The Company Spokesman Tells Us Tamarack is Unpublishable and Proceeds to Ape His Writing Enough So That We Can See Why

Now we ask you: Would you ever want to be in a Clan with these guys? See any women or children or elders in this "Clan"? No, we don't either, and there must be many a good reason why women certainly stay the hell away from these racist losers. No wonder he is talking about "Clans" with a disembodied, alienated e-group. Too much time on the Internet might also explain why these jokers are so pale.

Martin wrote:

"I'm now reading "Journey to the Ancestral Self" and in the texts Tamarack often refers to book II and III. Where can i find them? I have all his books (or actually one book and the rest is more like booklets) but they are not in any special sequence of what i can see."


To: teaching_drum@yahoogroups.com
From: redwolfreturns@teachingdrum.org
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 13:20:42 -0600
Subject: Re: [Teaching_Drum] What books?

Hey Martin, Books II and III noted in Journey to the Ancestral Self have not been published as it’s indicated that they would be. Basically all the booklets currently self-published by the school are what would have
made up book II, and all of Tamarack's skills articles (such as have been published in Wilderness Way down through the years) would have made up book III.

As for your questions about Tribes and Clans, a number of us here on the egroup have been discussing this issue lately, and it's an important one. I'd like to hear other folks input on this question based upon their own understanding so far. My understanding right now is that when Old Way hunter-gatherers say "the people" they mean all the people (I've heard that in some native languages use of this term extends even beyond what we in our culture would think of as our own species -- thus "the people" includes the deer people, the bear people, the ant people, etc.).

This is reflected in how the language works. For instance "Lakota" translated into english means "the people (and "the people" in english translates into "Lakota"). The groups neighboring the Lakota have the same basic word, but with slight variations, so you get "Dakota" and "Nakota" as regional dialects. If a "Lakota" travels far away and meets a "Dakota" they recognize they are both related and are speaking the same language, just with slightly different pronunciations.

In a balanced old-way landscape (such as in pre-contact Australia, for instance) people would live their whole lives surrounded by kin relationships that extended far out into distant peoples who spoke the same language, just with progressively divergent pronunciations the farther one traveled from where one was born. These far-reaching extended kinship networks were very important, and would be relied upon in times when scarcity (for instance, due to drought) came to any one region. At such times people would disperse into areas not affected by the drought or whatever might have caused the scarce times.

Literally, a person who grows up in such a world lives in a reality where everyone they are likely to meet is related to them closely enough that the relationship can be traced, and thus they come to expect that anyone they might meet would of course be related to them – eventually it becomes incomprehensible that anyone they would meet might not be related to them. This is our natural way of thinking, and it is the truth of the matter on the deepest level of our relationships, anyway.

The notion that we are not all related is largely an illusion created by cities (i.e. places were large densities of people are placed in constantly rushed, impersonal, and yet close contact) and the stories we tell ourselves as a culture.

Clan relationships are the connectedness which characterizes native life and which the people draw upon in the times of scarcity as noted above. Clans are natural kinships between people who share a special connection to an animal (or plant, or insect, or rock) guide or “dodem”. The relationship of each person with their dodem is ultimately personal.

This relationship is a deep heart-connection to the spirit of an animal, (plant, rock, etc.,) and a person traveling far from the place of his birth would recognize people of the same clan as brothers and sisters even if they spoke entirely different languages and looked very different from each other (i.e. even if our culture would determine them to be of different races). Our culture might even view clan relationships as “genetic”, however, they are ancestral on a much deeper level than our distinction as a species. Clan affiliation would seem then (again, at least to people of our culture) to be an essentially spiritual relationship, however, in the Old-Way, no such distinctions exist – clan merely is what it is.

As far as I’ve been able to find out, no distinction is made between "our people" and "their people" until domestication comes into the people's lives (either among themselves or among their neighbors). Tribal consciousness tends to emerge among horticultural or pastoral people living with domesticated plants and animals, or sometimes among to hunter-gatherers experiencing severe pressure on the frontiers of civilization.

