Witchcraft is not an established religion. Anyone of any religion can practice witchcraft. The closest thing to religious witchcraft is Wicca, but that barely counts.
Its an arbitrary(and incorrect) separation to inflate "organized religions" ego. Prayer=spells Repetitive group prayer= chanting Cross jewelry and items of importance= totems/ relics Faith= conviction Hell christians even slapped holidays on top of spiritual followings
@Laura Owens I understand what you're saying, and while Witchcraft as the name is not a religion, there are many many typed of religion in Witchcraft. Vodou, Celtic Paganism/druidism, Hellenic Polytheism, etc. They may not have churches, but they are religions.
Witchcraft isn't a religion. Wicca is the religion. Witchcraft is practiced freely without regulatory practices. It's just a form of spirituality that can vary from individual to individual and combine old practices from many different cultures or "religions."
Something I find very problematic as a person who wanted to be a geologist when they were in elementary school and also has been collecting minerals since they were very young because I fell in love with them when I was on vacation in Norway as a little kid, is that a lot of people who Unfortunately, for spiritual reasons, crystals do not seem to want to think about the fact that it would be cool if these crystals were also obtained fairly and sustainably from their origin. Unfortunately, this is often not the case and it is also relatively difficult to follow the whole back. Many sellers themselves do not really know under what conditions the minerals were mined And if somebody knows good shops where I can find fair traded crystals or minerals in Europe just please answer …. 😅
What's that saying? "There's no such thing as ethical consumption in capitalism?" But yeah, that fact that young children a dying violently trying to mine these rocks so white girls can feel spiritual kinda gives me the ick on a different level.
Honestly this video is uncharacteristically biased for the channel. They didn't delve into the negatives of spirituality at all, rampant consumerism being one of them. A lot of spiritual content online features large amounts of stuff be it crystals, card decks, herbs, candles and so on. Not to mention the concerning pipeline of spiritual person to science denier and the repackaging of misogyny with the whole 'divine feminine and masculine' idea.
@@Syanvar Especially since they mentioned the wellness industry, which is notoriously full of shit and preys on the very insecurities that patriarchal cultures have cultivated in women.
This was an interesting start, but it might have been prudent to touch on (among other things) spiritual materialism and is ties to our massively unregulated self help industry. The materialist aspect feeds into a capitalist structure fundamentally built against such movements and ends up driving many people away. Not to mention (as someone who lives in LA and see this way too often), some of the extremes of spiritualism have started to undermine the feminist aspects of the movement. It starts with conspiracy theories about fluoride, but parts of the specialist movement are undoubtably tied to anti vaxxer movements as well. It’s a complicated world patchworked together picking and choosing from a variety of traditions, some of which are misrepresented, so while some aspects are liberating, many are incredibly damaging and finding your way around the land mines of conspiracy theory, charlatans, and financial scams is difficult.
When you say "materialist' do you actually mean "consumerist?" The reason I ask is because there are materialist schools of thought that also reject consumerism & capitalism.
@@latinomifune4700 That’s a great point! Thanks for the clarification. I do mean consumerism. Though spiritual materialism is also an interesting fallacy that could be tied in to the conversation. Here’s what I found: “Spiritual materialism is a term coined by the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939-1987). He describes the term in his 1973 book, “Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism.” The phrase refers to a common spiritual pitfall, using our practice to boost the ego versus transcend it. This spiritual narcissism is part of being human, but we don’t have to fall victim to it.” I wonder how I conflated the two terms, but it’s probably a product of listening to Chogyam Trungpa as I’m falling asleep. I could see how consumerist tenancies could really play a part in this context of spiritual materialism.
My thoughts as well! Illuminaughtii touched on a lot of these aspects of New Age spirituality in her video "The Cult That Mummified Their Leader". Disturbing stuff! It's a good compliment to this video by The Take which overlooked all of the problematic aspects of New Age spirituality.
@@ClaryEstes I'm a material pantheist, so I believe the material cosmos is God, and as rational beings formed from God's cosmic essence we can empirically learn from the wisdom of the cosmos, including how to build alternatives to capitalism, & truly liberate ourselves.
Love this and thinking of how Indigenous/First Nations spirituality had to go underground, with many people over the years being sent to prison for practicing their ceremonies. Folks are now reclaiming what is left of their practices because they know that those ceremonies and that knowledge kept them alive over centuries of a brutal genocide. For our people, it's an Earth-centred spiritual resurgence grounded in generations of resilience in the face of religious colonialism.
Did anyone think it was odd that they brought up alternative religions as something that isn't religion, while completely avoiding how secular & anti-religious philosophical schools provide us actual insights about spiritual living that actually don't require religious beliefs & practices?
@@InfinityCSM The entire video was focused on commercialized Pagan re-constructionist religions as an "alternative" for religion, as opposed to actual philosophical alternatives for religion. Did you watch the video?
This video feels tone deaf and uninformed. One thing that this video does that rubs me the wrong way is that it ignores the history of Paganism, witchcraft, and other old world faiths and treats these practices as a bunch of aesthetic internet trends that people are just latching onto for fun. I'm also not a fan of the fact that they conveniently left out the history of persecution from Christians.
Couldn´t agree more. I would also like to add that the historical view on witch trails seems highly americanized and all through the lens of pop-feminism that does get a lot wrong escpecially if you read original trail documents from the early modern period and take a closer look at the spreading of those trails inside their societies which where basically just too much rooted in their medival beliefs of the world around them. So interpreting them from our modern lense is really difficult with all of the myths surrounding those events like the wise white witch that was a midwife and had herbal knowledge. That´s just a modern trope and had little to do with the acutal people that were accused of maleficium and witchcraft.
Honestly, after taking some time to research and read up on the evolution of religion in my continent alone, I have developed the view that no religious/spiritualist movements' hands are clean. So to me, they are all the same. At the end of the day, people are just using it to find a semblance of peace and understanding of themselves wherever they can, saying one is replacing or better than the other has no weight of merit to me.
Something that annoys me is the fact that spirituality has become the new "trend" of sorts. It's trendy to use crystals, read tarot cards, and be a witch without any insight, research or knowledge into what it all means. Why read tarot cards? Why use crystals? Why do spells? Some of these people look like they got into spirituality for the aesthetic and that's it despite there being more to it than pretty crystals and mystical tarot readings. Plus, there is a difference between paganism and spirituality. Paganism is the umbrella term for any religion not under Abrahamic religion - which is a problematic term in itself as it equates Judaism and Islam to Christianity when both Judaism and Islam have had issue with Christians, too - and each branch of paganism has its own spirituality. Also, there is a level of sheer disrespect some of these baby witches have for foreign pagan or cultural practices (which may have pagan roots), where when warned not to do something or to do more research into something, they get defensive and start acting like they know more than the other person who grew up with that specific practice (like when a Native American friend of mine said not to say the word w3nd1g0 to another friend who lived in Canada but was from England because he was worried about them cursing themselves which they got defensive). Plus, at the start, you called these "new" practices. Most of these aren't new. They're just becoming more mainstream. Popular =/ new. There's a lot of issues with this that went unaddressed, to be honest.
I’ve been a Wiccan Witch since I was 13 before it was popular. This new spiritual practice stems from the first pagan religions. It is inspiring but also nerve racking. The biggest religions become the most violent and contradicting, so we just need to keep our core belief of “If it harm none let you do what ye will”.
I just think it’s a little bit problematic since a lot of the practices have been adapted from indigenous and eastern cultures. This definitely feels like it’s coming from a very limited perspective on what spirituality is. Like my sister got really into astrology but she did it to connect with our cultural roots since our late grandfather was a village mystic in bangladesh. Spirituality can be anything but the specific practices which become very main stream have come from historically oppressed groups in the west and I think it’s important to acknowledge that the roots of a lot of these practices are not quirky or different from Abrahamic religions, they come from thousands of years of culture and history. Just because it wasnt European before doesn’t mean it it’s exotic now. No hate anyone who takes personal comfort in spirituality, I just don’t like how it’s been commodified.
I am not one of the people that practices these religions, but I want to ask, would it help if it had a different name from "spirituality" so that there is a clear difference between what is this modern reinterpretation of what traditional spiritualism is? Because christianity already is a religiou that has basically frankensteined itself from different non-european religions and gave it a new name. Like, the whole "punishment and reward" system thing is something us whitey's have obtaimed from our bussinesstrip to Africa while claiming and slaughtering the ones that did not practice "christianity" simultsneously we adopted what we considered convenient from the more "modern" religions we learned about there. Christianity for that reason has a very earned bloodstained reputation. Maybe my wording is insensitive, but I think at least we can be real with eachother, which must be healthy somewhat.
@@corneliahanimann2173 what gets problematic from my perspective is in the process of adoption of new religious rituals - it will lead to reinterpretation - but if the west is given the right to reinterpret our religious practices their discourse becomes dominant and then becomes the authority over the ritual and its interpretation. Look at swastik - britishers and their bloody aryan invasion theory brought in all europeans to orientalize Indian religions. They took Swastik - our symbol of peace and prosperity and made it their symbol of race. They gave it a new name and made it the face of genocide. All the while commiting genocide against the people they took it from. And now that ww2 is done; people question Indians on Swatika and associatiate Nazism with us. Ironically India is the only place where Jews never faced Anti-semetism as refugees. If the woke youth of west has a tiniest bit of shame and realization - they should leave us alone.
What we really need is more Humanism like Kurt Vonnegut practiced. The afterlife could be absolutely anything, so we might as well do what we can to make things better here for each other until we kick the bucket and find out.
Humanism is an antithesis of God. Go live for the god of this world under humanism or live your life for God. The one who formed each of us in our mothers womb. Who put his spirit in each of us.
Just dress up in these ugly clothes and buy a whole bunch of crystals and tarot and witchbooks they sell next to the coloringbooks at barnes and noble and tell everyone how spiritual and mystical you are! You'll look so fun and deep!
Paganism as an aesthetic, basically hits the nail on its head. The shallowness of "spiritual movements" is just another way to cope with current affairs in the world by pretending you can change them with the cool new stuff you ordered on etsy. Is it cool new stuff? Sure, but don´t pretend you´re on the same side of those sweatshop workers who probably made that stuff.
While some people act in the ways you are describing, for most in the spiritual community, it’s not an aesthetic, it’s a way of living and connecting to life.
As someone who went through various schools of magick and spirituality through a 5 year path, I have a lot of issues with what it's become in the mainstream. I typically don't like self described spiritual people because they're either grifting for clout and money, sanitize it as love and light and spreading toxic positivity, simplify concepts to the point of appropriating them from their original cultures and leaving out their cultural context, ascribe to white supremacy, and/or have a very gender binary essentialist view of forces they don't actually understand.
lol. Soneone needs to find out that thede beliefs have a god or multiple gods and that the god implief in your comment came millenia after them and if uou study compared religion and history, you can actually see how very logically this one god came to be, it makes perfect cultural sense as a follow up act and not as sth magical and out of this realm
@thewatcheronthewalls4809 This is is the correct answer. Don’t replace nonsense with more nonsense that’ll evolve into new cults. Spiritual but not religious types are just non denominational religious people. Woo, Mysticism, and Spirituality can be just as harmful as any other religion. Can we just try out empiricism for once people? All this shit has been disproven. It’s just another made up coping mechanism to deal with reality.
@@thewatcheronthewalls4809 That's a bit harsh. I'm pragmatic and to me "spirituality" is just another word for "hope". I would never deny how people find hope but I will help them keep their hopes more grounded. Anyway this is more or less a fad that will be ground down by the day-to-day existence of being another cog in the capitalist system.
Spirituality is not an identity. It is the renunciation of all identities. It is a thorough unlearning. It is to be relentlessly aware of your unconscious thoughts, feelings, actions and reactions...
I used to treat spirituality like a Walmart. I went around and picked and choose different aspects of different practices that I liked ( often from native American, or Indian religions) and tbh it did not serve me, or those around me. I think if you're not raised in these practices you can miss a lot of the important parts and it comes across like co opting something you don't fully understand and twisting it to fit your world view. I saw the dahli lama speak once at a convention center and he recommended trying to find truth within the religion you were raised in. Now I like many people had lots of trauma around the religion I was raised in ( catholic) but I have since reconnected with it...I'm not going to let human failings within religion keep me from a practice that feels the safest, and true for myself) There's a conversation to be had around appropriation. There's a conversation that could be had around believing in one invisible world but not the invisible world you were raised in due to church trauma, or a desire to be counter culture. I think being open to your religion or the religion of your ancestors is more counter culture than Co opting other cultures traditions. All the while poo pooing if someone believes in a different invisible world than you. Especially for the younger generations. Clearly the religious right has a lot to answer for and are tarnishing a lot of people's view on Christianity Especially but I wish the push back included more taking Christianity back and forming it in Jesus image. Which at the end of the day was very socialist and anarchist. 💗 and loving!!
Totally agree with your statement that the religious right has a lot to answer for (it’s been a hot minute since I last read the Bible cover to cover, but I think Jesus said in one of the Gospels that some people would “cry ‘Lord! Lord!’ and [Jesus] will say ‘I never knew you” or something like that. Someone please correct me if I got the quote wrong. I *do* recall he was not at all fond of hypocrisy and greed.). The “Christianity” I see on their end is nothing at all like what I was taught or what is taught in the book they claim to love so much.
