Summertime... and the Frauds are Frontin'

Midsummer is a sacred time in many cultures. The sun is at her strongest, the weather is lovely and folks are outside.

Yes, I said, "her." In the Gaelic languages, the sun is female.

Irish Goddesses associated with the sun are Áine and Grian. Áine's time is midsummer, her symbols include the bright red summer sun and the red mare. Her sister, Grian (whose name is also simply the name for the sun) looks to be associated with the pale, white sun of winter, and in my personal experience she has an association with a pale, light gold mare. In Ireland, the two sisters have sacred hills near one another, where people have torchlit processions and make offerings to honour them.

Here on Turtle Island (the North American continent), many Nations also hold this as a time for ceremony, and it is a favored time for interfaith gatherings, worldwide. Interfaith gatherings can vary widely. Those run by traditional people are best, in my opinion, but it is also important to make sure people are involved who understand the protocols of the various groups participating. It's unfortunately common for people from unfamiliar cultures to take advantage of those running interfaith gatherings, by misrepresenting themselves to folks they hope won't know too much about the cultures they claim to represent.

To this end, the crew at Gaol Naofa, with help from the CAORANN stalwarts, have put together some memes and leaflets to help navigate these issues. We have several formats of three basic documents, depending on what sort of social media you prefer, or if you want to print them out.

Introductory Leaflet about Gaol Naofa and Gaelic Polytheism

A Brief Guide to Spotting Offensive Celtic Ceremonies

A Brief Guide to Recognizing Authentic, Respectful, Celtic Traditions

If any of the content seems confusing, we go into more detail in the wordier versions on the pages above, as well as in our collection of articles. 

Enjoy the summer sun, ceremony season and reunions with family and friends. Slàinte Mhath!

Death-Dealing Plastic Shaman to be Released from Prison

James Arthur Ray, convicted of three counts of Negligent Homicide for killing three people (and injuring over twenty more) in a racist, humiliating, pretendian debacle in a plastic death tent, will be loose in just 10 Days. He killed three people, but he's being turned loose. Here's a refresher, from the Usual Suspects:

AZ v. James Ray in 10 minutes

Here's most of what I've written about James Ray over the past few years: James Ray Sweat Deaths Posts.

He wants your money; he'll take your life. Don't let him ever again have a career at this stuff. Don't let him sell his deadly fake rituals. Don't let him lead any kind of ceremony, ever. Don't buy it, don't excuse it, don't look the other way.

James Ray was able to get away with killing these people due to two things: racism and greed. Racism led otherwise-intelligent people to think they could trust a white man to lead ceremonies that Native people had said he had no right or ability to lead. They bought the racist fantasy that they could be the "better Indians" - that they could attain in one week, or a series of seminars, things it takes normal people decades to achieve, if they ever achieve it at all. And they were greedy enough that they bought the illogical proposal that if they did his silly and offensive newage rituals - gross fabrications mixed with pale imitations of spiritual ceremonies he only pretended to know - that it would bring them material riches. They thought they were better than Native people, they thought they were above the laws of nature. And as long as people are willing to believe those kinds of offensive and absurd falsehoods, frauds and exploiters like Ray will get the chance to kill them.

Pretendian Racist Tries to Colonise Ireland - The attempted return of White Ego Fraud

Thoroughly non-Native Rachel Holzwarth is still calling herself "White Eagle Medicine Woman," even though she promised the real Native Americans who picketed her racist displays that she would stop doing so. She is still dressing in fake Plains NDN regalia, even though she promised NDNs she would stop. She lied. Then she lied some more.

Now she's looking for some place to sell her fake ceremonies and "prayerformances" (her word), and she's hoping she can find some place where there are no NDNs, and where no one cares about misappropriation. Her only performances and workshops in the US in the past five years have been in all-white, gated enclaves. She's gotten some confidence back by selling her pretendian schtick to Jews & tourists in the Middle East. Now, five years after her broken promises, she is once again looking to branch out. This is from her Facebook page (It looks like you will have to temporarily "like" the page to see the posts):


from Holzwarth's Facebook page
Holzwarth photoshopped a version of a spiral from a Christian manuscript into one of her bizarre publicity photos:
 

It's not even an image of the Newgrange spiral. Ripping off an unrelated image from an Irish manuscript gives her no more connection to Newgrange, or any other Irish sacred site, than does her hanging Australian eagle feathers off that death drum and claiming it gives her the right to represent Native Americans. Yet she has lied and claimed to be "Celtic" just as she has lied about being Seneca. She has never shown that she knows anything at all about Irish (or any other Celtic) culture. She just tried that old racist ploy of thinking "Celtic" can be used as shorthand for "white appropriator." When pressed, she has admitted she is Jewish. There is nothing wrong with being a Jew, but apparently Rachel seems to think so. It looks like she has tried to be lots of things.