Other major contributing factors to the tribal myth are the cultural prejudices and agendas of the civilized folks on the frontier (from whom much of our cultural perspective on natives comes). Western civilized folks simply cannot comprehend a people with no us-vs.-them consciousness. This is because such consciousness is foundational to the stories we tell ourselves about the world and therefore how we interact with the world. In many cases, even if no Old-Way person ever told a western anthropologist that he lived in a “tribe”, the anthropologist would assume so anyway. In addition to this, it was in the best interests of a conquering people to foster divisions between Old-Way peoples for the purpose of dividing and conquering. One can see this illustrated in how Europeans frequently went to great lengths to draw natives into divisive alliances in both inter-European wars and European wars of conquest against native peoples themselves.

Thanks for your question Martin, hope this helps,

wild peace,
Glenn

The Company Spokesman: We Don't Do Politics

Because Playing Indian at Adult Summer Camp is so much fun!

On the e-group, the school was challenged to account for its paucity of engagement with effective, indigenous-led resistance to Amerikkkan apartheid and genocide. Below is the company spokesman's official answer.

And let's us emphasize that a 501c corporation is NOT forbidden to adhere to international, domestic, treaty, and human rights law; a 501c is only barred from lobbying or electioneering. Check out all the "politics" for example that this 501c corporation run by Quakers engages in regularly. Hardly the shrinking violets the Drum phonies seem to be, aye?

To: teaching_drum@yahoogroups.com
From: redwolfreturns@teachingdrum.org
Date: 21 Nov 2005 12:43:03 -0600
Subject: Re: [Teaching_Drum] Re: New Age Definition

....

At any rate, I sat down and caught up on reading this past week's e-group messages just yesterday. Afterwards, I had a talk with Tamarack about the questions you've brought up, and here are our thoughts; To answer your question about the Teaching Drum Outdoor School's involvement in political activism; the Teaching Drum is a 501c3 non-profit educational organization, which by virtue of the nature of it's existence as a legal entity (i.e. a stack of papers), is prohibited by law from engaging in political activity. So the “official” answer to your question is that the school is what it says it is -- a school. It is not a political activist organization, nor is it a front for political struggle or revolutionary activities.

The primary purpose behind what we do here at the school is to awakening us to who we really are in all our relationships in the circle of life. This is not a political act, because it is not connected to any particular geographic region or particular human culture. It is a fundamental human act. It may have political as well as social, cultural, religious and geographical ramifications, but it is not bound to any of these.

“Saving” or “helping” American Indians is not the issue that confronts us (especially not if we are injecting ourselves into their communities based on our own needs to assuage excessive liberal guilt). The issue that confronts us is being in solidarity with ALL native people (not just human native people, but the wolves, the trees…all of our relations). We are able to be in solidarity with native people only when we re-connect with what it means to be native ourselves. Anything less is a token sham designed to let us feel good about our colonial ways and continued rape of the Mother. ("Sure I pay the electric bill that funds the coal mine, but I took the elders some flour and sugar") As for the individual people here at the Teaching Drum, some of us do have political involvements and commitments, while others do not. Both Tamarack and I have already shared with you a number of our engagements with the struggles of local native people.

So far the feeling both Tamarack & I have each received from your words is that your mind is already highly prejudiced in regards to us. We would be happy to discuss what any of us can do to deal with our own colonial legacy and contribute our energy to a more respectful world, but prefer to engage in an open, respectful and constructive sharing. Neither Tamarack nor I are interested in feeding energy into a conversation that is one-way and results in little more than us and our community being bashed for not living up to your standards of radicalism and guilt-induced sacrifice.

If you want more sharing from us, then we’re going to have to see you share a bit of yourself. This needs to be a respectful exchange if we are to continue, not an abusive one-way street (i.e. where we share and you merely judge and criticize).

So what is your story? What are you doing, and what have you done to come alongside native people in their struggles? What are you doing to take responsibility for the effects of your actions and the reality your life’s energy creates on a daily basis?

Playing Indian - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Article

That photo just about says it all, no? More photos from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article below are HERE.

