#spiritual colonialism

[creature-wizard]

"All goddesses are aspects of the Goddess" is one of those takes that, at best, reflects a shallow understanding of polytheistic spiritualities, and a failure to understand the worldviews from which they came. (It definitely doesn't account for animist spiritualities.)

When applied politically, it's a tool of colonialism. Because once you declare that all goddesses are aspects of the Goddess, and that you know who this goddess is and what she wants, you're putting yourself in a position to tell people that their views on their goddesses are wrong, and to tell them that they need to change their politics and lifestyles to match your ideas.

This is essentially what @/elderravenfire has been doing. He has claimed that all pagans and witches are essentially children of the Goddess, and that we have certain "duties" to fulfill, which includes becoming "warriors against the evil." He's made it clear that his idea of "the evil" is pretty much Christianity. Not any actual specific Christian institutions or movements, mind. Not just the Catholic Church, not American Evangelicalism, not Mormonism. Just Christianity. He's made it clear that he thinks the whole thing is a monolith, and believes that the average American liberal Christian wants to kill pagans. He doesn't distinguish between Black churches and neonazi churches. In his view, if we witches and pagans don't fight all of the Christians ever, we're "letting the goddess down." He doesn't merely claim that European goddesses are all manifestations of the Goddess, but that all goddesses, including Native American ones, are. Indirectly, he is proposing that in order to be true to their own cultures and heritages, Native Americans would have to follow his ideas and politics. In his eyes, anyone who tells him to fuck right off with his nonsense is "denying the truth."

Not all Great Goddess stuff takes this exact form, of course. It very often takes a radfem or TERFy angle. Sometimes it's got a New Age spin, where all goddesses supposedly represent the "Divine Feminine," which also just so happens to be the embodiment of Victorian gender stereotypes. Sometimes it's got a dark twist, where the Great Goddess is a dark mother archetype who doesn't empower women so much as fulfill men's BDSM fantasies.

But all of it, at the end of the day, serves some rotten colonialist agenda.

[crazycatsiren]

If you weren't upholding conspiracy theories, pseudohistory, Nazi rhetorics, repeating fascist ideologies verbatim, and aspiring to start a white supremacy cult, maybe a well informed and critically thinking community of people would take you seriously.

[marisatomay]

Been listening to books about the Salem witch trials and it’s so weird to me that there’s this prevailing narrative where people think of Salem as “oh they were deluded primitive folk who believed in witchcraft lol” when there are contemporary documents where prominent people said the accusers and the court (which hadn’t followed standard legal procedures even for that time) were committing crimes so grievous it would forever be a stain on New England

[wildfeather5002]

Indigenous folks, ex-christians & anyone who's knowledgeable on social issues, I have two questions that have bothered me for a long while and I believe y'all might know how to answer them.

The question: I read a webcomic about community A living on an island along with another community B with different culture & beliefs from them. Community A believes that their culture & religion are the correct ones and that members of community B are dooming themselves to eternal damnation (in a religious sense) if they don't adopt the beliefs & practices of community A.

I saw someone talking about the comic in its comment section, saying that one of the characters who's a member of community B is selfish for not adopting the burial practices from community A's religion, because according to that someone, not burying their loved one like community A believes is correct is " potentially dooming their loved one to eternal damnation".

If you're indigenous, has rhetoric / talking points like this been used against your own religious / cultural practices? Could you give any concrete examples?

If you have religious trauma / are ex christian of any kind, have people used talking points like this to guilt trip, to frighten, or to shame you into obeying religious rules? (People belonging to other religions than christianity are welcome to give their perspectives as well!)

[anistarrose]

I think when a lot of queer people who aspire to marriage, and remember (rightly) fighting for the right to marriage, see queer people who don't want marriage, talking about not entering or even reforming or abolishing marriage, there's an assumption I can't fault anyone for having — because it's an assumption borne of trauma — that queers who aren't big on marriage are inadvertently or purposefully going to either foolishly deprive themselves of rights, or dangerously deprive everyone of the rights associated with marriage. But that's markedly untrue. We only want rights to stop being locked behind marriages. We want an end to discrimination against the unmarried.

