#open practices

[crazycatsiren]

I mean, if you want a Biblical bad girl, the Whore of Babylon, "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth", is right there. And she is not from a closed religion.

[gnosis-devotee]

If you participate in closed practices that you are not a part of, why?

Even if some people say it’s open, isn’t it better to be safe than sorry?

Respect people and their practices.

[solarvermilion]

If you think you're free to worship or work with an entity or spirit (deities, angels, demons, etc.) from a closed practice, you need to get to the root of why you think you're entitled to pick and choose from anything you want.

More often than not, it's white people who act like everything is free range to cherry pick from and completely strip that entity from the culture it originated from. And even if you don't think you're separating the entity from the culture, you are.

So to all my fellow white people, let's stop appropriating cultures we have no connection to and instead stick to the many pantheons and practices we are allowed to follow. In case you forgot, closed cultures/religions exist for a reason.

(ps. just because you feel called to an entity or think you have some connection with them does not mean you are entitled to worship or work with them)

[theantarwitch]

Quick Question! Under your close practices tab you have Florida water listed. I've been wanting to use Florida water for some time (As a way to "bless" things, use it as an offering for deities, ancestors, etc, and as a protection water, to lock things like doors, windows, and mirrors.) but I wanted to research it a little bit before I bought it (just in case) From what I've seen, Florida water isn't a closed practice by itself, but their are traditions in magical practices like hoodoo, that are closed. I have 2 main reasons for thinking this is:

A. Spiritual creators (I know, not the most reliable source but still) have said many times that Florida water is not a closed practice. The 2 people I cite for this would be "That Honey Witch" and "The Glamour Witch LA", who both are POC. (Glamour stitches one of Honey's TikToks. I don't have TikTok but if you google search "is Florida water a closed practice?" the link is the second thing to pop up. There is also a reddit discussion on this topic, and while the poster/OP was really nice, the comments are filled with appropriation is BS etc etc so big yikes)

And my second reason being B. Florida water is a relatively common item sold at places like Walgreens, it's a cologne that, to my knowledge, was made by white man in 1808 (And was popular in the Victorian Era). It was advertised as a unisex perfume/cologne. I understand that the spiritual uses were popularized by mainly hoodoo practitioners, but from the research I've done, nothing says you have to be part of a specific culture to use it in your practice. (And was interestingly made in New York and not Florida, and got it's name from the supposed location of the fountain of youth.)

Sorry that this was kind of long- I genuinely mean no harm and I'm not trying to offend anyone, I just want to have a (hopefully) productive and helpful discussion about what is, and what isn't a closed practice, and the nuance behind it. I feel like people make things too cut and dry, especially on apps, like TikTok.

(also apologizes in advance for any spelling errors I'm sure I made a bunch)

Absolutely right.

Florida Water, just as White Sage, Oomancy and almost the majority of techniques, ingredientes, herbs and elements, are not closed or open PER SE. But is the use of it what make it closed or not, similar to how all herbs used in closed practices aren’t closed but the practices themselves are.

Just as you said, it wasn’t originally specifically created for spiritual practices. And I can tell that was probably used centuries before to get that fancy name. Was just a smelly cute water to the clothes in an age where was not even soap.

Like, dang it, if you look for the ingredients, you can find 50 different ways to make it! It can have Lemon, Orange, Grapefruit, Lime, Rose, Lavender, Bergamot, Jasmine, Chamomile, Neroli, Violet, Thyme, Rosemary, Oregano, Sage, Basil, Eucalyptus, Mint, Cinnamon, Clove, Anise, Cardamom, Black pepper, Vanilla, ETC. None of the ingredients is closed.

Florida Water, used in a context of hoodoo, is closed to hoodoo. Just as White Sage in the context of Smudging is closed to Natives.

Florida Water, used as a ingredient to perfume, is open.

Florida Water, as a liquid to cleanse, is open.

If we become more tricky, a water made with, for example, lemon and mint, that you can make in your home to make the toilet smell good, is TECHNICALLY Florida Water.

Even more, we latins have the common use of rue and water as a way to cleanse a space, and, then, is florida water...

The Rose Water? Can almost be a florida water...

Probably, the link of the Florida Water and Hoodoo is related to the fact that Florida had a massive amount of African American slaves, but I'm not an expert in that topic and I would prefer than another POC with more knowledge of the topic say something about it. I speak only of the little I know.

So, short story. If you use Florida Water to use in the specific way of a hoodoo practice, not being from that culture, is closed af.

If you use it to cleanse your space as if it was moon water, or to make the pillow smell lovely, then is open.

That make me remember that I should fix that post lmao I remember I did it at 3am, no wonder why I made that AWFUL mistake, Thank you!

Also, don't worry, was not that long and I'm not a native english speaker, so I made 8237568 more mistakes than you lmao, chill.

Was a very interesting topic! Thanks to bring it up!

[aangelbrains]

Ancient Egyptian Religion: The beginning

Ancient Egypt is one of the most famous and well-researched areas of foreign lands in the modern era, with collected information from hieroglyphic wall writings within ancient tombs to the papyrus. A diverse and rich society, concentrated around the lower Nile.

The Book of the dead

The book of the dead is an ancient Egyptian text, originally written upon papyrus. Book is a loose term, as the sheets were an odd, nonlinear collected selection of spells for others to use within the journey of the afterlife or the Duat. Each book of the dead was seemingly different due to the possible conclusion that each was commissioned separately. These funerary texts are dated to be the oldest texts in the world

The creation of the world

A general look at the books of the dead during the second intermediate period creates a storyline, though there are many offshoots and different versions.

