at various points #netnarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Metalurgy…we need to tinker with this! #netnarr
— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
Basically the whole history of metallurgy/smelting in intertwined with alchemy. Ore refining, gold-plating, etc. #netnarr https://t.co/noKul1kojq
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Question #2:
Q2: What is your understanding about the basis of alchemy? Magic, chemistry, immortality? Please clarify. #NetNarr
— Networked Narratives (@netnarr) January 25, 2017
My understanding is that alchemy was turning led to gold. Is that an unnatural process? We turn coal into diamonds today, don't we? #netnarr
— Brooke Levine (@alchemyezas123) January 25, 2017
and now it's back in a "digital" way??hmmm… #netnarr
— Laura Lopez (@wanderer_920) January 25, 2017
WE ARE BRINGIN IT BACK! ALCHEMY WILL BE BIGLY #netnarr
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
So you're saying it's going to be uuuuuuge #netnarr
— Steph Jones (@MrsJayJ) January 25, 2017
bigly has to go in the dictionary now #netnarr
— Evergreen Lady (@writeannabella) January 25, 2017
Like Rider-Waite!!! #Netnarr
— Autumm Caines is a Liminal Space (@Autumm) January 25, 2017
exactly! alchemy lives on where it still serves people's needs: mysticism, imagination, inspiration… #netnarr
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
A2: I get the idea alchemists tried early scientific approaches? experimentation? testing hypotheses? iterating? #netnarr
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
What are some of the alternatives that we use today? #netnarr
— Steph Jones (@MrsJayJ) January 25, 2017
A2: Equivalent exchange, but I'm not sure if that had anything to do with real alchemy, or just Fullmetal Alchemist #netnarr
— Katherine Marzinsky (@KMarzinsky) January 25, 2017
I read up that FMA didn't follow any real rules of alchemy… ): #netnarr
— hailey (@stryii) January 25, 2017
I think the general principle is still there, despite the fiction aspect y'know? #netnarr
— Masooch (@masooch94) January 25, 2017
can you equate alchemy to any other ancient (or otherwise) practice? #netnarr
— Laura Lopez (@wanderer_920) January 25, 2017
Ceramics and pottery are heavily indebted to alchemy. Check out Palissy ware: https://t.co/WfFlty7BWG #netnarr https://t.co/noKul1kojq
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
I guess alchemy would be classified as a science today and not be so looked down upon compared to the earlier centuries
#netnarr— Alex Grimes (@TheCollector314) January 25, 2017
What I am fascinated by is the idea that alchemists wanted to breathe life into the inanimate…. #netnarr
— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
This is something I talked about in my blog today! Bringing life to the still #netnarr
— Richonda (@apoeticlife) January 25, 2017
I think the basis of alchemy is synthesis #netnarr
— Autumm Caines is a Liminal Space (@Autumm) January 25, 2017
Sorry having a hard time keeping up with great questions. #netnarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
A2: I believe that alchemy brings us back to the beginning of when man was closer to God if you believe in him. magic, so many ppl #netnarr
— Evergreen Lady (@writeannabella) January 25, 2017
I love that idea too. I strive to give voices to inanimate objects in a lot of my creative works #netnarr
— Katherine Marzinsky (@KMarzinsky) January 25, 2017
A2: I guess my idea of alchemy's "purpose" was to make worthless things into something precious-like lead into gold #netnarr
— Kelli (@helterskelliter) January 25, 2017
they were also obsessed, understandably, w/ natural forms of generation, transformation, transmutation all around us! #netnarr
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
Why is alchemy often made to sound more mystic than scientific? Like, more wizards in robes than chemists? #netnarr
— Rissa Candiloro (@RissaCandiloro) January 25, 2017
@MiaZamoraPhD love that you mentioned bringing life to the still. We are the alchemists to our stories and we breath life into them #netnarr
— Alicia-Rae (@Acqua121793) January 25, 2017
I love alchemy. Believe me. I think it's tremendous. I love it so much your head will spin. #netnarr
— Brooke Levine (@alchemyezas123) January 25, 2017
Harry Potterfication! #netnarr
— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
