Bruja, Christian, or Other? Politics of Categorizing “Brujería” alongside Mexican Spiritual Practices

Religious categories are not neutral descriptors but contested spaces shaped by historical power dynamics, epistemological frameworks, and cultural narratives. The term Brujería, often translated as “witchcraft,” carries a complex and often pejorative history in both Spanish-speaking and English-speaking contexts. However, among many Mexican-Americans and other Latinx communities, the term Brujería has been reclaimed as a valid spiritual identity, often signifying an alternative to institutional religion. At the same time, many practitioners of Mexican spiritual traditions reject the term outright, arguing that it misrepresents their beliefs and practices, aligning them with historically demonized figures of the past. This paper explores the tension between these perspectives and interrogates the broader epistemological question: How do Mexican spiritual practices fit within, challenge, or transcend conventional religious categories?

This study investigates the categorization of Brujería in relation to Mexican spiritual traditions that draw from Indigenous, Catholic, and folk religious influences. The dominant paradigms in the study of religion often fail to adequately account for hybrid or non-institutionalized practices, leading to their marginalization under categories such as “folk religion,” “superstition,” or “witchcraft.” This paper argues that these taxonomies are insufficient for understanding the lived religious and spiritual experiences of many Mexican and Mexican-American practitioners. Moreover, the act of naming these traditions—whether as Brujería, folk Catholicism, or Indigenous spirituality—has significant implications for identity formation, social legitimacy, and epistemological authority.

Through an analysis of historical colonial discourses, contemporary scholarship on religion and identity, and ethnographic reflections, this paper seeks to illuminate the ways in which religious categories are constructed, challenged, and transformed. Additionally, it offers an alternative framework for understanding Mexican spiritual traditions outside of the limiting binaries of religion versus superstition, orthodoxy versus heresy, and Christianity versus paganism. The study ultimately contends that the fluid and evolving nature of these traditions calls for an expanded vocabulary—one that recognizes the complexity and richness of Mexican spiritual practices without forcing them into predefined categories.

The classification of religious practices as “witchcraft” or Brujería has deep colonial roots. During the Spanish colonization of Mexico, Indigenous religious traditions were often labeled as demonic or idolatrous, serving as justification for conversion efforts and, in some cases, violent suppression. Many Indigenous practices, including the veneration of nature spirits, the use of medicinal herbs, and ritual healing, were forcibly incorporated into Catholic frameworks under the guise of “folk religion.” Practices that could not be easily assimilated were demonized as Brujería.This colonial legacy continues to shape contemporary discourse on Mexican spirituality. Despite the persistence of Indigenous and folk Catholic practices, they are often framed in ways that reinforce their marginal status. Terms such as “popular religion” or “folk Catholicism” imply a hierarchical relationship to institutionalized Christianity, positioning these practices as deviations from the norm rather than legitimate religious expressions in their own right. Similarly, the term Brujería carries connotations of illegitimacy and even malevolence, despite its growing reclamation in spiritual and feminist circles.

Within the Mexican-American diaspora, these tensions are further complicated by the influence of U.S. religious pluralism. Many Mexican-Americans engage in spiritual practices that blend Catholic, Indigenous, and contemporary esoteric traditions, yet find themselves without a clear religious identity. The rise of the “spiritual but not religious” movement in the United States has created a space for alternative spiritual expressions, but it remains unclear where Mexican spiritual traditions fit within this framework. Are they best understood as extensions of Catholicism? As contemporary expressions of Indigenous spirituality? As forms of esoteric or New Age practice? Or do they constitute a distinct tradition that warrants its own category?

This paper addresses these questions by examining the ways in which Mexican and Mexican-American spiritual practitioners navigate, adopt, or reject various religious labels. It considers the political and epistemological stakes of these categorizations, particularly in relation to historical narratives of colonialism, religious authority, and cultural identity.

This study takes a multidisciplinary approach, incorporating religious studies, anthropology, folklore, and decolonial theory to examine how Brujería and Mexican spiritual practices are categorized. The historical analysis looks at colonial records and legal texts from the Spanish Inquisition in Mexico to trace the construction of Brujería as a religious category and its long-term impact on Indigenous and folk practices.The ethnographic reflections consider contemporary Mexican-American perspectives, analyzing how people engage with labels like Brujería, curanderismo, and folk Catholicism in different contexts. Lastly, the comparative analysis examines similarities between Mexican spiritual practices and African Diaspora religions such as Santería and Vodou, particularly in how they navigate religious categorization and legitimacy.

This paper argues that religious categorization is inherently political, reinforcing colonial hierarchies about what counts as “real” religion. Brujería itself is a contested term—some reclaim it, while others reject it due to its historical stigmatization. Mexican spiritual practices challenge Western religious binaries, resisting easy classification as religion, superstition, Christianity, or paganism. The study calls for a decolonial approach to these traditions, moving beyond their framing as “folk” or “popular” religion to recognize them as legitimate religious expressions.

This paper seeks to contribute to ongoing conversations in Religious Studies, Latinx studies, and decolonial theory by critically examining the ways in which Mexican spiritual practices are categorized, represented, and understood. By challenging conventional religious taxonomies, it opens up new possibilities for thinking about spirituality, identity, and resistance.