Censored News: 'Spiritual Vampires' Desecrate Sweatlodge Way Of Life

Now this is a development that ought to give Tamarack a few sleepless nights! He and his enablers call the Newgrange-looking structure above a sweatlodge and have had ceremonies they call "sweats" inside it. At a previous post titled "Masturbating In The Sauna: Tamarack's Non-Indian Sweatlodge" is an article written by Tamarack Song (Dan Konen) that describes the ceremony he conducts inside his lodges.

The article excerpt is from Brenda Norrell's website Censored News.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Floyd Hand: 'Spiritual vampires' desecrate sweatlodge way of life

BLACK HILLS SIOUX NATION TREATY COUNCIL
MEMBER RESERVATIONS
Cheyenne River
Crow Creek
Fort Peck
Lower Brule
Pine Ridge
Rosebud
Standing Rock
Yankton

Contact: Natalie Hand @ 605-867-5762
November 24, 2009
By Natalie Hand

Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

On November 2, 2009, Floyd Hand, Jr., (Oglala Lakota Sioux) Oglala Delegate to the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council, along with Ivan H. Lewis (Pima/Maricopa/Yavapai), filed a lawsuit (Case No.: CV-09-8196-PCT-FJM) in the U.S. District Court in Arizona against James Arthur Ray and the Angel Valley Retreat Center.

In the petition, Hand and Lewis assert that Ray caused the desecration of the sacred Lakota ceremony, “Inikaga,” commonly referred to as sweat lodge, by causing the deaths of three participants. The suit contends that Angel Valley Retreat Center is culpable for allowing individuals like Ray to rent their property which offers a sweat lodge for paying participants. Furthermore, Ray and Angel Valley Retreat Center committed fraud by impersonating Native Americans and must be held responsible for causing the deaths of the victims and serious injuries to the survivors.

In the immediate aftermath of the deaths, Ray fled the scene and Angel Valley Retreat Center staff dismantled the sweat lodge, thus tampering with a crime scene.
Hand contends that the “Inikaga” and other ancient Lakota rituals is a way of life, not a religion.

“Ray is a spiritual vampire who will use whatever means necessary to turn a profit. He and others like him that profit from our culture must be held accountable for their continual fraud and desecration. This ceremony comes from the Lakota. We maintain our cultural identity today and people like Ray are trying to mock it as a means to acquire material possessions. They cannot hide behind the Religious Freedom Act. This is NOT a religion," stated Hand.

The Ft. Laramie Treaty of 1868 between the United States and the Great Sioux Nation is a legal binding agreement that is the “supreme law of the land."
Article 1 of the Treaty states that “… if bad men among the whites or other people subject to the authority of the United States shall commit any wrong upon the person or the property of the Indians, the United States will … proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished according to the laws of the United States, and also reimburse the injured person for the loss sustained …”

Read the rest...

A Great Letter to the Editor

A Dear Reader named "Friend" gives us a heads-up on a great Letter to the Editor in the comments section of our post "Playing Indian: White Racists Try to Hold 'Go Native' Party."

The letter is in response to the East Bay Express reporter's demeaning coverage of the Native American protest of the racist settlers' "Go Native" party in the article "Burners Torched Over Party."

Here is the letter:

Since the East Bay Express didn't print this letter to the editor, nor did they put it online, here is a response to the original article.

From: A group of Native and non-native allies concerned with holding the East Bay community accountable for ignorant acts that perpetuate racism. We envision building bridges, healing, and strengthening this community to support the free expression and survival of all cultures.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Letter to the Editor

The intention of this letter is not to further fan the flames of the conflict that has arisen over Visionary Village's party theme 'Go Native’ but rather to express concern and disappointment in the East Bay Express for allowing such a slanted, inaccurate, dismissive and historically ignorant article to be published in your paper, hidden in the April fools issue. While the article thoroughly chronicled the "lecturing", "blasting" and "excoriation" of the young Visionary Village representatives, it does little to uncover the reason behind the anger expressed by Native American and allied non-native community members. This lack of understanding, and apparent lack of interest in understanding why 50 or more Native American people would take five hours out of their Saturday evenings to speak to a gathering like this, highlights the very ignorance that angered people in the first place.

The dispute is depicted as though some foolish youth made a simple mistake and were then forced to endure strict punishment that outweighed the original infraction. However the 'go easy on them' sentiment expressed by the author seems to only extend one direction. It is not easily disputed that this country was founded on the genocide of Native American communities. And while Native Americans in this country continue to face the calculated cultural genocide of relocation, destruction of sacred lands, poverty and marginalization, they are expected to take lightly the further dismissal of their human rights by flattening their lives into party themes akin to aliens, cartoons, and fire dragons.

Regardless of the direction the party planners intended their party theme of "Go Native" to take, there must be some responsibility taken by the planners for its contribution to the pervading racist stereotypes of Native Americans common in this country. The article failed to recognize the tremendous restraint and compassion from the Bay Area Native community in generously taking time out to address this oversight with Visionary Village and instead depicted the 'real Natives' as hyper-sensitive or over-reacting.

Where are the hordes of outraged people asking Peabody Coal Company or Newmont Mining Corp to 'go easy on em' as they destroy the ancestral homelands of the remaining Native Americans who have survived over 500 years of genocide? In addition to the historical facts of small pox blankets, massacres of men women and children, broken treaties, Indian Schools, and relocation, the current struggles Native Americans face were not researched and presented as essential background information for the outrage at being dismantled and romanticized into a 'four directions' party theme. Without this information, the anger expressed at the event cannot be understood. It is irresponsible for East Bay Express to publish such an inflammatory, unprofessionally researched article.