Alchemy comes from "al" the Arabic version of "the" and "chemy." It was just "the chemistry" until it became a bad word. #netnarr https://t.co/UtjFy52OWx
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
I just read section of Splendor Solis today which asks us to consider miracle that is creation of chicken in the egg! #netnarr
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
interesting how Eurocentric countries were more concerned over economic aspects of alchemy than health use #netnarr
— hailey (@stryii) January 25, 2017
I always thought druids were wise potion makers and philosophers. Are they sort of alchemists? #netnarr
— JZM (@Ignis_Mentis) January 25, 2017
I agree. I think a lot of it was about a fascination with one thing being able to be something else #netnarr
— Richonda (@apoeticlife) January 25, 2017
Perhaps alchemy is the juncture between knowing and not knowing. If science = what man knows and magic = what we don't/can't know #netnarr
— Katherine Marzinsky (@KMarzinsky) January 25, 2017
Do you think that it was looked upon as a form of witchcraft? #netnarr
— Steph Jones (@MrsJayJ) January 25, 2017
I think it is bc alchemy believed that magic was part of science. During its downfall science had to reject magic #netnarr
— Autumm Caines is a Liminal Space (@Autumm) January 25, 2017
In Germany, there were a large group of noble woman who brewed healing waters using alchemy/chemistry. https://t.co/k8uwWGAmp0 #netnarr https://t.co/3Zm6hZHCCj
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Yay women alchemists FTW!!! @jstew511 #netnarr
— Alicia-Rae (@Acqua121793) January 25, 2017
@stryii @jstew511 makes sense since most Western countries are focused on the individual while eastern countries are on community #netnarr
— Kelli (@helterskelliter) January 25, 2017
i like that idea of alchemy being at the threshold, very interesting #netnarr
— hailey (@stryii) January 25, 2017
beautiful…the halo of a good story is a kind of immortality, no? #netnarr
— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
A2) Alchemy is a bit harder to wrap my head around with the baggage from a chemistry background. But I’m thinking at chemical level #netnarr
— Keegan🦔Long-Wheeler (@KeeganSLW) January 25, 2017
exactly! & things "hidden" inside other things, things that we might be able to glimpse, reveal, refine #netnarr
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
Say more about that Laura!! #netnarr
— Autumm Caines is a Liminal Space (@Autumm) January 25, 2017
Alchemy wasn't always about magic. That's really a rhetoric for discrediting alchemy that came around in 19th c. #netnarr https://t.co/ac9IgCsmEu
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
interesting! And a little sad, because without all of it's stiffness, chemistry and science are pretty magical #netnarr
— Rissa Candiloro (@RissaCandiloro) January 25, 2017
YES! I was reading book today which contends 22 pictures in Splendor Solis alchemy allegory = tarot arcana #Netnarr
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
Is cooking, baking some form of alchemy? #netnarr
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
I kind of think so.. like how does dough become bread???🤔🤔 #netnarr
— Evergreen Lady (@writeannabella) January 25, 2017
I think there's a TED Talk about how you can use aspects of alchemy in cooking… yum #netnarr
— hailey (@stryii) January 25, 2017
I truly believe baking can be! #netnarr
— Richonda (@apoeticlife) January 25, 2017
I was just thinking that this all sounds very Harry Potteresque and I <3 it! #netnarr
— Steph Jones (@MrsJayJ) January 25, 2017
#netnarr pic.twitter.com/910QQZEZF7
— Steph Jones (@MrsJayJ) January 25, 2017
Someone recently tweeted alchemical properties of food https://t.co/YJOJawZDJ5 #netnarr
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
It is still used as a discrediting word – I hear it all the time! "That's alchemy" used as hocus pocus #netnarr
— Autumm Caines is a Liminal Space (@Autumm) January 25, 2017
Did alchemy have anything to do with the tradition of the wunderkammer/cabinet of curiosities? #selfindulgence #netnarr
— Katherine Marzinsky (@KMarzinsky) January 25, 2017
Key thoughts on alchemy. 1) Chrysopoeia is the attempt to convert base metals into gold. #netnarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Chrysopoeia…that is a word to file!
