1) I respect the crucial need for folks to respect others’ practices but for many of us IN this work, as readers and teachers, we are pushed to learn many practices and traditions if for no other reason than to better serve our clients. That alone is not appropriation.

2) If I am in a session with a client and a spiritual representative of their cultural background comes to me as a messenger, I’m not slamming the door in that spiritual reps face. I think we can probably all see that that’s a bad idea.

3) It’s been made very clear to me that part of my work is to help people better connect to their own paths. The clients who come to me do NOT all share my ethnic, religious, cultural, or any other common background.

4) I’m not going to advertise myself as a master of a tradition that I’m not a master of. But if your spiritual representatives come through, we’re gonna talk about it, because they’re sure not there for my benefit, otherwise they’d be harassing me when you’re not there.

5) I’ve got my whole own personal pantheon of spiritual mayhem following me around. Do I sometimes take action to learn about, engage with, and maybe even offer thanks to those spiritual representatives? YES. That’s also NOT appropriation, it’s respectful behavior.

6) I need to maintain good relationships with a lot or different spiritual realities in order to do my job, for my clients.

7) Sometimes it’s not even anything really deep. Sometimes it’s as simple as a Black southern woman asking my northern white ass what Florida Water is and what it’s for and me connecting her to basic info. Why am I the messenger? Who knows

8) Am I the perfect messenger? I highly fucking doubt it. But if I center her information need — she asked — and if I’m able to get her to a next step of discovery that hopefully will teach her more than I can? Great.

9) Am I then going to advertise myself as an expert on Black American spirituality? No. No, I’m not. I’m also not an expert in Buddhism, Kabbalah, or Greek myth, but I sure got a crash course in it all anyway, thanks to having multiple clients with very loud ancestors.