The History of Alchemy w/ Sara Norja
Spirits: Mythology, Legends, & Folklore
Multitude
4.8 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 7 December 2022
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What you know about alchemy might only be a scratch on the surface. Metal to gold? It’s so much more than that! We’re joined by Sara Norja, who is teaching us the history of alchemy. Also featuring PhD swords, philology, and the alchemy of ISAAC NEWTON??
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of pseudoscience, stillbirth, death, and medical issues.
Guest
Sara Norja dreams in two languages and has a predilection for tea. Born in England to Finnish parents and settled in Helsinki, Finland, she lives for words, dance, and moments of wonder. She has a PhD in English language history; her dissertation was on early English alchemical manuscript texts. She writes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in English and Finnish.
Housekeeping
- Recommendation: This week, Julia recommends The Wisteria Society for Lady Scoundrels by India Holton.
- Books: Check out our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, and more at spiritspodcast.com/books
- Call to Action: Check out Join the Party, a collaborative storytelling and roleplaying podcast co-hosted in part by Julia and Amanda. Search for Join the Party in your podcast app, or go to jointhepartypod.com.
Sponsors
- BetterHelp is a secure online counseling service. Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/spirits
- Brooklinen delivers luxury bed sheets, pillows, comforters, & blankets straight to your door. Visit Brooklinen.com today and save 15% on your first purchase plus free shipping
- Calm is the #1 app to help you reduce your anxiety and stress and help you sleep better. Get 40% off a Calm Premium subscription at calm.com/spirits.
Find Us Online
If you like Spirits, help us grow by spreading the word! Follow us @SpiritsPodcast on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads. You can support us on Patreon (http://patreon.com/spiritspodcast) to unlock bonus Your Urban Legends episodes, director’s commentaries, custom recipe cards, and so much more. We also have lists of our book recommendations and previous guests’ books at http://spiritspodcast.com/books.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I'm |
| 0:02.0 | M. |
| 0:05.0 | The Welcome to Steards podcast, a boosy dive into mythology, legends, and folklore. |
| 0:32.9 | Every week we pour a drink and learn about a new story from around the world. |
| 0:36.2 | I'm Amanda. |
| 0:36.9 | And I'm Julia. In this episode 313, all about the history of alchemy with Sarah Noria. We are so excited |
| 0:43.9 | to have the, I would say, like occasional occasion, not a rare occasion, but an occasional |
| 0:49.3 | occasion where a spirit's listener gets in touch and is like, hi, love you guys. I'm an expert in this kind of |
| 0:55.5 | stuff and I'd love to talk about my research on the show. And Sarah, we are so, so excited to |
| 1:00.7 | have you on the show talking about the history of alchemy and Finnish folklore and like all |
| 1:04.4 | kinds of stuff that interests you. So welcome. Thank you for coming. Thank you so much for having me. |
| 1:09.0 | I was really excited to get to be on the show because |
| 1:13.3 | I have listened to spirits for years and enjoy it so so much. And I'm like, do I even dare to send |
| 1:20.7 | them an email? I mean, I guess I'm an expert, but, you know, that doesn't mean anything when you've got |
| 1:25.7 | imposter syndrome. Yeah. I say if you got a PhD, you're an expert. |
| 1:30.0 | I mean, to be fair, I do, I do have a PhD, so I guess. |
| 1:34.1 | You're like, it's true. I can't lie. I do. I do. |
| 1:36.6 | I cannot because I remember all those years. |
| 1:40.6 | I remember all that time I spent on it. I feel like I should be an expert at this point, but |
| 1:45.5 | sometimes your brain says no. I technically only aged as much as you aged during eight years of a PhD, |
| 1:51.2 | but... It feels like longer sometimes in academia, doesn't it? It really does. But, you know, |
| 1:56.7 | a good time. I got to look at a lot of cool medieval and early modern manuscripts and other |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Multitude, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Multitude and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.