Phoney Sweat Lodge Leader Convicted

Great News!

Tamarack Song take note. You kill somebody in one of your phoney sweat lodges and you're going to jail!

Self-Help Author Convicted of Negligent Homicide in Sweat Lodge Deaths

Published June 22, 2011
Associated Press

CAMP VERDE, Ariz. – A self-help author who led a deadly sweat lodge ceremony in Arizona was found guilty of three counts of negligent homicide Wednesday.

Jurors in the case against James Arthur Ray began deliberating Tuesday after a four-month trial.

Ray showed no reaction as the verdict was read. His parents and brother sat behind him, while victims' family members and friends held hands and looked on from across the courtroom.

Prosecutors asked that Ray be taken into custody immediately, but the judge denied the request.

More than 50 people participated in the October 2009 sweat lodge that was meant to be the highlight of Ray's five-day "Spiritual Warrior" seminar near Sedona.

Three people died following the sauna-like ceremony meant to provide spiritual cleansing. Eighteen were hospitalized, while several others were given water to cool down at the scene. Prosecutors and defense attorneys disagreed over whether the deaths and illnesses were caused by heat or toxins.

Ray's attorneys have maintained the deaths were a tragic accident. Prosecutors argued Ray recklessly caused the fatalities.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/22/self-help-author-convicted-negligent-homicide-in-sweat-lodge-deaths/#ixzz1QDLKfAeR

And The Hits Just Keep On Coming, Part Two

"On more then one occasion we watched people drive in the drive, get out, walk around and get back in their car and drive away. You could feel the evil. That's why we stayed as far away from the bastard as we could when we worked there. The woods was a safe place to be and we tended to stay in places where he couldn't find us."

Chilling as hell, isn't it?

Thanks to our last post, "The Hits Just Keep On Coming," we've received a flurry of responses and feel the post deserves a sequel.

A Teaching Drum survivor, who wishes to remain anonymous, sent us a lovely letter detailing their experience with Tamarack and the Drum. Naturally, it fits a typical pattern of abuse at Dan Konen's ponzi scheme of an outdoor school (where the "guides" do all the work, and he sits in the house most of the day writing his fakelore tomes). We've opted to publish excerpts from the letter. Some names and places have been removed to protect others' privacy.

Thanks to our wonderful new contributors, we are seriously thinking about starting an annual get-together for survivors. It sure would be great to sit around eating, drinking, and having a huge laugh at the unmitigated fool that is Tamarack Song.

Cheers, Anonymous. And welcome to our chorus of voices against the Teaching Drum Outdoor School. You make a difference, and we are so glad you found us.

...

I found your blog again, when an old friend who I met at the Drum contacted me and asked me to contribute what I could. I also just came from a local book store a couple of days ago and was horrified to see this appalling new book Konen has out now. It's aweful...truly a joke. He is a thief and liar of the highest order and needs to be shut down. I think that truth will win out. As my wife told me last night though, it is astounding how many lives he has. He just never stops and the abuse victims just keep piling up.

...

It was a great time in many ways and we learned a ton, became life long friends, laughed a lot, etc. That was until Dan showed up. We were abused, dressed down, humiliated and told we weren't doing things right...in the beginning it was jarring, but as we grew up (it happens) we would listen, sometimes even tell him he was full of crap and go about our business.

During that time, as I mentioned in my post, his wife/editor _____, cleaned out the house and left Dan one weekend when we were out in the woods and Dan was...well who knows where. In short order Dan got his hooks in a poor woman from _____ named ____. They were married after we left, but when she filed for divorce, she contact us to help her to get the court, etc. to see the truth about this monster. We still keep in touch.

It was also during the time he was chasing ____ that some of the worst abuses of "students" happened. They would show up for whatever class he had sold them and he would deposit them in the woods with us and leave. We had no idea where he went. We joked that he was probably out chasing some female victim and speculated about how we could save her.

...

Our place became a crash pad for survivors from Dan's BS and we would run into them everywhere--we would see them in shops, run into them at various events, or be introduced to them by friends. We became known as sort of the "Drum recovery psychologists." People even stayed with us for periods of time while they were recovering and trying to get their lives back. He steals things and he steals people's lives. He finds people who may be a bit naive, but mean well and want to learn about the natural world and living skills. As you probably know, he is very good at doing this also. I did watch people arrive and leave though and it was funny how, even when we were there, Dan would announce that some well known herbalist or something was coming for a visit. On more then one occasion we watched people drive in the drive, get out, walk around and get back in their car and drive away. You could feel the evil. That's why we stayed as far away from the bastard as we could when we worked there. The woods was a safe place to be and we tended to stay in places where he couldn't find us.

The hits do just keep coming as you say. After leaving the drum I did get involved in Treaty Rights. I was a witness for non violence and was on the front lines and became very, very close with several LdF tribal members--people who remain to this day friends and adopted relatives. Dan was not part of this...at all. Occasionally, while doing things with Native friends, we would run into him--at ceremonies, gatherings, powwows, etc. People kept a distance and, as I said, elders approached him on more then one occasion and told him to leave, or rebuked him for taking notes at ceremonies, etc. He was told in one situation he was making people sick. I have a dear friend from _____ who still has issues with some of the things he did there and continues to do. He is not loved at all in Indian Country as you well know. No matter what he says, I was there and watched him operate and saw the reactions people had to him and his poor wandering minion. He was considered a joke...or worse.

As far as Keewedinokwe, I knew her, spent time with her and my best friend was actually her occasional driver, helper and confidant in the last few years of her life. Kee spent lots of time at my friend's house. During one meeting there, I had brought along a dear friend and sister who is a tribal member and elder in Lac du Flambeau. When Kee and my friend saw each other they started crying and hugging...I had no idea what was going on. It turns out my friend worked with Kee some years before this and they had lost touch when my friend decided to become a sun dancer. I am telling you this because, despite what some say, Kee was the real deal. She as respected by spiritual people and teachers from all over the globe. Not surprisingly, lots of people wanted to be close to her...lots. She had this look that burned through your soul when you sat with her, asked her questions...you probably know what I mean. Dan never came up directly in conversations, although my friend who I mentioned above did ask her one time about him. She wouldn't talk about him. Other people that were around Kee for years said Dan did go to Garden Island one time many years ago. He spent time there, tried hard to get information from Kee and when he was told he wasn't ready...he left in a huff never to return. That's the truth about him and that relationship.

...

