So for those of you who don't know, I did an Ancestry DNA test (using a fake name because I was worried about people spying on me) way after it was trendy. If you look at my fair, peachy, burns-if-you-look-at-it-funny skin, ash blond hair that was red when I was a baby and according to my girlfriend still has a little bit of red in it, and blue eyes, and if you know that my last name is either Scottish Gaelic or Old English according to Google, my results of 50% England, Wales, and Northwestern Europe, 30% Irish and Scottish, and 20% Germanic Europe, will not surprise you at all. And, I mean, they actually did surprise my very Italian-looking extended paternal relatives and kind of did surprise even me since even a lot of my mom's relatives look weirdly Greek or Turkish for some reason and my grandpa apparently used to get mistaken for black in the summer when he was working in construction and got super tan all the time (for the record, though, his brother and sister both took the test and their results ended up similar to mine), but whatever.
The reason I'm making this post is because finding out more about where my ancestors predominantly come from and being able to trace our heritage to a specific location in Ireland made me want to learn more about my Irish heritage. I was interested in Irish mythology even when I identified as an evangelical Christian, but now I'd love to get more involved in the Gaelic polytheist community, travel to Ireland, learn Irish folk dancing (fun fact: this is actually a tradition in my mom's family and I have a little cousin who is a champion Irish folk dancer, who has a little sister following in her footsteps), fulfill my and my girlfriend's burning desire to legalize polygamy so we can marry Becky Lynch, grow out my hair once I'm on T and start braiding it in this really cool way I've heard of people doing in ancient Ireland. I've even started learning the Irish language but my language app keeps malfunctioning so it's hard to learn how things are pronounced.
I've been involved in pagan, witch, generally occult-y discourse surrounding white spiritual nerds like yours truly and our relationship to cultures of color - or, more specifically, the spirituality found in those cultures.
Okay, so, I've been to Diwali and Dia de los Muertos celebrations hosted by South Asian and Mexican American people respectively. They were choosing to share their cultures with the public and to include white people in that and I was as respectful as I knew how to be and had a great time. I've also gotten henna and mehndi tattoos done by Arab and Desi women respectively and have always found them gorgeous. I also love Indian, Mexican, and Thai food and for my last birthday I went to a Thai restaurant that, as far as I know, was owned and operated by Thai people. So it's not that I have anything against respectfully participating in marginalized cultures as a white person. I do have something against white people taking off-limits cultural practices and profiting off them, especially while disrespecting the actual members of those cultures or neglecting to contribute anything to their communities (i.e. financial compensation or at the very least solidarity and an acknowledgment that white privilege is a thing).
For example, smudging, sweat lodges, this one thing I read about awhile back where it was like some kind of "rainbow tribe" thing that had been inspired by Native cultures but was apparently more for white pagans and was not run by Native people. Basically just the kind of thing that I come across constantly living in a predominantly white hipster suburb. And I don't think it's intentionally racist because I don't think most people just go through life actively choosing to be assholes to marginalized people.
But, as I've heard from a lot of people of color and learned from the sociology classes I've taken that were taught by people of color and discussed with occultists of color, "not intentionally racist" doesn't mean "not racist." It's racist for white people to be profiting off cultures of color, which is why if I want a dream catcher, white sage, etc. for spiritual purposes I buy those things from actual Native people.
A lot of white Americans aren't engaged with our own cultures because our ancestors gave up those cultures in order to assimilate into whiteness. And which is why a lot of anti-racist occultists propose that white occultists learn more about our ancestors' practices and get involved with them. It's interesting and educational for us, helps us to take pride in our heritage without engaging in some "I'm proud to be white and if you have a problem with that you're the REAL racist!" nonsense, and keeps other white people from appropriating closed religions from marginalized cultures.
What many white people, including myself at one point, don't understand is that nobody actually gives a shit if we're proud of our cultures or participate in them. Like, do you want to make baklava and spanakopita? Hell yeah, Greek food is delicious. Do you want to buy a kilt and learn to play the bagpipes? Cool. Put your hair in viking plaits? Speak Italian? Practice Rodnovery? Visit your family's Saami territory? Rad.
What's not okay is when that turns into "I'm so proud to be white" or "Europe birthed the most beautiful and powerful traditions in the world" or "the blonde hair and blue eyes of our great nation's women are a beautiful symbol of innocence" or "as a white person, my ancestors are the most intelligent and influential that the world has ever seen" or anything else that positions you and your whiteness as superior to indigenous cultures. The difference between being proud of your culture as a Bulgarian or Norwegian or Russian person and being proud of being white is that one is being proud of a rich and diverse culture that includes ethnic minorities among its number and has endured its own struggles and history, while the other is being proud of benefiting from someone else's oppression by virtue of belonging to a privileged class that has historically been a cause of great pain and suffering and has a lot of blood on its hands as a result.
