Decolonizing Your Spiritual Practice: A Self-Audit

BY NICOLE LAU

You've learned about cultural appropriation. You understand closed practices. You know the harm. But now what? How do you actually examine your existing practice and remove what's appropriative? How do you decolonize what you've already built? This article is your practical guide to auditing your spiritual practice, identifying appropriation, making changes, and rebuilding on a foundation of respect and integrity.

This is active work. It requires honesty, humility, and willingness to let go of practices you love but don't have right to. It means facing uncomfortable truths about what you've been doing. But it's essential work. This self-audit will help you transform your practice from extractive to ethical, from appropriative to authentic.

Preparing for the Audit

The Mindset

Before you begin:

• Commit to honesty, even when uncomfortable
• Be willing to let go of practices you're attached to
• Prioritize ethics over comfort
• Accept that you might have been appropriating
• Focus on doing better, not defending past actions

What you'll need:

• Your altar/sacred space
• Your grimoire/book of shadows
• List of your practices
• Honesty and humility
• Willingness to change

The Audit: Step-by-Step

Examining Your Practice

Step 1: Inventory everything

List all elements of your practice:

• Physical items (altar items, tools, clothing)
• Practices and rituals
• Deities or spirits you work with
• Divination methods
• Herbs and materials
• Books and teachers
• Terminology you use

Step 2: Identify origins

For each item/practice, ask:

• Where does this come from?
• What culture or tradition?
• Who are the originators?
• What's the history?

Step 3: Check if it's open or closed

For each practice, determine:

• Is this open to outsiders?
• Does it require initiation?
• Is it culturally/ethnically specific?
• Have people from that culture said it's closed?

Step 4: Assess your relationship

For practices from other cultures:

• Do I have genuine relationships with people from that culture?
• Did I learn from authorized teachers?
• Have I given back to the community?
• Do I have permission to practice this?

Step 5: Evaluate power dynamics

• Am I from dominant culture taking from marginalized?
• Am I benefiting from privilege?
• Am I perpetuating colonial patterns?

The Checklist: Item by Item

Common Appropriations to Check

Smudging and sage:

• ❌ White sage smudging (closed Indigenous practice)
• ✅ Rosemary, garden sage, lavender (open alternatives)
• ❌ Calling it "smudging" if you're not Indigenous
• ✅ Call it "smoke cleansing" or "burning herbs"

Indigenous items:

• ❌ Dreamcatchers (unless from Native artisan for proper use)
• ❌ Medicine wheels, medicine bundles
• ❌ Headdresses or tribal regalia
• ❌ "Spirit animal" terminology
• ✅ Remove all appropriated Indigenous items

Hindu/South Asian practices:

• ❌ Wearing bindis casually (if not Hindu)
• ❌ Using Om symbol without understanding
• ❌ Yoga without acknowledging Hindu roots
• ✅ Acknowledge origins, support South Asian teachers
• ✅ Learn properly, don't whitewash

African diaspora practices:

• ❌ Vodou/Santería/Palo without initiation
• ❌ Working with Orishas/Lwa without authorization
• ❌ Using imagery or symbols casually
• ✅ Hoodoo (open practice, but learn properly and give credit)

Terminology:

• ❌ "Shaman" (if not from shamanic culture)
• ❌ "Spirit animal" (appropriative)
• ❌ "Tribe" for friend group (trivializes Indigenous nations)
• ✅ Use accurate, non-appropriative terms

Making Decisions

What to Do With Each Item/Practice

Category 1: Remove immediately

• Closed practices you're not initiated into
• Sacred items from cultures not your own
• Practices you were told are off-limits
• Anything causing active harm

How to remove:

• Dispose of respectfully (return to earth, not trash)
• Return items to communities if possible
• Stop practices immediately
• Don't make excuses

Category 2: Modify and give proper credit

• Open practices you're doing without attribution
• Practices you learned improperly
• Things you can do ethically with changes

How to modify:

• Learn properly from authorized sources
• Always give credit to origins
• Support practitioners from that culture
• Use correct terminology

