Pagan Views on Appropriation

[kokopelle]

The Wild Hunt is a blog that has "news, opinions, and events dealing with (or of interest to) the modern Pagan and Heathen communities". A recent article called "The Danger of 'Wannabes'" spoke to the appropriation challenges faced by Native Americans cultures. The focus of the article was on "New Age Frauds and Plastic Shamans". I had some interesting reactions to the article ranging from agreement to confused indignation. A blogger on the shamans_circle community asked, "Anyone here have any experience with these sorts of hucksters?"

As I've said before, appropriation is a BIG issue. My remarks below are not meant to downplay the challenges faced by indigenous peoples. With that said, this is how my buttons got pushed...

We have met the enemy and he is us...

In some ways I am one of those 'hucksters'. Incredibly sincere and spiritual shamanically oriented people I know are those hucksters. Modern Pagans who pursue reconstructed ancient belief systems are hucksters. Most any book author is a huckster.

I guess what I am trying to say is that appropriation is not as black-and-white as this article may infer. The New-Agers are not all money grasping con men. The painting of the new-ager as the boogy-man is nuanced by a pagan prejudice towards this nebulous spiritual group. Shoot, most of the new-agers I know, and I've walked in those shoes myself, don't benefit financially from their spiritual affiliation. There is also an inference that any involvement of money in spiritual teaching/instruction is a sign of corruption. While this is a strength of the modern pagan movement, beliefs about money create division between some pagans and other spiritual groups.

More importantly, nobody is completely innocent of some degree of appropriation from somebody. In very, very general terms, the modern pagans have appropriated from the occult ceremonialists who had previously appropriated from Christian/Jewish mystics who previously appropriated from ???. Are we all held to have completely original thoughts? What would the world look like if FDA approved spiritual beliefs either came through an uninterrupted pedigree spiritual line or were completely disconnected from all existing realities?

My $.02... the article is good food for thought. I just wish the meal was more balanced.

Another person commented, "If you go around saying you are a Roman Catholic priest even though you never went past seminary, maybe that's a bit un-ethical because you are lying to people". This got me thinking. I responded:

The Roman Catholic priest analogy is a good one. I'd take that one step further. Let's say that I believe that Mary was the mother of God and that she was a virgin. Does this make me Roman Catholic? No. It just means that I share a belief with the religion. The appropriation line would be crossed if I also believed that Jesus was a vampire AND I then told people I was a Roman Catholic priest who could make them sub-vampires in Jesus' image. Could I believe that Jesus was a vampire and Mary was his virgin mother without claiming Roman Catholic affiliation? Probably. I could even claim to be a priest of the "Vampire Jesus" religion. I don't think there would be an issue of appropriation as long as I did not claim to be Roman Catholic. I could be accused of some bizarre idea mixing, but since when was this a crime?

This was all interesting food for thought that I am sure will be the basis of future blogs here.

Comments

[iskender.livejournal.com]

Christians don't claim to be Jews, yet they appropriated all of Judaism. Supersessionism sucks.

Appropriation isn't about how one represents oneself. Sometimes, all one needs to is to be going for the same resources, which is to say the same pool of potential believers.

Now do New Agers really go for the same market as traditional religions? No. Without New Agers, the traditional religions would be dead, or restricted to tiny pools of indigenous populations, which are mostly Christianized to the point of extinction anyway.

What indigenous believers (and their advocates) are really troubled by is that they feel pressed on both sides--by appropriators in the larger culture who feel like they "really get" what old religion was about, but clearly don't, and by collaborators in their own ranks who adopt foreign ways and who have, by droves, abandoned the old customs.

But they're not really in competition or mutual conflict, because most of the decadents who adopt watered down versions of native religions don't have the stomach, the time, or the attention-span, not to mention the necessarily historical ties and legitimacy, to practice the old ways.

[greensh.livejournal.com]

Good points. I share the belief that often the indigenous groups are not directly threatened. Instead, they fight a larger foe that does not have a single face. Their arguments seem to reflect this as the description of the perpetrators approach caricature proportions. Are there people who resemble the remarks? Sure, but the vast majority of marginally guilty people are not represented by the boogey men presented. I see all of this as a predictable outcome of group dynamics: one group seeks to define itself in the best light while demonizing outside dangerous forces. Wrong? No. Completely truthful? Probably not. Still there is not other way to do it though and still have the full impact of the argument.

Here is another wrinkle... I wish I could quote the source, but I did read that some indigenous spiritual systems have lost so much that they've turned to the 'new-age' material to fill in the gaps. I suppose the premise is that the new-age material is general enough that the indigenous material would be very similar if it were still remembered.

My Native shamanic teacher uses the 'new-age' technique of Healing Touch when he does his healing work. Well, that is what he tells people if they ask. He is actually doing some Healing Touch and a lot more of the other stuff supported by his traditional learning and natural abilities. The Healing Touch reference provides a comfortable touchstone when people wonder what he is doing.

[iskender.livejournal.com]

And that also leads us to the puzzle that is the new religious phenomenon.

Is all this New Age belief tapping into some deeper, universal human spirituality, or is it nothing but barely defined, undisciplined, generic hodge-podge, a potpourri of deep-sounding gibberish?

