maybe it's time to crack open a hard-nonfiction-math-sciency-Steven-Hawking-type book

because when you mistake the beginning of a recipe for chicken saltimbocca as the instructions for ritual spellwork:

"Set aside 24 sage leaves..."
Ooh, sage! A purification/smudging rit! Yay!

...you might be reading a bit too much esoterica.

Moderation in all things, said the immoderate Greeks.