Cultural Appropriation: The Real Dangers
Across history, human culture has evolved through the profound and beautiful journey of spiritual exploration. Each culture has crafted its own spiritual practices, deities, and rituals to bring comfort, meaning, and resilience to its people. These traditions, uniquely molded by a community’s experiences, geography, and resources, provide not only a path to self-growth but also a powerful way of connecting to something greater and to each other.
Cherishing and protecting cultural practices is essential because it honors the journey that each culture has taken to preserve its heritage and wisdom. Allowing these traditions to flourish within their communities maintains the authenticity of their stories, values, and insights. When members of a culture share their practices, they often do so with a sense of responsibility and connection, offering others a respectful glimpse into the depth of their beliefs.
Why Cultural Context Matters
Cultural practices are deeply tied to the land, lifestyle, and environment from which they originate. A culture’s spiritual beliefs, tools, and deities often reflect its specific needs and resources. For example, a society that relies heavily on agriculture may honor harvest deities, while those near the sea may embrace oceanic energies within their practices. These deities and rituals reflect a direct relationship with the people’s physical surroundings
The resources available to a culture also shape its spiritual practices. Certain plants, herbs, and crystals can only be found in specific regions, which means they carry a unique spiritual significance for the communities that live near them. This is also the reason that some practices are closed to those who are not within these communities, often referred to as Closed Practices, because in order to work with these particular practices you would have to be within the same context of them. To further understand the importance, some herbs or plants can only be grown in certain regions on Earth, holding spiritual significance to the people within them. Similarly, specific crystals might only be mined in particular regions, giving them significance for people in those regions. When others appropriate these items, especially without proper knowledge or respect, it disrupts the original intent and meaning, often to their detriment.
Cultural appropriation takes these practices, items, and symbols and uses them out of context, often turning them into commodities that fail to respect their cultural origin or the people who created them. This can lead to what is essentially a “bastardization” of the practices—stripping them of their meanings and resources, misrepresenting their use, and ignoring the communities that hold these items as sacred.
A Powerful Example
White sage has become a widely marketed item in the spiritual marketplace, often promoted as a universal “cleansing” tool for the act of smudging. Smudging, to put it simply, is a sacred and traditional indigenous practice involving the burning of specific herbs, such as white sage, to cleanse away energies and call in other specific spiritual energies; and unless you have been taught these techniques or have developed a connection with said spiritual energies, there is no real purpose in invoking these practices over other (often more accessible) techniques and energies.
The mass commercialization of white sage has not only harmed the cultures that they came from, but also its natural growth and abundance, making it an endangered plant species in some areas. This practice disregards the fact that, for Native American communities, white sage is a sacred plant used in specific ceremonies with deep cultural ties. The over-harvesting of white sage for profit fails to support or give back to Native communities; instead, it disregards their rights and diminishes the availability of this important cultural resource, only to promote the use of it in an extremely watered down manner. A true mockery.
How Cultural Appropriation Causes Harm
Cultural appropriation harms communities by trivializing and commercializing what is sacred and meaningful. When a spiritual tool or practice is used without an understanding of its context, it often reduces that tool to a superficial symbol rather than an item with real meaning. Moreover, when items like white sage are overused or misrepresented, they risk losing their original value and can create harm in the communities they come from by depleting resources or distorting traditional meanings, often in a disrespectful way.
How to Avoid Cultural Appropriation
Here are some respectful ways to practice spirituality without appropriating from other cultures:
1. Educate Yourself – Before adopting any practice or tool, research its origins, meaning, and significance within its original culture.
2. Seek Open Paths – Many spiritual resources and practices are available to everyone and are meant to be shared, such as meditation or nature-based rituals.
3. Use Local Resources – Seek out plants, herbs, and crystals that are locally abundant. This not only prevents the depletion of endangered resources but also allows you to form a deeper connection with your own environment.
4. Support Indigenous and Cultural Communities – When purchasing items like sage, consider buying from Indigenous sources and immersing yourself in those communities that ethically cultivate these resources and benefit directly from the sale. In doing so, these communities can also help support and educate YOU!
By practicing mindfulness and respect, we can engage in spirituality without taking away from the cultures that have developed their practices over generations. Cultural practices thrive when they’re honored in their true form, with respect for the people, places, and resources that sustain them.