The Visionary Village's party theme was a narrow-minded mistake. In all of the web wars that have resulted from this mistake being brought to Visionary Village's attention, little has been done to educate themselves to understand the Native American community's perspective, accept responsibility and apologize for the obvious ignorance, and move on to a place of greater understanding and true support for one another. This article did nothing more than provide a platform for further distortion of the facts by yet another unaccountable contributor to this growing conflict. East Bay Express reporters should accurately cover the history behind the anger, giving a balanced coverage of the tears and frustration on all sides, as well as offering solutions such as supporting the ongoing struggles of Native American communities like the Western Shoshone to defend their sacred places from Barrick Gold Corporation. How many Emeryville residents know they are living on sacred Ohlone ground where developers destroyed a shell mound and named a mall after it? The East Bay Express can spread awareness of the Shell Mound Walk that happens each year and provide links to for concerned people to get involved at websites like www.vallejointertribalcouncil.org, http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com, and www.blackmesais.org. The article also failed to cover the greater awareness and responsibility that is now being held by courageous and humble non-native individuals who stopped defending their ignorance, and have benefited from this wake up call.

Conflict can serve to transform peoples' understanding dramatically. Though the article represents a missed opportunity for that possibility, further pieces that delve deeper and honor the wisdom and experience of Native voices might perhaps offer some remedy to the oversights and misrepresentation in the article that was printed.

Comment by Hillary Violet - May 9, 2009 @ 09:00 PM

Mohawk Nation News: “NEW AGE” PSYCHOBABBLE BEING SWALLOWED BY A FEW

Though not mentioned specifically in this article, Tamarack and the Teaching Drum are very much a part of the racist New Age movement being called out by Mohawk Nation News.

Caveat emptor. Tamarack runs nothing but a glorified reading circle with himself and his fakelore tomes at the center. Now ask yourselves: Do you really want to spend $8000 to join an outdoor reading circle for a year?

From: Mohawk Nation News

“NEW AGE” PSYCHOBABBLE BEING SWALLOWED BY A FEW

MNN. May 3, 2009. A near death experience can cause tremendous fear and trauma and could overrule a person’s will. Such pressure is part of a colonial strategy to break us down. Most resist. A few give in.

The NAFTA Super Highway from Mexico is coming through the Mohawk community of Akwesasne. In June 2009 non-native guards, who have shown hatred for Mohawks, are being handed guns to intimidate and try to exercise absolute power over us in the middle of our community. RCMP, OPP, military and para military agencies are building huge facilities nearby. Cornwall Ontario will be a center for police activity. Nullifying resistance by Mohawks has been a longtime target.

Over the last couple of decades a new age ideology has beset Onowaregeh, Great Turtle Island. This new age movement is a tool to bring in one world religion for expediency’s sake. It’s a mishmash of Hinduism, Buddhism, Ghandi, Kabbalah, Scientology, crystals, reincarnation, Raelians, channeling, fortune tellers, seers and whatever else can be thrown into the pot. It’s sprinkled with Indigenous philosophy to give it credibility. This new age religion with feathers, beads and buckskins is being made palpable to Indigenous and others.

This false ideology is geared to direct the masses into the new age of one world government, one religion and one economic system to be run by war lords and their criminal handlers. People have to be indoctrinated to become obedient and to subdue their reasoning faculties.

The Kaianerehkowa, the Great Law of the Indigenous people is opposite to the new age doctrine. Our philosophy is based on a powerful relationship with the natural world. It strengthens our will, which is the watch dog of humanity. Nothing is supposed to enter that can harm, mislead or control us. This is the basis of democracy and can head off fascism. True democracy is equality and everyone has a voice.

To disarm the will, drugs, alcohol, hypnosis, incantations, spells, rituals, seances and trances help nullify the ability to say “no”. Eventually we can lose charge over our “doorkeeper”, our will, so that another mental process can be inserted inside us. It tells us, “I am your friend, your spirit guide, your master. Follow me and I can make you immortal”. It is disempowering. An undercurrent is the message, “I am strong and I can kill you”.

U.S. President Thomas Jefferson got the Quakers to help Handsome Lake whose will was overrun by alcoholism and visions. He started a revitalization movement based on these principles to mess up the Rotino’shonni: onwe, Iroquois.

Indigenous history and traditions have been cleverly mixed with new age concepts. We are told that other people inhabited Great Turtle Island before us, that some of us are extra terrestrials, that everybody should be vegetarians, that one world government is necessary and that, if we want peace, we shouldn’t be critical.

The Raelians say that our human creators from space brought love and peace through a combination of spirituality, sensuality and science. Scientists from another planet created all life on earth using DNA!! The extra-terrestrials will come back to check on us.

We are being told to forgive no matter how bad it is. They don’t suggest change. The victims become confused and weak so that all political, economic, social and military levers of power controlling society can be overtaken.

During the time of the drug culture, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau brought in new agers to run Indian Affairs in Canada. He had visited eastern mystics for enlightenment. Indigenous organizations were infiltrated. Healers and Elders were trained and sent among us and even among the non-native youth. It died out for a while.

After the 1990 Mohawk Oka crisis Indian Affairs set up the Kumik Lodge to train and certify a new slew of healers. It taught Pan-Indian cleansing, healing circles, sweat lodges and confessions. They went into our communities and jails to learn more about us.

Today new age covens are being formed in some of our communities. Ceremonies and meetings are frequently held. CDs on universal teachings are watched, studied and distributed. Some followers say they can’t move products or travel unless the stars are in the right place. The adherents call themselves “universal” persons, humans of another time or reality. Some have given up all their documents like driver’s licenses, birth certificates, Indian cards, medical cards, membership in their community, nation and confederacy. Psyches are being diverted. Their will has been weakened. We don’t know if they are giving up their properties or bank accounts.

Background: The new age movement ensnares susceptible people that are attracted by false spirituality, becoming “ascended masters” and speaking with “spirit guides”. Critic, Lee Penn, says: “New age is a pot pourri of beliefs and practices that fall outside of all faiths”. [www.leepenn. org/LP-NewAgeInd ex]

According to astrology, crystals, weird workshops and psycho babble, the earth will be cleansed of those who refuse to evolve. Traditional morality and families will disappear.