The death drum contains human remains and human blood. It is evil, like the racist pretendian fraud who bangs on it, the one who has openly espoused the racist theories of Steiner - suggesting that all the NDNs need to die so the white people can inherit their medicine. Anyone of any spiritual sensitivity who has been near that thing can feel that it is bad, bad ju ju. Anyone with basic human compassion for oppressed people must stand up to this crass exploitation.

She's also putting out feelers in England:


from Holzwarth's Facebook page
Heads up, Irish and English folks, and anyone else in the Isles. Don't let this woman exploit you the way she's tried to exploit Indigenous people everywhere she's gone. Don't let her come to your land, don't let her present there, don't buy her lies.

Don't let her rip us off the way she's ripped off Native Americans. Don't let her steal our ancestors or sell a mangled misrepresentation of us to the capitalist newagers. Don't let her use us to promote her racist agenda.

Go raibh maith agaibh! 

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Windigo Disease collage courtesy of When White People Go Bad.

The most racist thing I've seen today...

This video perfectly sums up what is wrong with the newagers and others who engage in cultural appropriation. James Ray admits he has no idea what a local, possibly indigenous, woman at this sacred site is saying. She appears to be explaining the site to visitors. Ray not only ignores her words (that he could have recorded and had translated later, if she gave him permission to do so) but instead he talks over her, giving his outsider interpretation of what the symbols at this site mean, and what religious significance he thinks the site has. Of course, he uses appropriated imagery and his fantasies of Indigenous people's traditions for this, though he admits that he "doesn't understand a word" of it.

Her voice is drowned out, and his replaces it. His voice is broadcast over the Internet, as hers is reduced to background noise, and then forgotten. Misinformation and fantasy replace traditional knowledge. The appropriator says some more racist crap, laughs about the Indigenous people, and laughs about how clever he is.

Next James Ray tells us that his pay-to-pray, "prosperity consciousness" group, World Wealth Society, are over in a nearby "vortex". Now he's making money off the sacred site. They have invaded this indigenous sacred site, and are performing their own idea of a death/rebirth ritual. Or something. If Ray's comments and attitude are any indicator, they have no idea what ceremonies have been traditionally held at this site, or which spirits live there, and which things please them... or anger them. Probably no one in his group had any idea how to call to the local spirits (since they don't understand the language) and probably they were so caught up in their pay-to-pray experience that they didn't think to call on some of their own ancestral spirits. By barging into this site and not knowing the people or spirits of the land, even calling ancestral spirits might have resulted in them stirring up things that would clash with the local spirits. Then again, maybe they did get noticed by someone... as death is following James Ray.

Watch it for yourself. Astonishing:



Thanks to Twinkie Wrangler for finding this.

If James Ray had listened to Indigenous people, the three people who died in his Sedona deathlodge would still be alive. Indigenous people said, "You don't know what you're doing. Don't pretend you are leading one of our ceremonies. Don't try to lead these fake ceremonies at all. No. Stop."

But like so many lower-profile appropriators of his ilk (who, like Ray, come from the dominant culture and never interact with traditional, non-colonized Indigenous people),  Ray decided he knew better than those dumb Indigenes. He knew better: how to better interpret their sacred stories, how to better lead rituals of his own devising on their sacred sites, how to talk to those spirits (despite not understanding a word of their language), how to fulfill the newagers' fantasies of mystical ceremonies they secretly knew no Indigenous person would ever teach them. If the newagers had simply listened to the people who said traditional ceremonies must be in the language of that culture, maybe they wouldn't have paid $10,000 to die.

