#the five paths

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“So what’s the movie?”

“Ah,” Cooper replied, pulling a tape out of the bag. I have chosen the perfect film. Creepy yet romantic. No subtitles or Leonardo. Plus, it has some witchy stuff in it. Not to mention Johnny Depp, which elevates it to instant classic.”

“Sleepy Hollow!” Annie, Kate, and Sasha said in unison.

—The Five Paths, pg 9

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'So, what's the movie?' 'Ah,' Cooper replied, pulling a tape out of the bag. 'I have chosen the perfect film. Creepy yet romantic. No subtitles or Leonardo. Plus, it has some witchy stuff in it. Not to mention Johnny Depp, which elevates it to instant classic.' 'Sleepy Hollow!' Annie, Kate, and Sasha said in unison.

The Five Paths, pg. 9

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Annie Crandall, defending Cooper in a mock "trial" in History class.

Annie: "...The purpose of school is to learn. But we don't just come here to learn about math and science and history. We come here to learn about each other. We have many different kinds of people at Beecher Falls High, people of different nationalities and backgrounds, people with different customs and beliefs. If we learn about these things, we learn about what makes people who they are.

"The symbol we're debating about today does represent something. It represents a way of thinking. If we try to 'protect' people from understanding what the pentagram means, we're basically saying that they're not smart enough to learn. You don't protect people by making choices for them. Sure, you might make them more comfortable, but you don't teach them anything. You don't give them the opportunity to grow." [turns to Cooper] "You're a vegetarian, right?"

Cooper: [nods] "Since I was twelve."

Annie: "How does it make you feel when you go through the lunch line and see hamburgers being served?"

Cooper: [shudders] "It's disgusting. The way those cows are raised and killed is horrible."

Annie: "But you've never asked to have meat taken off the menu?"

Cooper: "No. If people want to poison their bodies with that garbage and contribute to the enslavement of animals that's their business."

Annie: [nods, turns back to the class] "We have a lot of young women who attend Beecher Falls High. We walk through the halls every day. And sometimes when we do guys say stuff to us. They call us 'sweetie' or inform us that we 'look really hot.' Well, a lot of us don't like this. We also don't like looking at pictures of silicone-enhanced models that a lot of the guys tape to their locker doors.. Maybe we should ban those kinds of pictures." [boos and groans from male students] "Maybe we should make it an offense to call a girl 'honey' or 'gorgeous.' To many of us that kind of talk is offending and threatening.

"A lot of students are into sports. Many of you in this room are wearing clothes with team logos on them. Did you know that some people are trying to ban some of those logos because they are offensive? Think about it. The Washington Redskins. Native American groups are highly offended by that image. The Atlanta Braves and their so-called tomahawk chop. It's a horribly racist image. But have these things been banned? No."

Some guy: "But those are just fun. It's /sports/."

Annie: "To /you/ it's just sports. To other people they're images that perpetuate offensive stereotypes. So here's the question we need to answer: Why are some potentially offensive words and images protected while others aren't? Is it because they have to be offensive to the majority of people before they're considered really terrible? The necklace Cooper wears is being singled out simply because she's a minority. People don't understand what Wicca is. They don't want to take the time to understand it. So instead they try to get rid of it by banning its symbols. Is that right? I don't think so. We all have something that upsets us, whether it's seeing images of women portrayed as objects, hamburgers in the cafeteria, or necklaces that make us uneasy. If we banned everything that made people think, we'd be nothing but a school filled with mindless drones. So before you vote, think about this: Tomorrow something /you/ think is important might be the next target."

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Why couldn't people understand that her [Cooper's] wearing a pentacle was a sign of how proud she was to be studying witchcraft? Why did it have to mean something sinister? Just because a bunch of stupid people who wanted to think they were into something weird misused the sign of the pentagram was no reason why she should have to give it up. It wasn't her fault that heavy metal bands scrawled pentagrams on their album covers and people who didn't know any better drew them on stuff to try to scare people or to try to look cool.

Circle of Three Book #8: The Five Paths, pg, 63-64

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She [Cooper] realized that she was playing with her necklace, holding it in her hand and pulling on it as she thought. Had she done that before? Is that why people had noticed it? It wasn't like she flashed it around or anything. People would have to look pretty hard to even see what she was wearing. Usually, it was tucked under the collar of whatever shirt she was wearing. She tucked it inside, hiding it from view. She didn't want to give anyone any reason to complain that she was showing it off or anything. Now she could feel it against her skin, the metal warm from being in her hand. Was it really such a big deal for her to be able to wear it? She asked herself this, as well as other questions, as she waited for class to end. Why was she wearing the pentacle? True, it had been part of the ritual she'd done with her friends. That was one reason. But would she have worn it if it didn't have that meaning to her? What did wearing the necklace really mean to her? Was she wearing it to shock people? She had to admit that part of her like the idea that people would see it and wonder why she had it on. But was that a good enough reason to insist on keeping it on? Or was there another reason, one that went deeper than just making a statement? She looked down and discovered that she had been drawing pentagrams in her notebook. The page was filled with five-pointed stars. Cooper looked at them. In a child's drawing they would have just been stars. But they meant much more than that. To her they represented one of the fundamental principles of Wicca—the fact that everything in life is connected. Each of the lines joining the arms to one another was like an electrical wire. Energy flowed through them, allowing the powers of the elements represented by the five points to combine. Earth. Air. Fire. Water. She named each arm as she drew another pentagram. And then the fifth point, representing Spirit, the unseen element uniting all things. She drew the final line and looked at the design. It was so simple and so perfect. How could anyone see anything malicious in it? To her it was absolutely beautiful—five paths joined into one. It was a symbol both of what she believed and of what she was trying to do with her life, unite the different energies within and around her to create something powerful and magical. Yes, she decided, it was important to her to be able to wear her pentacle.

Circle of Three: Book #8: The Five Paths, pg. 64-65