See list of big shots in the movement. At Maurice Strong’s Manitou retreat in Colorado, treatment includes everything being taken away from the follower to suck out the core of their being. Under the guise of meditation and sensory deprivation, they are confined into a small space to strip their identity. A low protein diet is part of this.

Barbara Hubbard says: “Your highest spiritual beings are telling you to access to an inner teacher… that through “initiation” you can transform yourself into an “ascended master”. Once our bodies, minds and souls are drained dry by free sex and trafficking with the spirit world, we ought to chose to die. In fact, it seems unethical and foolish to live on”.

These new age charismatic movements can affect participants in adverse ways. Intensely held religious or quasi-religious beliefs and ideology are imposed on members. They are promised emotional well-being and a sense of direction. They can’t make a free choice to leave the group. They are pressured to recruit new members, break with families and friends and to socialize mainly with the group.

On March 28, 1997, in Rancho Santa Fe, California, thirty-nine young men and women of Heaven’s Gate killed themselves. They believed that their human bodies were physical containers that had to be discarded so that their souls could be transported to a new level of being. Their souls were to meet up with a UFO that was trailing the Hale-Bopp comet passing Earth at that time. In their new plane of existence, they would inhabit new bodies and travel through different galaxies. The charismatic leader was an ex-minister who called himself Bo after Bo-peep who shepherded sheep. He was seen as an omnipotent godlike authority that diminished their anxiety, depression and alienation. Members were recruited personally or through the internet.

The Kaianerehkowa goes back to the beginning of time when we started thinking. We have our own stories about our origins here on Onowaregeh. We should remain with our own principles. This new age has nothing to do with us. We sent away our younger brothers because of their insane behavior and they came back worse than before. Some of us may drift away for a time from what a true human being is. For most of us, our will is our plan for survival. Everything goes back to our connection with the natural world.

Kahentinetha & Karakwine, MNN Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnew s.com kahentinetha2@ yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send donations by check or money order to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN “BORDER” category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now! Purchase t-shirts, mugs and more at our CafePressStore http://www.cafepres s.com/mohawknews; Subscribe to MNN for breaking news updates http://.mohawknationnews. com/news/ subscription. php; Sign Women Title Holders petition! http://www.ipetitio ns.com/petition/ Iroquois

Biggies in the new age movement: www.leepenn. org/LP-NewAgeInd ex: Robert Muller, former Secretary General of the UN; James Parks Morton, Dean of Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine NYC; Episcopal Bishop of San Francisco; William Swing, Rudolph Steiner Foundation, World Goodwill; Lawrence S. Rockfeller, whose fund has financed new agers; Mathew Fox, Barbara Marx Hubbard; power brokers ArcherDanielsMidlan d; CNN; Hewlett Packard; Occidental Petroleum; Carnegie Corp.; Kellogg Foundation; Rockfeller Brothers Fund; Georges Berthain, president the Tri Lateral Commission; Desmond Tutu; Gorbachev, Ted Turner; Fredrico Mayer of UNESCO; Maurice Strong and his Manitou Foundation in Colorado, and many other biggies.

Manitou Foundation spirit@manitou. org owned and run by Maurice Strong and his wife, Hanne. http://www.manitou.org/
Raelian Movement www.rael.org

The Pudgy Indian: Our Great White Savior[s]!

Cheers to the wonderful Pudgy Indian (Eugene Johnson), who acting on a tip from his wife Shusli Baseler-Johnson, has linked to us in his post "Our Great White Savior[s]!"

Eugene's righteous outrage leaps of the screen in disgust at Tamarack's website and the self-absorbed writings found there.

Indeed, the subject of any of Tamarack's writing is always and ultimately Tamarack himself. He just uses fakelore, wannabe atmospherics to try and give his fraud an air of authenticity, which never fools real Indigenous people, as the Pudgy Indian clearly demonstrates.

Here's an excerpt from the post:

Great White Saviors:

Shusli turned me on to this fella she found on the internet calling himself Tamarack song. Another white guy who knows more about being Indian than any silly Red Nigger types. She found him in visits to some of the informative websites she visits. She is awesome in the way she can find these things.

Before I get into Tamarack, as it were, let me just tell you that I've seen this type of behavior not only in Red Nig...er...Indian Country with Great White [Male] Saviors, but also in the alleged Peace community and SO MANY OTHERS. Some white males seem to want to be the saviors of the world instead of just seeing themselves as part of the solution. They get an attitude of: "my way is the only way for "I" am the Great White Savior of the World! KNEEL BEFORE ME (especially you hot looking hard body college girl types)."

I hate reading about how people like Tamarack Song talk about themselves (and say quite often that they are not), so I'll leave it up to you to read the supplied links. The hipocracy, the attitude, the self-glorification. Throughout what I could stomach of Tamarack's website, he talked a shitload about himself and very little about what he actually does, other than write books he wants you to buy. And, of course, his knowledge is supplied to him via Indian folks. He exploits it and glorifies himself.

When Winona Laduke stands on the podium, she does not talk about what a great person she is. She talks about the issues of her peoples and the world that we as fellow humans should be made aware of and need to take care of. Same with Vandana Shiva. Same with Arindati Roy. Same with Howard Zinn. Same with Shusli Baseler-Johnson. Same with James Craven. Same with so many others.

Read the rest...

More Of The Beautiful Guadalupe

In response to our post "Reclaiming The Virgin Of Guadalupe," the fabulous Cristina Acosta left us a link to her website and breathtaking Madonna paintings. Amazing isn't it? the wonderful people who come to visit when you move as far away as you can from racist losers like Tamarack Song.



Here's the comment:

Cristina Acosta said...

