Midnight Thoughts: Can Pagans pray to whoever they like?

Hello pornies! How are you doing? I'm on a +10 days no-cum streak, and I plan to keep it until this month ends! More on that later. However, I want to talk to you about something really serious and important I saw recently in a Facebook group (are you in there? Feel free to add me then!)

Long story short, after I dreamed with La Santa Muerte (again, more on that later,) I created my Facebook to enter a group about her and study her. Recently, I saw the next image, which caused a lot of conflict and made me think about several things. See for yourselves.

Click it to make it bigger.

There's a particular line I have big problems with, because this kind of perception makes more damage than one would imagine:

I am not initiated in Palo, Vodou, Santeria, Lucumi. I am a spiritualist and spiritualists, like Pagans, can pray and work for anyone who will listen to them and their community. I do not need an initiation to hear the divine because I heard it before I was ordained or initiated.

Really, Karen? Are you kidding? Now, I don't want to spread hate (the group exhausted me already with those comments,) but I do want to make clear to any new Witch, Pagan or Spiritual person, this is not okay. At all. If you are given this kind of advice ever, please, remove yourself from that place and get away from that person.

The problem is not whether or not we can work with any deity or spiritual force we want, becase we can. Hell, I'm a Pagan in wild love for my Craft, and I'm finding a way to work with a folk Catholic, Mexican saint. The problem is that you do need to be initiated or at least have a serious background study with someone who undertsand and respects that heritage.

This is even more important when it comes to social minorities. As a cisgender male who sometimes is percieved as White (hint, I'm not,) I may have certain social priviledges, I may experience some things normal, but who the feck I am to take, say, an African deity and worship them as I please, taking them out of their context and culture?

Think about it. If you were African american, Latin, Romani, Native American, LGBT+, and someone from any dominant culture took your heritage and do with it whatever they may want, how would you feel? Yes, kids, Witches do what they want whenever they want, but real Witches do not steal and appropiate culture in any mean.

Just shut up.

Another example. Let's say you want to study reiki, and really like how cool it sounds to heal with your hands, but, lacking any master near to you, you decide to start using those symbols on your own, with no proper training and not even a level 1 alignment. How serious are you about your practice, then, if you cannot respect that? Keep studying, reading, watching, listening, asking and searching, but practice only after serious training (very few exceptions, i.e: tarot doesn't count; although it does help as well!)

There are some religions we can be part of without being initiated. I, for example, was an eclectic Wiccan when I got started into magic and Witchcraft, and the Gods bless Scott Cunningham for helping me find my way to Wicca: I'm not into that path anymore, but I will take no shit from anyone who speaks badly about it because it was my introduction, part of my heritage already, and I expect everyone to do the same with theirs.

You can practice, pray, worship and witch however you can, and your practice is your practice. What works for you may not work for me, vice versa, and this is totally awesome. Diversity is what make the Craft so amazing for me. However, remember always: Real witches do not steal.

Kinky regards, K!

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