I wholeheartedly agree in theory that white occultists should learn more about our backgrounds and practice Hellenism, Asatru, Paganacht, Religio Romana, or Rodnovery rather than appropriate indigenous religions and blow smoke in the face of a Buddha statue while wearing yoga pants with the image of a Hindu deity on the ass, but I think the way we carry this out can be racist in practice.
For example, I have a friend whose mom is African-American and whose dad is a white Greek immigrant. If she decided to become a Hellenist, I'm sure a lot of white Greek Hellenic polytheists would have a problem with that and cite some bullshit about "blood and soil" and "purity" and how she doesn't have a right to Greek religion because she has no ancestral ties to it because she's black. Even though she totally does - have every right to be a Hellenist and have ties to Greek culture and heritage. I was also introduced to Aphrodite worship by a black Aphrodite devotee who is not mixed race, and she has every right to be a Hellenist too. It's an open religion. But the same white Greek Hellenists who got involved with Hellenism as a way of connecting to their ancestors and then used that cultural pride as an excuse to be racist to Hellenists of color - even Greek people of color! - have never given me shit for being a Hellenist who isn't Greek.
I understand that, as a white Irish pagan woman who practices some aspects of Celtic religion and is getting more involved with my ancestry, some people might try to weaponize me and my experiences against people of color. Which I am not at all okay with and want to state that I do not respect or affiliate myself with white supremacy and will never see racist beliefs as acceptable or normal.
That kind of racist puritanical shit happens pretty regularly with European revivalist paganism, and it's a very interesting and polarizing issue because the way that people react to white supremacist pagans who want to keep their religion "pure" reveals a lot about who that individual is as a person. Either they're just as racist as the more outspoken white supremacists already, they're not but also "don't judge based on politics" and "get along with everyone" but are actually either a colorblind racist or just don't want to get into an argument or stand up to anyone, they're pro-inclusion but also don't respect religions and practices that actually are closed, or they're anti-racist.
I want to alienate any fellow white person who isn't anti-racist from my practice as a pagan. Hellenism is a religion that mandates hospitality and friendship, and Aphrodite is a war goddess who is said to represent the bonds between people. These beliefs will only expand as I learn more about Irish paganism. To strive for anything less than complete racial equity and liberation, to hold any tolerance for racist beliefs whether my own or anyone else's, would be anti-pagan and anti-human.
The reason I'm making this post is because finding out more about where my ancestors predominantly come from and being able to trace our heritage to a specific location in Ireland made me want to learn more about my Irish heritage. I was interested in Irish mythology even when I identified as an evangelical Christian, but now I'd love to get more involved in the Gaelic polytheist community, travel to Ireland, learn Irish folk dancing (fun fact: this is actually a tradition in my mom's family and I have a little cousin who is a champion Irish folk dancer, who has a little sister following in her footsteps), fulfill my and my girlfriend's burning desire to legalize polygamy so we can marry Becky Lynch, grow out my hair once I'm on T and start braiding it in this really cool way I've heard of people doing in ancient Ireland. I've even started learning the Irish language but my language app keeps malfunctioning so it's hard to learn how things are pronounced.
I've been involved in pagan, witch, generally occult-y discourse surrounding white spiritual nerds like yours truly and our relationship to cultures of color - or, more specifically, the spirituality found in those cultures.
Okay, so, I've been to Diwali and Dia de los Muertos celebrations hosted by South Asian and Mexican American people respectively. They were choosing to share their cultures with the public and to include white people in that and I was as respectful as I knew how to be and had a great time. I've also gotten henna and mehndi tattoos done by Arab and Desi women respectively and have always found them gorgeous. I also love Indian, Mexican, and Thai food and for my last birthday I went to a Thai restaurant that, as far as I know, was owned and operated by Thai people. So it's not that I have anything against respectfully participating in marginalized cultures as a white person. I do have something against white people taking off-limits cultural practices and profiting off them, especially while disrespecting the actual members of those cultures or neglecting to contribute anything to their communities (i.e. financial compensation or at the very least solidarity and an acknowledgment that white privilege is a thing).
