On the vexed subject of appropriation, Dr Wendi Wilkerson (
Walking with the Gods) made the good point that, with the destruction of ancient traditions by Christianity, one often has no choice but to look to living traditions for "spiritual technology" but
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A significant difference between these polytheists and those who appropriate from living traditions, especially those in the New Age community, is that they generally do not claim to have the cultural authority, ritual expertise, or group membership that belongs to legitimate tradition bearers within that living tradition. ... A good analogy would be the difference between stealing a bicycle and pretending you own it, or borrowing a bicycle to learn how it's put together and then finding the parts and building your own.
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