It is very interesting first part of the take. I am missing the second part. All this is very optimistic and postiive view of spirituality without mentioning any of its various and vast dangers: Belief in pseudoscience, disinformation and conspiracy theories, paying extreme amounts of money for products with no actual value, healing products and healers persuading people not to take medicine, people dying because of trying to heal themselves with some alternative methods including manifestation of health, taking various products which are ineffective or even harmful, spending thousands of dollars on positive energy healing products or energy healing seances which simply do not work and refusing proper treatement (after being manipulated and scammed by self proclaimed gurus). There are alarming amount of dangerous New age cults, many of them also online. Other alarming problems are spreading of pseudopsychological advices which are extremely harmful, especially to victims of crimes. Law of attraction and belief in manifestation directly implies that all the victims are responsible for what happened to them. Spiritual bypassing and toxic positivity are extremely common in new age spiritual communities. People suppressing negative emotions in order to have "positive vibrations" and unempathicaly dissmissing others who feel these negative emotions. Pseudopsychological advices from self proclaimed gurus and healer who embark on a journey to help others and charge crazy amount of money for it but have no psychological or psychotherapeutical training at all. Retraumatizing them with harmful methods which licensed therapist just dont use for good reasons. Further, astrology leads to judgment of others based on when they have been born, labeling them and ourselves. Overall spirituality often support narc like tendencies - especially the law of attraction stuff. There could be many videos made about all of these issues and more...
I too want to thank you for this! I know quite a few people that find themselves precisely in the traps you describe... It seems to me that there are very few people who are able to be open to spirituality and remain sensible at the same time.
I find most iterations of these spiritual practices to be mostly superficial and kind of self centered. Any time something is based on 'you have the power to get what you want, you just have to..." I'm very suspicious. I I saw a great vid that talked about how the new age movement was the spiritual back bone to neoliberalism and now i can't unsee it.
I agree, even though there are aspects of these practices that I find positive, especially when it comes to being more present and establishing a connection with nature which is precisely about not being that self-centered. There are people in the magick/occult community who are very aware of that, like John Michael Greer, who writes both about all sorts of spiritual topics and practices AND about the ecological crisis. But my impression is, as you said, that most people do all these practices with a neoliberalist aim and outlook. Just think of stuff like "business magick" which is pretty much the extension of the law of attraction movement which makes the individual responsible for not being able to climb the social ladder and completely ignores the fact that injustice is systemic and reproduces itself.
In my perspective, spirituality is completely different from religion. Religions were all man made to control and divide. While spirituality is about maintaining our peaceful energies with nature and realizing that we're Gods and Goddesses in training. As an ex Christian, I can tell y'all that spirituality is NOT a religion. We can follow our own paths instead of someone else's.
What I find problematic in these trends is that they have highly culturally appropriated from Hinduism Buddhism etc or let's say from East Asian and Asian cultures and phiosophy and capitalising over it ...they are much like Christian missionaries in this aspect....it is agonising for me ..on one hand , my culture is labelled as barbaric by colonial Christian forces and now these people just cherry picks the philosophy and most often interpret essence philosophy and develop their own terminology which is nothing but erasing the indigenous identity....I hope they also research more and give credit or at be thankful where they are borrowing from
As a millennial who grew up in a Wiccan household, it is nice to see this surge of spirituality. It is so much more accepted than it was when I was a child. There were families I couldn’t interact with or who weren’t allowed to talk to me due to my mom’s beliefs and I experienced a lot of shame that my mother was a “devil worshipper” or “working against god” or “evil” because she professionally read tarot cards and charged her crystals during a full moon. So this recent uptick in spirituality content on social media makes me feel more accepted, which is great! However, I do think it’s a bit of a fad and it’s having a moment in the cultural sense. Some people utilize astrology and tarot cards for fun or vague generic advice but others do adhere to it as a legitimate religion and way of life. In some ways, using crystals for aesthetic reasons feels (to me personally) as a form of appropriation. Very interesting video, thanks for covering this!
I loved the episode! , however, I wish you would also talk about how the rise of these new spiritual practices also contributes to the rise of cultural appropriation.
@@junjunjamore7735 Taking them away from their context. Using them in abstraction so they no longer have the same meaning or significance that they initially did. See; any non Jews using any kind of Kabbalah.
@@ZoeAlleyne By that definition Christianity would be considered cultural appropriation since it divorced theological concepts from both Judaism and Pagan beliefs, & changed them radically. The same can be said for Islam taking theological concepts from Arab animism, Judaism and Christianity. The Buddha founded his school of philosophy after criticizing the practices of Vedic Hinduism, & offering a different approach to to understanding the conception of dharma. Was the Buddha committing cultural appropriation when he founded Buddhism? "Cultural appropriation" properly understood requires for their to be a power imbalance being enforced through the use of a marginalized people's culture. People learning from both their own traditions & the traditions of others in a critical manner has always been a very necessary part of how humanity progresses morally. For example, many of the religions that are considered to be major religions today sanctioned both slavery, & forced child marriage for most of their histories. By divorcing marriage from it's religious context, & providing a secular understanding of what marriage is we have liberated women worldwide, giving them the freedom to choose their spouses by pressuring religious institutions to make marriage a more voluntary endeavor between consenting adults.
In one of my first jobs after college about 8 years ago, I had a boss who was very into crystals and other spiritual practices. She had come from a strictly Christian background as well. And I remember it so well, and it still affects me to this day, when she simply explained to me that she uses crystals because they personally help her and move her in a direction she wants - she doesn't care if other people think she's strange for using them, or if there's any measurable "scientific" proof behind what they do for her. Of course, recognizing the appropriative aspects of this and, from looking at other comments here, I hadn't truly considered but am glad to now have read more about the environmental/ethical/consumerist costs involved in sourcing and selling them. But I just loved her outlook that, if it made her happy and brought about the positive changes she had hoped for, she would stick with it, regardless of what others thought. I grew up in a (reform) Jewish family and had such a hard time with the harsh rules, this vs. that, either believe it all or you don't belong, and the fact that your religion will judge and punish you for what it thinks is best for you, not what you think is best for yourself. This included my temple calling me one afternoon when I was about 14 while I was home alone, with 4-5 of its teachers all on the call telling me that I had to come back to the temple and had no choice in the matter (thankfully my mom went full mama bear on them when I told her what happened). And I know this is nowhere near the worst that a religious institution can do to traumatize members of its congregation, even with the best of intentions. I now mostly identify as no religion, with some dabblings into spirituality when it feels right for me, and it's the most comfortable and aligned way I've found so far.
I would just suggest everyone who's new to this and will watch this video and run to witchtok or spirituality tok PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE cross double check everything you see so that you won't have any harmful practices in your life, there's too much info there and some of it can be too intense or too fake or closed practices, etc. Be mindful of the info you consume. But beside that witch community is wonderful.
This is a great example of someone saying "religion" when they really mean just Christianity. Spirituality, these practices you talk about, is not replacing religion. Spirituality is a huge part of most non-Christian religions, and most of these things ARE religious practices, just culturally appropriated by agnostic white women on TikTok who ignore the religious context and cultural history.
For a second I thought it was going to go negativity and label all spirituality into the box 📦 of “conspiracy theories people” I’m glad it look into the feminine Devine and the need for connection. 😮💨
I grew up in a SUPER Christian/Catholic small town in Florida that actually made it into the Guinnes book of world records for having the most churches per capita. From young childhood to late teens, I had both adults and other kids try to shove their beliefs down my throat, and even as a elementary schooler, Christianity/Catholicism just sounded like an over-hyped fairytale to me. I stumbled upon tarot/astrology/crystals last year and have since fell in love with it, I especially dived into tarot and learned to read the cards and now have quite a big collection of decks going, they're my greatest treasure. But most of all, the biggest appeal to me of spirituality is the freedom. Unlike the Abrahamic religions, spirituality doesn't tell you what you can or can't do, who you can or can't love, doesn't shame you for your gender/sexuality or for having sex before marriage or having children out of wedlock. And it doesn't absolve you of the bad things you do just for asking for forgiveness from Jesus or what not, it's philosophy is to encourage you to do better and to be a better person, to take personal control of your life instead of abdicating it like a child. And it doesn't lord over you with the threat of eternal damnation like a perpetual sword hanging over your head either. To use some psych terms, imo, the Abrahamic religions have an authoritarian style, while spirituality is authoratative.
It’s easy to fall in love with something that promises treats and freedom, but can it fulfill? Does it really follow through with what you need? It is the same as prodigal son, he wanted to remove himself from the constraints and requirements of life as his fathers son, responsible to the land and himself and his father-he liquidated all his assets that CAME FROM his dad, cut all ties and went off and did what he wanted! Partied had fun and spent everything, and what did he get in return? Nothing it was all for nothing. It was spent and given with no fruit or return. They did not even have compassion to give him food. But when he went back to his dad who he spurned-his proper home-with nothing to give what did he find? His father running to him forgiving everything and celebrating him. Jesus said THIS IS the kingdom of god. In our world we have made much of the church about rules and traditions-but this isn’t the truth. God loves us and is Merciful, he withholds judgement even when we’re foolish-but he does invite us into a life where we forsake ephemeral pleasures to listen to his voice, but by doing so we actually grow and produce fruit. It’s only by following procedures undergoing hard labor that we can grow anything on a farm, same is true for our Selves. God is not trying to withhold from us he’s trying to get us to have truly fruitful life. It’s same with sailing. You can’t get on a sailboat and experience the joy and freedom of the open seas UNLESS everything is properly specifically in its place unless you’ve spent hours training to sail safely unless you’ve gained the insights from listening to a Master on how to deal with new and dangerous situations. It’s the same with word of god, we Must listen and obey or we’ll be lost and hurt, because there is evil trying to kill us that will promise all to draw us in that doesn’t give one shit about you, as well as our own foolishness. I choose to trust my father the creator, not myself and not the lies of this world.
@@CM-pf1xc Ah yes, who wants to be free when you can be part of an oppressive system that punishes anything it doesn't like, but defense pedophile religious leaders! Woohoo!
Just to let you know, not every Christian is a bible beater, my parents believe in God but they don't bash others. Plz refrain from generalizing a very large group of the population.
I wouldn't say spirituality is "replacing" religion. It's just another option that's becoming available, ie reconstructionist religions. Actually thinking it's somehow going to replace institutionalized religions, at least anytime soon, is a stretch.
In my opinion, it doesn't matter what you believe, religiously. As long as you don't discriminate against anyone or harm anyone and respect people who don't, it's fine in my book. To quote Mother Monster: "So why do we tell each other how we gotta live, stop throwing stones at your sisters and brothers"
The issue is religious beliefs can have massive influence on your political positions, both in the case of organized religions and in decentralized religion/smaller cults. Religious people across the board do tend to lean more conservative, and a lot of it has to do with their religious positions.
@@7TheWhiteWolf True and that shouldn't be a problem as long as they don't kill others because they differ. I'm a Christian and I wish the best for every single one of you. Love and not hate.
i agree, but I am still to see that being possible . In my experience, unfortunately, these beliefs bring harm to others in some way. It is mostly sutble and seemingly harmless to those who belief such as attributing health or finqncial issues to spiritual in or mqgical causes which lead to unrealistic and innerfective solutions that are in often connected to toxic positivity and victim blaming. Whrn i was suffering from ptsd this almost led to mu death. But the best peopel who put me in this situation cannot sse they did that to me. And that will also interfere in their ideas on other people's rights and how we should live in society. People who beleive in these things tend to be agaisnt the right of a woman to chose and be more tolerant of suffering and social inequalities because they beleive in karma, life lessons that are necessary, that we willl all have a chance to rectify things by having post mortem divine justice, reeincarnation...
New Age spiritualism is as much of a Business as a catholic church, but the scale is lesser. Its all about items: tarot cards, unethically mined crystals, aesthetic bedroom Desing and "witchy" wardrobe. It also promotes psuedoscientific practices in medicine such as ayurveda, reiki, acupuncture, crystal and essential oils healing. In post covid World, where people tried chugging horse dewormer to treat it, i wouldn't like to see the Rise of alternative "philosophy" if it involves bogus practices in medicine, psychology, and daily human interactions
The turning away from institutionalized religion toward Earth base spirituality is for me a sign of humanity's expanding consciousness. We are realizing we can have a direct relationship with Spirit and don't need institutionally approved mediators. Our spiritual practices are infused into our daily lives and not just performed one day a week. The awareness of interconnection and interdependence, the recognition of Spirit in all life forms, and the realization that Mother Earth and Father Sun are living entities, with a broader consciousness than us, are part of our collective spiritual evolution. And it's long overdue.
This new "spirituality" trend is exactly that, just a trend. The same thing that happened in the 1960s with the "new age" wave. It's also very attached to cultural appropiation. These religious practices have existed many years ago in different parts of the world. Now it's been commodified to appeal to white audiences who find it "cool" and "exotic".
