Comments | unnaturalpagans: Hi there! Newly joined member here.

drake_eld in unnaturalpagans

Hi there! Newly joined member here.

Jul 20, 2007 14:46

Hiya folks. I'm a pagan based out of the Philly area who could be called eclectic at the best of times and crazy at the worst. I just recently started this LiveJournal as a place to conduct my research into the old religions and how they are affected by modern science and technological advances. Many a pagan have regarded me with disdain for ( Read more... )

Comments 24

divineaspect July 20 2007, 19:38:24 UTC

50 years is old for a Religion?

onyxtwilight July 20 2007, 19:52:26 UTC

Oh, c'mon, he didn't even mention Wicca. Way to divert a might-be-interesting post in a mostly-dead community offtrack into a decomposing-equine-corpse argument that's already bored everyone to tears, Wiccan and non-Wiccan alike.

divineaspect July 20 2007, 19:56:39 UTC

sorry, good point, just got done in a much snarkier community, my apologies.

wibbble July 20 2007, 20:28:32 UTC

Snark's fine. There's nothing in modern Paganism that's 'old religions', even the reconstructionalists are mostly just making it up. (It's less 'fill in the blanks' as 'fill in around the tiny bits that're known'.)

Thread 6

onyxtwilight July 20 2007, 19:45:33 UTC

I'm with you on the technology and the science... but not the plastics, so much. Most plastics seem to make great insulators, but don't hold much (or any) of an energetic charge, in my experience. There are exceptions, of course, but they are few.

Now, electrical circuits can certainly hold a charge -- that's just an energy pattern imposed on another energy pattern. But you lose all or most of it if the power is shut off, so it's not very practical for most long-term storage, I think.

Who doesn't like alloys? Modern smithcraft, I think, that sort of metallurgy. If the ancients had had titanium alloys, they sure as hell would have used them, IMO.

elfwreck July 20 2007, 20:00:07 UTC

Plastics... petroleum products... fossil fuels... dinosaur bones.

OLD magic. Alien. Not human-friendly energies. Not mammal-friendly energies, a lot of it.

divineaspect July 20 2007, 20:04:40 UTC

I'd never thought of it in that fashion, something to think about.

I'd thought of it a high energy necromancy, burning the spirit of the past for the sake of the present. Which I object to, I'd rather it be burnt for the sake of the future.

drake_eld July 20 2007, 22:27:53 UTC

You all make -excellent- points. The mystery of plastic is a major topic I want to tackle. Plastics are a major facet of today's society, it may as well be the "black iron" of the 20th century. I think that its conversion from a fossil fuel into an excellent tool may have channeled that old magic into something that could be beneficial to us or could be harmful, but it certainly ought to be researched.

And yes, I'm going to devote an entire line of study to electrically conductive materials, and silicon, and computer parts. Those who say there is no mystery in technology don't know that the greatest mystery of modern physics lies at the basic level of electronics: that a transistor puts out 50% more energy than is put into it, which openly defies the law of conservation of energy.

:) You guys have already given me some great ideas for things to read into though.

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divineaspect July 20 2007, 22:01:37 UTC

Ain't that the truth.
howabout Open Sorcery? I've wanted to use that for a while.

drake_eld July 20 2007, 22:32:56 UTC

You know, I'm not a big fan of "pagan science", even though it has the appearance of something simple and straightforward I think you're right that it would create tension in the secular and religious communities. And naming the new faith after myself, like some of our Wiccan cousins, seems too pretentious even for me. Open Sorcery is a really cute suggestion though!

Actually it's funny you should mention alchemy. It was they who gave me the idea. They melded science and religion to such a fine precision, and I think that's something we need to revive.

Perhaps neo-alchemy would be a good name?

divineaspect July 20 2007, 23:12:17 UTC

...hum, how to say this...

I consider myself a modern Alchemist, and would appreciate a little scholarship on the issue. While I'm glad you take inspiration from something, wisdom is the ability to learn from many sources after all, I just have to say...

No. They didn't meld science and religion. In that time and place, they invented scientific invention, from the roots of a spiritual struggle to improve themselves, or hoodwink people, and not blow themselves up in the process of doing so.

Thread 6