Novice Witch Thoughts

So, the last week has been a bit of a rollercoaster and I’ve been having a lot of novice witch thoughts so let’s talk it out. It’s important to always be open to learning and changing your direction so if you have been doing these things just do some research.

As you all know I have spent a good 20years or so studying yoga and mindfulness, doing meditations and working with balancing my chakras. As I moved into my witchcraft journey, I started to think about how I could bring this practice into my magical life. How I could embrace my love for India and the things that Buddhism and Hinduism have taught me and use it now.

I started to look into Indian folklore and mythology as well as learning more about the Indian pantheon…then my guides gave me a smack round the head.

I was on Tiktok, and yes, I know it can be a dumpster fire but stick with me, and I saw a video of someone saying why are we westerners talking about chakras? Now this shocked me because most people as they start their spiritual journey learn about chakras there are millions of books about them and meditations and what was this man talking about?

After some research I realise that chakras had been westernised from over 100 complex chakras to 7 rainbow coloured and easy to remember chakras! It was colonised, white people took part of a religion and something incredibly important and just found a way to make money from it!

Now if you are a person of colour, this I am sure is no surprise, but as a white English woman I have been programmed to not even think about it. I was shocked and now I am determined to reframe my whole spiritual journey because I have no right to take the parts of other cultures I want to work with! I am not going to be a part of colonising spirituality!

So, after some soulsearching, I am now going to be studying English folk tales, I am going to be looking into English witchcraft and stay in my culture. I mean let’s be honest white English people need to be the ones to say no more will we use sage to cleanse our homes, or use tarot without fully understanding it’s history, or say namaste, or take whatever the hell we want from other cultures!

Affected by these novice witch thoughts?

If you have been blindly using practices from other cultures and want to change things keep reading:

• Do your research – some practices are closed; this means we cannot use them outside of that culture. But some have just been changed or Westernised, if this is the case do your research and learn more about the origins before continuing.
• Find local groups – A lot of religions and practices have groups, churches etc all over the world. Getting in touch and asking for more information, training or just for help is a great way to get involved and learn the real practice.
• Don’t be afraid of change – You might have had in mind what your practice includes and what it looks like and that might need to change. That is ok though, there is nothing wrong in realising you were wrong and now things need to change.
• Look into your own life – Every country and culture have a beautiful and rich history, so grab some books and start finding out more. I know for me I follow a lot of American witches online, but their culture is much more diverse and mixed than mine. I am excited to start looking into English mythology, history and witchcraft.

So, I look to you, my fellow white humans who are also witches, are you staying within your culture? Or are you working with deities from other cultures and using chakras because spirituality is there for us all to learn and grow from? Do you think I’m overreacting to someone who doesn’t like white people cleansing their chakras? I would love to hear your reactions to these novice witch thoughts.

Take care xxx