I've painted quite a few versions of Madonnas -- Guadalupe, Conquistadora and others of my own. Many of these have American Indian symbols as part of their design structure. Raised Chicana and Catholic in Los Angeles, CA, I live in Bend, Oregon. The Madonnas I paint are on wood panels in the form of a retablo (altar). They are rooted in the traditional Hispanic form of the retablo -- I've diverged to create images that are centered on the Feminine Divine.

http://cristinaacosta.com/Exhibits/Hispanic_Culture_Exhibit/

12/15/2008 2:33 PM

Reclaiming The Virgin of Guadalupe

"Portrait of the Artist as Guadalupe" by Yolanda Lopez

Truly respectful learning and sharing with Indigenous people begins when THEY invite those of us outside their culture to join in THEIR traditional celebrations or acts of resistance. The key is that they INVITE us. We do not go barging in, or perverting their culture for our own selfish ends as Tamarack does. Below is an example of cultural respect in action sent to us by a contributor in Colorado. The first mail list circular is an invitation to join a traditional celebration, and the second further explains the meaning of the Indigenous goddess at the center of the ceremony.

We were especially delighted by the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and the work Chicana women have done to reclaim her as their own from the Catholic church. As feminists, they have taken great care to see that recovering the true meaning of this Indigenous female role model also includes a demand for justice for women. As they emphasize:

"... the Virgin of Guadalupe can only be truly transformative if the demand for social equality is made. Female divine figures do not insure social justice for women, as the example of Hinduism with its pantheon of gods and goddesses demonstrates. In addition, there must be a "social expectation of equality." (Wessinger 6) One way in which Chicanas are doing this is through a re-interpretation of the Virgin of Guadalupe. By asserting the power within the Virgin, Chicanas are acknowledging the power within themselves. By creating publicly consumed art and literature utilizing the powerful Virgin, Chicanas are demanding social equality for women."

Euro-Americans should follow by Indigenous example; we have many ancient ceremonies, symbols, and role models of our own "hidden in the church so as not to be lost" that need reclaiming from Christian patriarchy, which co-opted and perverted them for its own selfish, and male domineering, ends. We have never been the same since. Time to get to work!

Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2008 22:34:10 -0700
From: davidbyoung@ gmail.com
Subject: Re: Hermanas de Color Unidas Para Educacion

Mis parientes,

Next Friday, December 12th, is the day that our community celebrates and honors our beloved mother Tonantzin Tlalli Coatlicue, aka the Virgen de Guadalupe. The Kalmeka Aztlan will hosting a ceremony beginning with a meal at 5pm and the velación at 6pm at Sisters of Color United for Education Aztlan Cultural Healing Center located at 2895 West 8th Avenue in Denver. You are invited to attend and to bring your friends and family.

We are asking people to bring a potluck dish, a bouquet of flowers and/or a donation to pay the woman that will be cleaning up afterwards. But if money is an issue for you just show up. This is a community ceremony. You are also welcome to bring a vela (candle in a jar) if you like.

Some people may outright reject this very old traditional ceremony on the notion that it is a Christian ceremony. It is not. It is an indigenous ceremony that has been hidden in the church so as not to be lost. When the Christians/Spaniards arrived they had a calendar that was off by ten days. The Aztec people were celebrating the month of panquetzaliztli (raising of the banners) and the day of celebration fell on the winter solstice (December 21 or 22). Huitzilopochtli and our mother earth Tonantzin Tlalli were being honored at the same time that the Church was celebrating the day of the immaculate conception (December 12). The Christians later adjusted their calendar and the day moved back 10 days. The Aztec people just followed the Christian calendar rather then continue to hold their ceremonies on the solstice and today the old ceremony of renewal and honoring of this change of season falls on the 12th of December.

The ceremony that we invite you to attend is rooted in a very old practice of using flowers to create a prayer, wiping the people down and cleansing them and then celebrating with a dance of prayer. This is what we will be doing in the ceremony on the evening of the 12th. We are hoping that you will join us to learn a little bit more about your culture, your people, your heritage, your music and your roots. We don't usually open up our ceremonies but this is a rare opportunity for you to experience, rather than read about, a tradition that has survived 500 years of colonization. You may want to dress in white or whatever traditional clothes you have. We will not be running on "Chicano time" we will begin the meal at 5pm and the ceremony at 6pm and we will go til about midnight.

If you bring kids, you may want to bring a sleeping bag for them to sleep
on if they get sleepy.

Call if you have any questions. No drugs or alcohol please this is a family and ceremonial event.

Looking forward to seeing you at the ceremony. A flyer is attached that you are welcome to print, copy, distribute.

Kalmeka Aztlan, The Apache Tribe of Colorado and Sisters of Color United
for Education

*********************************

From: Olga Gonzalez
Date: Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 12:24 AM
Subject: Best explanation of Tonantzin

As we celebrate "El Dia de La Virgen de Guadalupe" (Tonantzin) on December 12th, I wanted to share a more modern, feminist take on the meaning of our beloved mother and protector of Indigenous Mexican people.


I love these images and explanations about Chicana Feminist/Artist, Yolanda Lopez's interpretations of Tonantzin. I have used them in presentation in the past! My favorite is the first!

Portrait of the Artist as Guadalupe (Yolanda Lopez, 1978)

(The active and empowered Chicana! She is confident and athletic (Check out the running shoes). She is not bound by the virginal, passive images we have been led to believe represent women and their role. She has the snake by the head and steps over the "angel" (man) who got in her way! Yolanda stated that it is not a "baby angel," but rather a middle aged man by the receding hairline! -Olga)

This painting by Chicana political artist Yolanda Lopez caused a scandal when it came out.

I don't think La Virgen minded.


Lopez also portrayed her grandmother and her mother as forms of Guadalupe. I couldn't find good color prints of those portraits. Here are black and white versions.

Demanding Social Equality:
A Feminist Re-Interpretation of
the Virgin of Guadalupe

by Rhonda L. Barnes

As part of my project for Chicana Cultural Expressions, I explored a few issues surrounding la virgen de Guadalupe and especially her social role. One can see that the religion and culture of Mexico are both patriarchal. How unique, then, that the image of a woman brings the people together, and according to some, gives them their strength. The image of the Virgin of Guadalupe not only unifies and identifies Mexican culture, it is also powerful as a liberator for her people, and since the 1970's, the Chicana artist has taken up the virgin's image in her work. In this way, the traditional image is used to change the community's assumptions about women's roles and to challenge them to action.