He certainly has that ability and willingness to drop names in deferential ways. He has always done that. Unfortunately, if you talk about people and how well you know them and how much you have learned from him, you better be careful that the people you tell this to, do not know the individual in question. I caught him in lies all the time. His school is not blessed by Tom Brown Jr., Mide elders from Mole Lake and Crandon do not work with him, he never had a relationship with Kee...etc. etc. I know this for a fact.

Anyway, sorry for the long e-mail. The truth does need to be told and thank you for doing your part.

Now we don't doubt for a second that Tamarack might be able to find a desperate person or two to try and confirm highly selective sides of his story, but what publishing this letter shows, is that a complete picture of Dan Konen's past is not possible without validation from people who have known him for a very long time, including ex-wives, ex-friends, and ex-students.

We believe we have found enough people who have witnessed or experienced Tamarack's abuse to invalidate his claims to legitimacy. That's the whole point of keeping this blog. To give anyone about to get involved with the Teaching Drum Outdoor School a more complete picture of Dan Konen's history. Sometimes what's missing can tell you more about a person than what's there.

Really, if Tamarack was truly what he claimed to be, would any of this be happening? People would be crawling out of the woodwork to defend him, not condemn him. And that ought to be enough to encourage any sane person to stay the hell away from this creep.

And The Hits Just Keep On Coming

A dear contributor who wishes to remain anonymous sends us this chilling piece about their Wildmoon Experience at the Teaching Drum Outdoor School. We think this person's encounter with Tamarack Song and his ilk highlights the damage that can be done to people who are given an exploitative, tourist's view of the so-called wild. It takes good guides and lots of time to find a place in the non-civilized natural world that feels clean and healthy and comfortable. A veteran camper can show you how to do that and it doesn't cost anywhere near as much!

The writer of this piece states "...if you want an actual 'teacher' a REAL teacher, go to a reputable, experienced person whom will sit with you and coach you through skills! Who will give you worthy and fair lessons in exchange for your hard earned money!"

After five years of running this blog, we could not have said it any better.

Our heartfelt thanks (and empathy) go out to the writer for sharing the emotional toll that Tamarack Song and his stupid school inflict on people turning to him for anything.

I share this 'Teaching Drum School' experience in the hope that others will not follow in my unfortunate mistake and save themselves a lot of grief, money and better health in the process!

Here it is......

I arrive with some surprises:

While hiking to the campsite we were to stay in, Lety lets me know "there are no teachers here." Hmmm, I mean, I don't know.. wouldnt you say calling your company TEACHING drum SCHOOL and having no TEACHERS a little effing deceptive? Your dealing with a public that has a very dictionary idea of what 'teaching' is about and you call yourselves "Teaching drum School"!

Later on, I'm told that "'Teaching drum' stands for the heartbeat of the earth. And while there, you learn what mother earth has to teach us!"

Well, my response to that comes from one of my journal entries before even being told about their meaning for the company name!:

"You could argue that nature teaches you, but I could have gone to a national park at my leisure, with SOAP and around 2,000 dollars still in my pocket and learned what 'nature' has to teach me!!!! That is not why I came to Teaching Drum! You have to ask how to do every little thing because their are no workshops and almost nothing is told to you freely. Sometimes the delay in answering me, the expressions on one of the "guides" face, his body language and energy give me the impression that he finds it a bit annoying. The name "Teaching Drum School" IS misleading."

I found one of the 'guides' manner intimidating and some of the things he said, ignorant. He was so into his own little world. And the other 'guide' was most interested in snuggling with his girlfriend and remembering his dreams. It was like being stuck in a forest with 3 people whom knew and WORKED for the company, no other new people were there! (Which I was under the impression there would be!) And I was infringing upon their good time together. THAT is how I felt! Not like "a welcome guest."

We were expected to do some arduous hiking (Which was also NEVER told to me before hand!). The hike we did, to help fix a structure, took almost a whole day with what felt like a heavy boulder on my back. We were told we 'might' have to go to another camp area to fish! A 25 mile distance, about 4 all day hikes in a row there, to fish and then do it all again back! (I was ALSO never told we would be moving from campsite to campsite before coming!!!) I was not going to hike with a ton of gear on my back 4 days in a row, 25 miles away from support camp with three people I did not trust with my saftey! Come to think of it, I don't think I would do such a thing with people I DID trust! It's a pretty stupid thing to do in my oppinion, seeing as how I am not experienced and even for an experienced person it is dangerous!

Silent horror stories:

So one of the two supposed 'guides' was telling me about two different things that had me in a silent horror all to myself.

One of them was a story about a past yearlonger whom they all went on a hiking trip with. This past yearlonger guy accidently stuck an axe into his leg cause he was cutting wood the wrong way (and these particular 'guides', my guides, didn't feel it necessary to point that out to him at the time!). So he tells me they had a 'talking circle' about what was best for them to do for him!!!!! ~ While this poor guy is literally bleeding to death! They eventually built him a sort of stretcher and carried him most of the way to help. He arrived at the hospital with more than half his bodily blood drained! Lucky to be alive, I'd say! So this past 'yearlonger' learned SO MUCH with Teaching Drum technique of 'observation and immitation' he didn't even know how to safely CUT WOOD!

The second thing that freaked me out was when both guides were telling me about how they had lime disease from ticks that are prevalent in that area!!! I asked if they are around this time of year (fall/winter) and one replied that they most likely were not. But they might be in sunny warm patches. "Oh joy!!!"

The girl, was telling me about how she has had plenty of ticks in the past without ever getting lime disease! ~ I guess this was her way of trying to unnerve me.

It didn't work!

Ignorance:

Two example of why I find one of the guides ignorant, other than his unfortunate carelessness for others health and well being is here:

I was sharing with the group about an article I read on the plane. The article was about different countries and where you should not go for certain types of vacationing. One of the countries, I forget exactly... (Could have been Iran, or around there), the article talked about how if your a couple wanting a romantic get away you shouldn't go there because in that country they will throw you in jail for public displays of affection with the opposite sex! I related my disgust at such a law and this guy says something along the lines of, "well, if you go into another country or immerse yourself in another groups culture you should abide by it. We have a culture here as well!" That is like saying if everyone does something I should do it as well no matter 'what' it is! I DON'T THINK SO! But yes, I would never visit a country or want to live in a place that had such a disgusting, idiotic, draconian law! I wouldn't put myself in such an environment.

This really smart person also talked to me before leaving about how I was practicing 'death' by leaving early from the experience. Comparing it to a real life survival situation where leaving means death!

You know, I'll just let you decide what you think of this person.

