Some whitefolks talk about cultural appropriation:

My son said this to me yesterday afternoon.   For his people, the great shibboleth is "leave no trace." Outside the wilderness, it boils down to this: if you're a guest, contribute to the feast, help cook, help clean up, - in other words, leave as little impact as if you hadn't been there at all - except in the hearts and minds of the people around you. If you can't do that, you're just ignorant - or helpless.

If you can and won't, you're a fake, and you will not be welcome in their houses for very long. They are never hostile, but neither are they simps.

A few weeks ago, I was dipping into Gods of the City, determined not to stress out about "learning anything," and found this little sparkler about the causes of cultural appropriation, the "wannabe" syndrome: regarding Jane Addams and her conception of the settlement houses she founded being "consumed and digested" by the cities they served:

"The opening chapters of Twenty Years at Hull-House powerfully and poignantly articulate the loneliness and emptiness of the middle-class self, male and female, in the modern American city. Addams discloses the uncomfortable realization by this isolated self of being surrounded by, but also ineluctably separated form, the vitality, density, and human drama of the immigrant and working-class sections of the city. These pages speak of a terrible absence, distance, and hunger.

"So the spiritual metaphor of being consumed and digested also expresses the more earthly longing to escape middle-class emptiness and loss by being filled up by the city and its peoples ... to empty oneself in order to be filled up by the immigrant other..."

But that only leaves us with another problem: why la vie bourgeoise doesn't nourish. Why does the middle-class life lead to "terrible absence, distance, and hunger"?

I found a partial answer in the intro to The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales:

"The fairy tale survives because it presents experience in vivid symbolic form. Sometimes we need to have the truth exaggerated and made more dramatic, even fantastic, in order to comprehend it."

This may be enough to explain cultural and religious appropriation, in a culture where the progress of rationalization may have gone too far (in some places; and not far enough in others. Do your illusions make you a better, more functional person?). The old religious rituals, in their best form, draw divine truth in striking shapes and brilliant colors. Luther stripped out all of that, in his zeal to rid Christianity of superstition and magic.

What a putz.

Anyway, God bless the black churches, the charismatic churches, the missions from and converts to non-Christian religions, and the Neo-Pagan revival, for bringing it all back.

Well, my hoodoo classmates have been having a long and very cogent discussion about cultural appropriation. Several spiritually gifted people have been making the case for eclectic spirituality, which .... oh I'll just have to quote Dr. Eoghan Ballard again:

I view the entire "eclectic" movement as a fairly self-indulgent exercize in western individualism run amok. It is also very much counter to African values which are social rather than individualistic. That is also by the way, against traditional Latino cultural values and against traditional Celtic values. In fact, it is against pretty much all values held by any traditional culture.

A fairly strong argument can be made that the same attitudes are behind numerous social problems and the global ecological crisis. Unbridled individualism is responsible for the greed and lack of concern for a global welfare that has created those problems. Eclecticism, while perhaps an entertaining form of self-indulgence, is a symptom of the same attitudes and perspective. So no, I do not view it as necessarily a good thing. I can't make anyone agree with me, nor am I particularly upset if anyone disagrees. None the less, I will not say I think it is ok.

The circumstances of my particular life are such that the whole notion of community makes me nervous. I got bit by the individualism bug when I was very young. "Community" was where you were expected to dumb down; church was where you were expected to sacrifice your conscience – or be a pariah.

Now, circling back to that Wikipedia article linked above:

Cultural influence can be seen by the "receiving" culture as either a threat to or an enrichment of its cultural identity. It seems therefore useful to distinguish between cultural imperialism as an (active or passive) attitude of superiority, and the position of a culture or group that seeks to complement its own cultural production, considered partly deficient, with imported products or values. [Wikipedia says I have to read Edward Said now.]

So the difference comes down to this:

-- On the one hand, "Your spiritual powers, gods and ways of worship are pretty toys indeed. I'll just take them home and improve on them, shall I? Do we really need live animal sacrifice? ... to believe that Jesus is actually God? ... Do we have to take it all so literally?"