A portion, of it. I mean, does that exist, yeah. However, there is more to the increase in decentralised beliefs and practices, than: crystals, yoga, meditation, and tarot cards. There are also people, who are rediscovering and revitalizing, their ancestors beliefs and practices. People are also, rejecting the forced colonisation, religion, and assimilation, that have been prominent for thousands of years.
As a white person of Celtic, Norse and Germanic heritage, I will note that people with less melanin also practiced earth-based spirituality in ancient times and to this day. Awareness of culture appropriation is important, but that doesn’t mean that white people only study or practice for superficial reasons…
I usually love the videos you guys put out- and I was so excited to see the thumbnail for this one! Unfortunately I feel that this topic deserves much more than 10 minutes- and while the video wasn’t bad…. It did leave out well… pretty much everything to do with the history and resurgence of pagan practices. (Restating another comment here- but still true) Paganism, Witchcraft & Wicca, as well as other various Spiritual practices ARE religions- religions that are just as old if not older than Christianity. Many many cultures have traditions & spiritual practices tied to regions that honor ancestors, and essentially are a different way to live WITH the Earth- which is what the modern interpretations also harken back to. I wish you guys would have touched on the rich history of different spiritual practices, the origins & pantheons, as well as WHY those religions were diminished in the first place (the crimes of white colonialism & the crusades). I think this topic could have even been done justice in a 25-30 minute video (which is typical for your uploads). Thank you for brining this concept to a video in the first place… but I really think people would benefit from a bit more research. It doesn’t have to be a perfect thing. But just… more.
I don't know how other people who do tarot see it, but I actually learned tarot with the Girl Scouts from my group leader, the daughter of a psychologist who is now a therapist herself. I got to know it as a reflection tool that you can use absolutely independently of the topic of spirituality or your own relationship to the topic. And I also find that many rituals and many things that are linked to the topic of spirituality also have a wonderful component in the topic of mindfulness, gratitude and simply a positive effect on mental health.❤ and I think this is what we need nowadays And I am very thankful that there is the change from being so harsh to ourselves
Yes, I learned it from my grandmother as a tool for reflection. And it was something to think about but also to not take too seriously. She always joked about drawing another card when the one she got didn't help :D
yes, and as beliefs not based on science and rationality can be very harmful, U'd say this is the only good and ethical use of tarot and it us how i use it today. As an extra tool that is like a mirror to my conscience and a magnifying glass to my context and not as some magick tool telling me fate or message from entittiesz spiritual higher self or whatever
People here are correcting each other and so on. This pretty much sums up that there is no point in arguing about it if you also want to prove "your" point badly. Most criticisms are not constructed, and the statements are all to prove the worth of what you "believe" is true. It is a self-matter, but the comments make it more of someone's chaos in another's self-peace. It is better to have arguments that are beneficial to both sides because considering differences are plausible arguments.
The issue with Astrology is the same as with Religion. Believing that something is true doesn't make it true. The same way that right-wingers believing queer folx are "predators" doesn't make us predators. If we want to GENUINELY protect our marginalized communities, we need to do so from a place of reality. Adopt the aesthetic of Astrology/Wicca/Tarot, whatever. But molding yourself into whatever your horoscope says you are? Judging others to be something based on their signs before even asking about them? Making major life decisions because giant balls of gas millions of lightyears away told you to? That sounds like a basis to create the same awful environments as religion. That's more harmful than beneficial. I am not defined by my astrology sign the same way I'm not defined by my skin tone or gender assignment. And screw anyone who would denigrate me that way because it fits their worldview to stick me in a box of their creation.
I don't believe in any of this stuff, but when looking into it I find that it gives people a language or voice to talk about their wellbeing and a prompt to look inwards instead of ignoring their feelings. I think this is smart... For that aspect. If someone says "Don't blame me, I'm a virgo" then I will yell at them. Take personal accountability for your own actions.
I was raised super religious, and from what I experience, it never opened up for serious inward thought, and actively tried to supress exploring emotions. I was punished for my own questioning of the religion. That was my first "get out" moment. My wife became wiccan because it had a focus on self help. Traditions consisted of stuff like "clean out your house of unwanted belongings." that's just spring cleaning.
I usually like your videos but you guys missed the mark here. You have to take into account POC and their spiritual practices and how they are being taken over by white feminist spaces. There are cultural appropriative issues with white sage and peyote use that are part of the indigenous community. Being a part of that culture, it's something I've studied that there are sacred items that need to be left alone. We've lost so much, we share but some items should stay sacred to us.
The purpose of Spirituality is to be free from the confines of religion. So turning Spirituality into a religion or referring to it as one defeats the purpose of seeking a connection to the soul outside of religion. You've made Spirituality the very thing you are trying to escape.
Not to mention “spiritualists” tending to be white people, liberals, & LGBT people means its insecure people thinking they’re raging against the machine. When all said groups I named are being scammed to buy “jewels”, cardboard, & incense which isn’t remotely magical. They all fell for capitalism again.
@@davidalves31057 Religion tells you how to achieve connections to a divine through out dated ideals while spirituality allows you to find what works for you.
Based off other comments and even the mention of Eastern practices influencing spirituality, and the cultural appropriation of that, I wanted to share my own witchcraft story! I am indeed white, and I think a lot of my draw to wicca was that I wanted to practice European paganism, something that I had roots in and was always fascinated by. To me it's reclaiming my roots (especially since i'm also American, and I think so many of us struggle with what even IS white culture in America for a multitude of reasons), especially because i'm largely of Celtic origin, and it was kinda wiped out by Anglo-Saxons coming to Britain, alongside Christianity replacing it and so many other pagan cultures throughout Europe (and the rest of the world later!). I don't really take in other cultures pagan religions because it just feels...wrong, and weird, because it really is cultural appropriation, or toeing a REAL fine line at best. So I largely stick to European practices.
Same here, I always felt a lack of culture growing up white in the United States. Researching about my Celtic roots has helped to ground me with a sense of belonging. And a deep appreciation of the spiritual traditions of diverse peoples around the world
As a Bulgarian I solemnly give you my blessing to go explore and practice ancient Bulgarian paganism if that’s what you want to do. But I don’t think yhat you need any of it to do what you feel like you need to do. The problem we’re hinting at is racism, not cultures interacting and enriching eachother.
Don't believe something just because it "suits you", because its "fancy", "cool", "pretty" or makes you "feel good". If you are gonna believe something, believe it because its true, because there is evidence for it. Don't search for "your truth", search for THE TRUTH. If not, there is no point in believing anything at all
What bugs me is that 20 years ago, I was beat up, called the devil, and almost suspended from (a public, non-christian) school for bringing the deck of tarot cards my grandmother gave me (effectively, it was passed down) to school to play with my close friends. 'Reading' tarot was a family tradition. Now those same kids who treated me like shit think it's so cool to read tarot. Then again, I guess a parlor trick I've practiced for 20+ years has finally come in handy at parties.
I have a semi-ironic love for Astrology. I don’t hate it but I don’t want it to have power over me. In various sects of Hinduism, Astrology is a lucrative business opportunity feeding off of insecurity.
Great video! something I think also fits into this conversation is how spirituality is also a form of liberation for POC. I’m specifically thinking about Santeria, Vudu, Mexican brujeria, and Native American spirituality. It’s a way for colonized and enslaved people to reconnect with parts of their identity which have been suppressed.
I am Native and Mexican. Grew up in CA with really no living relatives who are also native, so I’ve been doing as much research as I can to connect back with my roots. I started about 6 years ago and when I embraced my spirituality, people started noticing very quickly. They said I was glowing, which I do believe since peoples auras can be so powerful 🥰
Skepticism wise, I think The Take forgot to add in about the scammers part of spiritualists(although maybe they're saving that for a later video/the sequel to this)
I'm Catholic but I've been leaning into more spiritual practices nowadays. It's unfair how we believe in a "God" but we never give justice to the feminine. So I've decided to commune with Mother Nature and the energy of the "Goddess". Life is made up from both.
Interestingly, pretty much everything that can be believed in came to replace belief in the form of religion. It is interesting that the Reformation in Germany in the 16th century encouraged the individual to think independently and ultimately led to this individual looking for other things to believe in than Christianity or other religion. For example, the belief in technical progress. A few years ago I had an English-language seminar at the university on the subject of modern substitute religions and that includes, for example, something like diet culture and fitness culture or things like practicing your eating style, such as vegan eating, like a faith. There is this connecting and identity-creating element, there are people who do not belong to this community, who then also like to be devalued. And unfortunately also often associated intolerance towards people who do not behave according to the values of these groups. I think you can see that in a lot of things these days like That Girl last year. It's very privileged to have so much time and money for the typical activities of this trend - this of course gives you an exclusivity and sets you apart from others.
I guess I get it. But I also don’t. I left organised religion for a reason. My lack of faith in a higher power or gods translates to me not believing in any kind of spirituality.
I totally get that. I like the idea of magic and spirituality but I don't actually believe in it. It can be a good tool for mental health though. And I don't say no to a good placebo effect 😂
@@jonasholzer4422 that’s what I feel about for religion. Like I absolutely don’t believe or take part. But I think it’s a very good thing for deriving strength and endurance for life. Still don’t believe. Though some days I wish I did.
I believe the greatest reason why us young people are leaving religion is because of how utterly boring it is. For a couple of hours on a Sunday you have to take time out of your day to worship someone or something that is supposedly all around you and present 24/7 365 days a year. Then when you come home, that's just it. Nothing but rules and some guy above everyone else on their soap box complaining how messed up society is. Like everything else in our society, religion is more of social control rather than a hypothetical connection with a higher power.
I think we need to rethink the title: the idea that “religion” and “spirituality” are two separate domains is a Western and more specifically North American idea. In a lot of traditions to be “religious” in the sense of following a set of religious rules has an inner, “spiritual” dimension
Religion and spirituality proves that how fragile human being really are ... they can't handle their system very well and anxiety should be the number 1... human needs comfort, and assurance that everthing is gonna be okay ... yet different people different situation and one thing they forgot is to look and face the reality as RAW as it can be , and see the whole thing as it is ...
04:50 The only reason that new age spirituality does not harm the marginalized, is because they haven't acquired authority yet. Give them time, they will reach a position of authority, and they will marginalize groups to show how important they have become. After all, every campaign of righteousness needs an adversary.
Indian astrology {considered the most accurate) is embedded in Hindu principles and considered a sister science of yoga and Ayurveda. Interesting that in times of turmoil against authoritarianism, people draw closer to Eastern and ancestral practices but are attracted to the parts that focus on individual practice rather than the organized religion parts of that practice that often regards individual rights as an afterthought
And the fact that anyone has to state that a certain beach of astrology is ‘most accurate’ is exactly why so many people are rejecting specific traditions. We are tired of being told that one way is more correct, when there are 4,000 different spiritual beliefs being practiced right now, they all likely hold some truths and they all likely hold some misconceptions.
So, I love my witchy pinterest and moon phase apps as much as your average 20-something but I find this video to be missing a lot of awareness for the issues which go hand-in-hand with this spirituality trend: cultural appropriation, shallow spiritual capitalism, new-age "coaches" and their scams, worrisome cult-like mentality and its dangers, unsustainable crystal markets etc etc just to name a few. Come on guys, your videos are usually better than that.
Basically it’s still religion. People in western cultures have tended to gravitate towards religious practices that center the individual vs the community, an example would be the preference for Protestant Christianity as opposed to Catholic Christianity. This is taking it one step further where you don’t even have to have a communal aspect to religion, but because we are humans and thus inherently social creatures we still crave community ergo social media is where we connect with other “spiritual but not religious” people. Note: I am commenting as someone with a degree in religion/religious studies from a non-affirming university where I studied different religious traditions, their roles in history and society, and ultimately what even is “religion” (the answer being religion is undefinable and we only have working definitions)
It's really interesting seeing how technology is shaping our religious experiences, & how we chose to self-identify. Do you think a deeper & more continuous syncretism between Christianity & non-Western religions will occur?
I would've liked if this video had gone into more detail about the harm that this can do. Like how people are just creating new stereotypes and treating people like shit or assume they're bad people because of their astrological sign ("omg that person is SUCH a Libra!" or "Yeah I was gonna go on a date but then I found out he was a GEMINI ugh they're so tOxiC".... I even had a friend who was complaining over her baby's due date because it was going to be an Aries.) Or how easily Witches®️ can slip into anti Scientific beliefs because they think that crystals and incense can cure cancer and call it "Natural Healing".
Our brains adapted for religion over thousands of years to help us understand the things we could yet explain. It makes sense we still need something fill that void - even when we have some of those answers. From a cultural perspective I've found reclaiming the spirituality of my ancestors before slavery to be very healing.