Multiple witnesses in Ray's manslaughter trial said they trusted that Ray could lead a sweat lodge because he showed them pictures of himself with nameless Indigenous people. Thanks to the efforts of dedicated NDN activists in North America, he would have had a hard time passing off traditional people here as his teachers. (See, NDNs here have phones and email.) So he claimed people from the more rural regions of South America, who have less phone service (and usually no Internet), were his teachers. (This tactic has become very popular with the appropriators, by the way.) But if the consumers of his pay-to-pray pyramid schemes had understood that Indigenous people have names, opinions, and sovereignty over their own cultures, they wouldn't have fallen for this. As long as there is racism, there will be appropriation. And as long as there is appropriation, people will support dangerous frauds like Ray.

Racism and Invisible Indians in the James Ray Trial

James Arthur Ray has been found guilty of three counts of Negligent Homicide

I join with the many activists who have followed this trial in being relieved we have a verdict of guilty. Like my colleagues, I would have preferred the manslaughter conviction, which carries a longer sentence. But at least Ray has been found guilty of causing the deaths of three human beings through his negligence. He will do time. May this serve as a deterrent to the other frauds and exploiters out there.

James Arthur Ray exploited Native people by mimicking their ceremonies and selling them for obscene amounts of money. He exploited lost souls looking for a spiritual leader. He killed three people in his sham plastic tent and sent many more to the hospital. I only wish the penalty was more severe for the damage he has done.

I pray that all those who have been exploited and harmed by this arrogant fraud, and by exploiters like him, find justice, completion, peace and healing.


  James Arthur Ray, manifesting his future
Racism and Invisible Indians in the James Ray Trial

One of the most horrifying things about the James Ray trial, and the coverage by the mainstream media, is that Native people were rendered largely invisible. Of the many witnesses who testified, only Fawn Foster, a groundskeeper at the Angel Valley
retreat center, claimed to have any Native heritage (I don't know if she does, but this is what she stated on the stand). The defense tried to use her stated ethnicity, and her disapproval of pay-to-pray, as a reason to doubt her testimony. It was ugly and racist.

Even worse was the news coverage on In Session and Headline News. They found a pretendian fraud to lead a badly-done and dangerous fake sweat for their cameras. Then they had the fraud on the air repeatedly to talk as an "expert" on Native ceremonies. The fraud violated so many ceremonial protocols in the footage, it was appalling. Native people from the family he claimed had adopted him went online to speak out and say he is not a member of their family and has no rights to ceremonies. He caused much distress to Native people, but even over objections In Session kept having him back.

A few days after that, In Session had a panel of six people discussing their experiences with "sweat lodges". Not a single one of the people interviewed was Native. They were all non-Natives who dabble in what they think are Native ceremonies. As I wrote to In Session at the time: "Non-Natives chanting vocables in a plastic tent is not a 'Native ceremony.'"

Native people and their supporters wrote and called In Session and Headline News to protest. We blogged and tweeted about it; one group started a petition. The only response was that eventually In Session stopped their coverage of the James Ray trial completely. They never issued a clarification or retraction. They never apologized. Perhaps they were embarrassed they had been tricked by the fraud, and wanted to pretend it never happened.

Though In Session gave the non-Native people multiple days of coverage to opine on Native ceremonies, and to spread more ignorance, the only time I saw any Native person given a chance to speak was a brief phone call with Floyd Hand (Lakota). His brief spot was not promoted the way the non-Natives were; he was given very little time to talk, and the vapid on-air personality interrupted him and ended the call when he didn't give her the sort of sound bites she was looking for.

It was very offensive.

The James Ray trial has provided a few small openings to educate about cultural appropriation and the cultural genocide perpetuated by frauds like James Arthur Ray. But mostly it has been horrible and disappointing: Newagers on parade, racism, and the perpetuation of negative stereotypes. Three people are dead and up until today nothing had really changed, except that a lot of ignorant non-Natives now think anyone can attend a sweat lodge and it's only inappropriate if you make it too hot and too long. Or they don't understand that what James Ray led was not a Native ceremony, and now they mistakenly believe that Native people have scary and deadly practices. Some Pagans who have commented seem to think it's only a matter of a few mistakes in construction and timing, "Oh, he used plastic tarps and overdid it." In terms of non-Native perceptions of Native people and Native lifeways, I'd say the net result has been more of the same ignorance about Native traditions, just on a bigger scale.