Unfortunate health problems:

Another gift of this ridiculous and costly Wildmoon experience is a slight breathing problem I still have from mold exposure! To get an idea of how serious mold exposure can be take a look at these two web pages:

http://www.mold-survivor.com/assoc.illness.html

http://moldsymptoms.org/

These highly intelligent 'guides' of mine thought it interesting and necessary to take us all into an earth lodge infested with MOLD! Letting us know it was moldy after we spent a few minutes in it.. breathing and talking. Nothing happened till later on that night, when I was trying to get to sleep in a different (limited air flow) structure! Which could have possibly had mold as well. Who knows?! I was having trouble sleeping because I was having trouble BREATHING. I couldn't get enough oxygen into my lungs.. I felt a heaviness in my chest and I was forced to wake up one of the 'guides' and his girlfriend in a separate structure because the 'guide' I was in this structure with ignored me when I tried to wake him!

I wanted them to contact the support camp, ie; "Tamarack's home" to leave, but the girl I woke up was looking at me like I was just having a panic attack or something and had me sit in a circle with them, after they built a fire near the lean too. I was to sleep in this lean too the rest of the time I spent there. She took my pulse and the both of them stayed up with me till I could breath better. I could breath better in the fresh air, under the lean too. But my breathing issues did not go away. Their were moments I'd get winded just walking around! It was aggrivating, frustrating and scary. At first, I wasn't quite sure what was causing this reation. But the only thing I can think of to cause this breathing issue was that mold!

I also had these weird feelings in the morning. I'd feel nauseous and have this odd tingling cotton mouth feeling in the back of my throat and tongue. A built up of phlegm in my throat as well. After drinking lots of water through this stupid filter straw, (which is like sucking blood out of a mosquito), and eating something it would go away! I couldn't place it until I started to experiment later on.

I noticed that they wouldn't clean and or disinfect the serving spoon and lid by the fire at all! And the communal cooking pot was probably cleaned out sparingly at best! I started noticing that tingling sensation after eating with them one night and decided to just roast my own food by the fire instead another night. I awoke the nex morning without those symptoms!

A paragraph from my journal talking about my hands:

"My fingers were on fire with ice pain after putting some more laundry in the lake. NOT FUN! Using snow to wipe after relieving myself is quite painful too. It's so cold and I have to pack a flat snowball with my bare hands to use as a wipe. My hands are severly cracked and sometimes bleed. Moving my fingers can be painful because of the cracks I have. The severe cold and ice water only worsens this."

Later on, talking with Tamarack:

According to Tamarack, "mold spores are everywhere and theirs no getting away from them!" (After telling him about the infested structure I was brought into!)

"That tingling, nauseous feeling I was getting after eating was probably because we were eating bear fat and I was allergic" (I ate this bear fat, cooked and separate that same night I experimented and their was no reaction, by the way!) and also, according to him, "I have some body fat on me so the extra bear fat might have been my body saying "that's too much!""

Lety mentions 'maybe' I just missed seeing them clean and disinfect the communal pot and spoon! (I did not! And I also asked one of the guides if he cleans them out and he said "NO") Apparantly he is used to some weird and disgusting custom where people just cook OLD food in with the new food over and over without cleaning the pot! So, it's totally normal for him!

I was given bear fat for my cracked, bleeding hands (which stank so bad, I had to rub my hands with balsam fir after). This bear fat ended up giving me a rash. SO, now my hands hurt to move, bled and itched!

I told Tamarack and Lety about this and apparantly I didn't do a good enough job in letting these 'guides' know about my issues. I should have asked them to try other things!

All in all, WHATEVER issues I came across through this experience that he had me share with him, NOTHING was his fault or his 'guides' fault, but the person who was doing the complaining! ~ In this case, MINE or conveniently, no ones.

I was on my way home:

The below freezing temperature, inability to properly clean myself and my clothes, my hands, lack of support, a developed breathing problem from mold exposure, not feeling safe with this group of people, sleeping with the communal food by my head while coyotes and wolves roamed the area, cutting my gums on sand that constantly got in my food, inability to sleep, feeling that if I pushed it more I could possibly end up with pneumonia, rash, physical exhaustion to the point of nausea, slight yeast infection, constipation, learning very little except some simple hygiene techniques that are not always effective in certain weather conditions and the simple fact that every day I counted down it never got any better for me. I was never enjoying myself except for one day with a group of yearlong women. It was not safe or smart for me to continue. I knew my limit and I was at it. 'Could' I have stayed there the whole time? Oh yes! But I did not wish too. It was not the experience I thought it would be.

Another paragraph from my journal:

"The aftermath:

I paid a hefty amount to switch my flight back home early. During the three flights back I was embarrassed and felt bad for anyone whom had to sit next to me cause I smelled like the dirtiest smelliest hobo you ever came across in your life! My hands looked awful and so dirty, like I had some sort of skin disease. My bath water was dark. My hands are still recuperating. I'm still haveing breathing issues and might need to see a doctor about getting an inhaler and antihistamines! Yogurt and acidophulus is getting rid of the yeast infection and my body is slowly repairing itself with sleep, warmth, love and healthy surroundings. I feel a bit traumatized."

For anyone thinking about going to this 'School':

Have I learned and experienced positive things while being there, sure! But all of them could have easily occured camping at my leisure with friends and SOAP!!!!

(Sorry, I have developed a fixation with the stuff. Maybe one day, if you are ever as unfortunate as I to have been so very dirty for a stretch of time you will come close to understanding. ;)

If you feel inclined as I and others do to learn wild life survival, I suggest you practice these skills in the comfort of your back yard and or camping! There is plenty of literature on it! But if you want an actual 'teacher' a REAL teacher, go to a reputable, experienced person whom will sit with you and coach you through skills! Who will give you worthy and fair lessons an exchange for your hard earned money! People WHO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING and leave their cult culture at the door!

If you want a lot of pain, uncomfortableness, to endanger your health, spend a lot of money, be pressured to behave as a cult group, have a possible near death experience, learn diddlysquat in real wilderness survival skills, and have it all BE YOUR FAULT, by all means, Teaching Drum is the place for you!

P.S. They also are affiliated with this place:

http://www.wildmoon.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=68

Good luck to you and yours

Peace

Love

Freedom

Welcome To a New Teaching Drum Survivor

The collective behind As the Teaching Drum Turns would like to welcome to our family of survivors a new ally, Robin Sneed, who has recently returned from employment as Tamarack Song's "editor" (otherwise known as the poor writer who has to try to make sense of Dan Konen's New Age dribble).