We want a multitude of rights for polyamorous relationships. We want ways to fully recognize and extend rights to non-romantic and/or non-sexual unions, including but not limited to QPRs, in a setting distinct from the one that (modern) history has spent so long conflating with romance and sex in a way that makes many of us so deeply uncomfortable. And many of us are also disabled queers who are furious about marriage stripping the disabled of all benefits.

We want options to co-parent, and retain legal rights to see children, that extends to more than two people, and by necessity, to non-biological parents (which, by the way, hasn't always automatically followed from same-gender marriage equality even in places where said equality nominally exists. Our struggles are not as different as you think). We would like for (found or biological) family members and siblings to co-habitate as equal members of a household, perhaps even with pooled finances or engaging in aforementioned co-parenting, without anyone trying to fit the dynamic into a "marriage-shaped box" and assume it's incestuous. We want options to leave either marriages, or alternative agreements, that are less onerous than divorce proceedings have historically been.

I can't speak for every person who does not want to marry, but on average, spurning marriage is not a choice we make lightly. We are deeply, deeply aware of the benefits that only marriage can currently provide. And we do not take that information lightly. We demand better.

Now, talking about the benefits of marriage in respective countries' current legal frameworks, so that all people can make choices from an informed place, is all well and good — but is not an appropriate response to someone saying they are uncomfortable with marriage. There are people for whom entering a marriage, with all its associated norms, expectations, and baggage, would feel like a betrayal of one's self and authenticity that would shake them to their core — and every day, I struggle to unpack if I'm one of them or not. If I want to marry for tax benefits, or not. If that's worth the risk of losing disability benefits, in the (very plausible) possibility that I have to apply for them later in life. If that's worth the emotional burden of having to explain over and over, to both well-meaning and deeply conservative family members, that this relationship is not one of romance or sex. (Because, god, trying just to explain aromanticism or asexuality in a world that broadly thinks they're "fake" is emotional labor enough.)

Marriage is a fundamental alteration to who I am, to what rights an ableist government grants me, and to how I am perceived. I don't criticize the institution just because I enjoy a "free spirit" aesthetic or think the wedding industry is annoying, or whatever.

[kemetic-dreams]

The term 'Sub-Saharan' Africa is a colonial language that was used to belittle African nations south of the Sahara and to separate the other countries from North Africa– Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Sudan due to them being Arab states.

Colored, Negro, Black, Nigger

Every one of these terms come from the mindset of Europeans not Africans. Indigenous African societies do not use the term black as a racial identity outside of influences brought by Western cultures.

Contemporary anthropologists and other scientists, while recognizing the reality of biological variation between different human populations, regard the concept of a unified, distinguishable "Black race" as socially constructed.

Black is a term developed in the Colonial Assembly of Maryland, after a rebellion called Bacon's Rebellion, fought from 1676 to 1677.

The alliance between European indentured servants and Africans (a mix of indentured, enslaved, and Free Negroes) disturbed the colonial upper class. They responded by hardening the racial caste of slavery in an attempt to divide the two races from subsequent united uprisings with the passage of the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705.

White took on the meaning "British, Christian and having rights. Black meaning not having rights.

These divided the two populations, by giving poor Europeans with no power, unprecedented power over all non-Europeans.

The laws were devised to establish a greater level of control over the rising African slave population of Virginia. It also socially segregated white colonists from black enslaved persons, making them disparate groups and hindering their ability to unite. Unity of the commoners was a perceived fear of the Virginia aristocracy, who wished to prevent repeated events such as Bacon's Rebellion, occurring 29 years prior.

By refusing to call you an African, it belittles you, no such thing as black names, black land or black languages. It is like calling a woman big lips or flat butt and refusing to call the woman by her actual name. "Hey colored girl, or black boy".

In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people.

African populations have the highest levels of genetic variation among all humans. 

Why You Probably Shouldn't Say 'Eskimo'

People in many parts of the Arctic consider Eskimo a derogatory term because it was widely used by racist, non-native colonizers. Many people also thought it meant eater of raw meat, which connoted barbarism and violence. Although the word's exact etymology is unclear, mid-century anthropologists suggested that the word came from the Latin word excommunicati, meaning the excommunicated ones, because the native people of the Canadian Arctic were not Christian.