[greensh.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about this very question and I believe the answer is "yes". There is a generic hodge-podge, but the intention is for a deeper human spirituality. Sadly, the breadth of systems and lack of organized focus detracts from the "spiritual" side of the new-age. I see the new-age as more of a warehouse/clearing house of technique and knowledge. The inside joke is that the majority of new-age is not new. The larger concepts and precepts embraced by the new-age are much older than many of the organized religions/religious movements that now deride and mock the new-age.

[chimerae.livejournal.com]

Karla McLaren says that The New Age is a religion created BY survivors FOR survivors. I think she's somewhat missed her target, unless one defines survivors rather loosely.

I believe our culture skewed over time (as cultures do) and the adaptive tool that is culture developed gaps that are more like chasms. Because the tool of culture is a learning machine, individuals fall into the gaps and when enough fall in, they create an adaptation (in this case a religion) that, once stabilized, becomes a . . .damn I can't think of the word . . . what it when you add things onto a car or a computer program that don't generally affect central function but cover other related desirable stuff. Like a tommylift on a pickup truck.

The concepts and precepts were there BEFORE in earlier adaptations, because they're part of the human condition in the world. More subtly, they're accessible because they've survived as a pocket.

It's not in integrity to steal the parts off your neighbor's TommyLift even if what you need is a wheelchair lift for your van and your neighbor can walk.

It's not any more okay if the Tommylift is in poor repair and not entirely functional. It is okay to ask your neighbor for help and have a look at how the thing works. It's okay to hire your neighbor with experience with a Tommylift to help create and identify parts and integration and activation for your wheelchair lift.

Complaining about your neighbor's issues over taking his Tommylift apart in wheelchair support groups is just . . . silly. Comforting, sweet, and very human but silly.

It is MUCH EASIER to take the parts you need/want off your neighbor's tommylift than do the work involved in searching out Lift Companies, desigining your own and acquiring parts, shopping on ebay. Our culture is a few generations removed but we come from a culture of conquerors and our unconscious cultural reflex is to take what our neighbor has. . .

Huckster

[chimerae.livejournal.com]

I read the articles your reference and I looked up Huckster. 1. One who sells wares or provisions in the street; a peddler or hawker. 2. One who uses aggressive, showy, and sometimes devious methods to promote or sell a product. 3. Informal One who writes advertising copy, especially for radio or television.

This isn't about the quiet single practice of an individual or group's personal relationship with spirituality. This is about SELLING and the additional skew that creates in the cultural mythos.

In the article you reference, they're talking about people offering Lakota spiritual practices, outside the extended auspices of the Lakota People. It's a spiritual version of looting pots out of gravesites.

I've poked you from time to time because I feel you sell yourself and your own capacities short, but I have not ever heard you touch on that sort of thing.

Huckster Part 2

[chimerae.livejournal.com]

There's a next step in the chain related issue you might to have a look at.

There's another kind of "selling" where we "sell" our ego projections in an attempt to get other people on board with our reality sets. No money changes hands, but if we're successful we create ghettos largely built around mutual neurosis and perpetuating our deepest wounding. We don't set out to do that . . . it's just a byproduct of system design.

If we are successful, we trap ourselves in our personal hells, comforted by compatible companions.

If we're unsuccessful, we trap ourselves in an external hell of created alienation because we have drawn an aggressive thought-barrier around ourselves, aggressively projecting our mythos onto others. Conan the Conqueror does not play well with others unless and until he's king.

What's the thing from Hamlet? . . "I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams. . . "

[franciscan.livejournal.com]

Interesting article. Thanks for posting it.

I have, in my practice, enountered many "plastics" - some who were earnestly trying to find something that they can resonate with, and others who use it to exploit and bleed.

I have lived and worked among indigenous peoples and am very supportive of preserving cultures. I am also Catholic...much to the Church's chagrin...

If someone proclaims themself a Ctholic Priest, and goes about doing priestly things, it does not affect my catholicism. Same with folks who want to do a sweat lodge, or vision quest. These practices are not the exclusive property of native americans. Celts were doing these practices ages ago, for instance.

If native people want to preserve their culture, it is up to them to do so, whether or not anyone else is trying to copy it. I know this is not necessarily a popular view, but I do believe that the responsibility for our selves rests with ourselves, and if my values are changing, I cannot blame anyone "out there" for that loss. IT is up to me to uphold them in the face of whatever is going on.

I do not support anyone who does a culturally specific ceremony who is not a part of that culture. I have seen many folks claim to do, for instance, an Ojibwa or Lakota ceremony, who have never had any affiliation with those nations. But for someone to do a sweat lodge that is not culturally specific, well.. who can blame them? And I seriously do not see how that is underminding anyones culture or beliefs.

To provide these ceremonies for money... I dont know about that. I do know it is custom to pay a medicine person for the services he or she provides. And I can tell you from experience, in some first nations, the medicine people are very expensive, to the point that some of the very people that want to preserve the culture cannot afford to go to their medicine people for help.

I was in a conference once with a mixed group of first nation and european participants. I said this then, and I will repeat it here: We white folks need to let go of the guilt, and our first nation brothers and sisters need to let go of the anger. Only then can we really sit in council together as true brothers and sisters.