The channel has crazy-good timing and my mouth fell open when I saw this on my homepage. I've been VERY anti-religion since college. I was raised as a protestant (African Methodist Episcopalian). Every Sunday, I would be dragged to church and sunday school. The latter wasn't bad, but the former was hell. The only positive was communion once a month because I got a wafer and juice. We always ate after church, so I was just hungry. 😛That novelty wore off when I got older because communion made the service longer. 😕 In high school, I actually joined the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, only because I could skip a week of church if I did so. I don't know why I, nor my parents, saw it. I clearly had no interest in church and I only went because I was forced. Whenever I can home from undergrad, it was the same deal. Since I still lived at home, I had to go to church. After living on my own, I stopped going. I don't think my mom goes to our original church anymore, but she still watches services on tv.> I believe my dad goes once in a while. I've told my mom that I'm no longer religious, though she still tells me to "trust in God", or "pray about it" when I have issues. She is deeply religious (not religious right) and wants me to "have a relationship with God". Last year, a Wiccan/Pagan Meetup group formed in my town and I went to the first meeting. outside of sharing wine with the others, I had a good time, though I felt strange about being there. I didn't believe it had anything to do with witchcraft and that is what I told my mom. I was very wrong, but it was more nuanced than that. While going through their fall harvest celebration, many of the rituals performed felt a LOT like church, only more relaxed and carefree. Neither my mom or dad were happy about me going. My dad calls it a cult and coming from Nigeria, he isn't a stranger to the concept of witchcraft. My mother was horrified. While normally very progressive in her thinking, she can't get behind this. Both told me never to go back. I'm 37, so they cannot keep me from anything, but I know they worry. I do understand their trepidations, but I don't want to pretend to love Christianity to please them. I have NO DESIRE to be a Christian ever again and I have told my mom this much. Just last Thursday, she wants us to talk about my spirituality and relationship with God. I find it insulting that my sister can grow up AME, convert to Catholicism in college, and now be some other kind of Christian at a whim. I should be allowed to explore my spirituality with the same freedoms. I do want to back to that Wicca group and learn more about it. While I may not fully join the Wiccan/Pagan movement in the end, I want the freedom to choose. This video really cane at the perfect time for me, as I'm dreading that one-on-one talk with my mom right now. I may show her this take. While it won't change her mind, it will help me explain why I want nothing to do with organized religion and want to explore other outlets.
More like the values of “Living to Serve Yourself” is replacing the values of “Living to Serve Others”. Seems like since the age of social media people are more self-centred, money-centred, and image obsessed.
I've recently become more spiritually open in the past couple of years. I own my own tarrot and oracle deck. So far nothing bad has happened to me idk what people are doing to have negative outcomes!
I wouldn't mind a video about atheism and how it's been portrayed in media and culture in general. It feels like, regardless of a persons spiritual belief (Christian, Wicca, Buddhism, whatever), as long as you have one you are held in much higher regard than someone who has none.
I do think this episode embodied religious privilege in how it ignored how secular humanists also live spiritually rich lives, & often offer much more substantive answers to spiritual questions than these shallow & commercially driven New Age superstitions.
My friend was talking about religion and said, everyone has a set of beliefs that direct their life and thinking and usually some set of ritualized behaviors that come from those beliefs-heists are not exempt from this.
@@latinomifune4700 Thank you for bringing up religious privilege. While I appreciate how this episode highlighted the decline of traditional religious practice, I still felt somewhat alienated as a secular humanist. I personally feel “spiritually complete” and connected with myself and my community in spite of not being overtly religious.
Movies and tv shows are definitely portraying Christians as bad characters more than atheists. I’m not sure why people still want to act like atheists are more marginalized than people with a religion. We don’t live in that kind of world anymore.
I once went to a bookstore where I heard two strangers connect over tarot reading and astrology. They're like "do you want me to read you?" "Sure. Let's sit down over there" and I thought that was so strange but then again I was literally looking for a book on Witchcraft.
As a lifelong Methodist (59 years) born and raised in the southernmost part of the US, I am so done with religion. My fellow Christians put Donald Trump in office. He is the absolute antithesis of Christian teaching and yet they practically worship him as the second coming of Christ. Seriously?? Might as well get "I'm a hypocrite" tattooed to your forehead!!
I'll assure you that I and many other Christians that I know do NOT support Donald Trump. I seriously doubt, for example, that Martin Luther King, Jr. would have advocated Trumpism. Also, from what I've observed, there seems to be a split opinion among Jews about Trump: those who consider him as a great friend of Israel, and those who see him as a manifestation of Hitler.
Just as a clarification before I make this comment I don't have any kind of religious or spiritual affiliation. I feel that especially people within the queer community have seen the appeal of these more spiritual practices due to the awful treatment of queer people within a lot of organised religions and people using these religions as a smoke screen for their bigotry. Stuff like spirituality is more open and accepting and because it comes from much more ancient practices that existed way before Christianity where there were a lot less strict rules it feels appealing. Stuff like paganism and spiritualism and Wicca which are also on the rise are specifically on the rise in the queer community and feel appealing. They are connected to nature and the world as a whole and there is more freedom and less judgement and less supposed punishment. I myself and queer and can understand why people in the community have turned away from organised "traditional" religion and more towards stuff like paganism and wicca and spirituality though I don't have an affiliation to any of those things.
As an athiest and I find the rise in this spirituality so stupid. The woman saying that she won't have kids because she is a leo is so dumb because its litterally stars in the sky that kind of look like a lion. I also think its being used to deflect blame of the negative traits of someone.
Acting like wicca is a free for all ignores the Wiccan rede. Wicca is a religion with several branches, or you could even be eclectic, not unlike non denominational Christianity in that sense. Please don't belittle the religion just because it may not have the cultural foothold that Christianity does.
Spirituality is important. But I've never seen the need to put down other people's faith to prop up one's own views. Like calling organized religion "outdated". At a time when Synagogues and Mosques are facing increased attacks, you wouldn't say that to them, so let's be clear... Meanwhile this very week millions of people collectively prayed for a football player's speedy recovery. Christianity is a super big deal with African Americans in particular, but folks who call it out never think about that. But this is how it goes. To be progressive basically means picking sides on topics like this, and it's how we got to silliness like the perceived 'War on Christmas.' And to bring it back to pop culture, this either/or mentality to stand by one group of people by villainizing another, manifests itself in more and more media where religious figures are antagonists (the 'Sinister Minister' Trope. Do it), while less and less media show the positives of being part of those communities, like the food drives and the Mission trips to other countries to help the less fortunate. Anything will look bad if the negatives are the only thing that's focused on.
I think we will all be in a much better place once we start valuing the objective well-being of other human beings over our subjective religious sensitivities.
Some of the food drives to other countries have been revealed to simply be missionaries, withholding food from poor, vulnerable populations until they go to the daily church service ana so earn about God. If you care and want to feed people, just do it, don’t blackmail a starving person because you think your religion is right, while disrespecting the native people’s belief systems. Organized religion often comes with strings attached, which is why it’s criticized
I'm not sure where the slogan "We are the Granddaughters of all the Witches you couldn't burn" came from but it's historically inaccurate. 'Witches' were never burned (in Salem, Pendle and elsewhere they were hanged)
@@madelineg603 France and Germany, between the 14th and 15th centuries. Particularly, in Geneve, France under the direction of the religious reformer, John Calvin.
There were a few lines that came across as dismissive or "this is a fad" but for the most part, good video. I've been a practicing Pagan for the majority of my life. What I love about it is I can connect with the divine, whereas other religions have a middleman like a priest interpreting the word of God. I've got nothing against other faiths, my issue is when one is seen as "legitimate" and the other is seen as a "phase" or "not real." Witchcraft can be a phase or something one dabbles in when times are tough only to forget about it when things start looking up. I feel people [because "witch" is gender-neutral] are turning away from organized religions because they want to find meaning and feel a spiritual connection and not be told, "you're evil, you're wrong, you're doomed." And yes, sometimes, you need tough love. Sometimes, you are toxic. Sometimes you do something problematic and need to be told to stop. But spirituality is holding yourself accountable. You can't blame anyone if you didn't grow on your path because you chose not to do the work. And what that looks like, how hard you try, it depends on you. Nobody's made if you skip a practice because you're depressed. There's a lot of religious trauma people need to unpack imo.
I observe an overlap between these expressions of “alternative sprituality” and anti-medicine sentiments, which is worrying. People who don’t believe in the scientific method and take an individualistic approach are hard to negotiate with in terms of health.
Pretty please also discuss the toxic angles in this community as well - particularly the psychic/medium community. This was all wonderful - but the dark history in Spirituality needs to be talked about, particularly when we combined it in a capitalistic society. Witchcraft = Good Psychic Mediums = Capitalism/Bad
More like "trenders appropriate the spiritual beliefs of the people they used to call satanic freaks because someone on tiktok made it look cool. They'll forget about it when the next thing comes along." As someone who has been a pagan and a witch for 25 years, I despise being associated with these people who just want to find another oppression box to tick to feel complicated and interesting.
I've found the work of comparative philosopher Karen Armstrong a great tool for understanding this cultural shift. Her book 'sacred nature' covers the deeper meaning and philosophies of global religion and why a world full of climate, social and economic turmoil needs more.
Good question. The reason I’m more drawn to spirituality is because I never resonate with religion in the first place. There’s advantages to practicing religion. However, I feel like there’s some negatives about religion. For example, false beliefs that weren’t in the Bible, not everything in the Bible is true. I need to research more about the negatives of religion even though they’re positives. To be spiritual is to mention the human psyche in your conversations, discovering more about yourself on a soul level. I think there’s an answer why we humans are here on earth. To make it easy to answer it’s actually simple. Our souls are the reason we are brought here on earth to start a life a new, find a new family, and your purpose on earth. I’m no professional at spirituality, however one thing I believe is that to be spiritual you need to be in a state of spiritual. It includes meditation, painting, walking, being present, and so much more. Also, I am a witch I am unsure how long I’ll stay a witch. Because I need to take care of my future. I’m thinking of my career me dream job, and also speaking of life I need to find my purpose in life. I haven’t been practicing my craft as of late, or practicing divination. Basically I am focusing on my priorities and my life in the real world, so I am unsure if I’ll come back to practicing witchcraft which is something I have to find out myself.
As a black man I. The United States u got some points I like ur channel. Keep doing yells thing. They did teach there white supremacist Christianity on Africa slaves.
Thank you so much for including part of my content in your video!! Can you please credit my video/account though? I wasn't asked for permission but a friend notified me ❤
I think we’re all hungry for something that feels like it “works” for us, that feels like it’s helping us navigate the crazy ups and downs of life
Its called the bible praise god baby
Saying witchcraft is replacing religion is discounting that witchcraft is a religion. These traditions are older than Christianity.
Witchcraft is not an established religion. Anyone of any religion can practice witchcraft. The closest thing to religious witchcraft is Wicca, but that barely counts.
Its an arbitrary(and incorrect) separation to inflate "organized religions" ego.
Prayer=spells
Repetitive group prayer= chanting
Cross jewelry and items of importance= totems/ relics
Faith= conviction
Hell christians even slapped holidays on top of spiritual followings
@Laura Owens I understand what you're saying, and while Witchcraft as the name is not a religion, there are many many typed of religion in Witchcraft. Vodou, Celtic Paganism/druidism, Hellenic Polytheism, etc. They may not have churches, but they are religions.
Witchcraft isn't a religion. Wicca is the religion. Witchcraft is practiced freely without regulatory practices. It's just a form of spirituality that can vary from individual to individual and combine old practices from many different cultures or "religions."
Witchcraft is not a religion
Something I find very problematic as a person who wanted to be a geologist when they were in elementary school and also has been collecting minerals since they were very young because I fell in love with them when I was on vacation in Norway as a little kid, is that a lot of people who Unfortunately, for spiritual reasons, crystals do not seem to want to think about the fact that it would be cool if these crystals were also obtained fairly and sustainably from their origin. Unfortunately, this is often not the case and it is also relatively difficult to follow the whole back. Many sellers themselves do not really know under what conditions the minerals were mined
And if somebody knows good shops where I can find fair traded crystals or minerals in Europe just please answer …. 😅
What's that saying? "There's no such thing as ethical consumption in capitalism?" But yeah, that fact that young children a dying violently trying to mine these rocks so white girls can feel spiritual kinda gives me the ick on a different level.
Honestly this video is uncharacteristically biased for the channel. They didn't delve into the negatives of spirituality at all, rampant consumerism being one of them. A lot of spiritual content online features large amounts of stuff be it crystals, card decks, herbs, candles and so on. Not to mention the concerning pipeline of spiritual person to science denier and the repackaging of misogyny with the whole 'divine feminine and masculine' idea.
@@Syanvar Especially since they mentioned the wellness industry, which is notoriously full of shit and preys on the very insecurities that patriarchal cultures have cultivated in women.
That's a very Libra take 😉
@@asiaxxcx and I am not a libra 😂
This was an interesting start, but it might have been prudent to touch on (among other things) spiritual materialism and is ties to our massively unregulated self help industry. The materialist aspect feeds into a capitalist structure fundamentally built against such movements and ends up driving many people away. Not to mention (as someone who lives in LA and see this way too often), some of the extremes of spiritualism have started to undermine the feminist aspects of the movement. It starts with conspiracy theories about fluoride, but parts of the specialist movement are undoubtably tied to anti vaxxer movements as well. It’s a complicated world patchworked together picking and choosing from a variety of traditions, some of which are misrepresented, so while some aspects are liberating, many are incredibly damaging and finding your way around the land mines of conspiracy theory, charlatans, and financial scams is difficult.