Fortunately, the editor came to her senses and got the hell out of that white supremacist compound far faster than most of us do. And there's even better news: She has her own blog!

Below is a link to the blog. Her experiences are highlighted under a post fabulously titled "Sometimes Payback Heals: Masturbating in The Sauna"

http://open.salon.com/blog/robin_sneed/2010/11/18/sometimes_payback_heals_masturbating_in_the_sauna

Wading Through The Slimey Lies of Tamarack Song

Thanks to a dear reader for bringing to our attention the questionable biography Tamarack Song continues to pimp on his personal website. Since we find it almost unbearably tedious (as well as laughable) to read anything this nut case writes, our heart felt appreciation goes out to all of you who take the time to look over Dan Konen's fakelore and alert us to his phony junk.

Up for scrutiny this time is Tamarack's autobiographical fiction in the Background section of his slick website. Under the category of Honoring My Elders, we've chosen the subcategory "The Wandering Years" to highlight how we believe readers should approach Tamarack's fiction.

For example, concerning anything to do with Ojibwe Elder Keewaydinoquay, are there any people who can verify what Tamarack claims about his relationship to this woman? Any friends or family members of Keewaydinoquay? If Tamarack is really so honored by Indigenous people, why are there so few who can substantiate his claims? As one reader pointed out, the majority of the people Tamarack claims guided him in the past are dead, therefore they cannot contradict his story. This alone should be enough to send the sane running away as fast as they can from this useless fool.

Then again, white people wanting to Play Indian are not known for their sanity.

On another page, Tamarack says he fought beside Ojibwe warriors in the Walleye Wars and was "honored as an Ogichidaa (Warrior) by the Lac Du Flambeau Ojibwe."

Oh, really? Well who from that Nation can verify this claim? Can Dan Konen give us names and contact numbers of ANY of the people (still alive) he claims have guided him so that WE can substantiate this man's relationships? If he has served the people so well, this should not be a difficult task. Friends and family members should be coming forth in droves to say "Yes, we know him. We helped him. And he gave back to us, honorably, in return."

We wonder how much sleep old Tammy-hack would lose if we told him we knew several people who have given us information over the years that is exactly the opposite to his assertions about his alleged guides.

But, accountability comes in part from those potential customers who are seeking to buy anything this fraud has for sale. Caveat emptor. Buyer beware. If you or he cannot verify what he alleges about his relationships with Indigenous people, then get the hell away from this creep as fast as you can. He is lying through his teeth. And he only wants your money for his business.

Remember, long term service to the people should result in long term relationships that are easily substantiated by those he has served. Anything else is just self-serving fiction.

Gulf Oil Spill Threatens Atakapa-Ishak Nation

Linked from Censored News story here.

Oil Spill Threatens Native American "Water" Village

Published June 8, 2010

The town of Grand Bayou, Louisiana, has no streets and no cars, just water and boats. And now the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico threatens the very existence of the Atakapa-Ishak Indians who live there. "We're facing the potential for cultural genocide," says one tribe member.

© 2010 National Geographic; videographer and field producer: Fritz Faerber

RELATED

Gulf Oil Spill News and Pictures

Blog Post: Oil Spill May Spell Disaster for Atakapa Indian Tribe

UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT

In the town of Grand Bayou, Lousiana, the main thoroughfare is the water.

There are no streets, no cars. Everyone gets around by boat.

Just recovered from Hurricane Katrina, the oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon well now threatens this community.

SOUNDBITE: Rosina Philippe, Atakapa-Ishak Tribe

“Well this is the Grand Bayou Village and we are a subsistence community. We have been here for centuries. And we live here. We make our living from the harvest of the waterways and this is also where we get our food that we eat.”

Rosina Philippe is Atakapa-Ishak, a Native American tribe. Like others, it is not recognized by the federal government.

For decades, the Atakapa and other native groups here have adapted to the loss of wetlands, the encroachment of the oil and gas industry, and hurricanes.

But the latest spill could be the final straw. Fishing and shrimping is at a standstill, and the oil keeps creeping into the marshes.

SOUNDBITE: Maurice Phillips, Atakapa-Ishak Tribe

“I can’t even think about leaving it. And the way the economy is, where are you going to go and live?”

The largest oil spill in U.S. history is killing wildlife, contaminating beaches and marshes, closing fishing waters and… threatening an entire way of life.

Tens of millions of gallons of crude have spewed into the Gulf of Mexico since the BP oil rig exploded April 20 and sank two days later.

Coastal Louisiana is closest to ground zero. Its fragile wetlands and beaches are oiled and wildlife faces possible mass die-offs.

But on top of the ecological disaster, unique cultures of the people living in Louisiana’s bayous could also vanish.

SOUNDBITE: Rosina Philippe, Atakapa-Ishak Tribe

“The oil spill has the potential to imperil all of us. We’re facing the potential for cultural genocide. “

Shrimp is a way of life here. Shrimp boats line the canals. Locals lower nets and scoop up the shrimp carried by the current.

SOUNDBITE: Maurice Phillips, Atakapa-Ishak Tribe

“I’ve been a shrimper all my life, and trapping. That’s all I ever did. We live off the land. We get all our wildlife, seafood, and everything off the land.”

Maurice Phillips has seen the ground vanish beneath his feet. Canals dug for oil and gas exploration decades ago let in saltwater that kills the marsh grasses – hurricanes wash away the soil left behind. And levees keep the nearby Mississippi River from replenishing the soil. A University of New Orleans map graphic shows how wide open water now fills areas once rich with freshwater marshes and wildlife.

Scientists say the Mississippi delta is vanishing at an alarming pace.

Matt Bethel leads a program to combine satellite and other data with the traditional ecological knowledge of Grand Bayou’s residents to try and find a way to restore some land.

SOUNDBITE: Matt Bethel, Environmental Scientist, Univ. of New Orleans

“What they are facing especially in the context of today with the oil spill and everything, they are facing their way of life being changed forever and not being able to keep doing what they love to do, which is shrimping, fishing, trapping.”

The Atakapa recently hosted visitors from Alaska. And while they are distinctive culturally, individuals at this gathering found much in common.

It might seem like they are from worlds apart, but Eskimos and the natives from Louisiana found much in common.

SOUNDBITE: Stanley Tom, Yup’ik Eskimo

“The people here are subsistence here just like in Alaska. The climate is a little warmer, but the landscape is just like my hometown. It’s just like tundra. And when we went boat riding it reminded me of my home.”