#netnarr— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
I'm getting my pizza dough warmed up right now. #netnarr
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
Baking and brewing were absolutely considered parts of alchemy. #netnarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
if you look at magic, it is often about the powers of demons, devils but alchemy is NATURE, insistently so #netnarr
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
Alchemy was about understanding the natural properties of materials, and trying to find ways to improve those materials #netnarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Well than alchemy is still alive today. If we are considering baking and cooking apart of alchemy #netnarr
— Victoria Sardinas (@Vick_Sardinas) January 25, 2017
Chemistry has basically the same definition. #netnarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Alchemy is just potions class, minus Snape 😉
#netnarr— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
In the 17th and 18th centuries, people started to separate alchemy from chemistry to promote the newer word as a new science #netnarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
For some reason human reproduction sounds a lot like like alchemy. I just dropped down to a level "4." #netnarr
— Laura Lopez (@wanderer_920) January 25, 2017
My bread making was bad chemistry https://t.co/XVx2bIx49c #netnarr
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
Question #3:
Q3: What were the goals associated w/alchemy? What was the most popular desired outcome? #NetNarr
— Networked Narratives (@netnarr) January 25, 2017
Rhetoric: Chemistry was all the good things people liked. Alchemy was all the bad things that were expensive and didn't work. #netnarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
would you say there are ties between alchemy and homeopathy? #netnarr
— Rissa Candiloro (@RissaCandiloro) January 25, 2017
Practical alchemists like Paracelsus & Newton helped create the scientific method. P. developed mercury to treat syphilis. #netnarr
— Lisa M. Lane (@LisaMLane) January 25, 2017
@jstew511 Interesting how just changing something's name can change its connotations and perceived value. Rhetoric = alchemy ? #netnarr
— Katherine Marzinsky (@KMarzinsky) January 25, 2017
i was also thinking about modern day witches & their practices as something that is akin to alchemy #netnarr
— hailey (@stryii) January 25, 2017
oh, almighty alchemists, turn my lack of money into stacks of money #netnarr
— Alex Grimes (@TheCollector314) January 25, 2017
A3) The homunculus was a popular goal of alchemy https://t.co/MhR3d0NDHg #netnarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
The Homunculus!!! Tell us more! #netnarr
— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
@jstew511 is a homonculus like a golem?
#netnarr— Kelli (@helterskelliter) January 25, 2017
Did this idea/goal somehow inspire genetic engineering and eugenics?