When you say "materialist' do you actually mean "consumerist?" The reason I ask is because there are materialist schools of thought that also reject consumerism & capitalism.
@@latinomifune4700 That’s a great point! Thanks for the clarification. I do mean consumerism. Though spiritual materialism is also an interesting fallacy that could be tied in to the conversation. Here’s what I found: “Spiritual materialism is a term coined by the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939-1987). He describes the term in his 1973 book, “Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism.” The phrase refers to a common spiritual pitfall, using our practice to boost the ego versus transcend it. This spiritual narcissism is part of being human, but we don’t have to fall victim to it.” I wonder how I conflated the two terms, but it’s probably a product of listening to Chogyam Trungpa as I’m falling asleep. I could see how consumerist tenancies could really play a part in this context of spiritual materialism.
My thoughts as well! Illuminaughtii touched on a lot of these aspects of New Age spirituality in her video "The Cult That Mummified Their Leader". Disturbing stuff! It's a good compliment to this video by The Take which overlooked all of the problematic aspects of New Age spirituality.
@@ClaryEstes I'm a material pantheist, so I believe the material cosmos is God, and as rational beings formed from God's cosmic essence we can empirically learn from the wisdom of the cosmos, including how to build alternatives to capitalism, & truly liberate ourselves.
Love this and thinking of how Indigenous/First Nations spirituality had to go underground, with many people over the years being sent to prison for practicing their ceremonies. Folks are now reclaiming what is left of their practices because they know that those ceremonies and that knowledge kept them alive over centuries of a brutal genocide. For our people, it's an Earth-centred spiritual resurgence grounded in generations of resilience in the face of religious colonialism.
That's beautiful.
@@larissabrglum3856 Thank you
Honestly, my first thought was leave desis and their Yoga, Ayurveda and Religions alone. Pleaseeeeeee.
or you could just point out cultural genocide
Underground? Remember Legends of the hidden temple show? OLMECS AND their descendents are so called black ppl.Native Americans are 2nd nation ppl
Did anyone think it was odd that they brought up alternative religions as something that isn't religion, while completely avoiding how secular & anti-religious philosophical schools provide us actual insights about spiritual living that actually don't require religious beliefs & practices?
Did you even watch the video? That’s like literally the first thing they said and brought it up numerous times.
@@InfinityCSM The entire video was focused on commercialized Pagan re-constructionist religions as an "alternative" for religion, as opposed to actual philosophical alternatives for religion. Did you watch the video?
This video feels tone deaf and uninformed. One thing that this video does that rubs me the wrong way is that it ignores the history of Paganism, witchcraft, and other old world faiths and treats these practices as a bunch of aesthetic internet trends that people are just latching onto for fun. I'm also not a fan of the fact that they conveniently left out the history of persecution from Christians.
Couldn´t agree more. I would also like to add that the historical view on witch trails seems highly americanized and all through the lens of pop-feminism that does get a lot wrong escpecially if you read original trail documents from the early modern period and take a closer look at the spreading of those trails inside their societies which where basically just too much rooted in their medival beliefs of the world around them. So interpreting them from our modern lense is really difficult with all of the myths surrounding those events like the wise white witch that was a midwife and had herbal knowledge. That´s just a modern trope and had little to do with the acutal people that were accused of maleficium and witchcraft.
Honestly, after taking some time to research and read up on the evolution of religion in my continent alone, I have developed the view that no religious/spiritualist movements' hands are clean. So to me, they are all the same.
At the end of the day, people are just using it to find a semblance of peace and understanding of themselves wherever they can, saying one is replacing or better than the other has no weight of merit to me.
Something that annoys me is the fact that spirituality has become the new "trend" of sorts. It's trendy to use crystals, read tarot cards, and be a witch without any insight, research or knowledge into what it all means. Why read tarot cards? Why use crystals? Why do spells? Some of these people look like they got into spirituality for the aesthetic and that's it despite there being more to it than pretty crystals and mystical tarot readings. Plus, there is a difference between paganism and spirituality. Paganism is the umbrella term for any religion not under Abrahamic religion - which is a problematic term in itself as it equates Judaism and Islam to Christianity when both Judaism and Islam have had issue with Christians, too - and each branch of paganism has its own spirituality.
Also, there is a level of sheer disrespect some of these baby witches have for foreign pagan or cultural practices (which may have pagan roots), where when warned not to do something or to do more research into something, they get defensive and start acting like they know more than the other person who grew up with that specific practice (like when a Native American friend of mine said not to say the word w3nd1g0 to another friend who lived in Canada but was from England because he was worried about them cursing themselves which they got defensive). Plus, at the start, you called these "new" practices. Most of these aren't new. They're just becoming more mainstream. Popular =/ new. There's a lot of issues with this that went unaddressed, to be honest.
I’ve been a Wiccan Witch since I was 13 before it was popular. This new spiritual practice stems from the first pagan religions. It is inspiring but also nerve racking. The biggest religions become the most violent and contradicting, so we just need to keep our core belief of “If it harm none let you do what ye will”.
I just think it’s a little bit problematic since a lot of the practices have been adapted from indigenous and eastern cultures. This definitely feels like it’s coming from a very limited perspective on what spirituality is. Like my sister got really into astrology but she did it to connect with our cultural roots since our late grandfather was a village mystic in bangladesh. Spirituality can be anything but the specific practices which become very main stream have come from historically oppressed groups in the west and I think it’s important to acknowledge that the roots of a lot of these practices are not quirky or different from Abrahamic religions, they come from thousands of years of culture and history. Just because it wasnt European before doesn’t mean it it’s exotic now. No hate anyone who takes personal comfort in spirituality, I just don’t like how it’s been commodified.
💯
I am not one of the people that practices these religions, but I want to ask, would it help if it had a different name from "spirituality" so that there is a clear difference between what is this modern reinterpretation of what traditional spiritualism is?
Because christianity already is a religiou that has basically frankensteined itself from different non-european religions and gave it a new name.
Like, the whole "punishment and reward" system thing is something us whitey's have obtaimed from our bussinesstrip to Africa while claiming and slaughtering the ones that did not practice "christianity" simultsneously we adopted what we considered convenient from the more "modern" religions we learned about there. Christianity for that reason has a very earned bloodstained reputation.
Maybe my wording is insensitive, but I think at least we can be real with eachother, which must be healthy somewhat.
@@corneliahanimann2173 what gets problematic from my perspective is in the process of adoption of new religious rituals - it will lead to reinterpretation - but if the west is given the right to reinterpret our religious practices their discourse becomes dominant and then becomes the authority over the ritual and its interpretation.
Look at swastik - britishers and their bloody aryan invasion theory brought in all europeans to orientalize Indian religions. They took Swastik - our symbol of peace and prosperity and made it their symbol of race. They gave it a new name and made it the face of genocide. All the while commiting genocide against the people they took it from. And now that ww2 is done; people question Indians on Swatika and associatiate Nazism with us. Ironically India is the only place where Jews never faced Anti-semetism as refugees.
If the woke youth of west has a tiniest bit of shame and realization - they should leave us alone.
What we really need is more Humanism like Kurt Vonnegut practiced. The afterlife could be absolutely anything, so we might as well do what we can to make things better here for each other until we kick the bucket and find out.
Or we can do good things without it being contingent on whether or not there is an afterlife and what that afterlife (if it exists) is like.
@@annejohnson5875 that’s essentially what they said?
Humanism is an antithesis of God. Go live for the god of this world under humanism or live your life for God. The one who formed each of us in our mothers womb. Who put his spirit in each of us.
@@williegillie5712 How about I live for myself instead of living for some random being that you claim exists
@@mof6146 yass this 👆
Just capitalism's way of marketing a new lifestyle, and a way to brand yourself as a potential commodity in the marketplace of social media.
Just dress up in these ugly clothes and buy a whole bunch of crystals and tarot and witchbooks they sell next to the coloringbooks at barnes and noble and tell everyone how spiritual and mystical you are! You'll look so fun and deep!
Paganism as an aesthetic, basically hits the nail on its head. The shallowness of "spiritual movements" is just another way to cope with current affairs in the world by pretending you can change them with the cool new stuff you ordered on etsy. Is it cool new stuff? Sure, but don´t pretend you´re on the same side of those sweatshop workers who probably made that stuff.
It's just good business to give people something to believe in and start selling.
Nothing to do with religion though.
While some people act in the ways you are describing, for most in the spiritual community, it’s not an aesthetic, it’s a way of living and connecting to life.
As someone who went through various schools of magick and spirituality through a 5 year path, I have a lot of issues with what it's become in the mainstream. I typically don't like self described spiritual people because they're either grifting for clout and money, sanitize it as love and light and spreading toxic positivity, simplify concepts to the point of appropriating them from their original cultures and leaving out their cultural context, ascribe to white supremacy, and/or have a very gender binary essentialist view of forces they don't actually understand.
'When people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing, they believe in everything" - GK Chesterton
You couldn't be more right my friend but once we kick the ethereal bucket, we'll see who was right and I think I'll stick to Christianity.
lol. Soneone needs to find out that thede beliefs have a god or multiple gods and that the god implief in your comment came millenia after them and if uou study compared religion and history, you can actually see how very logically this one god came to be, it makes perfect cultural sense as a follow up act and not as sth magical and out of this realm
“Religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell and spiritually is for people who already been to hell”
Because people want to have one foot in religion and one foot out
Religion will put people through a very real hell in order to keep them from a hypothetical hell.
Spirituality is for people who see through religion but still need something equally as ridiculous to believe in.
@thewatcheronthewalls4809 This is is the correct answer. Don’t replace nonsense with more nonsense that’ll evolve into new cults. Spiritual but not religious types are just non denominational religious people.
Woo, Mysticism, and Spirituality can be just as harmful as any other religion. Can we just try out empiricism for once people? All this shit has been disproven. It’s just another made up coping mechanism to deal with reality.
@@thewatcheronthewalls4809 That's a bit harsh. I'm pragmatic and to me "spirituality" is just another word for "hope". I would never deny how people find hope but I will help them keep their hopes more grounded. Anyway this is more or less a fad that will be ground down by the day-to-day existence of being another cog in the capitalist system.
The Take is stepping it up with such regular uploads. Fabulous work, guys. Love seeing the little notification up there.
Spirituality is not an identity. It is the renunciation of all identities. It is a thorough unlearning. It is to be relentlessly aware of your
unconscious thoughts, feelings, actions and reactions...
I used to treat spirituality like a Walmart. I went around and picked and choose different aspects of different practices that I liked ( often from native American, or Indian religions) and tbh it did not serve me, or those around me. I think if you're not raised in these practices you can miss a lot of the important parts and it comes across like co opting something you don't fully understand and twisting it to fit your world view.
I saw the dahli lama speak once at a convention center and he recommended trying to find truth within the religion you were raised in. Now I like many people had lots of trauma around the religion I was raised in ( catholic) but I have since reconnected with it...I'm not going to let human failings within religion keep me from a practice that feels the safest, and true for myself)
There's a conversation to be had around appropriation. There's a conversation that could be had around believing in one invisible world but not the invisible world you were raised in due to church trauma, or a desire to be counter culture.
I think being open to your religion or the religion of your ancestors is more counter culture than Co opting other cultures traditions. All the while poo pooing if someone believes in a different invisible world than you.
Especially for the younger generations.
Clearly the religious right has a lot to answer for and are tarnishing a lot of people's view on Christianity Especially but I wish the push back included more taking Christianity back and forming it in Jesus image. Which at the end of the day was very socialist and anarchist. 💗 and loving!!
Same! So glad to see someone who thinks the same way!
@@anoni6108 I was worried I'd get hate! So glad this resonated 💗💗
This is a very interesting take!
@@michellewitt2071 thank you! 😊
Totally agree with your statement that the religious right has a lot to answer for (it’s been a hot minute since I last read the Bible cover to cover, but I think Jesus said in one of the Gospels that some people would “cry ‘Lord! Lord!’ and [Jesus] will say ‘I never knew you” or something like that. Someone please correct me if I got the quote wrong. I *do* recall he was not at all fond of hypocrisy and greed.). The “Christianity” I see on their end is nothing at all like what I was taught or what is taught in the book they claim to love so much.
It is very interesting first part of the take. I am missing the second part. All this is very optimistic and postiive view of spirituality without mentioning any of its various and vast dangers: Belief in pseudoscience, disinformation and conspiracy theories, paying extreme amounts of money for products with no actual value, healing products and healers persuading people not to take medicine, people dying because of trying to heal themselves with some alternative methods including manifestation of health, taking various products which are ineffective or even harmful, spending thousands of dollars on positive energy healing products or energy healing seances which simply do not work and refusing proper treatement (after being manipulated and scammed by self proclaimed gurus). There are alarming amount of dangerous New age cults, many of them also online. Other alarming problems are spreading of pseudopsychological advices which are extremely harmful, especially to victims of crimes. Law of attraction and belief in manifestation directly implies that all the victims are responsible for what happened to them. Spiritual bypassing and toxic positivity are extremely common in new age spiritual communities. People suppressing negative emotions in order to have "positive vibrations" and unempathicaly dissmissing others who feel these negative emotions. Pseudopsychological advices from self proclaimed gurus and healer who embark on a journey to help others and charge crazy amount of money for it but have no psychological or psychotherapeutical training at all. Retraumatizing them with harmful methods which licensed therapist just dont use for good reasons. Further, astrology leads to judgment of others based on when they have been born, labeling them and ourselves. Overall spirituality often support narc like tendencies - especially the law of attraction stuff. There could be many videos made about all of these issues and more...