Tom and the other visitors from Alaska were attending a conference in New Orleans to focus on climate change and other threats to native communities around the world. The oil spill brought back memories of the 1989 Exxon Valdez accident.

They offered emotional support and advice to their hosts – who are used to a hard life, but fear the spill could be too much to overcome.

SOUNDBITE: Ruby Ancar, Atakapa-Ishak Tribe

“Nature, you can’t control. You can’t control a hurricane you can’t control a tornado. But when you have things that are man made: that destroys a person’s life or an entire village or an entire community, I mean, that’s uncalled for.“

The Atakapa hope the Gulf disaster will open eyes around the world to the importance of protecting the environment.

SOUNDBITE: Maurice Phillips, Atakapa-Ishak Tribe

“This land to me is like them movie stars in Beverly Hills. That’s my Beverly Hills – Grand Bayou. I love it. I love nature and I love everything about it. It’s everything God created and I love it.”

Overgrow The Government

Posted in light of Tamarack's anti-farming bigotry. Serious medicine requires serious farmers.

It's time for you to grow marijuana

By Ray Boyd - Monday, May 2 2005

Don't hesitate. Cultivate.

The concept called "peak oil" warns us that petroleum is finite and increasingly expensive. Unfortunately, petroleum forms the basis for our food supply network. In many locales, it's already very difficult to find affordable organic nuts, grains, fruits and vegetables. As we move further into the 21st century, global warming, drought, and petroleum shortages are likely to make it even harder to get healthy, natural foods.

The solution? Learn to be a farmer.

The best way to learn to be a farmer? Grow marijuana.

Potty training

Learning to grow marijuana is the best way to learn to grow anything.

When the plant was legal (it was legal until 1937), it was grown as a field crop and a feral crop. Farmers and agricultural colleges studied it, but not very much. Growers took cannabis for granted. They didn't understand its diverse uses like we now do; they didn't push cannabis for its highest production output. When the US government criminalized cannabis, it was a minor fiber and birdseed crop, far less important than tobacco and cotton.

Now, marijuana is illegal, so it's worth lots of money as a safe intoxicant, sacrament, and medicine. People who never would've tried to grow anything are growing marijuana.

Marijuana is a shamanistic plant. It's a teacher. It has male and female flowers, hundreds of variations, hundreds of uses, and is amenable to being changed by breeding and environmental manipulation.

Cultivating cannabis teaches botany, chemistry, ecology, agriculture. If you learn to grow pot well, you learn to grow almost anything well. The gardening skills you learn are transferable and empowering.
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When energy crisis, drought, and food shortages arrive, you will be ahead of people who never grew anything. Way ahead.

Overgrow, defined

The Marc Emery concept of "Overgrow the Government" is not just a catchy slogan. It's not just wordplay on "overthrow the government."

Instead, Emery's overgrow proposal is elegantly effective, and universally applicable to almost everyone reading this article. Here's why:

Marijuana is a mind-altering drug that creates new perceptions and realities. An inevitable byproduct of cannabis thinking is a tendency to question authority and imposed social structures.

Marijuana makes people feel good but doesn't kill them or hook them as do legal drugs like alcohol, pharmaceuticals, and tobacco. When people experience marijuana's gentle pleasures, they realize the government is telling lies about marijuana. They realize something they might not have realized before: that the government unjustly prohibits things that are blessings. They realize the government is corrupt, and needs to be changed. These realizations spur righteous anger, leading to rebellion.

Rebellion unfulfilled is a rat gnawing at the soul. People who see pot as a blessing and the government's war on pot as a curse want to fight the government's war on marijuana. They want to take action against prohibition.

Taking action against marijuana prohibition means different things to different people. For some, it only means voting against drug war politicians. For others, it means participating in politics as a marijuana proponent. Filing lawsuits, staging protests, arguing for marijuana in public meetings and the media- all these are useful actions. However, there are other actions that fight prohibition in a unique, powerful way. One of these is to use marijuana. Another is to grow and distribute it. Ultimately, the growing and providing of marijuana are the most effective ways of overcoming prohibition.

Thus we have come full circle, back to Emery's compelling "overgrow" philosophy: the best way to end prohibition is overgrow it. Prohibition seeks to kill as many marijuana plants as possible and prevent everyone from using marijuana. If people are to use marijuana, marijuana must be grown and distributed. The marijuana grower/distributor is a revolutionary, defying the government by providing the world with a forbidden plant that enlightens and heals.

It's up to you

Can you grow marijuana? Perhaps you've read horror stories about growers getting busted, and decided not to grow. Or you live at home with your parents or in a tiny apartment with no privacy. It seems right to be paranoid, eh?

Whatever your excuse is, I offer the following challenge: you can grow marijuana right now, and if you don't choose to grow it, you are allowing the government to run your life, steal your freedom, and harm a plant you love.

Again, consider this challenge: you can and should grow marijuana, and if you refuse to do so, you are letting fear and weakness dominate your mind and heart. That's not meant to be judgmental or make you feel bad- it's meant to inspire you to stand up for your rights.

Look how cheap and easy it is to grow pot. Here are the most basic necessities you need:
# marijuana seeds and/or clones
# a minimum three foot diameter, five foot high grow space, indoors or outdoors, upon which you and/or the sun can shine strong, direct light at least five hours per day for approximately 12-16 weeks, which is the total start to finish growing time for most cannabis varieties grown from seed.
# Plants need five hours a day minimum of strong, direct natural or artificial light out of a total of 18 hours light a day during the plant's initial growth phase.
# During the flowering phase of growing marijuana, the plant needs five hours of strong light per day out of a total 12 hours of light every 24 hours.
# Plants need about six gallons of rich soil each. They need a gallon of water every two days. Ideal growing temperatures are 68 to 82 degrees F.
# You'll need an hour per day to tend your plants.
# Total cost of this most basic outdoor growing regimen averages less than $200 US. If you grow indoors, it costs an average of $350 to set up a secret closet garden.

It's well worth it

If you don't have your own secure indoor or outdoor space in which to plant marijuana, find somebody else's outdoor place and put in a few plants that you can safely get to for watering and other maintenance chores.

If you live near golf courses, estates, deserts, lakes, rivers, forests, parks, vacant lots, and similarly green areas, those are nice places for clandestine, off-site pot growing.

Sure, you might lose your plants to pests, varmints, rip-offs, or police. If you grow from seed, you'll spend less than $200 and a few hours of labor on the project. You can afford to lose that. You can afford that investment risk. If you grow plants well and they make it to harvest, you can yield an average of one to six ounces of dried bud per plant. How much is that worth?

