Black Witch: “The Invisibility Cloak: Race and the Pagan” (Afro-Punk)
Awwww yeeeaaahh. A topic I’ve been meaning to get at for a long ol’ time. I was just reading a book I had recently gotten, The Magical Household: Spells & Rituals for the Home, penned by Scott Cunningham and David Harrington. I kinda wanna take it back to the store. I bought it because I just recently moved into a new apartment and I was so stoked about it that I pretty much bought practically any crap that was witchy and pertained to it. I would have purified my cat if there was some home warming spell asking for that if I didn’t check myself at least a little bit. I don’t have many books on the Craft or on Paganism itself and The Magical Household reminded me why: It’s “too White” (!).
Words by Black Witch
Yes, the book claims and actually does talk about spells from different cultures such as Chinese culture and Native American culture, even Raymond Buckland said that “[It is] a delightful compendium of bits and pieces of folklore gleaned from Europe, China, Hawaii, and other parts of the world.” That’s really nice of him and it’s a little true, I see references to Chinese goddesses and Native American rituals to keep your home clean and totally absent of astral nasties here and there. The book was made in 1983 so I guess I shouldn’t expect so much “inclusivity” but it still strikes me nonetheless. The mentions of different cultures are kind of glance-overs instead of in-depth looks at the spells and rituals from the culture, it is clear the book is very much western. When mentioning anything African, it relies on the go-to of Egypt as if A) It’s not a country in Africa and B) That can check Africa off the list of continents represented in the book. I’m sure part of this is ease for the reader because you can’t just post a Chinese house clearing ritual without needing something Chinese and potentially inaccessible. Plus, too much focus on any “exotic” culture and it would suck pretty fast.It is far too common that just about any book in Paganism (or simply mainstream anything) is written from the White perspective. White, middle class (or middle-upper class), but at least the gender reflection in modern Pagan writings is a little better than the mainstream given that women have strong voices in the movement. But that’s probably where the “diversity of Paganism” culture stops.If you’re a minority in Paganism, it is very bright and clear that unless you’re a picture on the wall, you’re probably not going to get represented in any well-rounded way and shouldn’t expect it. The common face of Paganism is White and suburban and the current expressions of it are very well rooted in White culture and most of White hegemony. For many minority Pagans, that means dealing with being thrusted into White culture whether they like it or not – or just study alone and remember that the author doesn’t mean it but they probably assume you’re White.
Just because someone is part of a different religion doesn’t mean they’re potentially any less of a douche in the race and culture department. Thanks to the invisible knapsack of White privilege, it throws an invisibility cloak over minorities. To keep from going too broad, I’m going to focus primarily on the Black Pagan issues as different minorities have different issues depending on how White culture decided to shape them in the eyes of the public and mental landscape of society. You see, I’ve learned through experience and hearing the experiences of others that Pagans love rooting for the underdog – I mean, we are one so it makes sense right? So stories of things happening to minorities anywhere in the world is terrible and tear jerking, right? Even issues that happen in their own home country such as America or the UK, there is an “Oh, some people are awful” kind of reaction. Y’know, as if racism exists in a vacuum and only shows itself when a lynching occurs and stuff like that. As long as there’s no voice from the side of the minority, it’s a one-sided show that can sometimes turn into a near circle jerk of “Well, we’re Pagans! We’re better than that. Those Christians! How dare they! Another sordid testament to the religion itself. What meanies. We would never act like that, the Goddess says love all!”
Let the minority open its mouth, even criticize Pagans and their shortcomings in the culture department and watch that cooing and sympathy drop quick. All of a sudden, it’s “We’re being attacked” and rationalizing ahoy. Talk about some of the humanitarian issues in this nation and how it disproportionally affects minorities and the working class, they’ll claim it’s from not doing enough hard work – this is America, after all. (Yeah, how that occupying working out for you?) Mention words like “institutional racism”, “tokenization” and “privilege” and up come the defenses. I’ve dealt with a stunning variety of Pagan women or Pagan men who thought they don’t benefit at allfrom any form of institutional anything and definitely not privilege because they’re Pagan, bigotry only benefits you if you’re Christian and Christian only. That, as Pagans, they’ve dealt with all sorts of historical bigotry that my race could not fathom such as the Burning Times, the Salem Witch Trials and the loss of some useful occult texts. Yup. I totes wouldn’t know – or maybe I would since I am Pagan. Though, I have never gotten a Walking While Pagan so maybe the jury is out on that one.
Read more at Afro-Punk
An excellent article, and I highly recommend it.
For a long time now, I’ve long been frustrated with how about the majority of pagan-related information is either Eurocentric or based on things that European-descended people find appealing, like China or ancient Egypt. You rarely see anyone really trying to innovate something tailored for American culture/s. Instead, it seems to be all about recreating a European fairytale world with a dash of “exotic” flavors like Chinese and Egyptian to make things more “interesting.”
