Most Common Culturally Appropriative Terms Used in Witchcraft (and alternatives to use in their place)

witchofthewyld:

soothingvioletlight:

•Gypsy: racial slur for the Romani people. Incredibly insulting. Use ‘free spirit’ instead.

•Karma: Hindu term for the law of cause and effect (it’s way more complicated than that but I digress) if you are not a member of this culture and belief system, don’t use the term. Use ‘justice’ or ‘law of return’ instead.

•Chakras: Term for energy points in the human body. Same as above. Use ‘energy points’ instead.

•Smudging: Native American name for a sacred cleansing ceremony. Unless you are a member of this culture and have been trained in the confines of the tribe, do not use this term. Use ‘smoke cleansing’ instead.

•Spirit Animal/Power Animal/Spirit Guide: Native American term for an animal spirit that aids you and teaches you. Same as above. Do not use this term unless you are an involved member of this culture. Use ‘animal teacher’, ‘patronus’, ‘familiar’ ‘inner animal’ or ‘animal helper’. Remember, you can have native blood, but that doesn’t make you Native American. You must actually be involved and accepted by your tribe, spiritually and legally.

Remember, you can have native blood, but that doesn’t make you Native American.

Repeated for emphasis.

Also commonly appropriated: totem, totem animal, and medicine (and variations like earth medicine and medicine man/woman and medicine bag) in the context of spiritual practice or magic.

Also, perhaps obviously, don’t use “free spirit” to refer to the Romani people. It’s meant to be a replacement for the aesthetic and lifestyle that people use the g-slur for, which is not actually related to the Romani (who are nomadic because they are forced to be, not because they are “free spirited”).