it's literally read like a spellbook because the syntax consists of all natural language, and newlines are optional. your code can now be an essay, like everybody wants!
for example, if you want to print something, you'd write: `begin the grimoire. inscribe whispers of "hello, world!". close the grimoire.`
it has variables, dynamic typing, arrays, functions, conditionals, loops, string manipulation, array manipulation, type conversion, and user input, among other (listed in the docs!)
but why? i wanted to see how far you could push natural language syntax while still being parseable. most esolangs are intentionally obtuse (BF, Malbolge), but i wanted something that's weird but readable, like you're reading instructions from a spellbook, which makes it incredibly easy to read and understand. like an anti-esolang? hmm...
github: https://github.com/sirbread/spellscript
docs: https://github.com/sirbread/spellscript/blob/main/resources/...
I think you should read some actual grimoires before developing this further. I suggest the Picatrix or the PGM as starting points. Maybe a copy of 777 as well.
Besides "Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community." (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html), this guideline is relevant:
"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."
I doubt that egypturnash intended a "snarky nit". More likely this is someone who's passionate about the underlying topic (grimoires!), naturally got excited when seeing the OP, and then was disappointed when it didn't go as deep as someone with their level of knowledge would expect.
It's bad, of course, to express that by putting down the OP or their work; much better to respond by sharing some of what one knows, as I explained at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45561740.
In the same way some Christians are offended by the commercialisation of Easter and Christmas.
Yes, there is balance to be found. But if people point out you've made fun of their beliefs, then adapt. No need to act out. We all have beliefs, whether or not that is an organised belief. Ideaology is everywhere in everything.
People are still people. Communicate and the irritation can fade.
Magic can certainly interact with things commonly seen as religion - talking to gods, angels, demons, saints, ghosts, ancestors, and other non-physical entities - but it doesn't have to. You can cast a spell without ever mentioning a single deity. Chapman's Advanced Magick For Beginners discusses some of the techniques involved in this but skips others that make it much more likely for you to be able to say "this is what is going to happen now" and have the universe listen.
You can also have your magic deeply intertwined with your religion. Prayer is magic. A pantheon of gods or a list of angels, saints, or demons is a dictionary of specialists; ask this god for help with your problems involving going on a trip, ask this saint for help with finding a thing you lost, ask this demon for help with learning math. And part of how you make one of these entities more likely to lend a hand with your problem is by regularly saying hi to them and making some kind of offering, which is definitely getting into the territory of religion.