Today's verdict is not ideal. Manslaughter convictions would have locked him up for longer. But at least there is a guilty verdict, and some consequences. Maybe some of the exploiters will think a bit longer before they do one of their macho, sham ceremonies, where they (consciously or unconsciously) act out the racist fantasy that they can be "the better Indians" - that they can make their imitation ceremonies longer and hotter, and in airtight deathlodges, because they must know better than those traditionals who've only been doing this for many, many generations. And they must also be the better Indians since apparently they can just attend a few rituals by another fraud and then hang out a shingle as a sweat leader, when those silly Indians have to grow up in the traditions, be trained for decades by people who were raised in these ways, go through ceremonies cultural outsiders don't even know exist in order to be trusted with the right to have a lodge, and then be acknowledged before the whole community as someone who has earned this right. (As the Lakota ways are the ones most-mimicked by the exploiters, including James Ray, I think Chief Arvol Looking Horse's comments on the issue are especially relevant.)

I keep hoping we can use this case as an opportunity for education, and maybe in a small way we have done that. But aside from those who injure and kill ritual participants now knowing there is a precedent for them to face criminal charges, I'm not sure much has changed. I hope there will be more questioning of cult leaders like Ray. But with our increasingly desperate society, with the environmental and economic disasters we're facing, many people seem all too willing to turn off their brains and follow anyone who claims to have easy answers, or easy solutions. My prediction is that more people are going to die. Newagers and NeoPagans are still leading plastic sweats. Back when I was attending Neopagan gatherings in the 1980's, I saw Neopagans make every single one of the mistakes Ray made - the dangerous changes to lodge construction, the macho changes in tradition, the ignorant mixing of fragments of ceremonies, the ignorance of proper spiritual and physical safety protocols, all of it. The only difference, really, is that Ray charged thousands of dollars whereas Neopagans, if they charge money, usually charge hundreds.* Unless something changes in people's attitudes about cultural integrity and cultural misappropriation, the next deaths may be at a Neopagan gathering.

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For those who've never researched Gaelic (Irish and Scottish) Sweat House traditions, if someone brings that up you may be interested in this earlier post: New Age Death Sweats IV: Jackboots at the Seder Table. The section specifically about comparative Sweat-related traditions, "But Sweatlodge is Universal", starts about 1/3 of the way through.

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*Yes, the old joke does still seem true for much of the Neopagan community:
Q: What's the difference between a Newage gathering and a Neopagan gathering?
A: A decimal point.

For those of you who may not know, the main reason I have very little to do with the mainstream of the Neopagan community these days is the cultural appropriation and usually unintentional, but still very real and unacceptable, racism that is so prevalent there. I just couldn't take it anymore. By the technical definition I'm still a type of modern Pagan, in that I'm a polytheist and practice an earth-based tradition that is both pre-Christian and other-than-Christian. But our Gaelic Polytheist (GP) community has largely different values than the eclectic Neopagan community. We don't have a lot of overlap. As participants in a traditional lifeway, my GP friends, family and I have more in common with our Indigenous friends. These days when I participate in large-scale gatherings it's usually at Gaelic cultural events that are generally secular in nature, or Interfaith gatherings with Indigenous friends and colleagues.

Closing Arguments in James Ray Deathlodge Manslaughter Trial

Prosecutor Sheila Polk delivers closing arguments in James Ray manslaughter trial

Thank you, Twinkie Wrangler for transcribing highlights from the closing arguments in the James Arthur Ray, newage shameon deathlodge trial: Closing Arguments in Arizona v. James Arthur Ray

The defense is delivering their closing as I type this. For the play-by-play, live coverage follow the James Ray Daily and the #JamesRay hashtag on Twitter.

For those wondering how to lead an eclectic, newage ritual that kills people, this is also a good intro. < / sarcasm >

Some quotes from the transcript:

Laurie Gennari ... heard a voice call out, “She’s not responding”.

And at another time, she heard someone call out, “She’s not breathing.” She heard Mr. Ray respond, “leave her there we’ll deal with it at the end of the round.”

...

In his pre-event briefing, Mr. Ray described all the signs and symptoms of heat related illness, but then told them to ignore them and that it was safe to do so.

Mr. Ray encouraged them to let others have their own experience and not to interfere.

Rather than teaching participants that altered mental status is hallmark of heat exhaustion, Mr. Ray encouraged them to push through and endure and that they would have a breakthrough.

...