Though a far-reaching female figure may seem to give Mexican-American women an inspiring role model, her image cannot be used for positive change unless there is also a demand for social equality. Chicana artists are doing just this. They are raising people's consciousness with a new perspective on a traditional image. And now with technology booming on the Internet, which you must know if you are reading this now, la virgen morena has a new place for potential expression.

Images of the Virgin of Guadalupe

Soon after her appearance, la virgen de Guadalupe began to eclipse all the other male and female religious figures in Mexico, and eventually in the southwestern United Sates as well. (Anzaldúa 29) Now people on both sides of the border between the United States and Mexico consider her to be their own and her image gives a follower her/his identity. (Randall 115) "Through Her intercession, a Mexican remains Mexican in California, an Indian remains Indian in Mexico." (Martínez 101) Thus her image has many meanings for her varied believers and it is tied to the indigenous past of a conquered people.

It is the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that has the power to bring people together. Boys and girls in Texas wear her image on their t-shirts; truck and bus drivers keep her image with them as they drive; pictures and altars are created in the homes and workplaces of her followers. (Olivera) (DePalma) She is the most omnipresent symbol of the Mexican-American people and serves to identity her followers as an unique community.

The character of the Virgin of Guadalupe is multi-faceted and has been used for various purposes by all strata of Mexican and Mexican-American people. When the Virgin first appeared over four hundred and fifty years ago, she was morena, brown-skinned like the mestizo race and has thus been considered to announce "the foundation of a new race." (Gonzalez 11) Traditionally, the Virgin of Guadalupe has been seen as a mother, a nurturer, and a mediator. She mediates between the indigenous and the Spanish, between Chicanas/os and Anglo society, as well as between the divine and humanity. (Anzaldúa 30) In addition, the traditional Virgin protects the family and brings people together. (Martínez 107-108)

Re-capturing the Image

The image of la virgen de Guadalupe has become a symbol of hope and liberation for her community. She is no longer a passive mother figure. Her image gives the oppressed people dignity and energy to resist assimilation. (Rodriguez 1996, 48) She shapes who the Chicana/o community is and empowers those who turn to her for guidance. (Cisneros 50; Rodriguez 1994, 146) She is "a role model of strength, enduring presence and new possibilities." (Rodriguez 1994, 160) Her image has a liberating effect on women. (Rodriguez 1994, 161) "She's the woman that puts the Mexican macho in his place." (Martínez 107) For the women who have searched for an escape from bondage, turning to la virgencita and re-thinking her image, has given them a tool for social change. (Randall 123; Rodriguez 1994, 164)

La virgen hearkens back to an indigenous goddess, and many feminists, such as Sandra Cisneros and Gloria Anzaldúa, have re-claimed the indigenous attributes for the Virgin. Cisneros sees Guadalupe as containing enduring sexual power and as being both creative and destructive, because within her is a pantheon of mother goddesses which combine together to create Cisneros' own identity. (Cisneros 49-50) Anzaldúa write eloquently about la virgen de Guadalupe as Coatlalopeuh, who is descended from "earlier Mesoamerican fertility and Earth goddesses." (Anzaldúa 27) It is with these strong Serpent Goddesses that Anzaldúa identifies and draws strength. Although her image had been manipulated for the purposes of vanquishing the polytheistic beliefs of the mexicas, pre-Hispanic elements remain in the Virgin and her image has been re-claimed and re-vitalized by the Chicana/o community. (Favrot Peterson)

However, the Virgin of Guadalupe can only be truly transformative if the demand for social equality is made. Female divine figures do not insure social justice for women, as the example of Hinduism with its pantheon of gods and goddesses demonstrates. In addition, there must be a "social expectation of equality." (Wessinger 6) One way in which Chicanas are doing this is through a re-interpretation of the Virgin of Guadalupe. By asserting the power within the Virgin, Chicanas are acknowledging the power within themselves. By creating publicly consumed art and literature utilizing the powerful Virgin, Chicanas are demanding social equality for women.

The Feminist Chicana Artist Re-Claims la virgen

In the 1970's, the Chicano movement experienced a surge in women artists, partly as a result of the privatization of Chicano art. (Goldman and Ybarra-Frausto 90) Not only that but women no longer felt obliged to take passive or secretarial roles in el movimiento. Chicana feminists became ever more visible through their art work and their activism. (CARA 322) "From the beginning, positive images of active women appeared." (Goldman and Ybarra-Frausto 90) Chicana artists focused on their cultural identity and made art that is self-affirming and empowering. (Mesa Bains 131)

One such artist is Yolanda Lopez, whose re-making of the Virgin's image defies tradition and orthodoxy. (Ehrenberg 176) Lopez's work uses feminine images in a way that emancipates women. (Mesa Bains 137) Portrait of the Artist as the Virgin of Guadalupe shows the Virgin in running shoes. The image is one of an active woman in control of her surroundings. Snakes have a strong traditional meaning in indigenous cultures, as Cisneros' and Anzaldúa's writings attest, and this portrayal of the Virgin plays on the notion of Guadalupe as the incarnation of Caotlalopeuh, "She Who Has Dominion Over Serpents." (Anzaldúa 27) By holding the snake in her hand, Lopez demonstrates that Guadalupe is still Coatlalopeuh and thus ties Mexican-Americans to their indigenous roots. By making la virgen active, Lopez demonstrates the power that all women have, that they no longer need to be passive. Her painting calls women to action and reminds them of the power in their indigenous past.

Yolanda Lopez also has a series of paintings of the Virgin of Guadalupe as an older woman, perhaps a grandmother. Margaret F. Stewart: Our Lady of Guadalupe depicts an older mestiza, sitting on a bench which is draped in the Virgin's blue cloak, as she holds the skin of a snake in her hand. Again, the image hearkens back to the Serpent Goddess of pre-Contact Mesoamerica that Chicana feminist writers describe. Not only does this abuela-as-Virgin have dominion over serpents, but she has actively killed and skinned the creature. Viewers see her as an active woman, a woman with whom they can identify better than with a virginal, celestial mother of god.

