I’m looking especially at other white witches here who think it’s okay to work with Native American spirits.
This just in: if you are not Native (specifically Ojibwe, Salteaux, Cree, Naskapi, Innu or I think Cherokee) a wendigo WILL kill you. Don’t work with wendigos if you are not Native!!! This isn’t Supernatural!!
No but seriously, sometimes spirit workers can and do run into spirits from closed traditions, and if you’re not interested in cultural appropriation, it can be intimidating figuring out what to do.
1. Ask it what it needs. Sometimes a spirit from a closed culture will get lost or mixed up. So if you run into one, ask what it wants/needs. Sometimes it’s just an accident that they showed themselves to you. If it’s lost, tell it where it can find the nearest place that belongs to said culture or religion.
2. DO NOT FORCE IT TO DO ANYTHING. Spirits can trick you, and vice versa. I’ve seen people take some really roundabout ways of working with spirits to justify working with spirits from closed practices. And in some cases, people will try and trick these spirits into working with them, even as far as binding memories to get them to work for you. Even if it’s friendly, leave it be.
3. Nine times out of ten, a spirit from a closed practice will outright refuse to work with/for you if you are not part of that culture. Spirits from closed practices can range anywhere from amiable but hesitant to outright aggressive and hateful when it comes to outsiders. (Especially white people!) I’ve even heard that people of mixed heritage can have trouble with spirits from closed cultures because not every spirit sees them as “enough” of that heritage. For those of you with mixed heritage, I will leave this 100% up to you. Not like, “I’m 1/36 Cherokee!” but like, you know your history and try to be involved with it because it has near family history. It’s up to your own comfort levels, not me (as a white person) to decide.
Basically, leave them be. There are TONS of spirits out there from open cultures and practices that are really fun to work with. Leave the few who belong to cultures that have gone through near cultural genocide to the people of that culture/practice. It’s like taking a handicapped parking space. It’s shitty and entitled. There are so many other parking spaces you can park in, but you really really wanted THAT ONE that is specifically marked for elderly/pregnant/disabled people. Don’t do it!!!
There are very rare cases where a person not of said practice may come across a spirit from a closed practice and need to work with them. For example, I recently rescued a number of spirits from closed cultures from a spirit collector. I’m helping heal these spirits and finding them places/witches from their own heritage to work with. (I mostly let my nonhuman healers and healers with heritage from said culture help them, however.) If you find yourself in some sort of situation where there is a spirit from a closed practice that you need to deal with in some way, (again, 9/10 just leave it be!!) make SURE that you do your research on the culture.
Be respectful. Read up on history and heritage and culture of that spirit. Donate if you can to heritage preservation societies or religious temples or closed practices.
And once again, DO NOT WORK WITH SPIRITS FROM CLOSED PRACTICES. If you find one, leave it be. I can guarantee that you will incur more favor by saying “hey you’re nice but I’m not comfortable working with you given our respective histories” than working with a spirit from a closed practice. Guarantee.
Don’t culturally appropriate.
Side note, we don’t fuck with W*nd*goes either… Like the nation that their lore comes from says not to even say that word out loud at night or during the winter.
Don’t get fucked up cause you wanna play with shit you don’t understand. This ain’t Supernatural, nobody will be coming to rescue your ass
QueerGalaxies 