For example, smudging, sweat lodges, this one thing I read about awhile back where it was like some kind of "rainbow tribe" thing that had been inspired by Native cultures but was apparently more for white pagans and was not run by Native people. Basically just the kind of thing that I come across constantly living in a predominantly white hipster suburb. And I don't think it's intentionally racist because I don't think most people just go through life actively choosing to be assholes to marginalized people.
But, as I've heard from a lot of people of color and learned from the sociology classes I've taken that were taught by people of color and discussed with occultists of color, "not intentionally racist" doesn't mean "not racist." It's racist for white people to be profiting off cultures of color, which is why if I want a dream catcher, white sage, etc. for spiritual purposes I buy those things from actual Native people.
A lot of white Americans aren't engaged with our own cultures because our ancestors gave up those cultures in order to assimilate into whiteness. And which is why a lot of anti-racist occultists propose that white occultists learn more about our ancestors' practices and get involved with them. It's interesting and educational for us, helps us to take pride in our heritage without engaging in some "I'm proud to be white and if you have a problem with that you're the REAL racist!" nonsense, and keeps other white people from appropriating closed religions from marginalized cultures.
What many white people, including myself at one point, don't understand is that nobody actually gives a shit if we're proud of our cultures or participate in them. Like, do you want to make baklava and spanakopita? Hell yeah, Greek food is delicious. Do you want to buy a kilt and learn to play the bagpipes? Cool. Put your hair in viking plaits? Speak Italian? Practice Rodnovery? Visit your family's Saami territory? Rad.
What's not okay is when that turns into "I'm so proud to be white" or "Europe birthed the most beautiful and powerful traditions in the world" or "the blonde hair and blue eyes of our great nation's women are a beautiful symbol of innocence" or "as a white person, my ancestors are the most intelligent and influential that the world has ever seen" or anything else that positions you and your whiteness as superior to indigenous cultures. The difference between being proud of your culture as a Bulgarian or Norwegian or Russian person and being proud of being white is that one is being proud of a rich and diverse culture that includes ethnic minorities among its number and has endured its own struggles and history, while the other is being proud of benefiting from someone else's oppression by virtue of belonging to a privileged class that has historically been a cause of great pain and suffering and has a lot of blood on its hands as a result.
I wholeheartedly agree in theory that white occultists should learn more about our backgrounds and practice Hellenism, Asatru, Paganacht, Religio Romana, or Rodnovery rather than appropriate indigenous religions and blow smoke in the face of a Buddha statue while wearing yoga pants with the image of a Hindu deity on the ass, but I think the way we carry this out can be racist in practice.
For example, I have a friend whose mom is African-American and whose dad is a white Greek immigrant. If she decided to become a Hellenist, I'm sure a lot of white Greek Hellenic polytheists would have a problem with that and cite some bullshit about "blood and soil" and "purity" and how she doesn't have a right to Greek religion because she has no ancestral ties to it because she's black. Even though she totally does - have every right to be a Hellenist and have ties to Greek culture and heritage. I was also introduced to Aphrodite worship by a black Aphrodite devotee who is not mixed race, and she has every right to be a Hellenist too. It's an open religion. But the same white Greek Hellenists who got involved with Hellenism as a way of connecting to their ancestors and then used that cultural pride as an excuse to be racist to Hellenists of color - even Greek people of color! - have never given me shit for being a Hellenist who isn't Greek.
I understand that, as a white Irish pagan woman who practices some aspects of Celtic religion and is getting more involved with my ancestry, some people might try to weaponize me and my experiences against people of color. Which I am not at all okay with and want to state that I do not respect or affiliate myself with white supremacy and will never see racist beliefs as acceptable or normal.
That kind of racist puritanical shit happens pretty regularly with European revivalist paganism, and it's a very interesting and polarizing issue because the way that people react to white supremacist pagans who want to keep their religion "pure" reveals a lot about who that individual is as a person. Either they're just as racist as the more outspoken white supremacists already, they're not but also "don't judge based on politics" and "get along with everyone" but are actually either a colorblind racist or just don't want to get into an argument or stand up to anyone, they're pro-inclusion but also don't respect religions and practices that actually are closed, or they're anti-racist.
I want to alienate any fellow white person who isn't anti-racist from my practice as a pagan. Hellenism is a religion that mandates hospitality and friendship, and Aphrodite is a war goddess who is said to represent the bonds between people. These beliefs will only expand as I learn more about Irish paganism. To strive for anything less than complete racial equity and liberation, to hold any tolerance for racist beliefs whether my own or anyone else's, would be anti-pagan and anti-human.
No comments:
Post a Comment