#netnarr— Richonda (@apoeticlife) January 25, 2017
@jstew511 with the homonculi, were their strong ethical concerns like there a re now with cloning? #netnarr
— Kelli (@helterskelliter) January 25, 2017
The idea was that if you could produce a person in a tube, you could cut out original sin. It might even create a second messiah #netnarr https://t.co/kjrEtnoqRR
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
A person in a tube…whoa. #netnarr
— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
That is pretty creepy stuff #netnarr
— Autumm Caines is a Liminal Space (@Autumm) January 25, 2017
knowledge is truly power #netnarr
— Evergreen Lady (@writeannabella) January 25, 2017
The way you make a homunculus is to put sperm in a bottle with human blood, and keep it warm til it grows #netnarr https://t.co/5eXQY9HRoO
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Whoa….this is killing me. Misogyny runs deep…. #netnarr
— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
literally disgusting #netnarr
— hailey (@stryii) January 25, 2017
and some even contended women's breast milk was generated from their husband's sperm: men do it all, even breast milk! #netnarr
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
Were alchemists ever interested in creating other types of new life (animals, beasts, diseases, etc)? #netnarr
— Katherine Marzinsky (@KMarzinsky) January 25, 2017
Maybe https://t.co/vjWzvX2jbL #netnarr
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
i think this is an important idea for #digitalstorytelling later! how storytelling changes thru time #netnarr
— hailey (@stryii) January 25, 2017
They made boluses, salves, ointments, etc. for every common ailment. They made alcohol. Paints, dyes, mordants, etc. #netnarr https://t.co/ZtyuftI7Ty
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
What was the Sorcerer's Stone? #netnarr
— JZM (@Ignis_Mentis) January 25, 2017
The sorcerer's stone or philosopher's stone (and Flamel was a real guy by the way) was a way to convert lead into gold #netnarr https://t.co/LCIhZHaLvQ
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
for Flamel, I love this fun series: Alchemyst: Secrets of Immortal Nicholas Flamel https://t.co/WXAh65GNH5 #netnarr
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
I had no idea the sorcerer's stone was a real thing! Now I have to read into this. #netnarr
— Rissa Candiloro (@RissaCandiloro) January 25, 2017
The emerald tablet was supposedly a recipe for the philosopher's stone – the material that could convert lead into gold #netnarr https://t.co/NaAclkCQh0
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
So if the sorcerer's stone is real, I should be expecting my acceptance letter from Hogwarts soon? #netnarr
— Brooke Levine (@alchemyezas123) January 25, 2017
Don't leave the mailbox except for sandwiches and bathroom breaks #netnarr https://t.co/fjt2F8Kchm
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Part of the mystery in alchemy is that those people who did understand chemistry and metallurgy protected their knowledge w/ code #netnarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Alchemists= Secret spies with secret codes… #netnarr
— Alicia-Rae (@Acqua121793) January 25, 2017
It explains the last election as the experiment gone haywire? #netnarr
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
Protecting knowledge with codes…now here we go with links to digital alchemy #netnarr
— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
That may explain why there is strange code on our course site…I'm about 75% done decoding! #netnarr
— Laura Lopez (@wanderer_920) January 25, 2017
Alchemists were interested in other kinds of life, but usually didn't try to make them. Thought they might have useful properties #netnarr https://t.co/we9izCTFOY
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Somebody transmute a gate for this stream of tweets, so i can have more than 3 seconds to read each one
#netnarr— Alex Grimes (@TheCollector314) January 25, 2017
So do hackers have anything in common with alchemists?
#netnarr— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
Who is posting questions? (Or is everyone?) #netnarr
— Wendy Taleo (@wentale) January 25, 2017
@wanderer_920 you have not even seen the full extent of my weird code #netnarr
— Rebeg Maestro (@rebegmaestro) January 25, 2017
Alchemists, like later inventors, wanted to protect profitable ideas. Think corporate espionage #netnarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Question #4:
Q4: If alchemy was risky business, what would happen 2 alchemists if they were caught? What did people think of alchemists? #NetNarr
— Networked Narratives (@netnarr) January 25, 2017
@miazamoraphd ooohhh cool!! @jstew511 Was their something like black market alchemy? #netnarr
— Kelli (@helterskelliter) January 25, 2017
a4 trouble makers #netnarr
— Evergreen Lady (@writeannabella) January 25, 2017
A4 #netnarr Chaucer's story of the alchemist is brilliant: https://t.co/B7VZRMuOlL … Chaucer himself knew a LOT about alchemy too it seems
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
A4 Rub two alchemists together and you get? #netnarr
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
watch right now what is going on with #netnarr for a live example.
— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) January 25, 2017
When an alchemist died, there might be a rush to his house to try to get his papers before other alchemists. Newton tried this. #netnarr https://t.co/QlrmOt3wiR
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
like vultures!