You get more than homegrown bud, however. You get farming knowledge. When the economic grid collapses and people are literally starving for fresh fruits and veggies, you'll be using botany experience gained growing marijuana to grow your own food, fiber, medicine.

When you grow cannabis, you learn how to take care of a non-human life form. You learn about plant sexuality. You learn about watering, fertilizing, trimming, pest control, and goal orientation. You learn about self-sufficiency. There are few feelings so kind as the reward of sharing a joint or bowl of your personally grown herb with friends.

If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, right now is your outdoor growing season. In most areas, you could have been growing outdoors starting mid-March. From now until June 22, your plants will increase in height. During late June and July they will add girth and foliage. In August and September they will flower and ripen so you can harvest by October.

No matter where you live, if you have a closet, an empty refrigerator, a small room, an outhouse, a basement, a garage, an abandoned mini-van ? anywhere that has electricity, space, and privacy ? you can grow pot.

You can grow one plant, or 1,000, depending on your infrastructure and goals. The bottom line is that everyone can grow marijuana if they really want to. And if everyone grows marijuana, prohibition will die.

Let me say it again: You CAN grow marijuana, right now, no matter where you are, no matter how little gardening experience you have.

But what about getting busted?

Nearly a million people are arrested for marijuana in the US each year. Most of those arrests are for possession, distribution or transportation of cannabis. A small percentage of total cannabis arrests are for growing, but hundreds of thousands of other people grow pot and are not arrested. The vast majority of growers never get caught.

If you're smart and careful, you likely won't get caught. Even if you get caught, you fight the charges. You do what you have to do to repair the damage that prohibition does to your life. You take the consequences as a badge of courage, just like civil rights protestors do when they get smashed in the face by police batons, when they get arrested for protesting against war, racism, injustice. Taking the chance of being hurt while fighting for freedom is a sign of maturity, strength, and conscience.

After all, growing pot is a revolutionary act. Somebody has to have the guts to stand up to the government. If you don't do it, who will?

Tips for beginners
# Contact Marc Emery Direct Seed Sales (www.emeryseeds.com) and tell them where you want to grow, your level of growing experience, and your budget.
# Buy seeds immediately, and plant them.
# Visit the www.cannabisculture.com grow forums at
# www.cannabisculture.com/forums/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=wwwprimer and ask for advice.
# Buy marijuana cultivation books from Emery's BCMP bookstore.
# Pay safe attention to your plants.
# The more seeds you plant the more chance you have for success.
# Plant different batches of different seeds in different locations.
# Make sure you can recognize the difference between male and female plants; unless you want to breed your own seeds, get rid of the males so your female plants get phat and resiny without being impregnated by male pollen.
# Don't harvest until your buds are sticky and a few bud hairs and resin glands have started to turn brown.
# Cure and dry your buds for at least seven days in a 75 degree F, well-aerated, dark room.
# If you think you're being observed by police while taking care of your plants, watch the watchers, and determine if you really are being observed.
# In some areas, natural rainfall is enough to get your plants through summer and autumn.
# If you're growing indoors, make sure you provide ventilation, odor control, light control, and adequate nutrients.
# You don't have to use high intensity ballast lamps. You can use full-spectrum fluorescents and suck down a lot less electricity.
# Trim your plant's top stems before plants are one month old; this increases diameter and yield per plant.
# Grow lots of seedlings in peat pots and give them to your friends. Encourage everyone to grow cannabis.
# Plant seedlings where there are automatic watering systems.
# Don't use poisons on your crop.
# If you're growing indoors, buy the book "Closet Cultivator."
# Read the article about the hydroponic gardening industry in issue 56 of Cannabis Culture. Study the cultivation section of Cannabis Culture.

Growing marijuana is fun, courageous, and profitable. It's simple to order seeds from Marc Emery, plant them, and help them grow. A few weeks later, you'll be laughing and celebrating your harvest, proud of yourself for helping overgrow the government.

Remember:

"Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it."
- Malcolm X, 1965

Batshit Crazy Sweat Lodge Killer Released On Bail

What we would not give to see Tamarack Song in an orange jump suit just like this sweat-lodge stealing, manslaughtering nutter!

[To see why, please read our previous post Masturbating in the Sauna: Tamarack's Non-Indian Sweat Lodge.]



After his arrest, James Arthur Ray's bail was set at $5 million dollars, but his lawyers eventually got it reduced to about half a million. While whites continue to steal sacred ceremony from indigenous people, we are betting that these deaths, and James Ray's incarceration, have given many would-be thieves considerable pause - a very welcome development.


James Arthur Ray looks at people in the gallery during the second day of his bond hearing in Prescott, Ariz. on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010. Ray is facing three manslaughter counts for deaths that occurred during one of his retreats near Sedona, Ariz in October 2009. (AP Photo/Pool, Jack Kurtz)

Guru in Ariz. sweat lodge deaths released on bond

(AP) – Feb 26, 2010

CAMP VERDE, Ariz. — A motivational speaker charged with manslaughter in the deaths of three people at an Arizona sweat lodge ceremony is out of jail.

Yavapai County Jail Sgt. Dee Huntley says James Arthur Ray gained his freedom Friday, one day after a Yavapai County Superior Court judge reduced him bond from $5 million to $525,000.

Ray had to surrender his passport. He also cannot organize, supervise or conduct any activities that might harm others.

Ray has pleaded not guilty to three counts of manslaughter stemming from an October sweat lodge ceremony that was supposed to be the highlight of a five-day "Spiritual Warrior" retreat.

Prosecutors allege Ray recklessly crammed more than 50 people inside the sweat lodge, a small heated enclosure used in traditional American Indian ceremonies.

Fantasies Of The Master Race Goes To Pandora

So far, the white liberal left has refused to publish this righteously outraged analysis of James Cameron's racist AVATAR. We're honored to have the opportunity to bring this work to our readers. Parallels to Tamarack Song's Great White Savior mentality abound for those paying attention.

Update: 12.29.09: For an analysis of District 9's racism, please see this post at Racialicious titled "District 9 Is Racist [Alternate Perspective]".

A Science Fiction Masterpiece for Liberals:

Fantasies of the Master Race goes to Pandora

by Val D. Phillips


If you wish to read copious praise for Avatar's special effects and political good intentions, kindly look everywhere else on the net. It's time we so-called radicals start talking about the failure of Avatar's good intentions and James Cameron's eyes-wide-open walk into racist storytelling.