THANK YOU for writing this! This is the comment I was searching for! I can second every single thing you mentioned.
apt !
I too want to thank you for this! I know quite a few people that find themselves precisely in the traps you describe... It seems to me that there are very few people who are able to be open to spirituality and remain sensible at the same time.
I find most iterations of these spiritual practices to be mostly superficial and kind of self centered. Any time something is based on 'you have the power to get what you want, you just have to..." I'm very suspicious. I
I saw a great vid that talked about how the new age movement was the spiritual back bone to neoliberalism and now i can't unsee it.
I agree, even though there are aspects of these practices that I find positive, especially when it comes to being more present and establishing a connection with nature which is precisely about not being that self-centered. There are people in the magick/occult community who are very aware of that, like John Michael Greer, who writes both about all sorts of spiritual topics and practices AND about the ecological crisis. But my impression is, as you said, that most people do all these practices with a neoliberalist aim and outlook. Just think of stuff like "business magick" which is pretty much the extension of the law of attraction movement which makes the individual responsible for not being able to climb the social ladder and completely ignores the fact that injustice is systemic and reproduces itself.
In my perspective, spirituality is completely different from religion.
Religions were all man made to control and divide. While spirituality is about maintaining our peaceful energies with nature and realizing that we're Gods and Goddesses in training.
As an ex Christian, I can tell y'all that spirituality is NOT a religion. We can follow our own paths instead of someone else's.
This was happening in the 1990s as well and was being covered by the media. That stopped after 9-11 and the public's attention shifted.
The predatory commercialism of spirituality is replacing the predatory commercialism of religion.
Word
What I find problematic in these trends is that they have highly culturally appropriated from Hinduism Buddhism etc or let's say from East Asian and Asian cultures and phiosophy and capitalising over it ...they are much like Christian missionaries in this aspect....it is agonising for me ..on one hand , my culture is labelled as barbaric by colonial Christian forces and now these people just cherry picks the philosophy and most often interpret essence philosophy and develop their own terminology which is nothing but erasing the indigenous identity....I hope they also research more and give credit or at be thankful where they are borrowing from
I think we could mitigate a lot of these problems by putting greater institutional importance on historical, philosophical, & religious literacy.
As a millennial who grew up in a Wiccan household, it is nice to see this surge of spirituality. It is so much more accepted than it was when I was a child. There were families I couldn’t interact with or who weren’t allowed to talk to me due to my mom’s beliefs and I experienced a lot of shame that my mother was a “devil worshipper” or “working against god” or “evil” because she professionally read tarot cards and charged her crystals during a full moon. So this recent uptick in spirituality content on social media makes me feel more accepted, which is great! However, I do think it’s a bit of a fad and it’s having a moment in the cultural sense. Some people utilize astrology and tarot cards for fun or vague generic advice but others do adhere to it as a legitimate religion and way of life. In some ways, using crystals for aesthetic reasons feels (to me personally) as a form of appropriation. Very interesting video, thanks for covering this!
I loved the episode! , however, I wish you would also talk about how the rise of these new spiritual practices also contributes to the rise of cultural appropriation.
Thank you! Especially when it comes to hoodoo and voodoo
What would qualify as cultural appropriation? Taking part in something from other cultures in itself isn't bad.
@@junjunjamore7735 Taking them away from their context. Using them in abstraction so they no longer have the same meaning or significance that they initially did. See; any non Jews using any kind of Kabbalah.
Policing for “cultural appropriation” leads to cultural segregation. Is that what you prefer?
Cultures interact and enrich eachother.
@@ZoeAlleyne By that definition Christianity would be considered cultural appropriation since it divorced theological concepts from both Judaism and Pagan beliefs, & changed them radically. The same can be said for Islam taking theological concepts from Arab animism, Judaism and Christianity.
The Buddha founded his school of philosophy after criticizing the practices of Vedic Hinduism, & offering a different approach to to understanding the conception of dharma. Was the Buddha committing cultural appropriation when he founded Buddhism?
"Cultural appropriation" properly understood requires for their to be a power imbalance being enforced through the use of a marginalized people's culture.
People learning from both their own traditions & the traditions of others in a critical manner has always been a very necessary part of how humanity progresses morally. For example, many of the religions that are considered to be major religions today sanctioned both slavery, & forced child marriage for most of their histories. By divorcing marriage from it's religious context, & providing a secular understanding of what marriage is we have liberated women worldwide, giving them the freedom to choose their spouses by pressuring religious institutions to make marriage a more voluntary endeavor between consenting adults.
In one of my first jobs after college about 8 years ago, I had a boss who was very into crystals and other spiritual practices. She had come from a strictly Christian background as well. And I remember it so well, and it still affects me to this day, when she simply explained to me that she uses crystals because they personally help her and move her in a direction she wants - she doesn't care if other people think she's strange for using them, or if there's any measurable "scientific" proof behind what they do for her. Of course, recognizing the appropriative aspects of this and, from looking at other comments here, I hadn't truly considered but am glad to now have read more about the environmental/ethical/consumerist costs involved in sourcing and selling them. But I just loved her outlook that, if it made her happy and brought about the positive changes she had hoped for, she would stick with it, regardless of what others thought. I grew up in a (reform) Jewish family and had such a hard time with the harsh rules, this vs. that, either believe it all or you don't belong, and the fact that your religion will judge and punish you for what it thinks is best for you, not what you think is best for yourself. This included my temple calling me one afternoon when I was about 14 while I was home alone, with 4-5 of its teachers all on the call telling me that I had to come back to the temple and had no choice in the matter (thankfully my mom went full mama bear on them when I told her what happened). And I know this is nowhere near the worst that a religious institution can do to traumatize members of its congregation, even with the best of intentions. I now mostly identify as no religion, with some dabblings into spirituality when it feels right for me, and it's the most comfortable and aligned way I've found so far.
These “new” practices?
As new as the human being
I would just suggest everyone who's new to this and will watch this video and run to witchtok or spirituality tok PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE cross double check everything you see so that you won't have any harmful practices in your life, there's too much info there and some of it can be too intense or too fake or closed practices, etc. Be mindful of the info you consume. But beside that witch community is wonderful.
This is a great example of someone saying "religion" when they really mean just Christianity. Spirituality, these practices you talk about, is not replacing religion. Spirituality is a huge part of most non-Christian religions, and most of these things ARE religious practices, just culturally appropriated by agnostic white women on TikTok who ignore the religious context and cultural history.
For a second I thought it was going to go negativity and label all spirituality into the box 📦 of “conspiracy theories people” I’m glad it look into the feminine Devine and the need for connection. 😮💨
I grew up in a SUPER Christian/Catholic small town in Florida that actually made it into the Guinnes book of world records for having the most churches per capita. From young childhood to late teens, I had both adults and other kids try to shove their beliefs down my throat, and even as a elementary schooler, Christianity/Catholicism just sounded like an over-hyped fairytale to me. I stumbled upon tarot/astrology/crystals last year and have since fell in love with it, I especially dived into tarot and learned to read the cards and now have quite a big collection of decks going, they're my greatest treasure. But most of all, the biggest appeal to me of spirituality is the freedom. Unlike the Abrahamic religions, spirituality doesn't tell you what you can or can't do, who you can or can't love, doesn't shame you for your gender/sexuality or for having sex before marriage or having children out of wedlock. And it doesn't absolve you of the bad things you do just for asking for forgiveness from Jesus or what not, it's philosophy is to encourage you to do better and to be a better person, to take personal control of your life instead of abdicating it like a child. And it doesn't lord over you with the threat of eternal damnation like a perpetual sword hanging over your head either. To use some psych terms, imo, the Abrahamic religions have an authoritarian style, while spirituality is authoratative.
It’s easy to fall in love with something that promises treats and freedom, but can it fulfill? Does it really follow through with what you need? It is the same as prodigal son, he wanted to remove himself from the constraints and requirements of life as his fathers son, responsible to the land and himself and his father-he liquidated all his assets that CAME FROM his dad, cut all ties and went off and did what he wanted! Partied had fun and spent everything, and what did he get in return? Nothing it was all for nothing. It was spent and given with no fruit or return. They did not even have compassion to give him food. But when he went back to his dad who he spurned-his proper home-with nothing to give what did he find? His father running to him forgiving everything and celebrating him. Jesus said THIS IS the kingdom of god. In our world we have made much of the church about rules and traditions-but this isn’t the truth. God loves us and is Merciful, he withholds judgement even when we’re foolish-but he does invite us into a life where we forsake ephemeral pleasures to listen to his voice, but by doing so we actually grow and produce fruit. It’s only by following procedures undergoing hard labor that we can grow anything on a farm, same is true for our Selves. God is not trying to withhold from us he’s trying to get us to have truly fruitful life. It’s same with sailing. You can’t get on a sailboat and experience the joy and freedom of the open seas UNLESS everything is properly specifically in its place unless you’ve spent hours training to sail safely unless you’ve gained the insights from listening to a Master on how to deal with new and dangerous situations. It’s the same with word of god, we Must listen and obey or we’ll be lost and hurt, because there is evil trying to kill us that will promise all to draw us in that doesn’t give one shit about you, as well as our own foolishness. I choose to trust my father the creator, not myself and not the lies of this world.
@@CM-pf1xc Ah yes, who wants to be free when you can be part of an oppressive system that punishes anything it doesn't like, but defense pedophile religious leaders! Woohoo!
Just to let you know, not every Christian is a bible beater, my parents believe in God but they don't bash others. Plz refrain from generalizing a very large group of the population.
@@paulhayes5684 bro they never said that the people from the religion is all authoritative. they are talking about the religion itself
I wouldn't say spirituality is "replacing" religion. It's just another option that's becoming available, ie reconstructionist religions. Actually thinking it's somehow going to replace institutionalized religions, at least anytime soon, is a stretch.
In my opinion, it doesn't matter what you believe, religiously.
As long as you don't discriminate against anyone or harm anyone and respect people who don't, it's fine in my book.
To quote Mother Monster:
"So why do we tell each other how we gotta live, stop throwing stones at your sisters and brothers"
To you is it right to cheat the most righteous person out of his right to lead humanity?
The issue is religious beliefs can have massive influence on your political positions, both in the case of organized religions and in decentralized religion/smaller cults.
Religious people across the board do tend to lean more conservative, and a lot of it has to do with their religious positions.
@@7TheWhiteWolf conservatives deal in white supremacy psychology not true religion.
@@7TheWhiteWolf True and that shouldn't be a problem as long as they don't kill others because they differ. I'm a Christian and I wish the best for every single one of you. Love and not hate.
i agree, but I am still to see that being possible . In my experience, unfortunately, these beliefs bring harm to others in some way. It is mostly sutble and seemingly harmless to those who belief such as attributing health or finqncial issues to spiritual in or mqgical causes which lead to unrealistic and innerfective solutions that are in often connected to toxic positivity and victim blaming. Whrn i was suffering from ptsd this almost led to mu death. But the best peopel who put me in this situation cannot sse they did that to me. And that will also interfere in their ideas on other people's rights and how we should live in society. People who beleive in these things tend to be agaisnt the right of a woman to chose and be more tolerant of suffering and social inequalities because they beleive in karma, life lessons that are necessary, that we willl all have a chance to rectify things by having post mortem divine justice, reeincarnation...
New practices? Come on take, no new generation invented this stuff, it's been happening for millenia!
New Age spiritualism is as much of a Business as a catholic church, but the scale is lesser. Its all about items: tarot cards, unethically mined crystals, aesthetic bedroom Desing and "witchy" wardrobe. It also promotes psuedoscientific practices in medicine such as ayurveda, reiki, acupuncture, crystal and essential oils healing. In post covid World, where people tried chugging horse dewormer to treat it, i wouldn't like to see the Rise of alternative "philosophy" if it involves bogus practices in medicine, psychology, and daily human interactions
The turning away from institutionalized religion toward Earth base spirituality is for me a sign of humanity's expanding consciousness. We are realizing we can have a direct relationship with Spirit and don't need institutionally approved mediators. Our spiritual practices are infused into our daily lives and not just performed one day a week. The awareness of interconnection and interdependence, the recognition of Spirit in all life forms, and the realization that Mother Earth and Father Sun are living entities, with a broader consciousness than us, are part of our collective spiritual evolution. And it's long overdue.
This new "spirituality" trend is exactly that, just a trend. The same thing that happened in the 1960s with the "new age" wave. It's also very attached to cultural appropiation. These religious practices have existed many years ago in different parts of the world. Now it's been commodified to appeal to white audiences who find it "cool" and "exotic".
A portion, of it. I mean, does that exist, yeah. However, there is more to the increase in decentralised beliefs and practices, than: crystals, yoga, meditation, and tarot cards. There are also people, who are rediscovering and revitalizing, their ancestors beliefs and practices. People are also, rejecting the forced colonisation, religion, and assimilation, that have been prominent for thousands of years.