Song of the Wilderness

American Indian traditions guide seekers who learn of the land, and themselves, in Oneida County

By Peter Maller
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: Aug. 24, 2000

Three Lakes - Squatting at a campfire deep in Nicolet National Forest, Tim Nelson prepared the evening meal: barbecued garter snake.

It promised to be tastier than the grub he ate last spring while lost in the wilds at Teaching Drum Outdoor School, where he is a student learning wilderness survival skills rooted in ancient American Indian spiritual traditions.

Nelson, 20, raised in an upper-middle-class family in Cape Cod, Mass., chewed down raw leeches, frogs, worms and assorted bugs during a week spent wandering. Instead of cursing his luck, he recited prayers thanking Mother Earth for the bounty of the land.

When he finally located his home in the forest, a birch bark wigwam, he feasted on road-kill deer supplied by the school's headmaster.

"It's a rich life we live here," said Nelson, who recently completed Teaching Drum's apprenticeship program and signed on for another 12-month stint. "My existence didn't have much meaning before. I'm beginning to understand things better now."

Teaching Drum, a non-profit institution at an 80-acre nature preserve in northern Oneida County, was founded 11 years ago by Tamarack Song, 52, a former Fox Valley area businessman. Born Daniel Jerome Konen, the eldest of three outdoorsy brothers, he changed his name to one he felt better suited his spiritual identity.

Song launched Teaching Drum after growing up inspired by his mother's knowledge of wild plants and later living with a pack of wolves he rescued from a private zoo. He ran a water bed shop and a natural foods restaurant, while conducting a 20-year odyssey to learn traditional American Indian culture from tribal elders at reservations across the United States.

Teaching Drum, about 20 miles northeast of Rhinelander, offers dozens of courses aimed at students who are disenchanted with America's emphasis on materialism. The school accepts about 75 students a year. The cost of classes ranges from $50 to $350.

Even weekend workshops in hide-tanning, medicinal-herb gathering and building shelters from materials scavenged in the woods have a strong spiritual theme.

"There is a deep unfilled yearning in people that can be answered by going to a place that is stress-free - far from the routines of normal life - so we can hear the voices within us," Song said. "Lots of students are searching for their inner selves."

A student of anthropology, philosophy and wildlife conservation before dropping out of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, he also performs marriages and baby naming ceremonies.

Pupils at Teaching Drum are often empty-nesters and corporate professionals who are changing careers and searching for a new path. Other students, such as a psychologist and an electrician who took a recent course in basic Chippewa Indian culture, came looking for soul-satisfying vacations.

Students learn to make spoons, bowls and clothes from materials found in their surroundings. Lessons are also offered in shelter-building, mushroom-hunting, wild rice gathering and firemaking. Fire classes are taught using handmade bows and drills, drawn from ancient practices traced to early cave dwellers.

"Almost all the materials, including the tinder, come from cedar trees, which the native people of this area call 'the grandmother tree,' because it has such a sacred tradition," he said.

Song also leads boating adventures in dugout canoes. He sprinkles the voyages with tips on finding drinkable water, cooking without pots and locating "great natural toilet paper."

A self-effacing man who sports a bushy white beard and a braided ponytail, he is reluctant to accept payment for some courses because he considers them so sacred.

Each spring, students who sign up for a course entitled "Song of the Mosquito," are asked only for a free-will offering to the school's building fund. He promises to teach students "the rhythm of the forest, so we won't stand out as aliens ripe for bloodletting." Song calls the mosquitoes "guardians of the farther places." No bug spray is allowed.

Lodging at the school is provided at wigwams. Or visitors can bring their own tents. Class size averages from 4 to 10 students, to ensure personal attention.

Between school sessions, Song writes books and magazine articles for New Age journals. He also travels throughout the Midwest to present demonstrations at public schools and community festivals.

Nick Gale, 21, of Kenosha, a student in the apprenticeship program, said the year he spent under Song's tutelage deepened his reverence for nature.

"The most important lesson is to trust the landscape," he said. "Once you learn the basic skills, you don't need to worry about yourself. The land takes care of you."

