Saturday, July 17, 2010

And Still MORE on Validating Initiations

Another reader from Spiritual Occultist offered his thoughts (such as they are) on the question of validating initiations.  My response follows:


greetings. you have no idea on what you arte saying for validating is....for of what one person is doing..they are doing what is right and is all the validating is needed. so back off and to understand is what is real to them. and this all for all peoples....blessed be....bob

Well, I have very little idea what YOU are saying. Is English your first language? If not, you might consider using Yahoo Babelfish or Google Translate to put your thoughts in a more understandable form. I find them very helpful when I am working in French: I hope they prove useful to you.

There is a process by which becomes a Lakota medicine man: this process has been preserved for centuries and is an important part of Lakota culture. If you did not go through this process you are not a Lakota medicine man. It doesn't matter if you feel very strongly that you should be a medicine man, that you just know the spirits want you to be a medicine man, or that you have seen Dances With Wolves several dozen times. If you go around calling yourself a Lakota medicine man without those ceremonies you are engaging in lying, fraud, and/or cultural appropriation.

To be a Houngan or Mambo in the asson lineage of Haitian Vodou requires undergoing the kanzo ceremony. If you did not undergo this ceremony you are not a Houngan or Mambo. This is also the case in many African Diaspora traditions. You may not like this: you may think they are all being meanie fascist poopy-heads who don't want to recognize you because they are reverse racists or what have you. But that is the way these religions work. And since you signed off with "BB" -- you DO understand that Wicca began as an initiatory tradition which one could learn only from a teacher with the proper lineage and ordination, right?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aw..c'mon! I saw Dances with Wolves once...from about midway to the end..twas a long film. Anywho, I feel halfway to being a Medicine Man already, lol. ^^ Cheers!

Unknown said...

and in many cases Wicca continues to be an iniatory tradition, as I think alot of the more well known Wiccan's are initiated and taught in some tradition or lineage or another, even if they don't always talk about it.

And it also seems that what you are discussing in regard to Vodou also happens with some Wiccan traditions as well, althought it's harder to detect and find out, especially when there are no other wiccans of a claimed lineage in an area to identify.

It's very disheartening to me that someone who has seemed to identify themselves as being Wiccan, can say something so ignorant.

On the other hand, this whole discussion on validating initiations, As I have been reading I wonder to myself, what purpose does this argument serve?

Unknown said...

Kinaz? I don't really understand why you would respond to this. No offense to the person who posted it. No offense to him or her, yet, can they even communicate. I mean, run-on sentences, broken english. Why did you respond? I never will understand the quirks and quarks People have. Same goes for myself:)

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