I would personally say, "inaccurate historical re-enactment" rather than "reconstructionist."
Crowley and the Golden Dawn definitely influenced Gerald Gardner's creation/collage of Wicca, which in turn became the template for most of the Neopagan community. Gardner misappropriated a lot of things from various Asian and South Asian Peoples, so I wouldn't be surprised if out of context bits of Daoism are in there as well. As white Englishmen, directly involved in and benefiting from colonialism, I think it's clear both Gardner and Crowley saw it as their inherent right, and even duty, to misappropriate from, and dominate, other cultures. In their work they both demonstrated repeatedly that they were completely comfortable with dabbling in what they believed to be another culture's sacred rites and beliefs, then declaring themselves the supreme experts of things they had barely glimpsed.
Sadly, that trend has continued with the heavy levels of misappropriation in the mainstream of the contemporary Pagan community, which in so many ways can no longer be distinguised from the Nuage communities. It's so bad that white folks like me, who are involved in our ancestral ways, don't go near the mainstream of that community anymore. But I went into most of that upthread already.
Thank you for clarifying about this. Do you perhaps know some resources that may tell which lineages of Dao/Tao was used by people such as Crowley? Other useful information could be things where he studied, how long he studied, etc. If you could point me in the right direction, that would be great.
The problem with what people are doing, by mixing up a little bit from here and there, is they twist the meanings before ever even experiencing them through true living and cultivation of those teachings. So when they claim to be using those teachings, or to have 'evolved' them to a better and more effective system, it is rather arrogant and ethnocentric to put it lightly.
I would personally say, "inaccurate historical re-enactment" rather than "reconstructionist." Though there are plenty of people who lie about what they are doing, and use terms that are not accurate for what they are doing, the general consensus is that it's only religious reconstruction if it is accurate, or as accurate as humanly possible if a revived practice is too old to have anyone in living memory to help with the revival. Lots of cultures, including some who don't admit it, have had to do a certain amount of careful reconstruction based on old recordings of songs, stories and interviews with Elders, recorded before they died and took a wealth of information out with them. In some cultures even the language has needed to be reconstructed, and it's a serious scholarly and spiritual discipline.
Yes, this has often had to be done with cultures who have been colonized, facing rapid extinction especially.
I personally have a problem with it when they are not up front about it though. Often things get misinterpreted, lost etc, and it is really misleading unless people are honest and entirely upfront that what they are doing is reconstructed, and what it is reconstructed from.
I will give an example to show what I mean:
There are many Korean traditions that had to be preserved after the holocaust known as the japanese invasion, because during the occupation all form of cultural expression were outlawed. Some of the Daoist-healing and Martial arts lineages were preserved because there were only one or two surviving old masters who had studied when they were children before the occupation. This old knowledge/experience was combined w/ any other info passed down, info gleaned from paintings, writings, anything else passed down, etc, and the younger masters/scholars worked to preserve the traditions so the people could have them in the culture again.
But generally in such a case, the people are honest about it the traditions being nearly lost and having to 'reconstruct' some aspects'. There is nothing wrong with this ofcourse, it is saving culture for the benefit of the culture and the people to learn/practice/embrace.
Ok, but then sometimes some arrogant bogus knowitall comes along, with not alot of knowledge or experience, and claims to have preserved ancient cutural traditions. often these people are amateur reconstructionist who are NOT honest about their 're-enactment' or attempt at reconstructionism. Anyways, one such person was Ilchi Lee, the founder of 'Dahn Yoga', 'Dahn Daoist Healing Center', 'Dahn Tai Chi', etc. It was all bogus but they fooled so many people, had centers all over the place. And a few years bac, some lady died at one of there centers in Arizona. They have hurt and traumatized a ton of other gullible students and patients also.
Similar examples of such fake, harmful, dangerous, and offensive re-enactment can be found in most traditions, whether it be the some fake shamans here from the states, or some fake masters/gurus from China/Tibet/India. There are always fake lineages popping up, and half the time the leaders might actually think they are doing something real, because they don't realize how far-fetched there secret attempts at reconstructionism are.
The sad thing is how people keep getting hurt by such frauds, thinking it's the real-deal cultural tradition. They don't do their research to find out if it's just more silly re-enactment (aka failed reconstructionism).
Furthermore, it seems to me that an individual practitioner, scholar, or cannot truly 'reconstruct' a culture or cultural tradition. I would think that only a people/coherent-community must do it for it to become something they can rightfully call a revived and authentic cultural tradition. Such as with Korean people working together to revive certain cultural traditions that were nearly lost. That is a true examples of honest and authentic reconstructionism.
So maybe when cross-examining people should ask themselves "who is making these claims of recovering cultural traditions? Is it is just one supposed master, guru, or one supposed shaman guy? Or is it a real people and real culture concerned with honoring the ways of their ancestors?"