Let Me Immerse Myself in Your Breadth

Tamarack Song's November 2001 letter to a female student. Rumor has it, she is not the only woman to receive such a letter.

Freezing-over Moon
waxing full


I don't read many peoples' works; in fact I don't read much at all anymore. I read your piece twice. It's not your depth of awareness that caught me, it's your breadth of awareness. Do you know how rare that is? Do you know how rare you are?

You gave me a window into your substance, clear as first-formed ice. I need to melt the ice, hold my breath and immerse myself. I respectfully ask if you will continue to share your breadth with me. I am willing to do same.

In Balance,
Tamarack

Non-Indian Defends Sweat Lodge Desecration

Caveat Emptor: Don't pay to pray. Tamarack Song is a fraud and his sweat lodge ceremony a violation of Native spiritual practices.

The dangers involved in phony sweatlodges are explained here on the NAFPS website.

From: "Nature's Pace Sanctuary"
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2005 12:34:16 -0600
Subject: RE: [Teaching_Drum] Re: New Age Definition

I have also visited Teaching Drum several times. I am highly put off by your diatribes against the school and Tamarack in particular. Clearly, either you haven't read the information presented clearly in this forum or you choose to ignore it. To state that Tamarack "owns and profits" from the school's land is untrue and misleading. As has been mentioned before (many times!) in this forum: Teaching Drum is a 501C3 Non-Profit organization. Tamarack (and many of the staff) lives very authentic lives that are very friendly to Mother Earth. I feel that any ceremonies that are performed at Teaching Drum are done with reverence and with the intent to be in Balance and connected to all of our Relations. Not all Native Americans are against white people (or any non-Native peoples) participating in Sweat Lodge or other Ceremonies as long as it is done with a prayerful and reverent attitude. I myself (a white man) have participated in Sweat Lodge ceremonies that were led by a Reservation Indian. His intent was to teach us the ceremony so we could conduct it in a proper and Sacred manner. There are Native Elders on both sides of the fence, but many Elders believe that only with the help of ALL the races can we save theEarth (and it's inhabitants) from destruction.

I think that unless you are Ojibwa yourself, you should let the Ojibwa confront this issue if they feel it is justified. In view of Tamarack's studies and involvement with those folks, I doubt they feel as though you do.

Lastly, this is a forum to discuss living and practicing Native skills living in balance. This is not the place to shoot your hollow arrows at Tamarack or Teaching Drum. After all, this list is sponsored by the very hand you are biting. This list is free to all of us who choose to use it. The amount of time and effort put into maintaining the forum is sizeable. If I remember correctly no one from TD gets paid for working on this site, it is a volunteer job.

I believe Tamarack has been very kind in not monitoring these sorts of posts. I for one would be in full support of having your posts "pre monitored" before being sent to the list, and any untrue accusations "cleansed". Or, just banning your posts outright would be fine to. Instead of allowing this negative energy and wrath you spew out, please put some effort behind harmony and balance and understanding

The Old Buzzard.

The Reply:

Yes, they do practice Ojibway culture both materially and spiritually at the Teaching Drum. They also engage in sweat lodges, which is a sacred American Indian religious practice. When I was visiting there, a terrible storm came one night and blew a tree down so close to one of these lodges that it almost destroyed the structure. I recall Tamarack having admitted that it was a sign that violations against this sacred ceremony had been committed.

To do these things on Ojibway land without further educating people about the abysmal conditions facing Ojibway people in the Teaching Drum's area is an act of cultural imperialism. It is racist at its core. Once again, white folks are putting themselves above the law. That land the Drum is on is bound by treaty to the Ojibway people. Somebody needs to "awaken" themselves to the domestic and international laws that do indeed bind us to honor any agreements our ancestors made with American Indian people.

To try to put yourself beyond those treaty laws by claiming you have no particular ties to the land you are standing on is a deeply political act. Once again a white man says: the law does not apply to me. It is especially offensive when coming from a white man who owns and profits from a very particular piece of land that was never his to buy and sell or profit from in the first place.