Before all, there was an infinite realm of still waters and darkness called Nun. Nun was personified as four pairs of male and female deities.

Nun and Nunet - from the word nnw 'watery expanse', the lack of solidity

Heh and Hehet - from the word HH 'unending time', infinite - the lack of time

Kek and Keket - from the word kkw 'darkness', the lack of light

Tenem and Tenemet - from the word tnm 'to wander', lack of direction

These deities were formless, hidden and dark, though often portrayed as having frog heads as water deities.

Atum (from the word “tm” meaning complete) created himself from the darkness, either through ideas of will or his own utterance of his name and at this time decided it was time for creation and with his creation, an island emerged, with the personification of the sun god Ra.

In the time of Zep tepi, or the First time, Atum created two children, his son Shu (representation of dry air) and his daughter Tenfut (the representation of moist air), these twins then created Geb (representation of dry land) and Nut (representation of the sky).

Geb and Nut then have four more children: Isis and Orsiris, and Seth and Nebret, both of these couples are both siblings and husband and wife.

Beliefs become convoluted as Ra (or Re) and Atum are exchanged in roles as creators of humanity and is unclear if they are one or two separate deities. Some believe that Ra, in place of Atum hatched from an egg in the waters of Nun, and so became the sun, drying up the waters of Nun to create an island.

The birth of humanity

Humans were created under the Eye of Ra or Wedjat, when the eye was separated from Re. Shu and Tefnut were sent to retrieve it, and in the battle, the eye shed tears, from which humanity was created

The fall from grace

As Ra began to grow old, both humanity and the new gods began to plot against him to take over. In anger, Ra sent his eye to destroy the rebels, transforming into the goddess Sekhmet. After this destruction, Ra became the contented cow goddess Hathor.

Now tired of battle Hathor withdrew from earth, mounting Nut. She was taken far into the heavens, the other Gods clinging to her belly and became the stars. Thorth the moon god was then given protection over the Humans through spells. From this moment, humans were severed from the Gods.

Every morning Ra is reborn in the east and travels across the sky by boat, called the bark of millions of years accompanied by a crew of Gods.

The other splintering idea of it Dung Beatle Khepri pulled Ra across the sky.

[magical-dancer]

List of Open Religions / Practices

Since I can’t access my side tumblr page that had the list (since both Safari and Chrome say the connection’s insecure for some reason), here ya go. Don’t ask for the sources on where I got these because hell if I know anymore.

DM me if any of these are actually closed.

Magic / Practices:

Altars

Ancestor connection/communication

Astral projection/travel

Astrology

Blood magic

Bone magic

Charms

Crystal healing/magic

Curses

Divination

Dream magic

Elements

Energy work/manipulation

Familiar work

Grimoire/Book of Shadows/Magic Journal

Herbal magic/herbology

Hexes

Knot magic (there’s so many options besides dream catchers)

Meditation

Nature magic

Numerology

Oils/Essential oils

Poppets (NOT voodoo dolls)

Potions

Sabbats

Scrying

Shrines

Sigils

Smoke cleansing (NOT smudging)

Spirit work (Be aware of cultural boundaries)

Wards & Shielding

Religions:

Paganism

Hellenic

Etruscan

Minoan

Roman

Mesopotamian (including Babylonian)

Celtic polytheism (including Gaulish, Irish, Scottish, German, Iberian, and Lusitanian)

Slavic polytheism

Finnish polytheism

Heathenism

Asatruar

Vanatruar

Rokkatruar

Lokean

Reconstructionist

Northern Tradition

Norse Tradition

The Elder Troth

Folkish

Universalist

Neo-Druidism

Neo-Wicca

[writingofwitchcraft]

PSA

I saw a post on Twitter that a white girl died from summoning Papa Legba, and while it might have been a joke tweet, just thought I should make this reminder: 

There is a difference between closed practices and open practices

Open practices are forms of magic that anyone can partake in regardless of their heritage

Closed practices can only be performed by people of certain cultures and ancestry. If someone outside of this practice tries to use it it will not work and could be dangerous. 

Voodoo and hoodoo are closed practices. 

Practices associated with Indigenous spiritual customs are closed, no matter how much you like the “Native American aesthetic uwu”. 

Norse paganism and Hellenistic paganism are open practices.

If you are interested in something and don’t know if it’s closed or open, ask someone within the practice! 

A lot of things from closed practices have become “trendy”. This is why I don’t burn sage - an Indigenous witch made a long essay explaining why that’s appropriation, so I instead cleanse with moonwater or incense. 

I think that magic is one of the most powerful forces in our world, and the fact that some magic is closed off to me isn’t a bad thing. It’s a beautiful thing, because it means I can see how other witches practice their craft differently from me. I can admire the way traditions are passed down, even if I can’t partake in them myself. 

And while I made this post to educate people, I am myself a white witch who practices Hellenistic Paganism, so if someone within a closed practice wants to correct me on something I would be grateful to learn from them. 

Non-witches can reblog.

[crazycatsiren]

Ok, I get it: white witches and pagans are feeling left out again. So they want to blame a thing (Wicca) for culturally appropriating white people's things (European pagan religions). Because the witches and pagans of colors are still leaving them out of closed practices discussions, as if victimhood is delicious.