In Victoria F. Franco: Our Lady of Guadalupe a middle-aged mestiza is mending her blue cloak at a sewing machine. The little angel is sitting at her feet, looking bored as a child might while waiting for his mother to fix his clothes. One of the most recognizable symbols of la virgen morena, a bunch of roses, is lying on the floor beside the angel. The impression a viewer may get from this painting is that of a back stage preparation. The woman is mending things as if she were getting ready for an important event - maybe la fiesta on December 12th. The Victoria F. Franco portrayal of the Virgin is much more realistic to women's every day lives, and thus makes a better role model for women in a practical society.

Through her re-interpretation of the image of la virgen de Guadalupe, Yolanda Lopez is constructing a new ideology and is re-defining "the feminine in a feminist context." (Mesa Bains 137) She is re-claiming an image to which all Mexican-Americans identify and using it to challenge their assumptions about women's roles in society and calling women to be active.

The Virgin on the Internet

A new forum for interpreting the Virgin's image is the fast-growing Internet. The World Wide Web provides nearly infinite space which Chicana feminists can utilize in their social critiques and evaluations. However, most of the web pages devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe are religious and support the traditional view of the Virgin. They are mostly faith-based and anti-choice and do not represent the Chicana feminists interpretation of the Patron Saint. Chicanas have not taken advantage of this new medium of expression and placed their thoughts on the information superhighway. Clearly as technology becomes increasingly more important in every day lives, the re-claiming of the Virgin must extend onto the web. The next generation must be aware of what was illustrated and asserted before them, so that they can build on the foundation of Chicana feminist interpretation and continue to demand a social expectation of equality.

Conclusion

Despite Christianity' s patriarchal nature, the image of a woman has gained considerable strength and power among Chicanas/os and Mexicans. The Virgin of Guadalupe, Patron Saint of Mexico, and the incarnation of the goddesses of indigenous culture, unifies and identifies her people. Her followers see her as wielding power and as a part of who they are. But rather than maintaining her traditional image as the virginal, nurturing mother, Chicana feminists have re-claimed her image. Without their demand for social justice, la virgen would not command and inspire change -- both for the Mexican-American community and for the women themselves. By re-interpreting her image, artists like Gloria Anzaldúa and Yolanda Lopez are challenging society's assumptions about women's roles and are demanding justice for women. The next step, then is to integrate technology and the Internet into their work and to bring the new images into a new medium of communication.

Que Viva la Mujer!
-Olga

Real Healing: A Video About Black Mesa

From the Black Mesa Water Coalition, a moving and succinct video about the corporate destruction of Dineh and Hopi lands.

Written and narrated by the Indigenous, the video presents a striking contrast to anyone familiar with the new age hokum that is Tamarack Song's body of work. Unlike Tamarack, when Indigenous people speak for themselves, they do not fail to center their spirituality and culture within the context of struggle against white supremacist imperialism.

Healing and Redefining Our World

Big Mountain Matriarch Risks Life To Defend Traditional Dwelling

Tamarack and his white customers at the Teaching Drum like to make a fetish out of earth lodge building. Here, however, is a story about what happens when real Natives try to build traditional dwellings on their own land in the midst of an illegal Occupation by marauding foreigners.



Can you imagine Tamarack and his half-starved, cult-minded groupies putting up a fight like Grandma Pauline does when they come to bulldoze her hogan?

Scathing in her rebuke of our materialistic society, she spares neither Non-Indian environmentalists nor Indian activist-poseurs nor Obama voters.

“Where is that activism? Especially, indigenous activisms like AIM or other urban Indian bands of activist? Is activism only a fashion or an expression trend?”

$8000 for the Wilderness Guide program while Elder Pauline, an Indigenous woman of color, faces Vichy tribal police and the white man's bulldozers. No need to go all the way to Palestine for apartheid atrocities; we have plenty right here in America.


Navajo Big Mountain matriarch Pauline Whitesinger stands next to her earth lodge that began collapsing in late 2007. Photo copyright Bahe Katenay.

Bahe Katenay: On Big Mountain, building the earth lodge

By Bahe Katenay
Sheep Dog Nation Rocks

BIG MOUNTAIN, Black Mesa (Arizona), November 18, 2008 – A nice peaceful morning in the Dineh resistance stronghold known as Sweet Water was again disrupted by a uniformed officer from the Office of Hopi Lands. This officer who had a badge that indicated he was with the Hopi tribal police claimed he was not serving a “noticed” on behalf of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, nor the U.S. government. The small 82 year old matriarch, Pauline Whitesinger, was trying to speak in the Dineh language to the thick and tall Indian officer that cannot understand Dineh and who was ‘assigned’ to meet with (grandma) Pauline about her “unauthorized” reconstruction of a traditional earth lodge.

He had photo-copies of Pauline’s earth lodge with some additional documents that he referred to as ‘complaints’ from a recent officer that discovered this construction in May 2008. As another Dineh gentleman showed up at the scene, the officer immediately walked over to seek a translator –something he should have seek within his own law enforcement department. The officer only wanted two questions answered:

‘Why is she building this hogan without Permission?’

‘What is she going to do with this hogan or why does she need it?’

...

“Why she does this without permission is because she does not recognized the authority of the U.S. government or (your) alien and foreign authority,” the Dineh man clarifies.

“Grandma, here, still recognizes the supreme authorities of the local deities and she also honors her ancestors’ legacies. She truly and deeply believes that is where she receives the ‘official’ authorization to rebuild this traditional lodge.”

The translator adds, “The hogan is part of her ancient culture and it is necessary to her being. Not only is it for ceremonial purposes but it is her home where she will be warmer in the winter as opposed to that cinderblock and un-insulated house. There, you have heard the same repeated answers to your same concerns!”

Read the rest...

