Today is the end of the first week back to school after the unpleasantly short Christmas holidays. It was a short week for me, as Larkin is now in my physics class, making the passage of time during Mrs.Durio's demonstrations much easier (her cars look like fucking nipples), and we did nothing in choir for four days besides sit around and listen to Mr.Raddin talk; though I wasn't terribly bored during the abscence of singing, since Mary charitably pranced around, singing her French solo as I napped on the carpet. Her opera-like voice is peaceful, and helps put me to sleep.

When not napping, however, I read a fascinating book I picked up at Half Price with Larkin: The Urban Primitive. It's a book on modern Paganism in the city, and describes how urban Pagans perform their sacred rituals without the luxury of an open field and gigantic bonfire to channel energy from. It also outlines the uses of herbs, or "weeds" found in the city that have age-old magical properties, characteristic energies of certain stones, symbolism and beneficial attributes attached to specific body piercings, tattoos, and the like.

I like Paganism. Obviously more than Christianity, as I've developed a stern disapproval of in the past, well, half my life or so. More than Satanism, also--it's not as fanatical, and doesn't attempt to be outrageous, only discreet, peaceful, and respectful. I would even prefer to associate myself with a society of Druids than with the American Association of Atheists or whatnot; most organizations are made up of white, pseudo-intellectual assholes bent on the destruction of spirituality, and granted, I generally am not fond of theist beliefs, but I'm not looking to erase freedom of religion from the constitution. It will never happen, and being involved with a group seeking to do so will not earn a guy a friendly reputation in a world where 95% of the population believes in some kind of higher power. Common sense.

So I'll continue studying other minority religions, and give Paganism a shot. I'm extremely fond of it because I don't necessarily have to believe in a Goddess or Mother Gaea; one might associate those names with powerful forces which control some aspects of the universe, but there are Pagan sects full of atheistic nutcases like me who believe that the many gods are not actually people in the sky with helmets and spears, but strong ideas. As far as I'm concerned, Athena doesn't have to be a warrior-woman with a passion for blood and wisdom, but she may be a powerful cosmic force, strengthened over thousands of years by prayer, belief, and pure thought. Believing that Zeus is a big bearded guy in the clouds with lightning bolts is a bit farfetched for me, but believing in the existence of energy is not.

I must say that The Holographic Universe has given me a relatively objective, if a bit scientific, perspective on all this, as well as providing a little evidence that the followers of Paganism aren't crazy. A lot of the experimentally-tested things mentioned in Talbot's work are already pagan concepts with varying terminology differences: the human energy field is the aura, the centers of electromagnetic power are the chakras (which is a Yogic or Hindu thing or somesuch I believe, but modern Paganism borrows it), and the idea that there is a collective human subconscious is universal, as well as the theory that consciousness is very relative, and everything may possess a certain awareness of its own.

So anyway, I'm intrigued. I also really, really like strong, herbal tea, candles, plants, and pretty rocks.