Yes, this is a strange cult indeed. A beloved aunt of mine in Roma, who is of our lineage, very well read, and not unacquainted with the Italic occult, is otherwise heavily invested in this interpretation, and I find it hard to speak against it. Cosi la vitaccia.

I think much of this type of thinking is that, due to the obsessive focus on the material world, modern folks have grown incapable of considering immaterial things (even as we routinely employ immaterial things like constructs, feelings, et al.) to navigate the cosmos.

Axé

Edited to add the word "considering."