Ways you can help:

Black Mesa Indigenous Support

Understanding Prejudice: Test Your Native IQ

Tamarack likes to call himself and his cult-minded groupies "natives." We think it a safe bet, however, that not one of them could pass this Native IQ test, even after spending $8000 for the Teaching Drum's yearlong "native" program.

Test Your Native IQ

Psychologists sometimes speak of native (inborn) intelligence, but this test is something quite different: a chance for you to test how much you know about Native American history and contemporary life.

Why are the Washington Redskins, Jeep Cherokee, and Red Man Chewing Tobacco popular names when the Washington Brownskins, Jeep Chicano, and Black Man chewing tobacco would be considered offensive? Why is the Cleveland Indians baseball logo, Chief Wahoo, acceptable when other racial caricatures, such as Little Black Sambo and the Frito Bandito, are not?

The answer, in part, is that anti-Indian prejudice does not receive as much attention as do other forms of racism. To counter this lack of attention, the following 10-item test will probe your knowledge of Native American issues. At the end, you will be able to compare your "Native IQ" with other people's scores, and you will receive a free gift as a bonus for completing the test.

We Get Hate Mail

Nothing pisses off mentally disturbed settlers like the original voices of First Nations' peoples. A deleted comment and an email sent to our inbox in response to the post "In Their Own Words: Indigenous Activists Challenge New Age Frauds":

Title: You're fucking idiots..........
To: nemeses.united@yahoo.com
From: "Kevin Steif" tranquility_base07@yahoo.com
Friday, April 20, 2007 2:19:56 PM

Nemeses:

Any group that idolizes that fraud Churchill must be frauds themselves. Anti-Indian hate groups are a dime a dozen, you little morons hide behind stupid monikers and faggot pseudonyms, your entire agenda is all about white supremacy, next time wear your hoods, you fucking little stooges.

"Nemeses", what a fucking fake-ass joke, you fucking chokers all have one foot in the grave, but you're too stupid to realize it.

Fuck you and your fucked up families too.......

Churchill-hater.

Fraud-hater. has left a new comment on your post "In Their Own Words: Indigenous Activists Challenge...":

YOU PEOPLE AREN'T INDIANS, YOU CAN'T EVEN PRETEND OR FAKE BEING AN INDIAN. WHO GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO SIT AND JUDGE A CULTURE YOU OBVIOUSLY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT.

"THE PLAYERS"? WELL, AT LEAST YOU HAVE THAT RIGHT, YOU ARE ACTING OUT SOME BIZARRE NEW AGE RITUAL, I DON'T THINK THAT THE "PLAYERS" EVEN KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING, MAKING FOOLS OF THEMSELVES I IMAGINE.

HAVE FUN PLAYING INDIAN, SINCE YOUR ANTI-INDIAN CULT IS INCAPABLE OF CONTRIBUTING NOTHING ELSE TO MY PEOPLE.

THAT PSYCHOS THAT ARE NEMESES NEED TO FIND SOME OTHER HOBBIE, PERHAPS YOU CAN FORM A WARD CHURCHILL WORSHIP GROUP.

NEMESES-HATER.

Our response: No one here idolizes anyone. When we find a good quote relevant to New Age frauds, we will use it, no matter from what side of the political spectrum the writer/s come. And do you really think you are in a position to judge us since you just dropped the f-bomb? We think that kind of verbal abuse is an obvious sign of a homophobic hater if ever there was one.

In Their Own Words: Indigenous Activists Challenge New Age Frauds

These are a few highlights from websites with in depth information on the issues surrounding the cultural theft that is white New Agers' appropriation of Indigenous spiritual traditions. Check 'em out! Most of these writer-activists are Native American and speak from years of experience with Anglo American racism. These articles make an excellent primer before going on to read about the fraud that is Tamarack Song.

Wikipedia - Plastic Shamans

Though the term "plastic shaman" originated among Native American and First Nations activists, and is most often applied to people posing as Native American medicine men & women, the term has also been applied to those posing as other types of traditional and alternative healers. People who have been referred to as "plastic shamans" include fraudulent spiritual advisors, seers, psychics, or other practitioners of non-traditional modalities of spirituality and healing who are operating on a fraudulent basis.

Critics of those who have been called plastic shamans believe one danger is that students who come to learn from plastic shamans may be exposing themselves to physical, as well as psychological and emotional risk. This is because the methods used by a fraudulent teacher may have been invented, "adapted" or stolen from other cultures and taught without reference to a real tradition, or to the precautions such a tradition would normally have in place in regard to sacred ceremonies and guidelines for ethical behaviour.

Wikipedia - NAFPS (New Age Frauds and Plastic Shamans)

Begun in 2001, NAFPS has provided a forum for those concerned about fraud, deceit, money hunger, sexual abuse, racism, control, hunger for power and ego, and cult-like tendencies of the New Age movement and pseudo "shamans." They investigate and seek to warn the public about impostors and exploiters posing as Native medicine people or elders. They believe there are more than two hundred imposters currently posing as Cherokee medicine people alone. Taking account of all five hundred Native nations in the US, this indicates the massive scope of the problem. There have been eight unsuccessful attempts to shut them down, threats of lawsuits, stalkers, identity thieves, libel campaigns, and even death threats.

Our Red Earth

THE DISSEMINATION OF DEATH: TEACHINGS
A typical "new age" collective does not usually openly declare that anything whatsoever is being "taught." This is to ensure a surface appearance of benevolence. If nothing is being "taught," nothing is being "exploited," is the reasoning one often finds within these communities. Additionally, this professed lack of teaching decreases the likelihood of someone quizzing and potentially exposing the community leader as a charlatan.

Instead, "new age" community leaders instruct/mislead their followers by calling the dissemination of their inaccuracies "sharing." They typically disguise the purpose of their community by describing it as a place to "share and discuss" (the leader's interpretations of) American Indian spirituality.

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THE PLAYERS
A "new age" community typically includes a Leader and three divisions, these being Co-Leaders, Participants, and Readers. All of these divisions are guided by the Leader, so with him we shall begin.