-- On the other hand, "Aha! I see your culture found a way to solve a problem that we also had to face. We did thus and so; I see that your people responded differently. On some counts, you did better than we did. I think I should change my ways here, here and there. ... Oh, did I miss something important? I'm listening."

So what is deficient about Anglo-American culture, and who says so?

Yesterday, Pastor Cobbs preached on "God's Salvation Plan"...

Feeling for himself all the oppression and misery of history, he began to grieve and moan, with the congregation joining in - in harmony! - as if there were still 400 years of African weeping to be done! And led into a fervid recounting of the death of Jesus, starting with the walk to Calvary, not omitting the encounter with Simon of Cyrene, who "took the cross on his shoulder!" - every incident on the way sealed with the fiery shout: "He died!" And casting the entire congregation in the role of the evildoer on the next cross, pleading only to be remembered "when You come into Your Kingdom" -

And I almost missed it, as loud and in-my-face as it was, because he prefaced it with something I have never believed, and by the grace of God never will believe: that Hell is real, and inescapable once you land there.

I've seen visions of the afterlife, of what happens to people immediately after death: it is a landscape of shining flame and painfully intense light.

If you understand anything about the love of God, it's heaven. Otherwise, it's hell. But revelation is not sealed after death, any more than it is in life, so one can escape hell at any time.

Otherwise, folks, I'm with Father Hurley on this one: Life on earth is enough hell, and it's probably all the hell we're going to get.

I think it's possible that some souls may evaporate at death; I can't see any other way for souls to be lost.

God is too good to create a permanent hell.

Rev. Connor, bless him, beckoned me to the altar to be prayed for, but I didn't go up. No hard feelings, of course; "You've got to be spirit-led," he said when I explained myself afterwards. He also invited me to the weekly Bible study, but I don't think the church needs to hear everything I believe.

All right, some Wikipedia links for you:
Hegemony
Cultural Hegemony
Cultural appropriation - what's confusing is that it (a) seems to be inevitable and (b) isn't necessarily a bad thing; Elvis Presley is cited early in this article.
    To many, the term implies that culture can actually be "stolen" through cultural diffusion.
Is that actually possible? James Brown didn't think Elvis Presley was doing it. It's an entirely different story, of course, "when those who are colonized appropriate the culture of the colonizers."

Is it really possible for "renegade" members of the colonizing culture to identify with the colonized? How many wiggers are protestors, and how many are cultural leeches? And how do we know?

Here is the touchstone:

It all comes down to: How much are you giving back? And How much context are you taking with you?

And:
Besides,
This is one of the inescapable horrors of capitalist cultures: the sucking-out of meaning, the denaturing of the lives of things.

• The hair-raising experience of personified, wild nature is worn down into a rote meditation in a suburban living room.
• A potent charm against demon attack during sleep becomes a pretty gewgaw to hang over a child's bed.
• "Most pagans are all about mispronounced Celtic words and pretty names; most of them couldn't raise enough energy to fart after a three-bean salad." (A practicing Pagan told me that.)
  

From Bessie Smith to Britney Spears in only three generations.

That's Ecclesiastes 11:1, that is.

Folks, today I'm putting together a "how to help yourself" page that not only has links to the best free spell archives but also to the best websites for material help that I can find.

To make sure this is as solid as possible, I'd like to hear about everybody's favorite agencies, charities and other organizations that have helped you when you were down and out and didn't know where to turn; whether it was homelessness, hunger, troubled children or a troubled marriage, I'd like to hear from you. (You don't have to tell me all your personal business, of course.)

God is Great, no matter the Names you know It by.

While researching prosperity magic, I picked up the book named above. Romberg's book has a whole chapter about the Catholic Church in Puerto Rico struggling – for centuries! – to maintain control of the people's Catholic practice, while Espiritistas of all social classes were incorporating the prayers and saints' images into their own practice, folding them into a basic mixture of indigenous and African traditions and Kardecian spiritualism. It is an astonishing tale; I recommend you read it.