#netnarr— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
Q4: So does that mean since they were considered magical in a way and sinful, they were treated like Salem witches? #netnarr
— Alicia-Rae (@Acqua121793) January 25, 2017
Yes I like the strange ideas as a way of story telling. I love linking weird elements together. #netnarr
— Wendy Taleo (@wentale) January 25, 2017
Angry alchemists? #netnarr https://t.co/9Fx7FlXmh4
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Alchemists like storytellers were often full of BS #netnarr yet described the BS in the most elegant ways
— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) January 25, 2017
Is it all 'fake news'? I love how they have put that in the dictionary this year. #netnarr
— Wendy Taleo (@wentale) January 25, 2017
Alchemists were at times persecuted and at others hired as governmental advisers or heads of the mint (Newton) #netnarr https://t.co/35DOt6WIdk
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
.@MiaZamoraPhD @jstew511 lets change this with digital alchemy! #netnarr
— Keegan🦔Long-Wheeler (@KeeganSLW) January 25, 2017
Alchemists are weird. I am suddenly glad that I am not a real one. #netnarr
— JZM (@Ignis_Mentis) January 25, 2017
i don't think I even wanna be a fake digital alchemist at this point either #netnarr
— hailey (@stryii) January 25, 2017
alchemists were actually pretty spiritual, not looked at as sinful, not consorting w/ devil as witches supposedly did #netnarr
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
good question…I was imagining biblical lepers…tax collectors…. #netnarr
— Laura Lopez (@wanderer_920) January 25, 2017
@jstew511 Was Newton's alchemy work respected? #netnarr
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
Likely a spectrum of alchemy personalities? #netnarr
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
Very. He and Robert Boyle traded notes and recipes. Newton was hired to head the mint because of his alchemy, not his physics #netnarr https://t.co/HxURgVzO7h
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Quick snapshot of #SNA from the #netnarr twitter chat @SocioVizNet pic.twitter.com/MOIvvKWHq8
— Autumm Caines is a Liminal Space (@Autumm) January 25, 2017
I would think that alchemists were of our earlier day chemists trying their hands at new ideas in various fields to further us all #netnarr
— Alex Grimes (@TheCollector314) January 25, 2017
John Dee was an adviser to Queen Elizabeth I. He wrote on angels and demons and how alchemy could help you meet angels. #netnarr https://t.co/9hB84PF40a
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
@wentale i heard that religious animosity towards alchemists is a myth #netnarr
— Kelli (@helterskelliter) January 25, 2017
Yes, for the most part. Many alchemists were doctors or apothecaries and vice versa. They did dissections when they could. #netnarr https://t.co/EYotYkBoUu
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Alchemists were often very religious. Closely tied to early medieval Indian religion, Islam, Christianity, Daoism, Judaism, etc. #netnarr https://t.co/4c31cp7Fwn
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Alchemists are behind election fraud #netnarr
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
Collecting names… #netnarr … scanning you …
— Rebeg Maestro (@rebegmaestro) January 25, 2017
YOU!!! #netnarr
— Laura Lopez (@wanderer_920) January 25, 2017
and for people who read Michael Scott's Nicholas Flamel series, John Dee is just BAD NEWS ha ha 🙂 #netnarr
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
#netnarr – it also seems that he therefore expected his literate sophisticated audience to know about it too
— Backyard Alchemist (@guthrie_stewart) January 25, 2017
A4. I have a feeling that alchemists were lumped with the 'unbelievers' and heretic crew. #netnarr
— Wendy Taleo (@wentale) January 25, 2017
@cogdog wouldn't be surprised at this point #alternativefacts #netnarr
— Kelli (@helterskelliter) January 25, 2017
Take away: Alchemy has a serious dark side. There is the spiritual/transcendent impulse, but also the dark grab for divine power. #netnarr
— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
Le sigh…
…. there is that thing about absolute power… #netnarr
— Autumm Caines is a Liminal Space (@Autumm) January 25, 2017
Did any alchemists sell their soul to the devil to get infinite knowledge? #netnarr
— JZM (@Ignis_Mentis) January 25, 2017
seems like some were definitely willing…the Faustian bargain! #netnarr
— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
@Ignis_Mentis The market for souls is depressed. The devil has been undercut by the Venutians #netnarr