I'm not going to restate the plot of Avatar here. If you're one of the five people on the planet who hasn't seen it yet, it's basically Dances with Last Samurai In Space.


Instead, I need to go straight to the question that has plagued me since seeing this film. Why is it cinema's indigenous peoples, no matter how wise, spiritually enlightened and physically fit they are, can somehow never figure out how to defeat whitey without whitey? And not just whitey as an advisor, a double-agent, who maybe can shed a little useful intel on the enemy, but as their leader?


Three months into his relationship with the indigenous Na'vi, Jake Sully, a grunt by his own admission, appoints himself general of the entire Na'vi resistance against their human invaders. Apparently, humans are so incredibly smart, so much more politically and militarily brilliant than their Na'vi brothers, that even a foot-soldier, a Marine corporal, can out-strategize the most experienced Na'vi warrior, a man chosen by his people to lead his people. Said warrior just steps right out of the way when Jake Sully steps up to speak because, after all, Jake Sully is...nobody in particular, not to mention the guy whose treachery just resulted in the complete destruction of the people's home!


Apparently there isn't a single Na'vi, male or female, who, having lived on Pandora an entire life, knowing its landscape and peoples intimately, raised as hunters and warriors in daily communication with Na'vi ancestors, spirits and non-humanoid animals, could lead the people better than this guy. Apparently native peoples simply can't figure out for themselves that they all need to work together to get rid of the genocidal imperialist bastards.


Apparently Tecumseh never made it to Pandora. Or any of James Cameron's classrooms.


Also, apparently, whitey need only exploit indigenous history (anthropogists call it "myth" if they're feeling charitable and "superstition" if they're not) to persuade a people still reeling from the trauma of brutal ethnic cleansing that despite his responsibility for said ethnic cleansing, he's really an okay guy and someone to be trusted with their very survival. Sweet they are, these Na'vi. Sweet, noble, and maybe just a tad naive?


Was I the only one who cringed deep into my seat when Jake Sully attempted to repair his relationship with his adopted tribe by "bonding" with the largest bird on the planet so he can convince the people he's really special and someone to be admired. This is the same guy who, upon "bonding" with his first, smaller bird-steed said, "you're mine now," showing that despite Na'vi princess Neytiri's patient tutelage, he still hadn't a clue about indigenous peoples' relationships to the natural world. Now, I can't claim to be a "Na'vi expert" (despite the fact that I'm white, and therefore an expert on all things indigenous) but it would seem to me the whole concept of "owning" an animal to whom you have made a lifetime commitment would be considered anthema to a people with a worldview like the Na'vi.


Apparently, the indigenous people of Pandora are so physically and spiritually inept compared to Jake Sully that while only 5 of their people in the entire history of their world have ever bonded with this creature, Jake Sully manages it so easily Cameron can't even be bothered to show us the struggle on film.


Narratively, in such a white liberal wet dream, it goes without saying that the gorgeous and brave Na'vi princess Neytiri, superior to Jake Sully in every way that Cameron explores, would, for no apparent reason, fall in love and mate for life with the man ninety days after she had first called him a child in his understanding of her world. The only criticism most folks seem willing to offer of this nonsense is that it's cliched. It's not just cliched; it's racist, not to mention ridiculous.


I'm guessing Cameron thought he could get away with this--if he thought about it all--because he put the white human in a blue Na'vi's body. In the 20th century they called this type of acting "putting on black face." Apparently in the 21st century we've evolved to "putting on blue face (and body)." Now there's a cinematic achievement.


Don't get me wrong. I love a good race traitor movie as much as the next person. And I really do appreciate some of Avatar's attempts to bring eco-consciousness and an anti-invasion sentiment to the youth of this country. Trudy, the Marine who turns against her own, is a fine heroine, and Neytiri definitely channels the more bad-ass side of Pocahontas. There are few things that make me happier than seeing imperialists successfully repelled, particularly the white, corporate, English-speaking variety.


But if you want to see a good film about a race traitor, the movie to see is District 9, not Avatar. With Avatar, James Cameron had the opportunity to create his magnum opus, a masterpiece of cinematic storytelling in which his technological achievements were matched by a truly eye-opening story. He not only failed, he reinforces with Avatar some of the most destructive racist myths written by white liberals.


Enjoy the 3-D, but don't the nifty glasses keep you from seeing it for what it is.

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...

Recognizing Nuage Tricksters

Nuage Tricksters

"Needing to be an expert on everything is part of your indoctrination into Colonialism and White supremacy."

"Tricksters are good at shape shifting into a form that is familiar to his victims. What is more familiar to your corrupt society than the missionary?"

THE TRICKSTER

A trickster is a supernatural being and a hero who, through his cunning, often brings some form of good to his people; sometimes the trickster is a creator god. At the same time, he often appears as though he cannot tell the difference between good and evil. The trickster stands for the forces of mischief and destruction, but he can also represent less harmful horseplay, crafty trickery, or even bungling behaviour. In his more sinister form, he enjoys bringing chaos and disorder to the world. Tricksters in Native American myth include Great Hare or Rabbit, Raccoon, or other animals among the Woodland peoples of the Northeast and Southeast; coyote in the Southwest, West and Plains; and the raven, blue jay, or mink among the Northwest Coast peoples.

The trickster in our modern world most commonly takes the shape of the nuage religious fraud. Nuage tricksters can shape shift into some very appealing forms. They don’t seem bad. They don’t look bad. But they are all about destruction. They’re interested in exploiting people for power money and even sex.

In most indigenous traditions, the trickster reveals his tricks in the end of the story and a moral lesson is learned. This is not the case for the nuage trickster. They will do everything in their power to keep from revealing their tricks. They don't trick to teach a lesson. The nuage trickster tricks because he is all about power and control. It is precisely because he never reveals his trickery, that the nuage trickster is a hard one to walk away from.

How to Recognize Nuage Tricksters: How to Make Them Reveal Their Tricks

This is written for all those non-NDN sincere seekers who think that they can find anything spiritual on the internet.

The best way to find a fraud online is simply to type “sweat lodge”, “vision quest” or “shaman” into the Google search engine. Without fail, every hit that comes up is put up by an individual who is engaged in some type of fraudulent activity. Every single one is the leftist equivalent of Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts or any other tele-evangelist currently under investigation. There isn’t any significance difference. You are a fool if you think there is.