Plastic Shamans and Astroturf Sun Dances:
New Age Commercialization of Native American Spirituality

Lisa Aldred

Consuming Native American Spirituality

Commercial exploitation of Native American spiritual traditions has permeated the New Age movement since its emergence in the 1980s. Euro-Americans professing to be medicine people have profited from publications and workshops. Mass quantities of products promoted as "Native American sacred objects" have been successfully sold by white entrepreneurs to a largely non-Indian market. This essay begins with an overview of these acts of commercialization as well as Native Americans' objections to such practices. Its real focus, however, is the motivation behind the New Agers' obsession and consumption of Native American spirituality. Why do New Agers persist in consuming commercialized Native American spirituality? What kinds of self-articulated defenses do New Agers offer for these commercial practices? To answer these questions, analysis from a larger social and economic perspective is needed to further understand the motivations behind New Age consumption.

In the so-called postmodern culture of late consumer capitalism, a significant number of white affluent suburban and urban middle-aged baby-boomers complain of feeling uprooted from cultural traditions, community belonging, and spiritual meaning. The New Age movement is one such response to these feelings. New Agers romanticize an "authentic" and "traditional" Native American culture whose spirituality can save them from their own sense of malaise. However, as products of the very consumer culture they seek to escape, these New Agers pursue spiritual meaning and cultural identification through acts of purchase. Although New Agers identify as a countercultural group, their commercial actions mesh quite well with mainstream capitalism. Ultimately, their search for spiritual and cultural meaning through material acquisition leaves them feeling unsatisfied. The community they seek is only imagined, a world conjured up by the promises of advertised products, but with no history, social relations, or contextualized culture that would make for a sense of real [End Page 329] belonging. Meanwhile, their fetishization of Native American spirituality not only masks the social oppression of real Indian peoples but also perpetuates it.

White Americans play 'Indian,' professor says

By JODI RAVE
Lincoln Journal Star

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Organizations from fraternal orders, to the Boy Scouts, to athletic teams and their fans have succumbed to acting out imagined Indian roles.

Indian people have been both empowered and villainized as a result, said [Philip] Deloria. This paradox powers Deloria's book.

"There is this simultaneous embracing of Indians, which allows Americans to make claims of American identity. But at the same time, in order to make a real physical nation, they have to dispossess those Indians," he said.

One of the best examples in "Playing Indian" examines the 1830s federal policy of removing native people from their Eastern U.S. homelands and sending them to Indian territory in Oklahoma.

Indian role-playing soon broke out in those areas from which the Indians were removed, Deloria said. "The dynamic at work is to get rid of Indians; then you become Indian." The desire to know Indians peaked in the 1950s when non-Indians sought knowledge of Indian culture directly from Indians. Those days are gone, he said.

"Today it's all about reading books (on Indians) and then working it out with a buddy. Books are personal and individual. They can be interpreted any way you want."

Spiritual Commodification and Misappropriation

What Native People Want You To Understand
Compiled by Mariah Jones

There is a disinformation campaign in progress in Sonoma County to undermine Native peoples' nationwide efforts to protect their ceremonial processes from abuse. The promulgators would have you believe that only a few "militant" Indians are concerned about this exploitation by those who have no real knowledge of the deep inner meaning inherent in these ceremonies. The truth is that the overwhelming majority of Native people DO object to this phenomenon.

If you stand with Indian people, then you respect their moral right to decide under which circumstances their ceremonies will be "shared" with non-Indians. Please read the following statements by Native people. They are spiritual leaders, authors, attorneys, anthropologists, scholars, activists, educators and tribal leaders. Though they represent just a small percentage of those who have spoken out on this issue, the concepts presented will give you some idea of the perspective you are being asked to consider.

"What's at issue here is the same old question that Europeans have always posed with regard to American Indians, whether what's ours isn't somehow theirs. And, of course, they've always answered in the affirmative. Now, being spiritually bankrupt themselves, they want our spirituality as well. So, they make up rationalizations to explain why they're entitled to it."

What Genocide Has Done For Me

by Eugene Johnson

Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people or culture in order to benefit the destructor.

I, being Indian of Alsea, Klickitat, and Lower Umpqua ancestry, would like to tell you about the things that affect me in present-day life.

Sports Teams

Native Americans are used in advertising and as sports team names. We are mocked and made fun of so a few non-Indians can amass great amounts of wealth. These stereotypes and caricatures have a dehumanizing effect. By "dehumanizing" I mean: to make other than human of that which is human. What dehumanizing does is make it easier for humans to do inhuman things to their fellow human beings. If you don’t consider Indians to be a people, it makes it easier to attempt to separate us from our remaining lands – which is genocide. When Indians protest these names and advertising, people don’t care because we have been dehumanized in the eyes of most people through the use of advertising and sports team names. Advertising and sports team names are a tool of genocide.

Would the REAL don Juan Please Step Forward:
Plastic Medicine Men and White America's
Desperate Search for Native Spirituality.

"They're trying to find their own memory," says John Trudell. "If you get right down to the reality of it, what are white people? White people are the descendants of tribes also. The civilizing process is to erase the tribal or ancestral memory. It's just that the erasing of their tribal memory started 3,000 years ago. For us it started 500 years ago. If you look at most Caucasian people, they don't even remember their Great Grandparents. They don't know what their spiritual perceptions of reality were, their practices, or how they lived with the earth."

The other side of the coin is a tangle of self-deception for white colonizers, now trying to appropriate the spirituality of the very same people they've colonized. Western culture was built upon shame and guilt of the natural world. Whites descended from tribes and barbaric societies, which Christianity smashed down to create a controlled atmosphere devoid of darkness and the unknown.

"The so-called "Barbarians"-the non-Christianized Indigenous believing peoples of Europe-had to be conquered, subordinated, indoctrinated and transformed into the opposite of themselves first, before you had the critical mass-the core entity that allows for this exportation of the same dynamic to the rest of the planet," says Ward Churchill.