According to the Constitution of India, we are “the people of India that is Bharat”

In English language discourse, the word ‘India’ is used and in Hindi expressions, the word ‘Bharat’ is used. The Anglicised call it ‘India’, and the indigenous call it ‘Bharat’. Our ruling class calls it ‘India’, the others, the janata, call it ‘Bharat’. It has become a trend and fashion to prefer the word ‘India’ over ‘Bharat’. We converse with the country in Hindi and other vernaculars while we govern it in English.

Japanese people usually refer to their country as Nihon or Nippon 

The name "Japan" in English is derived from the Portuguese word "Japão," which was used during the 16th century when Portuguese traders and explorers first arrived in Japan. The Portuguese term "Japão" likely evolved from the Malay word "Japang" or "Japang Pulau," which referred to the Japanese archipelago.

The Japanese people themselves refer to their country as "Nihon" (日本) or "Nippon" (日本), and these terms have been used in the Japanese language for centuries.

As European seen themselves as the elites of all races and god's chosen people. They took on the mindset of what I say makes the most sense.

Renaming essentially all populations they came in contact with, using their language as opposed to learning the language of the natives.

And whatever religion or spirituality people had Europeans demonized it and forced converted people to Christianity.

[dragon-tamer-1]

Alien Isolation is getting a sequel!! Happy 10th anniversary Alien Isolation enjoyers! This game was, and still is, so fun while also being one of the scariest games I've played. And honestly, after a while, I wasn't sure it would ever get a proper sequel. Here's to hoping that the sequel is given the time and care to shine, especially with how the gaming world is nowadays.

[panicinthestudio]

Uncovering the Power of Hoodoo: An Ancestral Journey, May 16, 2023

Tank Ball explores the origins of Hoodoo, a unique and powerful form of spiritual practice deeply rooted in African American culture and the ancient ritual of ancestral worship.

Religions like Vodou in Haiti, Candomblé in Brazil, and Santería in Cuba share similarities with Hoodoo, but are unique to the places where they were created. Through interviews with renowned scholars and spiritual practitioners, Tank Ball traces the lineage of Hoodoo back to the era of slavery, where African spiritual beliefs intertwined with Christianity and provides an intimate glimpse into the practices and philosophies that bind generations together.

PBS Voices

[sarcophagid]

liu gui mb

[animxpossessed]

It's some bullshit that the western colonial ass mfs like to take a good thing and then "purify" it into an unwieldy potent extract and then ban it because they don't know how to treat it with respect.

[creature-wizard]

"I don't mind New Agers and starseeds so long as they're minding their own business-" Look, the thing is, New Age and starseeds will never mind their own business, because that's not how the belief system works. Appropriating other cultures' traditions and converting as many people to New Age as possible is the core of this belief system. They'll never stop their spiritual colonialism and cultural genocide because that's what it's all about.

[crazycatsiren]

If I could, I would resurrect Margaret Murray to turn her into cat food for my two fat cats. Doesn't even matter that they're both on a diet in this case.

[moonhedgegarden]

With colonization/captialism, came the inflation and manipulation of the ego.

Have this and you be this.

Do this and you’ll have this power.

Get these and people will think XYZ about you.

Alienate yourself.

Isolate yourself.

Work for your loneliness and allow your children and their children to inherit it.

Fill your house with things you forget about, things that mean nothing to you but hold the fantasy of a spotlight.

Never ask for help.

Fear them and fear yourself.

It’s a sickness that’s been allowed to grow because it benefits those so deep in the sickness they are like parasites to the people and to earth.

Separate from nature, we rot.

Separate from creation, we lose ourselves.

[divinum-pacis]

Can a River Be a Person? | Indigenous Traditions: Crash Course Religions #7

What does it mean for a river to be a person? An ancestor, even? In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we’ll learn how Indigenous religious traditions’ emphasis on place, kinship, and diverse spirits challenge the dominant assumptions of the Western worldview.

[lazydally09]

This is the Red Nation Podcast and in the video it touches up on colonialism/colonization and how the settler appropriates native/indigenous spirituality and twists it to justify or use in the efforts to enlightened themselves without confronting the history of demonizing of indigenous religions or beliefs.

This video seems to be for an Indigenous audience but I won't let it stop you from watching and giving it a chance.

[flourescencia]

regularly being hit with news like this about my country week after week is so fucking disillusioning. I need spiritual colonialism to DIE