As a white person of Celtic, Norse and Germanic heritage, I will note that people with less melanin also practiced earth-based spirituality in ancient times and to this day. Awareness of culture appropriation is important, but that doesn’t mean that white people only study or practice for superficial reasons…
I usually love the videos you guys put out- and I was so excited to see the thumbnail for this one! Unfortunately I feel that this topic deserves much more than 10 minutes- and while the video wasn’t bad…. It did leave out well… pretty much everything to do with the history and resurgence of pagan practices. (Restating another comment here- but still true) Paganism, Witchcraft & Wicca, as well as other various Spiritual practices ARE religions- religions that are just as old if not older than Christianity. Many many cultures have traditions & spiritual practices tied to regions that honor ancestors, and essentially are a different way to live WITH the Earth- which is what the modern interpretations also harken back to. I wish you guys would have touched on the rich history of different spiritual practices, the origins & pantheons, as well as WHY those religions were diminished in the first place (the crimes of white colonialism & the crusades). I think this topic could have even been done justice in a 25-30 minute video (which is typical for your uploads). Thank you for brining this concept to a video in the first place… but I really think people would benefit from a bit more research. It doesn’t have to be a perfect thing. But just… more.
Europeans believe in that stuff too I see it as they screwed themselves over along with others too!
I don't know how other people who do tarot see it, but I actually learned tarot with the Girl Scouts from my group leader, the daughter of a psychologist who is now a therapist herself. I got to know it as a reflection tool that you can use absolutely independently of the topic of spirituality or your own relationship to the topic. And I also find that many rituals and many things that are linked to the topic of spirituality also have a wonderful component in the topic of mindfulness, gratitude and simply a positive effect on mental health.❤ and I think this is what we need nowadays And I am very thankful that there is the change from being so harsh to ourselves
Yes, I learned it from my grandmother as a tool for reflection. And it was something to think about but also to not take too seriously. She always joked about drawing another card when the one she got didn't help :D
yes, and as beliefs not based on science and rationality can be very harmful, U'd say this is the only good and ethical use of tarot and it us how i use it today. As an extra tool that is like a mirror to my conscience and a magnifying glass to my context and not as some magick tool telling me fate or message from entittiesz spiritual higher self or whatever
People here are correcting each other and so on. This pretty much sums up that there is no point in arguing about it if you also want to prove "your" point badly. Most criticisms are not constructed, and the statements are all to prove the worth of what you "believe" is true. It is a self-matter, but the comments make it more of someone's chaos in another's self-peace. It is better to have arguments that are beneficial to both sides because considering differences are plausible arguments.
The issue with Astrology is the same as with Religion. Believing that something is true doesn't make it true. The same way that right-wingers believing queer folx are "predators" doesn't make us predators.
If we want to GENUINELY protect our marginalized communities, we need to do so from a place of reality. Adopt the aesthetic of Astrology/Wicca/Tarot, whatever. But molding yourself into whatever your horoscope says you are? Judging others to be something based on their signs before even asking about them? Making major life decisions because giant balls of gas millions of lightyears away told you to? That sounds like a basis to create the same awful environments as religion. That's more harmful than beneficial.
I am not defined by my astrology sign the same way I'm not defined by my skin tone or gender assignment. And screw anyone who would denigrate me that way because it fits their worldview to stick me in a box of their creation.
You're a little late to the party on this one. New Age was highly popular in the 80s and 90s. The Craft was a 90s phenom.
People were very much into all of this since old ages.
Well Helen, it was also widely popular in the 1800s spiritual movement, as you would know, having been one of the top writers of that period💚
@@down-to-earth-mystery-school Sure, I know. I used to hang with the Fox Sisters. Lol.
I don't believe in any of this stuff, but when looking into it I find that it gives people a language or voice to talk about their wellbeing and a prompt to look inwards instead of ignoring their feelings.
I think this is smart... For that aspect. If someone says "Don't blame me, I'm a virgo" then I will yell at them. Take personal accountability for your own actions.
I was raised super religious, and from what I experience, it never opened up for serious inward thought, and actively tried to supress exploring emotions.
I was punished for my own questioning of the religion. That was my first "get out" moment.
My wife became wiccan because it had a focus on self help. Traditions consisted of stuff like "clean out your house of unwanted belongings." that's just spring cleaning.
I usually like your videos but you guys missed the mark here. You have to take into account POC and their spiritual practices and how they are being taken over by white feminist spaces. There are cultural appropriative issues with white sage and peyote use that are part of the indigenous community. Being a part of that culture, it's something I've studied that there are sacred items that need to be left alone. We've lost so much, we share but some items should stay sacred to us.
Exactly!! This didn't scratch the surface, but just regurgitated witchtok
The purpose of Spirituality is to be free from the confines of religion. So turning Spirituality into a religion or referring to it as one defeats the purpose of seeking a connection to the soul outside of religion. You've made Spirituality the very thing you are trying to escape.
Not to mention “spiritualists” tending to be white people, liberals, & LGBT people means its insecure people thinking they’re raging against the machine. When all said groups I named are being scammed to buy “jewels”, cardboard, & incense which isn’t remotely magical. They all fell for capitalism again.
Not really...
I personally need both
@@davidalves31057 Religion tells you how to achieve connections to a divine through out dated ideals while spirituality allows you to find what works for you.
Based off other comments and even the mention of Eastern practices influencing spirituality, and the cultural appropriation of that, I wanted to share my own witchcraft story! I am indeed white, and I think a lot of my draw to wicca was that I wanted to practice European paganism, something that I had roots in and was always fascinated by. To me it's reclaiming my roots (especially since i'm also American, and I think so many of us struggle with what even IS white culture in America for a multitude of reasons), especially because i'm largely of Celtic origin, and it was kinda wiped out by Anglo-Saxons coming to Britain, alongside Christianity replacing it and so many other pagan cultures throughout Europe (and the rest of the world later!). I don't really take in other cultures pagan religions because it just feels...wrong, and weird, because it really is cultural appropriation, or toeing a REAL fine line at best. So I largely stick to European practices.
Same here, I always felt a lack of culture growing up white in the United States. Researching about my Celtic roots has helped to ground me with a sense of belonging. And a deep appreciation of the spiritual traditions of diverse peoples around the world
As a Bulgarian I solemnly give you my blessing to go explore and practice ancient Bulgarian paganism if that’s what you want to do. But I don’t think yhat you need any of it to do what you feel like you need to do. The problem we’re hinting at is racism, not cultures interacting and enriching eachother.
@@ti1286 Exactly! And thank you for the blessing
Same
Don't believe something just because it "suits you", because its "fancy", "cool", "pretty" or makes you "feel good". If you are gonna believe something, believe it because its true, because there is evidence for it. Don't search for "your truth", search for THE TRUTH. If not, there is no point in believing anything at all
There is no universal spiritual truth, which is why we are called spiritual seekers. All any human has are beliefs, when we die, then we’ll know…
What bugs me is that 20 years ago, I was beat up, called the devil, and almost suspended from (a public, non-christian) school for bringing the deck of tarot cards my grandmother gave me (effectively, it was passed down) to school to play with my close friends. 'Reading' tarot was a family tradition. Now those same kids who treated me like shit think it's so cool to read tarot. Then again, I guess a parlor trick I've practiced for 20+ years has finally come in handy at parties.
I have a semi-ironic love for Astrology. I don’t hate it but I don’t want it to have power over me. In various sects of Hinduism, Astrology is a lucrative business opportunity feeding off of insecurity.
Great video! something I think also fits into this conversation is how spirituality is also a form of liberation for POC. I’m specifically thinking about Santeria, Vudu, Mexican brujeria, and Native American spirituality. It’s a way for colonized and enslaved people to reconnect with parts of their identity which have been suppressed.
Lies.
It's just white folks pushing Luciferianism on those in the sunken place.
I am Native and Mexican. Grew up in CA with really no living relatives who are also native, so I’ve been doing as much research as I can to connect back with my roots. I started about 6 years ago and when I embraced my spirituality, people started noticing very quickly. They said I was glowing, which I do believe since peoples auras can be so powerful 🥰
Santeria, Voodoo, brujería... these are no joke... they deal with some fecked up shite!
Skepticism wise, I think The Take forgot to add in about the scammers part of spiritualists(although maybe they're saving that for a later video/the sequel to this)
I'm Catholic but I've been leaning into more spiritual practices nowadays. It's unfair how we believe in a "God" but we never give justice to the feminine. So I've decided to commune with Mother Nature and the energy of the "Goddess". Life is made up from both.
Interestingly, pretty much everything that can be believed in came to replace belief in the form of religion. It is interesting that the Reformation in Germany in the 16th century encouraged the individual to think independently and ultimately led to this individual looking for other things to believe in than Christianity or other religion. For example, the belief in technical progress. A few years ago I had an English-language seminar at the university on the subject of modern substitute religions and that includes, for example, something like diet culture and fitness culture or things like practicing your eating style, such as vegan eating, like a faith. There is this connecting and identity-creating element, there are people who do not belong to this community, who then also like to be devalued. And unfortunately also often associated intolerance towards people who do not behave according to the values of these groups. I think you can see that in a lot of things these days like That Girl last year. It's very privileged to have so much time and money for the typical activities of this trend - this of course gives you an exclusivity and sets you apart from others.
I guess I get it. But I also don’t.
I left organised religion for a reason. My lack of faith in a higher power or gods translates to me not believing in any kind of spirituality.
I totally get that. I like the idea of magic and spirituality but I don't actually believe in it. It can be a good tool for mental health though. And I don't say no to a good placebo effect 😂
@@jonasholzer4422 that’s what I feel about for religion. Like I absolutely don’t believe or take part. But I think it’s a very good thing for deriving strength and endurance for life.
Still don’t believe. Though some days I wish I did.
I believe the greatest reason why us young people are leaving religion is because of how utterly boring it is. For a couple of hours on a Sunday you have to take time out of your day to worship someone or something that is supposedly all around you and present 24/7 365 days a year. Then when you come home, that's just it. Nothing but rules and some guy above everyone else on their soap box complaining how messed up society is. Like everything else in our society, religion is more of social control rather than a hypothetical connection with a higher power.
I think we need to rethink the title: the idea that “religion” and “spirituality” are two separate domains is a Western and more specifically North American idea. In a lot of traditions to be “religious” in the sense of following a set of religious rules has an inner, “spiritual” dimension
Religion and spirituality proves that how fragile human being really are ... they can't handle their system very well and anxiety should be the number 1... human needs comfort, and assurance that everthing is gonna be okay ... yet different people different situation and one thing they forgot is to look and face the reality as RAW as it can be , and see the whole thing as it is ...
04:50 The only reason that new age spirituality does not harm the marginalized, is because they haven't acquired authority yet. Give them time, they will reach a position of authority, and they will marginalize groups to show how important they have become. After all, every campaign of righteousness needs an adversary.
Love this trend and I pray and feel connected when use the tarot and meditation. That connection got me through a very dark time.
Indian astrology {considered the most accurate) is embedded in Hindu principles and considered a sister science of yoga and Ayurveda. Interesting that in times of turmoil against authoritarianism, people draw closer to Eastern and ancestral practices but are attracted to the parts that focus on individual practice rather than the organized religion parts of that practice that often regards individual rights as an afterthought
And the fact that anyone has to state that a certain beach of astrology is ‘most accurate’ is exactly why so many people are rejecting specific traditions. We are tired of being told that one way is more correct, when there are 4,000 different spiritual beliefs being practiced right now, they all likely hold some truths and they all likely hold some misconceptions.
So, I love my witchy pinterest and moon phase apps as much as your average 20-something but I find this video to be missing a lot of awareness for the issues which go hand-in-hand with this spirituality trend: cultural appropriation, shallow spiritual capitalism, new-age "coaches" and their scams, worrisome cult-like mentality and its dangers, unsustainable crystal markets etc etc just to name a few. Come on guys, your videos are usually better than that.
Honestly, my mom and her friends had a same wave during their midlife crisis, we just started very early.
😂 You're not wrong, it's also a symptom of the crisis we find ourselves in...
@@NE-ns8mk This is typical it's funny because it's true situation. XD
Basically it’s still religion. People in western cultures have tended to gravitate towards religious practices that center the individual vs the community, an example would be the preference for Protestant Christianity as opposed to Catholic Christianity. This is taking it one step further where you don’t even have to have a communal aspect to religion, but because we are humans and thus inherently social creatures we still crave community ergo social media is where we connect with other “spiritual but not religious” people.
Note: I am commenting as someone with a degree in religion/religious studies from a non-affirming university where I studied different religious traditions, their roles in history and society, and ultimately what even is “religion” (the answer being religion is undefinable and we only have working definitions)
It's really interesting seeing how technology is shaping our religious experiences, & how we chose to self-identify. Do you think a deeper & more continuous syncretism between Christianity & non-Western religions will occur?
I would've liked if this video had gone into more detail about the harm that this can do.
Like how people are just creating new stereotypes and treating people like shit or assume they're bad people because of their astrological sign ("omg that person is SUCH a Libra!" or "Yeah I was gonna go on a date but then I found out he was a GEMINI ugh they're so tOxiC".... I even had a friend who was complaining over her baby's due date because it was going to be an Aries.)