It is, come to think of it, reminiscent of the African Catholic movement spearheaded by Kimpa Vita; it looks to me like the same process of evolution. (But then, Eoghan Ballard, quoted below, warned me to take Romberg's understanding of the development of folk religion with a grain of salt.)

Meanwhile, a deep discussion about Christianity and Hoodoo – they belong together – was in progress on my teacher's email list.

My teacher, catherine yronwode, wrote:

Truly, i am quite hostile to seeing portions of rootwork carried off as trophies to be used in other traditions by people who do not respect African American culture but just want the "secrets" of effective magical practice.

I admit ... well, no I don't; I was not seeking "trophies" when I joined this course a couple of years ago. But I was seeking a way to effective magical practice. I used to have candles lit on occasion at an occult shop run by neo-Pagans, and I noticed that the more hoodoo there was in the spell, the more likely it was to work. At one point I was studying Feri – a bad match for me, but better than anything I had tried before – and it was at that point I realized I wanted power, mastery of my own life, not more deities to worship.

Dr. Eoghan Ballard replied:

When I first became involved as an initiate in the Afro-diasporic traditions, I was somewhat surprised by the hostility felt toward Neopaganism and Wicca by many other initiates. I have since learned to appreciate the causes for their discontent.

Now, I am not critiquing the beliefs of those traditions, simply certain nasty habits within those movements.

An aspect of those movements I find ironic is the frequency of remarks from followers of those movements that they are uncomfortable with Christian traditions. Yet, looking in from a certain distance, it is obvious to me that those movements have at their core, fairly mainstream Protestant ethic convictions. ...

I've said before that I joined the wrong church when I was young; a very legalistic church that did the best it could to drain all the juice out of the Bible and its stories, while claiming to do exactly the opposite. I've had more trouble using the Bible and the Trinity in my practice than I ever did with graveyard visits – and some of my classmates may remember how much hand-wringing I did about that.

Dr. Ballard continues:

Likewise, while Hoodoo incorporates a great deal of Christian imagery and text in the form of prayers and invocations, especially from the Psalms, the ethical model which Hoodoo comes from is a fairly unadulterated Central African one.

It seems to me, observing from a place that allows me a great deal of historical perspective both inside and out, that those movements [Neopaganism and Wicca] collectively need to do a lot of soul searching about both the ethical position from which they operate (which is ok, but let's identify it for what it is) and their unconscious embracing of a mind set that does not condemn either personal hubris or hegemonic models of cultural appropriation.

My view on the so-called "melting pot" of hoodoo is that it is not as much a melting pot as some think. Certainly there are elements which have European or Native American flavors to them, but they are elements which have been absorbed in a much less casual manner than they may appear to have been. that is, those elements which can be traced to other sources have found their way in because they fairly closely parallel central african practice and philosophy.

Or, as my teacher explained:

What was utilized was what was in harmony to what already was there. THIS IS IMPORTANT and should be understood by new students.

I don't call myself a Christian – yet. I'm not sure if I ever will. I won't go so far as to say I know Jesus, but Jesus knows me.

These days, when I close my eyes and look toward the Trinity, I see something wilder, more creative, and more gracious than my previous Christian experience allowed me to believe. (Last year I was inspired to write, "Sometimes Jesus doesn't give his right name.")

I still don't know how to fit the 19th chapter of Judges, say, into the Golden Rule life. But sometimes I do like to go down to the Baptist church next to the candle shop and swim in the spirit.

There's a lot more to be thought and said on this topic.  I need to think seriously about hubris, hegemony, and spiritual misquotation, for starters.

More later; this is turning out to be a bigger subject than I anticipated.

This is a modern spell based on a passing remark by one of my mentors, Dr. Kioni.

Summary first:

• Write a petition on paper; wash it off into a tea of the herbs listed below
• Smoke a picture of yourself, and one of the other person, in the herbs used as incense
• Wash a credit-card-type magnifier (see link below) in the tea
  
• Sandwich the pictures and magnifier; wrap in foil
  

Now, the spell in full:
Take two pictures: a picture of yourself and one of your spouse or lover or recent ex, or whoever you wish to maintain a friendly, truthful relationship with.

