First Nations Petroglyph

Many people are searching for a deeper spiritual engagement with the world, and feel a hunger unmet by the teachings and services of religious institutions. Some have begun to take an interest in Native American spiritual practices, and one can easily find workshops and lectures offering Indian rituals and ceremonies to non-Indian people. However, many Native people, including highly respected religious elders, have condemned such “borrowing.” They identify it as a form of cultural exploitation, gravely detrimental to the survival and well-being of Indigenous people.

What is called “Native American spirituality” in various New Age movement settings is actually a part of this distorted image. So-called “Native American spirituality” draws on the “Noble Savage” stereotype, mixed with elements of symbol and ritual from various actual Native religious practices.

Andrea Smith, Cherokee activist and member of Women of All Red Nations, points out, "The ‘Indian ways’ that these white, new-age ‘feminists’ are practicing have very little basis in reality. …these new agers do not understand Indian people or our struggles for survival and thus can have no genuine understanding of Indian spiritual practices."

Wanting to be an Indian: When Spiritual Searching Turns into Cultural Theft by Myke Johnson Unsettling America