Legitimate Native American spiritual leaders DO NOT advertise on the internet. They DO NOT charge for ceremonies, and they are not at all interested in spreading the word or increasing the flock. Stop and think about it for a minute, this is a profoundly EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN activity. If you are truly seeking an ALTERNATIVE to Christianity, then why accept it in the exact same FORM as Christianity – proselytizing evangelizing and spreading the word through books? If you really desire an alternative, they why do you insist that everything be given to you in the same FORM as the religion that didn’t meet your spiritual needs in the first place? It is an unfortunate fact of human nature that most people are quickest to trust "one of their own." Consequently, there are thousands of “White shamans” out there who cunningly project a stereotypical image that is comforting to white seekers. All these nuage tricksters do is to reinforce racist stereotypes about native people – that we are all deeply spiritual and only interested in “sharing” ceremonies with whites that will undo the environmental destruction they have done to the planet in order to maintain their privileged lifestyles. We are NOT your spiritual servants. We DO NOT exist to meet your spiritual needs. We don’t talk about our spirituality anymore than we discuss our private sex lives. Our spirituality is a private matter. It’s a cultural thing.

For those of you determined to find that one legitimate teacher out there who can see how sincere you are in your spiritual quest. Get over yourself. To the indigenous mind, this is extreme selfishness and an evil state of being. Such selfishness is considered the main barrier to a true spiritual journey among legitimate indigenous spiritual leaders. You need to come to grips with the fact that you probably weren’t meant to be a spiritual leader in a culture that you weren’t raised in and that you know absolutely nothing about. Needing to be an expert on everything is part of your indoctrination into Colonialism and White supremacy. Nuage tricksters depend on this selfishness. Reading all those books about do-it-yourself ceremonies is like watching FOX news; the more you watch the less you actually know about the issues and the more vulnerable you are to those who want to trick you. (Google it, they’ve done actual studies on this) Trickster will always try to make you think you are the exception to the rule and that there is one legitimate teacher out there if you can only find that teacher by virtue of your exceptional sincerity. This is considered selfishness and a big vice in the indigenous worldviews.

Trickster will always try to trap you with the false promise of quick fixes and easy feel-good answers. Legitimate Native spiritual leaders are 100% committed to meeting the needs of their legitimate indigenous communities. Why would they abandon their own communities to meet the needs of the colonizers who are still bent on the total destruction of their way of life? Why would they choose their oppressors needs over the needs of their own people? They don’t have time to waste on outsiders who don’t know who they are. They don’t have energy to waste on outsiders who are so frightened and confused about their identities as white people that they are desperate to find a crutch – a false belief system that will ease their guilt if only for a little while. Without exception, there are NO LEGITIMATE SPIRITUAL LEADERS of any indigenous nation selling or advertising ceremony, sacred herbs or sacred artifacts to outsiders. This is what religious frauds do. Legitimate spiritual elders DO NOT go on world tours, offer workshops, issue certificates, or form non-profits to proselytize or engage in anything as ridiculous as “Shamanic counseling.” Tricksters are good at shape shifting into a form that is familiar to his victims. What is more familiar to your corrupt society than the missionary?

If you have already been tricked by these people in the past, then YOU have a lot to account for. You have a lot of self-reflection to do. You have a lot of work to do on yourself, before you will ever be ready to deal with things that are truly spiritual. You need to confront your colonial indoctrination, your whiteness, your skin privilege, and your sense of entitlement. You need to discover what is lacking in you that you can be tricked. There is a list of websites and videos that can help you, but it will not be fun and you will not be made to feel wonderful and special. That’s what religious hucksters do. If you are truly ready to begin any sort of spiritual journey, you must be ready to confront your shadow. You must be committed to deal with the revelation that your “born-again” neopagan experiences with some nuage trickster was more about your denial, your need to escape your white identity, your weariness with a alienating Capitalist society, your longing for community and your emotional vulnerability than with anything truly spiritual or indigenous. Your foolishness, your irrationality and your gullibility is your shadow. The trickster is always looking for ways he can benefit by manipulating that shadow. The trickster preys on guilty confused people who don’t know who they really are, but he is powerless against people who have to courage to acknowledge and confront their shadows. When you know your shadow, (your Colonialism) you can’t be tricked.

If you still continue to support and defend these religious hucksters then you are complicit in the spiritual genocide of the indigenous nations on this planet. You cannot escape the responsibility of this or the guilt of this. You can only find a more clever and more manipulative spiritual huckster to delay this painful self discovery. Spiritual growth isn’t about rainbows and crystals; it is about being painfully and intensely honest with yourself. It’s about knowing who you really are – not false piety, not an inflated ego or a need to go around telling people you’re a shaman or that you’ve studied with a shaman. This is disgraceful selfishness to the indigenous mine. This is a foreign state of being to a white person, but it doesn’t cost a penny and you don’t need a guru to get to a new level of honesty. All you need is a commitment to STOP lying to yourself. STOP the denial. Stop the flight into fantasy and live in the moment in the real world. We’ve met dam few non-NDNS who are willing to get that honest.

ADDENDUM:
Legitimate Spiritual Leaders speak their language, and perform their ceremonies in their language. They teach in their language, pray in their language, and sing in their language. They speak the language of the indigenous community that they serve, and they do not perform their ceremonies in the language of the colonizer, whether it be English, Spanish, or French. The only time they use English is to interpret for members of their community who no longer speak their original language.

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

Go To Shell

Every once and a while, it is good to be reminded that beautiful nature is also why we do this work. Our thanks to a contributor who wishes to remain anonymous for these lovely photos and captions.

"I really don't know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it is because in addition to the fact that the sea changes and the light changes, and ships change, it is because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have, in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it we are going back from whence we came." - John F. Kennedy, 1962 America's Cup Speech

Great Egret and seagulls, Captiva Island, Florida.





How many times in your life do you find a sea shell with something inside? On Sanibel Island it happens often enough to warrant a prohibition against live shelling.



Hard core shellers at sunrise. Fort Myers, Florida is in the background.



Giant Heart Cockle. Yes, there is something alive in there.



Banded tulip. Yep, live shell. Sigh. Have to put it back.



Calico crab. Extremely rare find. Thank you, Sea Gods.



Osprey with fish.



Low tide at dusk. Get in that tidepool and shell like mad!



Heart cockle extends its "foot" to push itself back in the tidepool.









Close up, Heart Cockle's retracted foot is visible.



Florida Fighting Conch. Two eyes are visible at the end of the dark tubes as the conch fights to roll itself over and burrow in the sand.



Boy, Girl, Pelican. Is there anything else?