You’ve heard the defendant’s own words describing how he was intentionally taking the lodge to extreme heat to achieve an altered mental state, telling and them to ignore signs of their bodies.

Sweat lodge ceremonies are not inherently dangerous events.

Endurance challenges where participants are told to ignore signs of heat illness are incredibly dangerous.

No one could imagine that James Ray would ignore calls for help and allow participants to pass out in that tent and just leave them there.

He knew.

He intended to introduce hellaciously hot heat and steam.

He told participants to ignore their body’s warning signs of distress and pushing through pain and suffering was a good thing.

He told them they were not supposed to speak during sweat lodge ceremony unless asked by him.

James Ray audio clip: “…By the time we get to the 27th round – just kidding I will promise you we’ll have at least 7 rounds it just depends on how I get inspired. You’ve got to surrender to it. We’ll be doing some prayers and chants and I may go into an altered state. …

"I’m the master of the lodge and when I tell you to do something that’s when you do it."

He told [participants] they could not leave the tent during a round. ... he said, “I am the grand master in this temple and I need you to think of it in this way. The person running the lodge is like a priest.”

...

What you must consider is did the defendant’s conduct pose a substantial and unjust risk of death and was the defendant aware of the risk. Did he substantially disregard the substantial risk of death?

To prove crime of manslaughter you would have to prove Mr. Ray was aware of the risk of death and ignored it.

I submit to you that Mr. Ray was aware of that risk.

His words before and during the heat challenge itself is proof to you that he was aware.

His conduct inside the sweat lodge as round after round after round more people got sick and his conduct about what he did and what he did not do shows you that what was happening is what he intended to happen. You’ve heard his intent was to create this extreme mental state.

But he intended to use that heat to take them up to that brink of death and think they were getting something for their $10,000.

That’s why he doesn’t stop as people are being dragged out. This is what he intended.

...

Witness after witness has testified about the growing chaos in this tent starting really about the end of round four.

Amy Grimes passed out on Kim Brinkley. She testified she yelled out for help and that Amy was dragged out.

Somebody drags out Amy right past the defendant.

Lou Caci ... delirious and unconscious, falling into that pit of heated rocks.

You have heard so much testimony about the growing chaos, moans, requests for help, dragged out limp and lifeless in front of the defendant.

All the information that he had about people being in distress as early as the fourth round and all the opportunity he had to stop this challenge. He didn’t.

Mr. Ray’s desire to make people think they were experiencing something unique took precedence over their safety.

Debbie Mercer testified that she assisted about 25 people.

Beverly Bunn testified that everything was chaos after the 4th round. Sydney Spenser was dragged out completely lifeless right past the defendant. The defendant shouted, “Everybody quiet down! I am in charge!”

When Scott Barratt tried to move Linda Andresano, the defendant yelled at him to stop. Scott Barratt testified that he stopped because he was afraid that the defendant would yell at him again.

Mr. Ray said, “Just leave her. We need to keep going.”

All these opportunities to stop that event.

These deaths were not inevitable.

Ask yourself , if the defendant had stopped the ceremony when he had these warnings would Kirby, James and Liz still be alive?

There's more. Much more...

It is abundantly clear that by the fourth round, Ray knew people were in medical distress, and needing medical attention. He ignored their distress, told others to ignore their distress, and kept calling for more rocks, more buckets of water to create more heat and steam. He continued this hell-lodge for four more rounds as people lost consciousness and three died. He watched them vomit and lose control of their bodily functions. He watched them unconscious and not breathing, and still he went on. He could have stopped it and he did not. Let's hope the jury gets it and locks this guy up.

Don't Pay To Pray: Lakota Nation Calls James Arthur Ray on his Disrespect

Don't Pay To Pray: Lakota Nation Calls James Arthur Ray on his Disrespect

More details about the Lakota Lawsuits against DeathRay, the impact of this sort of cultural appropriation, and the harm the desecration of the ceremonies and lands does to the Indigenous peoples of the area.

Lakota Nation files lawsuit against James Arthur Ray and Angel Valley Retreat Center

Lakota Nation files lawsuit against parties in sweat lodge incident

In the aftermath of the tragedy at Angel Valley Retreat Center, where an incompetently conducted “sweat lodge” held by Californian self-help guru James Arthur Ray killed three participants, ... the Lakota tribe of North and South Dakota has filed a lawsuit against the United States, the state of Arizona, James Arthur Ray and the Angel Valley Retreat Center.

