The concept of closed practices is just racial gatekeeping

[𝕳𝖊𝖑𝖑𝖋𝖎𝖗𝖊]

I hear people say Hoodoo, Vodou and other ATRs are closed practices, but millions of latinos practice Santeria, 21 Divisions and Sanse are forms Voodoo. The vast majority of people practicing ATRs are latino. Puerto Ricans and Dominicans have their own forms of Voodoo, then that proves that you don't need to be black to do it. Lucky Mojo is run by white woman. The concept of closed practices is an afrocentric lie. I'm not chudposting. I'm socially conscious enough to understand why some black people may be resentful. The ones who aren't resentful are Uncle Toms, but that doesn't change the fact that the concept is just like the Black Hebrew Israelites, Hoteps, the Nation of Islam and FBA, complete bullshit.


Anyone can practice any ATR and anyone can get initiated into any ATR, including Haitian Vodou.


I just want an unbiased, knowledgeable ATR practioner to confirm or deny what I'm saying.


There's a certain prominent member of this forum who could answer this definitively, but I won't tag them because I don't know them.

 

[Nembra]

What a title. A closed practice isn't necessarily ethnically tied, it can just be secret, requiring initiation in order to access.

 

[𝕳𝖊𝖑𝖑𝖋𝖎𝖗𝖊]

What a title. A closed practice isn't necessarily ethnically tied

I should have used the word ethnically since race is a modern social construct.

, it can just be secret, requiring initiation in order to access.

That's not what people usually say. They say you need to be black to use it, but I know that's complete bullshit

hoodoo? how do i begin//learn?

hello! firstly i know that it is a closed practice i promise! i am asking here as a way to be vulnerable and ask! i am interested in studying learning more about hoodoo. i know that it is a closed practice and i am in the demographic to where i would be allowed to practice ( it would...

wizardforums.com

 

[Nembra]

That's not what people usually say. They say you need to be black to use it, but I know that's complete bullshit

Yeah, I never cared much for those systems but that's indeed weirdly racist put like that. Ethnicity doesn't carry any merit.
As I think of it: the culture, however, does carry merit, so I suppose it might serve as a kind of generational initiation rite.

 

[biai7268]

i have found when try to make a deep research that Hoodoo or Voodoo are only for Black People a great bullshit, is that where the case then you can practice Yoga if you are not from India BTW

 

[Robert Ramsay]

i have found when try to make a deep research that Hoodoo or Voodoo are only for Black People a great bullshit, is that where the case then you can practice Yoga if you are not from India BTW

I must admit, it does indeed sound like "make up a guy, pretend he exists, and then get mad at him".

Voodoo always sounded really interesting as a 'get it done" system, and as John Constantine put it: "I'll tell you the ultimate secret of magic; any c**t can do it."

 

[solxyz]

"Closed practice" doesn't mean racially closed, it just means that you can't (or shouldn't) engage in a practice without initiation. There was a brief period in which "closed practice" was being used as a dressed-up, occulty way of talking about the sin of cultural appropriation. That wave seems to have crested, and we are now seeing many more push-back posts, such as this one.

My views on the matter are: (1) You can engage in any practice that you are capable of engaging in. (2) If you haven't learned that practice from a traditional source, then you are probably not doing it as it is actually practiced in the tradition. Hence (3) you are not doing the traditional practice from which you are taking inspiration, and should generally not claim to be doing so. (4) Be respectful of other people's sacred spaces. (5) Some traditions do place various magical protections on their practices, so keep that in mind before you go raiding the goody box.