Cultural Appropriation

​Cultural Appropriation?

In the past couple-six years, there has been a lot of buzz in the Pagan / Witchcraft / Earth Spirituality movement about so-called cultural appropriation.

In my definition, that would be using aspects of a culture or ethnicity that is not your own, without giving credit to the original people who practiced a particular folkway.

An example is those tacky souvenir “dream catchers” that appear in every gift shop and flea market throughout America. The story about a woven dream catcher comes from Indigenous tribes of the American southwest. Buying an authentic dream catcher from an Indigenous artist, learning the story behind it, and using it appropriately is NOT cultural appropriation. Buying a plastic knockoff truly IS.

However, those who are “woke” / politically correct claim that EVERYTHING is appropriated from other cultures. Smudging to cleanse an area with fragrant smoke. Wearing braids in one’s hair. Eating particular foods. Wearing particular clothing. Practicing Tarot. Using a sweat lodge. African / Cuban / Diasporic traditions of drumming. And so forth.

Some culture praxes are “closed,” which means you have to possess the genetics and cultural heritage in order to participate. You must be appropriately taught by an individual who has mastered the techniques, as well. Which is understandable.

To an extent, everyone does some form of cultural appropriation. For example, the Romans invented indoor plumbing and paved roads. Every time you flush a toilet or drive to the market, you’re technically appropriating Roman culture. Things like Chinese food, Madras print fabric, various forms of music – classical, rap, country, rock – were appropriated from traditions other than our own American culture. Yet now they are shared by everyone.

You know what is upsetting? When “gatekeepers” decry cultural appropriation amongst eclectic magick-users, but fail to notice that mainstream Western Esoteric Tradition (especially Wicca and Gardnerian Witchcraft) has swiped many things from British Folkloric Traditions. That means us working-class peasants. Gerald Gardner, Cecil Williams, and Robert Cochrane incorporated the folk magick praxes of working-class people from the British Isles into their esoteric practice. This includes sweeping a space to hallow it, tying knots for spellwork, use of poppets and natural objects for sympathetic magick (although many cultures do so), use of certain poems, dances, and songs; brewing potions for sympathetic magick, the use of ritual drama(s), God/dess names, dates for holiday celebrations, the use of a ritual knife or athame (although that’s also done in other cultures) and other magickal symbolic tools, sending remote energy, meditation and esoteric rites, many herbal and other healing rites and recipes – and so on.

The Western Esoteric Tradition culturally appropriated stuff from all over – not just from my ancestors. Including, but not limited to: The words “witch” and “Wicca” from Anglo-Saxons. Much of the Qabalistic magick from Judaism. The use of the four directions / watchtowers / elements from the Greeks. And the Native Americans. And the Egyptians. The names for the elemental creatures, such as undines and sylphs, from the Swiss – yes, really, although Greek names were used. Ritual use of the athame /ritual knife from Judaism, and also casting a ritual circle from the Jewish people and the Sumerians. God and Goddess and entity names from all over the place.

You know what is NOT culturally appropriated?

Smudging – it is not just a Native American practice. The word “smudge” itself comes from Middle German and means to clear an area with smoke. It can also mean to summon various spiritual beings with smoke. British Isles Folkloric Traditions call it “enhazeling” because hazel, blackberry, and willow withes were burned. Catholics had their incenses. So did people from India. Indigenous peoples of the Americas used white sage – and this plant is being over-harvested, so they have a point – with a traditional ritual. People who are not of that particular heritage should not employ the ceremony. Yet please don’t tell me that smudging is exclusively reserved for Indigenous people.

Tarot – This practice did NOT come from Roma people in Europe, although they used it for divination. The Tarot likely came from Egypt, or possibly India (so maybe from the Roma), but the earliest references to Tarot are from the mid-fifteenth century in Venice, Milan, and Florence. It was originally a card game, and was brought to the rest of Europe by traders. It has been associated with the Qabalah but was not originally used in that manner – although divination with it works fine.

Drumming – many cultures use drumming for healing, trance work, dancing & ecstatic rites, communication, invoking spirits, raising energy, and for martial purposes. Everyone has it. Not all cultures use all rhythms – people who enjoy African beats, which might honor entities as well as being great for dancing and drum circles, might not enjoy the lively marching tunes of the Scots – while I find Celtic driving three-counts and five-counts perfect for getting my housework done. It summons ambition, for me.

---

Sweat Lodges – yes, Indigenous people from the American continents used these for spiritual reasons, as well as for healing, cleansing themselves and social interaction. However, we Celts used sweat houses as well. In Ireland, they were made of stone and were called tigh’n alluis. Scandinavian people have their saunas. Japanese folks have their baths. As do the Romans. (see above for an Irish sweat house).

Braids/ Locs - here, read this: https://lionlocs.com/blogs/dreadlocks/history-of-dreadlocks?fbclid=IwAR1TqTDeiXY1H1RkyojFoaXEtnG2f7PtYskLMoYxx_bhU-uYgqaO7X-P3rE​

In fact, appreciating and appropriating the cultures of others is so frequent worldwide that we cannot identify when it first began. British grave goods and trash pits contained beads from Asia, glass fragments and statuary from Greece by way of Rome, metal goods from Spain, and so forth. The famous Gundestrup Cauldron was likely made by Thracians, found in a bog in Denmark, depicting Gaulish and British deities and figures of the Near East. The Franks’ Casket (below) depicts Germanic and Biblical deities, Roman mythology, with Anglo-Saxon runes and Roman letters, and was probably made in Northumbria, UK. It may have originated in France. People in Rome and the Near East used copper, tin, bronze, and iron imported from the British Isles.

Don’t like it? Stop using your Roman plumbing and dig yourself an outhouse. 😊

---