— Rebeg Maestro (@rebegmaestro) January 25, 2017
seems like so many people in today's world will sell their "soul" for so much less than that #netnarr
— Laura Lopez (@wanderer_920) January 25, 2017
Might have if they could have? It is the plot to several novels including Frankenstein. #netnarr https://t.co/hXYLFBUPdh
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
@jstew511 how does immortality fit into all this? that sounds like biggest slap in the face to the church? #netnarr
— Kelli (@helterskelliter) January 25, 2017
@jstew511 or was immortality thought of as the biggest cure-all? #netnarr
— Kelli (@helterskelliter) January 25, 2017
if alchemy has religious roots and is a precursor to chemistry, funny how religion is often so afraid of science… #netnarr
— hailey (@stryii) January 25, 2017
Great point. Alchemists believed they were recovering some of the earliest and truest forms of divinely granted knowledge #netnarr https://t.co/iHvY2BfRpf
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
That was often an attack on alchemy. That people were trying to change/supercede the nature that god had built #netnarr https://t.co/r19EKK3BLE
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
interesting bc it doesn't sound like the alchemists goals were negative. Ppl have always been afraid of the unknown #netnarr
— Rissa Candiloro (@RissaCandiloro) January 25, 2017
Alchemy is a great metaphor for storytelling and what we do with digital media. #netnarr So #ephemeral
— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) January 25, 2017
people are always afraid of what they can't fathom in their minds #netnarr
— hailey (@stryii) January 25, 2017
Great question for the audience. Were alchemy and religion at odds or complimentary? What about science and religion? #netnarr https://t.co/q0WqZoTgTg
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
I've always felt like science and religion/spirituality are complementary… But that idea doesn't seem very popular #netnarr
— Katherine Marzinsky (@KMarzinsky) January 25, 2017
Alchemy could be a way to purify your soul, come closer to God, and thus achieve immortality through him. Or it could be sacrilege #netnarr https://t.co/KKTQrZdJEU
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Honestly, I think it just depends on the person, their beliefs, and how they interpret it. @RissaCandiloro @jstew511 #netnarr
— Quanesha Burr (@QuaneshaSB) January 25, 2017
They had been throughout history. Most scientists (even in America) still identify as religious #netnarr https://t.co/VZTmrbTBsB
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
Question #5:
Q5: How might alchemy be an important idea or metaphor for digital life and networked learning today? #NetNarr
— Networked Narratives (@netnarr) January 25, 2017
A4) Anyone have any (digital) alchemists in their life they would shoutout to? #netnarr
— Keegan🦔Long-Wheeler (@KeeganSLW) January 25, 2017
you! #netnarr
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
— Keegan🦔Long-Wheeler (@KeeganSLW) January 25, 2017
Moo#netnarr
— The Jolt (@AwoJolt) January 25, 2017
shout out to @hrheingold! 🙂 #netnarr
— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
A5) Alchemy is about studying the properties of something and then trying to improve it. Can do that in digital or physical realms #netnarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
A5: coding and ideas of transform stand out to be #netnarr
— Kelli (@helterskelliter) January 25, 2017
Yeah I really like the idea of overly complex coding languages as being a protection of valuable knowledge #netnarr https://t.co/nx9PdmuIwA
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
A5: Alchemy is a free environment to "play" around with the world around you. Storytelling is also a free way in expressing worlds #netnarr
— JZM (@Ignis_Mentis) January 25, 2017
A5) seems like the basis of alchemy and storytelling have been around since the start of everything & continue to live today #netnarr
— hailey (@stryii) January 25, 2017
Maybe some fragments, the stream buries most. Plus not enough norms have lived long enough to die and really find out #netnarr
— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) January 25, 2017
A5. Turning lead into gold has always been a metaphor for improvement for me. #netnarr
— Autumm Caines is a Liminal Space (@Autumm) January 25, 2017
A5: plus, i think the coding lends itself to a kind of creativity too–creating a secret language for the transformative and mystic #netnarr
— Kelli (@helterskelliter) January 25, 2017
Also, @Bali_Maha! 🙂 #netnarr