The lawsuit refers to the Treaty of Fort Laramie between the United States and the Lakota Nation from 1868, which 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.” The plaintiffs hold that James Arthur Ray and the Angel Valley Retreat Center have “violated the peace between the United States and the Lakota Nation” and have caused the “desecration of our Sacred Oinikiga by causing the death of Liz Neuman, Kirby Brown and James Shore”. The lawsuit further holds that James Arthur Ray and the Angel Valley Retreat Center have committed fraud by impersonating Indians and must be held responsible for causing the deaths of the victims and injuries of the survivors, and for the destruction of evidence through the dismantling of the sweat lodge.

Read the full article here: Lakota Nation files lawsuit against parties in sweat lodge incident. Apologies for the crassly commercial ads on the newspaper's website.

The Fort Laramie Treaty was also instrumental in setting a precedent for justice in a rape case this summer: Justice and Honors for Lakota Women.

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Update, Sat. Nov. 14, 2009: More details from Don't Pay to Pray, here: Lakota Nation Calls James Arthur Ray on his Disrespect, calling all supporters of cultural preservation to stand up for the voices of the Indigenous peoples harmed by these appropriations and desecrations.

Thanks to Heather from Don't Pay to Pray for passing this along. Follow her updates on Twitter.

Wannabe NDN

Rezerella brings us this commentary on DeathRay and his DeathTrap. Show it to all the others out there doing the same thing, but who just haven't killed anyone yet.

Cultural Appropriation Post #949 (but with quotes from... oh no, #HimToo)

Sick of reading about Cultural Appropriation? Bet you're not as sick of hearing about it as I am of having to write about it. But guess what? I'm going to do it some more.

There's nothing new about the James Ray Plastic Death "Sweats". Over the years at least a dozen other newagers have died, and many more have become violently ill, in these pretendian ceremonies with various plastic shamans. You will note however that, with only one exception,* those who have died have not been Indians.

This is almost wholly an appropriator's phenomena. It's what clueless outsiders do when they are messing with something they don't understand; something they don't realize that you can't learn from a book or the Internet; something that is sacred and can't be bought.

It is vitally important that people remember the James Ray Death Camp was not a Native American thing. What happened there were not Native American ceremonies. This was a racist white man exploiting non-Indian people's fantasies of "Vision Quests", "Lodges", "Spiritual Warriors" and wind through their hair while white wolves howl their pretendian names and vast desert vistas sweep away from their yin-yang painted tipis. They didn't want to know anything about real Indians, real Indian lives, and real Indian ceremonies; they want Dances with Wolves and they were gullible and desperate enough to pay some predatory cult leader $10,000 to get that fantasy. The sick irony is that they thought these fake ceremonies, almost-unrecognizable imitations of ways that, when properly embedded in the cultural matrix that is necessary for their existence, are based in humble self-sacrifice for the benefit of one's family and community, would instead make them wealthy and famous, superstars of their lonely ego-driven dramas.


Angel Valley Retreat Center. James Ray's DeathLodge at lower left.
In 1992, the "Men's Movement" amped up the white fascination with romanticized fantasies of Indians. Many white men tried to adopt and adapt a "white man's sweat" as some kind "sweat out the bad shit", misinterpretation of what is actually a prayer ceremony, and not at all what they think it is. Now, after decades of non-Natives teaching non-Natives, we have people who are so far removed from anything authentic, but who fully believe what they are doing is a Native ceremony, that it's no wonder people are still spiritually empty, yet risking their lives for this hollow experience. They try to make it bigger, louder, hotter, and even dangerous now, all the while completely missing the point and purpose of the entire thing.

These appropriators simultaneously believe they can read some books, bang a drum and howl, and become the "better Indian," but that when it all goes off the rails somehow it's Natives that owe them something when they go and damage themselves.

What it keeps coming down to is that non-Natives routinely see Indians solely as spiritual providers, there to tend to their needs. It is so rare to find exceptions to this. White people in particular usually have no shame about being the walking wounded, flinging themselves on the doorsteps of random Indians, often Indians who know no ceremonies, and who are having rougher lives than these entitled white people could ever imagine, yet here come these refugees centering their privileged selves, not caring one bit the damage they do to the people, families and communities they are trying to colonize.