Category 3: Keep with accountability

• Open practices you're doing ethically
• Your own ancestral practices
• Practices you have permission for

How to maintain:

• Continue giving credit
• Keep supporting communities
• Stay educated and accountable
• Remain humble

Rebuilding Your Practice

After the Audit

Step 1: Acknowledge what you removed

• Recognize you were appropriating
• Don't make excuses
• Commit to doing better

Step 2: Fill gaps ethically

• Find ethical alternatives to what you removed
• Explore your own ancestral practices
• Learn open practices properly
• Build on foundation of respect

Step 3: Establish ethical guidelines

• Create personal code of ethics
• Set boundaries for yourself
• Commit to ongoing education
• Stay accountable

Step 4: Make amends

• Support communities you appropriated from
• Donate to Indigenous/marginalized causes
• Amplify voices you should have been listening to
• Take action, not just feel bad

The Decolonization Checklist

Ongoing Questions

Regular check-ins (monthly or quarterly):

✓ Am I practicing anything closed to me?

✓ Am I giving proper credit to all sources?

✓ Am I supporting communities I learn from?

✓ Am I staying educated about appropriation?

✓ Am I listening to marginalized voices?

✓ Am I using my privilege for justice?

✓ Am I being honest about my practice?

✓ Am I staying humble and accountable?

Specific Audits

Your Altar

Examine each item:

• Where did this come from?
• Do I have right to use it?
• Is it from closed practice?
• Did I buy from actual practitioners or appropriators?

Remove:

• Items from closed practices
• Sacred objects from other cultures
• Appropriated imagery or symbols

Keep/Add:

• Items from your own heritage
• Ethically sourced crystals and tools
• Open practice items with proper attribution

Your Grimoire

Review each entry:

• Where did I learn this?
• Did I give credit?
• Is this practice open to me?
• Am I being honest about sources?

Update:

• Add proper attributions
• Remove closed practices
• Note what you've learned about appropriation
• Create ethics section

Your Teachers and Sources

Evaluate who you learn from:

• Are they from the cultures they teach?
• Or are they appropriators?
• Do they give proper credit?
• Do they respect boundaries?

Shift to:

• Teachers from the actual cultures
• Ethical practitioners
• People who respect closed practices
• Sources that prioritize justice

Crystals for Decolonization Work

Truth and Transformation

Honest examination:

• Obsidian: Seeing truth, facing what you've been doing
• Smoky quartz: Grounding in reality, transmuting defensiveness
• Clear quartz: Clarity about what needs to change

Courage and Commitment

• Carnelian: Courage to make changes
• Tiger's eye: Willpower to follow through
• Citrine: Confidence in building ethical practice

Wisdom and Accountability

• Amethyst: Spiritual wisdom, staying humble
• Sodalite: Truth, honest self-assessment
• Lapis lazuli: Wisdom, integrity

How to Use

• Hold during audit process
• Place on altar during decolonization
• Meditate with for clarity and courage
• Keep as reminder of ongoing work

Common Challenges

What You Might Feel

Resistance:

• "But I love this practice"
• "I've been doing this for years"
• "It feels right to me"
• Remember: Your attachment doesn't override ethics

Grief:

• Losing practices you valued
• Realizing you've been causing harm
• Feeling like you're starting over
• Remember: Grief is appropriate, but don't center it

Defensiveness:

• "I didn't know"
• "I meant well"
• "It's not that bad"
• Remember: Now you know, so do better

Integration: Ongoing Decolonization

Decolonizing your spiritual practice isn't one-time—it's ongoing. This audit is the beginning, not the end. You'll continue learning, making mistakes, and adjusting. That's okay. What matters is commitment to the work.

Be honest. Be willing to change. Prioritize ethics over comfort. Remove what's appropriative. Rebuild on foundation of respect. Stay accountable. Keep learning.

Your practice can be powerful and ethical. Both/and. But it requires work. Do the audit. Make the changes. Commit to ongoing decolonization.

This is how you transform appropriation into integrity.

Next in this series: Supporting Indigenous Practitioners: Reparations in Action