You don’t have to appropriate culture just to say “I’m not like other girls”
From crystals, mood rings, “potion” lotions, tarot cards, and makeup brushes in the shape of wands, all things mystical are having a moment in both fashion and beauty. Sound baths have replaced traditional runway show music, and everyone seems to be trying to embody Stevie Nicks’s spooky aesthetic.
Most of our ideas about witches and witchcraft are informed by European culture, most notably the witch hunts and trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts towards the end of the 17th century. Although it is not an exclusively Western concept—which is how it is often depicted in media—witchcraft has deep history in non-European cultures. Witchcraft is hard to define as it varies from region to region, but generally it’s thought of as trying to manipulate energy in accordance with your will with the intention of creating some sort of change. The practice of witchcraft is rooted in Indigenous African spirituality and is even used in conjunction with religions today; it’s mainly practiced in Western Africa.
Hoodoo, also known as conjure, was first brought to the Americas as early as the 15th century through Africans who were enslaved. Given its origins, Hoodoo was initially a tradition of protection and practicality. The practice would evolve into a combination of African spirituality and Christian rituals that those who were enslaved would encounter in the Americas. While Hoodoo itself was, to an extent, influenced by Western customs, it is thoroughly tied to its uniquely African American history. This is especially clear in the uses of Hoodoo spells, many of which are used for security, stemming from the violence and fear that those enslaved would have experienced. Some rituals include carrying garlic in your bag or walking backwards into your house to ensure that no one will harm you. Such spiritual practices arose as a manner of preserving and protecting African identity and culture as colonialism tried to force Africans to let go of it. Typically, the craft or rituals are not explicitly described by the practitioners, as those who practice Hoodoo got their power from ancestral spirits. Your ancestry makes up your spiritual frame; it’s where you get protection, strength, and the capacity to manifest. It’s not something you seek out, it seeks you out, it’s a destiny. You can’t find how-to books on it that will be accurate, and any tutorial you find on YouTube won’t be authentic.
Historically, white witches, mainly those who were affected by the Salem witch trials, were believed to be feminist icons; they were persecuted for simply being women who did not necessarily follow the patriarchal norms. For white women, labeling yourself as a witch or practicing witchcraft is an extension of this legacy. It’s to label yourself as defiant, rebellious, empowered, and different. To be a witch is to be a woman with power in a world where women are often powerless. So, they buy “boss ass witch” t-shirts, white sage, and crystals for their hexing needs, posting it all to Instagram to ensure that their followers know they’re down to curse the patriarchy. However, doing this takes away from the power and history of the marginalized beliefs and traditions that are being cherrypicked for the sake of an aesthetic.
While most people just brush off witchcraft as something that weird white people do, this history and community is not a trend. Cultural appropriation isn’t learning about someone else’s culture or taking a genuine interest in one’s spirituality or religion. Cultural appropriation is when someone decides to take bits and pieces from another culture without understanding the cultural significance or meaning of what is being appropriated. This is typically done with a sense of entitlement, which one may not realize they have, and shows no concern or respect for the culture that is being butchered.
White women are praised by other white people for their “new” and “innovative” healing tea presented in a rose quartz mug, while the people whose healing ritual was taken and likely redefined are criticized for practicing their own culture. If you want to appropriate culture, fine, that’s on you. Just don’t get mad when you get called out on your racist bullshit.
Completely agree. I’m a British POC and white girls using my spiritual path as an aesthetic is infuriating. They talk about the ‘women’s right to vote’ when really they refer to when white ladies could vote. They consider being rude, ‘BaDaSs’, reject all feminine things due to being a ‘ ReAl FeMiNiSt’ when Black women find their femininity questioned all the time.
You know… There’s also the thing of we’re not actually criticizing people for practicing the full culture. I wish I could meet some and buy my books from them.
Of course we can’t say that _no one_ criticizes/persecutes minorities who fully practice and believe in an original witchcraft, and then turns around and praises white girls who buy crystals and call chicken noodle soup a healing potion. But I believe that the majority of your audience and the majority of people in general do not do both.
For the most part, you have people on the one hand who are into the aesthetic and if they met a true practitioner, they would embrace them and support them fully, and then on the other hand you have people who do not appreciate witchy aesthetic, but tolerate it so long as it’s subtle and small, who would freak out at those who are fully engaged in the real deal.
The problematic piece is in the economy. Where the real deal stuff is hard to find, support, purchase, etc. While the aesthetic stuff is very easy to find. So instead of supporting real witches and small individuals, we’re supporting big conglomerate publishers and merchandise companies, all while moving further and further from the original culture. And I think that is an absolute shame.
But that holds true for any industry. We move further and further away from craftsmanship and further into mass production. Our lightbulbs burn out faster and our can openers dull faster. Our news grows fake and our clothes get worse and worse.
But look at you! You can write an article criticizing women and the things women like, without actually giving any information on how to fully embrace/support/boost the culture you claim to want to protect.
I think this article is meant for white people in America because you can’t apply this for all white cis witches. Especially here in Balkans. A lot of people from different cultures have similar practices under a different name even tho they never saw eachother or talked to eachother. Perfect example is Honey jars from Hoodoo. My grandma used to do a “honey jar” to make family relations better. And trust me the most she traveled is to her backyard.