Arrogant is my middle name. Look, I'm not busting your balls for your own practice. Have fun. I also don't get the sense you're being malicious here.
I just thought it important to point out that minority religions with a history of actually being persecuted do get a certain level of what seems like outsized protection. We do the same thing with Vodou and Native American ceremonies and cultures.
You mentioned the "Jewish egregore." In occult circles, an egregore is thought of as a collective thought-form or a shared psychic energy of a group. Is the idea of an egreogre itself an egreogre puppeting "magic" people around? Ha! Half-joking aside, using that term to describe a living ethnic and religious identity like Judaism can definitely be seen as reductive or "othering," - it treats a culture as a psychological construct rather than a people with agency.
As someone who is Indigenous Latino on my maternal side, I can't tell you 'exactly' where the line is between love of something, appropriation, or then from there, distortion and erasure. It's fraught, dude.
Like in Germany. Maybe if they made a 'Rain Dance Themepark' and sent some of the profits back here to the rez? Dunno.
And yes, I think 'appropriation' is cried far too often by people who want to gatekeep. I see that in Hoodoo, with people not aware High John comes from Mexico and all points south. Not that I mind. Part of what we are doing here on WF is figuring this stuff out. I was just pointing out that at least when it comes to minority religions, it is advisable to hew a tad closer to how they speak about their own religion.
Look, my friend, I am persistently trying to avoid a discussion that delves into political and ideological views of the world. I want to keep the debate strictly within the realm of occult practice. In that sense, it cannot be said that the method I recommend is some kind of 'cultural appropriation' of Judaism, let alone 'forcing Jesus into Judaism,' because, by the same logic, a random Christian could argue that I am actually pushing Judaism into Christianity. Does it even matter?
Instead of telling me, hey man, don't perform that kind of magic and don't recommend it to anyone because I, or someone could go crazy, you give me lectures about minorities on the other side of the planet and mention some intellectual terms that obviously don't make sense outside the context of contemporary Western culture.
As for Jewish spiritual heritage, I was simply taught to think in terms of Kabbalah, because I consider it a very effective tool. In that sense, I do not find it wrong to use Kabbalistic methods for various purposes. I do not consider Jewish tradition 'minority' but rather the light of the world. So, according to your worldview, someone who does not belong to a certain ethnicity, especially if you consider it a minority, cannot engage in a form of spiritual practice invented by that ethnicity! That idea is insane, but fortunately, it is not applicable, because the process of acculturation, i.e., cultural exchange between people from different communities and nations, is natural and proven as a historical fact.
Take, for example, Carlos Castaneda, who was a citizen of your Los Angeles, and whom that same native of Mexico initiated into something that belongs exclusively to the cultural realm of the indigenous peoples—because the spirit instructed him to do so! Don Juan Matus didn’t care at all about what you are talking about. If Don Juan had listened to your advice, we would never have had the chance to learn anything about the Way of the Warrior, and Castaneda, since he is not of indigenous origin, would not be allowed to write anything on the subject because of 'cultural appropriation.' As far as I'm concerned, the views you advocate are an expression of a rigid and deeply politicized worldview. If the spirits accept me and mark me, the shaman will initiate me, regardless of my origin. This is how the Thracians and Scythians initiated the Greeks, Tibetans and Chinese were introduced to Buddhism ('appropriation' of Indian culture!), and what can be said about Western followers of Indian gurus! That's just terrible!
As for the definition of an egregore, we can discuss that in another topic, so as not to dilute the discussion here.
