"Third Place"

I had a discussion today with a friend of mine who was brought up by a strict catholic family about her current spiritual meanderings. It went like this:


Me: so why are you interested in voodoo?
Her: Well, it allows me to break away from the parts of catholicism that I don't like, but without having to break away from the symbols I can't seem to let go of.
Me: so what's keeping you from practicing?
Her: having no idea what I'm doing, being too white to ask someone who does, not knowing what to do about the whole chicken sacrifice thing...
Me: So why not just fall into idolatrous worship of the saints?
Her: That's basically my plan. I'm ordering a set of like 200 saint-prayer things form the internet (because I need them anyway) and seeing if any of them mesh with me.


So my brain did this thing where it took that conversation and put it next to this one I had with another friend of mine:


Me: So why Celtic?
Other Friend: because that's where my family is from. I'm an Irish-Italian American, like 2nd or third generation, but still. I'm a really big believer that you should try to keep to the traditions in your blood.
Me: My blood is Brazilian. Like, not even European Brazilian or African-Brazilian. I'm an honest-to-god Brazilian Mutt. My dad's some weird mix of white people, Iberian peninsula, and like an African man thrown in the mix a couple generations back. My mother's father is straight up european from Holland and things. My grandmother has some indiginous brazilian in her somewhere... it's like, pure Brazilian Mutt. So, Candomble?
Other Friend: That's the syncretic religion down there, right?
Me: yep.
Other Friend: I guess so, then.
Me: Yeah, but then I have to worry about having a divination for my Orixa, and the terreiro, and I'm really not tan enough or Brazilian-cultured enough to just walk up to a terreiro and be all like, "Yo! Show me how to feel the divine presence in the way of my little old ancestors!" because there'll be staring n' things. And I know they'll give me one of the mother-goddess orixas, and that's a whole new can of worms right there. (even the female orixa who patrons the arts is a mother-goddess figure)


Which is a bunch of legitimate questions and concerns for me. Should I ask a preist/priestess for a jogo de buzios to divine the orixa I would work with? Can I be all like, "Hey, I have brought for the gods a live chicken as sacrifice, let's dance?" There are gonna be like... rules and things...

I dunno. It's just something to think about.