Or how easily Witches®️ can slip into anti Scientific beliefs because they think that crystals and incense can cure cancer and call it "Natural Healing".
Our brains adapted for religion over thousands of years to help us understand the things we could yet explain. It makes sense we still need something fill that void - even when we have some of those answers. From a cultural perspective I've found reclaiming the spirituality of my ancestors before slavery to be very healing.
You don’t need church or religion. It’s toxic.
The channel has crazy-good timing and my mouth fell open when I saw this on my homepage.
I've been VERY anti-religion since college. I was raised as a protestant (African Methodist Episcopalian). Every Sunday, I would be dragged to church and sunday school. The latter wasn't bad, but the former was hell. The only positive was communion once a month because I got a wafer and juice. We always ate after church, so I was just hungry. 😛That novelty wore off when I got older because communion made the service longer. 😕
In high school, I actually joined the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, only because I could skip a week of church if I did so. I don't know why I, nor my parents, saw it. I clearly had no interest in church and I only went because I was forced. Whenever I can home from undergrad, it was the same deal. Since I still lived at home, I had to go to church.
After living on my own, I stopped going. I don't think my mom goes to our original church anymore, but she still watches services on tv.> I believe my dad goes once in a while. I've told my mom that I'm no longer religious, though she still tells me to "trust in God", or "pray about it" when I have issues. She is deeply religious (not religious right) and wants me to "have a relationship with God".
Last year, a Wiccan/Pagan Meetup group formed in my town and I went to the first meeting. outside of sharing wine with the others, I had a good time, though I felt strange about being there. I didn't believe it had anything to do with witchcraft and that is what I told my mom. I was very wrong, but it was more nuanced than that. While going through their fall harvest celebration, many of the rituals performed felt a LOT like church, only more relaxed and carefree. Neither my mom or dad were happy about me going. My dad calls it a cult and coming from Nigeria, he isn't a stranger to the concept of witchcraft. My mother was horrified. While normally very progressive in her thinking, she can't get behind this. Both told me never to go back.
I'm 37, so they cannot keep me from anything, but I know they worry. I do understand their trepidations, but I don't want to pretend to love Christianity to please them. I have NO DESIRE to be a Christian ever again and I have told my mom this much. Just last Thursday, she wants us to talk about my spirituality and relationship with God. I find it insulting that my sister can grow up AME, convert to Catholicism in college, and now be some other kind of Christian at a whim. I should be allowed to explore my spirituality with the same freedoms. I do want to back to that Wicca group and learn more about it. While I may not fully join the Wiccan/Pagan movement in the end, I want the freedom to choose. This video really cane at the perfect time for me, as I'm dreading that one-on-one talk with my mom right now. I may show her this take. While it won't change her mind, it will help me explain why I want nothing to do with organized religion and want to explore other outlets.
More like the values of “Living to Serve Yourself” is replacing the values of “Living to Serve Others”. Seems like since the age of social media people are more self-centred, money-centred, and image obsessed.
So do you have any thoughts on prosperity theology in the Christian tradition?
This site should be called The Tiktok.
You mentioned the hierarchy of traditional religions, automatically made me think of the patriarchy of it. Zoinks. Freeeeedom!
I've recently become more spiritually open in the past couple of years. I own my own tarrot and oracle deck. So far nothing bad has happened to me idk what people are doing to have negative outcomes!
I wouldn't mind a video about atheism and how it's been portrayed in media and culture in general. It feels like, regardless of a persons spiritual belief (Christian, Wicca, Buddhism, whatever), as long as you have one you are held in much higher regard than someone who has none.
I do think this episode embodied religious privilege in how it ignored how secular humanists also live spiritually rich lives, & often offer much more substantive answers to spiritual questions than these shallow & commercially driven New Age superstitions.
@@latinomifune4700 I agree fully. ❤️
My friend was talking about religion and said, everyone has a set of beliefs that direct their life and thinking and usually some set of ritualized behaviors that come from those beliefs-heists are not exempt from this.
@@latinomifune4700 Thank you for bringing up religious privilege. While I appreciate how this episode highlighted the decline of traditional religious practice, I still felt somewhat alienated as a secular humanist. I personally feel “spiritually complete” and connected with myself and my community in spite of not being overtly religious.
Movies and tv shows are definitely portraying Christians as bad characters more than atheists. I’m not sure why people still want to act like atheists are more marginalized than people with a religion. We don’t live in that kind of world anymore.
I once went to a bookstore where I heard two strangers connect over tarot reading and astrology. They're like "do you want me to read you?" "Sure. Let's sit down over there" and I thought that was so strange but then again I was literally looking for a book on Witchcraft.
The Bible is secretly a spell book.
Tarot is an amazing tool for living in the moment, completely different than what most people think of tarot as being.
I think so too because a lot of people don’t know it’s a really good tool for self reflection
Tarot has always proved to have useful guidance for me, more the readers than the cards themselves.
As a lifelong Methodist (59 years) born and raised in the southernmost part of the US, I am so done with religion. My fellow Christians put Donald Trump in office. He is the absolute antithesis of Christian teaching and yet they practically worship him as the second coming of Christ. Seriously?? Might as well get "I'm a hypocrite" tattooed to your forehead!!
Exactly!
I'll assure you that I and many other Christians that I know do NOT support Donald Trump. I seriously doubt, for example, that Martin Luther King, Jr. would have advocated Trumpism. Also, from what I've observed, there seems to be a split opinion among Jews about Trump: those who consider him as a great friend of Israel, and those who see him as a manifestation of Hitler.
Just as a clarification before I make this comment I don't have any kind of religious or spiritual affiliation. I feel that especially people within the queer community have seen the appeal of these more spiritual practices due to the awful treatment of queer people within a lot of organised religions and people using these religions as a smoke screen for their bigotry. Stuff like spirituality is more open and accepting and because it comes from much more ancient practices that existed way before Christianity where there were a lot less strict rules it feels appealing. Stuff like paganism and spiritualism and Wicca which are also on the rise are specifically on the rise in the queer community and feel appealing. They are connected to nature and the world as a whole and there is more freedom and less judgement and less supposed punishment. I myself and queer and can understand why people in the community have turned away from organised "traditional" religion and more towards stuff like paganism and wicca and spirituality though I don't have an affiliation to any of those things.
As an athiest and I find the rise in this spirituality so stupid. The woman saying that she won't have kids because she is a leo is so dumb because its litterally stars in the sky that kind of look like a lion. I also think its being used to deflect blame of the negative traits of someone.
Never thought I’d live to see the day I agree with an atheist. Good comment.
@@sirenenoire4091 as an athiest that is great that we can see the stupidity in something regardless of belief
Acting like wicca is a free for all ignores the Wiccan rede. Wicca is a religion with several branches, or you could even be eclectic, not unlike non denominational Christianity in that sense. Please don't belittle the religion just because it may not have the cultural foothold that Christianity does.
Slowly "losing my religion" due to working in a ministry. So much bullshit. "God wants you to give during our fundraiser." Makes me f-ing sick.
Not the take calling me out 🤦🏽
Not surprised since it’s just magical thinking for the most part.
Spirituality is important. But I've never seen the need to put down other people's faith to prop up one's own views. Like calling organized religion "outdated". At a time when Synagogues and Mosques are facing increased attacks, you wouldn't say that to them, so let's be clear... Meanwhile this very week millions of people collectively prayed for a football player's speedy recovery. Christianity is a super big deal with African Americans in particular, but folks who call it out never think about that.
But this is how it goes. To be progressive basically means picking sides on topics like this, and it's how we got to silliness like the perceived 'War on Christmas.' And to bring it back to pop culture, this either/or mentality to stand by one group of people by villainizing another, manifests itself in more and more media where religious figures are antagonists (the 'Sinister Minister' Trope. Do it), while less and less media show the positives of being part of those communities, like the food drives and the Mission trips to other countries to help the less fortunate. Anything will look bad if the negatives are the only thing that's focused on.
I think we will all be in a much better place once we start valuing the objective well-being of other human beings over our subjective religious sensitivities.
It is outdated. Can't deal with people who take it too seriously. They shouldn't die or anything. That's other religious people doing that.
Some of the food drives to other countries have been revealed to simply be missionaries, withholding food from poor, vulnerable populations until they go to the daily church service ana so earn about God. If you care and want to feed people, just do it, don’t blackmail a starving person because you think your religion is right, while disrespecting the native people’s belief systems. Organized religion often comes with strings attached, which is why it’s criticized
I'm not sure where the slogan "We are the Granddaughters of all the Witches you couldn't burn" came from but it's historically inaccurate. 'Witches' were never burned (in Salem, Pendle and elsewhere they were hanged)
Witches weren't burned, witches were hanged or drowned. Heretics were the ones that were burned.
They weren't burned in the US. They were burned in Europe.
@@rachaelknudsen8801 where were they burnt in Europe?
@@madelineg603 France and Germany, between the 14th and 15th centuries. Particularly, in Geneve, France under the direction of the religious reformer, John Calvin.
Can you do a video on Voodoo and Hoodoo and how it's often misunderstood and never given depth like other spiritual and religious practices!
vodou and hoodoo are not the same
Hey you're using clips from my channel without my permission or credit, can you please credit my content? Thank you
There were a few lines that came across as dismissive or "this is a fad" but for the most part, good video. I've been a practicing Pagan for the majority of my life. What I love about it is I can connect with the divine, whereas other religions have a middleman like a priest interpreting the word of God. I've got nothing against other faiths, my issue is when one is seen as "legitimate" and the other is seen as a "phase" or "not real." Witchcraft can be a phase or something one dabbles in when times are tough only to forget about it when things start looking up. I feel people [because "witch" is gender-neutral] are turning away from organized religions because they want to find meaning and feel a spiritual connection and not be told, "you're evil, you're wrong, you're doomed." And yes, sometimes, you need tough love. Sometimes, you are toxic. Sometimes you do something problematic and need to be told to stop. But spirituality is holding yourself accountable. You can't blame anyone if you didn't grow on your path because you chose not to do the work. And what that looks like, how hard you try, it depends on you. Nobody's made if you skip a practice because you're depressed. There's a lot of religious trauma people need to unpack imo.
I observe an overlap between these expressions of “alternative sprituality” and anti-medicine sentiments, which is worrying. People who don’t believe in the scientific method and take an individualistic approach are hard to negotiate with in terms of health.
Organized religion destroys everything it touches. It serves ego, not the spirit.
Pretty please also discuss the toxic angles in this community as well - particularly the psychic/medium community.
This was all wonderful - but the dark history in Spirituality needs to be talked about, particularly when we combined it in a capitalistic society.
Witchcraft = Good
Psychic Mediums = Capitalism/Bad
My 2023 resolution was to really focus more on my Wicca journey so… I feel a little spied on right now 😂
I don't know if you already follow them or are interested in podcasts, but Seeking Witchcraft is a great listen.
Since you're probably an easy target for the Great Algorithm, yeah I too think you're spied on. Just like everyone else here.
I was playing Solitaire with tarot cards. Got a full house and five people died - Steven Wright.
I'm a Norse pagan, and even I'm able to point out the issues with this shit.
More like "trenders appropriate the spiritual beliefs of the people they used to call satanic freaks because someone on tiktok made it look cool. They'll forget about it when the next thing comes along."
As someone who has been a pagan and a witch for 25 years, I despise being associated with these people who just want to find another oppression box to tick to feel complicated and interesting.
Let me ask you- what first gotten you into paganism?
Spirituality is a fluffier way of saying the occult.
I've found the work of comparative philosopher Karen Armstrong a great tool for understanding this cultural shift. Her book 'sacred nature' covers the deeper meaning and philosophies of global religion and why a world full of climate, social and economic turmoil needs more.
Good question. The reason I’m more drawn to spirituality is because I never resonate with religion in the first place. There’s advantages to practicing religion. However, I feel like there’s some negatives about religion. For example, false beliefs that weren’t in the Bible, not everything in the Bible is true. I need to research more about the negatives of religion even though they’re positives. To be spiritual is to mention the human psyche in your conversations, discovering more about yourself on a soul level. I think there’s an answer why we humans are here on earth. To make it easy to answer it’s actually simple. Our souls are the reason we are brought here on earth to start a life a new, find a new family, and your purpose on earth. I’m no professional at spirituality, however one thing I believe is that to be spiritual you need to be in a state of spiritual. It includes meditation, painting, walking, being present, and so much more.
Also, I am a witch I am unsure how long I’ll stay a witch. Because I need to take care of my future. I’m thinking of my career me dream job, and also speaking of life I need to find my purpose in life. I haven’t been practicing my craft as of late, or practicing divination. Basically I am focusing on my priorities and my life in the real world, so I am unsure if I’ll come back to practicing witchcraft which is something I have to find out myself.
As a black man I. The United States u got some points I like ur channel. Keep doing yells thing. They did teach there white supremacist Christianity on Africa slaves.
Thank you so much for including part of my content in your video!! Can you please credit my video/account though? I wasn't asked for permission but a friend notified me ❤