Get yourself a fresnel lens magnifying card (you don't have to buy them through this weblink; they're commonly available at drugstores).

On a piece of paper, write a little petition for love, truth and  easy communication to flourish between you. USE WATER-SOLUBLE INK, such as a child's marker or even watercolor paint or food coloring. INCLUDE BOTH YOUR NAME AND THE OTHER PERSON'S.

Gather together basil, thyme and allspice. If you are married to the other person, or wish to be, add orange peel and rose petals.

 Light a charcoal briquette and place a pinch of the herbs on top.  Hold the photographs in the smoke. Improvise a little prayer appropriate to this project.

Now make a tea of the rest of the herbs.

Dip the petition paper into the tea until the ink has washed off.  Now wash the fresnel magnifier in the tea-plus-blessing and let it air-dry.
Early in the morning, throw away the rest of the tea, toward the sunrise. You may, however, wish to drink some of it first, and perhaps slip a few drops into the other person's favorite drink.

Sandwich the fresnel magnifier between the two pictures, which must be facing each other. Wrap them in aluminum foil.

If you can, hide this talisman behind some object the other person looks at often. If that is not practical, place it where he must walk over it or under it (behind a picture over a door, perhaps). If you can't do that, place it under a candle stick in which you will burn a white candle for half an hour or so every Sunday until the situation is what you want it to be.

Now, about those herbs: the ones I have named can mostly be found in any kitchen. Roses are readily available too. But if you want the spiritual power of some less common plants, Solomon's seal, say, or damiana, or....

Well, you can use products like Peaceful Home, Come To Me, Blessing, or King Solomon Wisdom - DEFINITELY King Solomon Wisdom. Superior versions of all these and others are available from the Lucky Mojo Curio Co. Each of the formulas I named is available as an oil, a powder, bath crystals and incense. Knock yourself out. 

Well, today I went to a service at Harmony Missionary Baptist Church, Oakland, CA.

Harmony is more vibant than Russell Temple, & seems to be friendlier. Rev. Cobbs almost got through the two-hour service without mentioning sin. Some highlights:

• "Even through the storms of life, God is good all the time."
• "Your commission [Matt. 28:19, 20] is to let your light shine, because the only Bible some people might read could be your life." – Which was not followed by a long, dreary list of do's & don'ts. He just assumed that we knew how to do that.
• During the (loud & frenetic) opening prayer: "I'm not speaking loud because I think you're hard of hearing, Father, but because of the way it makes me feel."

This wasn't a place to "learn about Jehovah": it was a party celebrating the existence of divine love. They'll say Christ saved us from "sin," but I think they really mean alienation, that feeling of being locked out of the real world. Anyone who can break down those walls for someone else is a savior - has the power of the god who is Love. Luther talked about the  priesthood of all believers; Unitarians talk about the  prophethood of all believers – can a Baptist live, even if he won't mention, the Christhood of all believers?

And another thing: The assistant pastor, Rev. Connor, made a point of greeting me after the service. "Where did you hear about our church?" he asked. "Well, a friend of mine recommended it," I said. "And I saw it from the little candle shop (I sure wasn't going to say "pagan shop") across the street." "Oh," he said, "I've been in there! They have some good stuff." So: a Bible-literalist, compassionate, vibrant, conjure-friendly church.

They had two further services scheduled for later in the day, as I learned from the pianist as I sat next to her at lunch. "Well, I'm not going to stay for that," I said. "I already feel like I've eaten two pounds of chocolate."

And there it stands. I am going back, but I'll need several weeks to digest all that

I'm reading the UCC's "Calendar of Prayer" (sort of a Daily Word for liberals) for May 2005.


I have the opposite problem.

Most of the time I was a Christian, I was taught to think of Jesus only as King, Redeemer - enthroned in heaven, transfigured, glowing like the sun, ready to carry out the wrath of God with "the sword of his mouth."

Sure, I can exalt the poor and hungry to their rightful status as sons & daughters of god. Not a problem. What I have trouble with is seeing them in the eyes of Jesus - to bring Him down to the gutter, where our brothers still live - for too long.