— Keegan🦔Long-Wheeler (@KeeganSLW) January 25, 2017
A5 #netnarr I love how alchemy is about creation and really working HARD at creating things; it's not easy… but it is worth the work! 🙂
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
A5: One is always looking to improve the way digital spaces are used and occupied. The what's working and what could work better.. #netnarr
— Richonda (@apoeticlife) January 25, 2017
And often you are not quite sure what you are concocting. #netnarr
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
A5: I think in a digital sense alchemy can definitely be a concept to keep in mind #netnarr
— Richonda (@apoeticlife) January 25, 2017
#netnarr "the worker in this art should be careful and assiduous in his efforts, and not grow weary, but persevere to the end"
— Backyard Alchemist (@guthrie_stewart) January 25, 2017
I love the name backyard alchemist #netnarr
— Evergreen Lady (@writeannabella) January 25, 2017
wonderful book on science and BEAUTY: I loved this one! Frank Wilczek. A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature's Deep Design #netnarr
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 25, 2017
Alchemy and storytelling both attempt to breathe life into something inanimate, in order to reach for a kind of immortality. #netnarr
— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
A5. We have so many digital tools and mediums that we can mix and match. Digital alchemists transmute mundane into beauty #netnarr
— Autumm Caines is a Liminal Space (@Autumm) January 25, 2017
A5 there are a lot of properties in alchemy, the basic idea that it takes more than one element, interacting, to make a story 1/2 #netnarr
— Wendy Taleo (@wentale) January 25, 2017
#netnarr from Heines translation of Libellus de alchimia, page 13
— Backyard Alchemist (@guthrie_stewart) January 25, 2017
A5 I'm thinking in terms of weaving moments into something greater- as in alchemy base products were made to be more when combined #netnarr
— Rissa Candiloro (@RissaCandiloro) January 25, 2017
A5) Alchemy as metaphor 4 our crafts (teaching, etc.). Aimin to change the world for the better. Beyond formulaically->alchemically #netnarr
— Keegan🦔Long-Wheeler (@KeeganSLW) January 25, 2017
Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim called Paracelsus#netnarr pic.twitter.com/LwS7HsDeud
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
and not grow weary….just keep tinkering!! #netnarr
— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 25, 2017
Shape something less ideal into that which you desire. Make the most of hat you have and turn it into treasure #netnarr
— Alex Grimes (@TheCollector314) January 25, 2017
If we're requesting alchemical transformations, I'd love to be about 4 inches taller 🙂 #netnarr
— Brooke Levine (@alchemyezas123) January 25, 2017
that is he ultimate goal and to reach that point is 👌🏽🙌🏽 #netnarr
— Steph Jones (@MrsJayJ) January 25, 2017
More history: Robert Boyle wrote the Skeptical Chymist and many point to him as the father of chemistry. He was an alchemist #netnarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
A5: both alchemy and storytelling seek to instill new purpose in their materials #netnarr
— Kelli (@helterskelliter) January 25, 2017
A5 it takes two ( or more) to tango. #netnarrhttps://t.co/oW7Qcw4HnP 2/2
— Wendy Taleo (@wentale) January 25, 2017
creation is the ultimate goal. #netnarr
— Steph Jones (@MrsJayJ) January 25, 2017
He wrote a second book defending the reality and or at least potentiality of the philosopher's stone and spent his life pursuing it #netnarr https://t.co/N3fcAqdLnZ
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
A5. Also thinking about digital alchemy as a way of experimenting with digital tools #netnarr
— Autumm Caines is a Liminal Space (@Autumm) January 25, 2017
beautiful description….iare beauty and mundane subjective? am I, too, something "more ugly" when I practice alchemy? #netnarr
— Laura Lopez (@wanderer_920) January 25, 2017
Is alchemy focused of reality or does it go into the realms of magic? #netnarr
— JZM (@Ignis_Mentis) January 25, 2017
@ignis_Mentis i think alchemy seeks to bring magic into the realm of reality #netnarr
— Kelli (@helterskelliter) January 25, 2017
love this #netnarr
— Keegan🦔Long-Wheeler (@KeeganSLW) January 25, 2017
A5) alternatively, both alchemists and storytellers are discredited by society (and their parents) & told to get "a real job" 😛 #netnarr
— hailey (@stryii) January 25, 2017
Winner for the night #netnarr https://t.co/Bcjk3mFd0d
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
ouch #netnarr I wonder what a "real job" looks like?
