I think we’re looking at the difference between the religion, the lineage-based human tradition, and the practice of magick, which works with some of those spirits on a less formal basis, and without the lifelong commitment.
I don’t equate my work with Hathor to that of an Egyptian priest back in the day, he would be residing on temple property, living her service 24/7, I’m devoted to her but there’s no major commitment in the same way. ![]()
Both have their place and value but the moment someone starts claiming titles that are earned within a living tradition, I think that’s when fur flies, and honestly it’s silly. I work with Lwa, that does NOT make me a Mambo and nor would, or should, I ever start to claim that title.
And I’ve seen magick start to slide the long-established qualities and attributes of spirits, often incorporating lazy pop-culture depictions, and usually towards fluff-bunny and reductionist outcomes where all beings are “masks of” one another, or protect the very animals they used to require as blood sacrifices, so keeping as many distinct original lineages alive as possible seems, to me, to be useful: it takes nothing from the practice of magick, but does preserve information in its original form, which has been peer-tested over a longer period.
It’s also notable that the Abrahamic religions attacked honouring ones own spiritual traditions, and one’s own ancestors, as the earliest part of their power grab.
So anything which seeks to reduce and attack those inheritances in similar ways, may be an unwitting cultural programme being brought within the practice of magick, and towards that same “One True™ Way” goal, which uproots people and slowly begins to pare away their spiritual roots and connections. I did a post about that process previously, here. ![]()
So we have two different streams, the traditional religious, and the magickal non-conformist, both useful and both valid, no need to collapse that and reduce everything down to a “One True™ Way” IMO. ![]()