Cultural Appropriation in Modern Occultism: Navigating the Thin Line Between Exchange and Exploitation

The 21st-century occult revival has fostered unprecedented cross-cultural engagement. Practitioners often blend traditions from diverse sources, including diasporic spiritual systems such as Vodou, Santería, and Candomblé; Eastern philosophies like Tantra, Taoist alchemy, and Vajrayana Buddhism; and European esoteric frameworks such as Hermeticism, Gnosticism, and Kabbalah. While cultural exchange has long been integral to the evolution of esotericism, the digital age has intensified the speed of these adoptions frequently without adequate historical understanding, permission, or contextual respect. This article explores when eclectic practice becomes appropriation, offering critical tools for ethical discernment.

Defining Cultural Appropriation in Occult Contexts

Cultural appropriation in the occult is not simply about using practices from other cultures it involves power dynamics, historical trauma, and the ethics of consent. When dominant culture practitioners adopt rituals or beliefs from marginalized spiritual systems, especially those that have been persecuted or colonized, they may unintentionally replicate systems of harm. The issue deepens when sacred practices are commodified, misrepresented, or stripped from their initiatory and cosmological contexts.

• Was the practice historically persecuted or banned by colonial/imperial powers?
• Has it been shared by cultural stewards with informed consent?
• Are initiatory requirements being respected?
• Is the original cosmology preserved, or are fragments being extracted for aesthetics or personal gain?

When sacred knowledge is uprooted from its homeland and repackaged for profit, it ceases to be sacred—it becomes a souvenir of conquest.

Common Sites of Appropriation

1. Indigenous Ceremonies and Plant Medicine

Practices such as smudging with white sage or sweat lodge ceremonies are sacred to Indigenous nations, particularly in North America. These rituals are often part of complex cultural ecosystems that include language, cosmology, and tribal law. Many tribes, including the Lakota, have publicly spoken out against the unauthorized use and sale of their sacred ceremonies

. Furthermore, the commercial harvesting of white sage has led to ecological strain, prompting some nations to advocate for moratoriums on its sale.

2. Diasporic African Religions (AFR)

Traditions such as Haitian Vodou, Cuban Santería (Lucumí), and Brazilian Candomblé are often misrepresented in occult literature and commercial decks. These systems are not open-access they rely on initiatory lineage, divination systems like Ifá or Diloggun, and longstanding ancestral contracts. While certain folkloric elements have crossed over into popular Western media, full participation in these traditions requires consent from elders, proper training, and alignment with cosmological law. Creating derivative systems like so-called 'Voodoo tarot decks' without elder approval or theological accuracy often spreads misinformation and disrespects the sacredness of the lwa or orishas.

3. Eastern Mystical Practices

Concepts like 'chakras' or 'kundalini awakening' have been widely adopted in Western New Age circles, yet often lose their original context. In Hindu and Buddhist traditions, these concepts are part of a broader ethical and philosophical framework involving karma, dharma, ritual discipline, and spiritual mentorship. Without this foundation, such practices can be misapplied or even cause spiritual destabilization. Scholars like Georg Feuerstein and Swami Sivananda have emphasized that traditional yogic systems were never intended for consumer repackaging.

Frameworks for Ethical Engagement

Rather than banning all cross-cultural learning, ethical engagement encourages practitioners to move from extractive curiosity to accountable relationship-building. This includes deep study, mentorship with knowledgeable lineage holders (when appropriate), transparent acknowledgment of sources, and avoiding practices explicitly marked as closed or protected. Practicing solidarity with communities from which these systems originate whether through donations, platform sharing, or advocacy is another ethical cornerstone.

1. Research before engaging: Seek peer-reviewed scholarship and voices from within the tradition.
2. Ask who benefits: Are you amplifying or profiting from a marginalized worldview?
3. Respect boundaries: If a tradition is closed or initiatory, do not participate without invitation.
4. Center community voices: Follow teachers and authors from the traditions you explore.

Conclusion: Healing Through Respect

Cultural synthesis has long shaped magical practice, but respectful engagement requires more than aesthetic admiration. In honoring the sacred with humility and accuracy, we make space for genuine spiritual growth—and for healing the wounds left by colonialism and commodification. The future of occultism depends not just on innovation, but on ethical evolution.