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
The 5th element is the soul. Preserving that….that is the thing. #netnarr
— Wendy Taleo (@wentale) January 25, 2017
#netnarr alchemy was oddly secret yet widely known about, and people did talk
— Backyard Alchemist (@guthrie_stewart) January 25, 2017
Well, in the strictest sense of the word, "occult" just means hidden, right? So, it's not completely wrong #netnarr
— Katherine Marzinsky (@KMarzinsky) January 25, 2017
#netnarr but oddly the Libellus also says "…the worker in this art must be silent and secretive and reveal his secret to no one…"
— Backyard Alchemist (@guthrie_stewart) January 25, 2017
Some of the wealthiest & most successful alchemists were Italian glassmakers. Another profitable industry protected with code #netnarr
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 26, 2017
In the 19th century, when people became more interested in the occult, they revived alchemy as part of the occult #netnarr https://t.co/aCATmTBzIL
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 25, 2017
We also mis-use the other four elements, either through ignorance or because we can. #netnarr
— Wendy Taleo (@wentale) January 26, 2017
Woohoo @hrheingold slips in our #netnarr twitter chat https://t.co/Y2YHnPivC0
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 25, 2017
Our time is up! Thanks so much everyone 4 weighing in during this enlightening firehose of a conversation! #NetNarr
— Networked Narratives (@netnarr) January 26, 2017
Mind = Blown xD great chat! learned so much idk what to do with it all #netnarr
— Kelli (@helterskelliter) January 26, 2017
learned so much tonight 🙂 <3 glad to have been here. 💖 #netnarr
— Evergreen Lady (@writeannabella) January 26, 2017
This was a very enlightening twitter chat. I feel I have learned so much already #netnarr
— Richonda (@apoeticlife) January 26, 2017
So much to ponder…. #netnarr
— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 26, 2017
Thank you so much for answering our many questions! I'm so glad to have been a part of this experience! #netnarr
— Alicia-Rae (@Acqua121793) January 26, 2017
I'll try to contribute a beginner's survey of the history of alchemy as a #netnarr blogpost.
— John Stewart (@jstew511) January 26, 2017
I learned as much as I could from 3 seconds of attention per post. Still enlightening
#netnarr— Alex Grimes (@TheCollector314) January 26, 2017
This #netnarr twitter chat was magical. Thanks @jstew511 @OnlineCrsLady So cool that @guthrie_stewart found us!
— Alan Levine ☠ (@cogdog) January 26, 2017
I think alchemists are really strange after tonight. But I still want to be one. (kinda) #netnarr
— JZM (@Ignis_Mentis) January 26, 2017
Thanks for talking to us tonight! Def learned a lot more! @masooch94 are you still an 8 on the alchemy knowledge chart? 😛 #netnarr
— hailey (@stryii) January 26, 2017
Thx everyone!! #netnarr
— Mia Zamora (@MiaZamoraPhD) January 26, 2017
YES! much like us, talking online 🙂 #NetNarr … thanks to @cogdog and @MiaZamoraPhD for this alchemy convo!!! 🙂
— Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) January 26, 2017
Let's keep making magical connections in the digital realm! #netnarr
— Networked Narratives (@netnarr) January 26, 2017