Many Pagan or Polytheist practices involve the deities or spirits of lands and cultures that aren’t directly inherited, especially in the United States. If you are any sort of eclectic practitioner, a reconstructionist, or just have an interest in various cultures and folkways, your practice might include elements of other religions, or other cultures’ beliefs or rituals. You might at some point in your spiritual life feel a calling to join a religious practice that has nothing at all to do with your ethnic or cultural heritage, but you might also be wary of such a calling, since the line between cultural appropriation and cultural adoption can be very fine indeed.
How do we as Pagans or polytheists approach questions of cultural theft, spiritual searching, appropriation and adaptation? Does bloodline or lack thereof have any importance to our practices? How do we navigate the complex, intersectional issues of culture, religion, ethnicity, and who “owns” spirituality in an ethical and appropriate manner? Join Mambo Chita Tann, a mixed-race polytheist serving several sets of ancestors – some that are her own and others that aren’t – for this timely discussion.