Update: 24 Feb 2018   I originally had an entire section here linking to, and quoting, Sherman Alexie, about appropriation and cultural boundaries, and 101 issues such as "Nothing about us, without us." Today I became aware that about twenty women, most of them Indigenous, have come forward with horrific tales of sexual abuse, harassment and threats from Alexie.

I can no longer in good conscience promote his work. As a rape survivor, as a survivor of stalking, slander and libel by both the serial rapist and the co-conspirators my assailant drafted to help him stalk and libel me, I know what it's like to face this kind of harassment. I know what it's like to be surfing the net and feel punched in the face by seeing someone acting like a man who tried to ruin your life is a great guy.

So, I've removed what Alexie had to say about, cough, listening to the women in your life, ahem, as an analogy for listening to Indigenous people. He went on at length about how other men just don't write or treat women as full human beings, and other writers just don't write Natives as full human beings. I'll let history place his words in context.

In the intervening years plenty has been written about cultural misappropriation. We don't need his words here anymore.

For more on Alexie, and on my own issues with PTSD, CPTSD trauma and disability: Solidarity with other Survivors

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* Note - As archived by Heather at Don't Pay to Pray, one 2009 death in a "lodge" was a First Nations man in Canada, Lawrence Catholique. However, there were some very odd and suspicious things about that incident. Despite being a traditional healer, nothing about the circumstances resemble a sweatlodge ceremony from any First Nations culture that I am aware of. A later article says he had changed the ceremony, "experimenting with wood embers in the lodge". It was a tragic death, but if reports are true, he had changed the ceremony, deviating from the time-tested safety protocols. Also, add third James Ray Death Trap victim, Liz Neumann, to the list of dead newagers. She is the woman who was in a coma, who died after the Don't Pay to Pray blog post.

Plastic Death Sweat - 2 Dead, 3 Critical, 16 More Hospitalized

James Arthur Ray promised to make them Spiritual Warriors.

The newage, pyramid-scheming, scam artist crammed 65 people into a plastic death tent, which he claimed was a sweatlodge. In the hot, wet dark with the man who had no idea how to lead an Indian ceremony, and no connection to any culture that could have taught him how (or told him this was a really bad idea), they sweated for two hours... till two were dead, three were unconscious, and 21 others went to the hospital.

Hazmat teams and crime scene tape now surround the site. Native American ceremonial people from the area are saying that, by imitating a ceremony he was not trained to perform, this newage plastic shaman killed these people. I agree. They used materials in this fake ceremony that should not be used, they used things that were physically and spiritually dangerous. They paid $9,000 for a sad death at the hands of a greedy con man.

I have no idea if they prayed in this fake ceremony, or how. I don't think this guy knows any prayers beyond, "Gimme Gimme Money Money".

James Arthur Ray made them to Pay to Pray. And Michael and Amayra Hamilton provided the place to do it.

James Ray makes his living as a self-styled, newage "prosperity" guru. He sells pyramid schemes and "you create your own reality" guilt trips to rich people. He's been on Oprah.

Even if this shameon knew how to run a small sweat, even if by some miracle this non-Native had been authorized to do so (not going to happen, but we're playing "what if") there's no way one person can keep track of 65 people in the dark. Especially 65 people who've never done this before, and been told they have to suffer to learn. 65 ignorant people who thought paying a newage guru for a weekend retreat would make them "warriors". I'm sure these seekers were all trying to out-macho each other; they were dehydrated and suffocating, and may not have said anything about how much distress they were in. And even if this creep were able to tell they were in distress, maybe he just didn't care. I've seen some really ugly, psychopathic predators among these types. These are the sort of callous exploiters who blame suffering people for their illnesses, and claim victims of holocausts and genocide brought it upon themselves with their "negative thoughts".

From James Arthur Ray's webpage:

"Many so-called successful people make a tremendous amount of money, but their relationships are on the rocks. That's not real wealth.

Likewise, there are others who qualify as a creative genius, and they're physically sick all the time. That's not real wealth!

Then there are those who claim to be really "spiritual," and they're always financially broke. That's not wealth either!"

Then he goes on to promise that if you pay him lots of money, he will show you how to fix all this. If it doesn't work, well, you just weren't spiritual enough.

No compassion, no spirituality, just greed.

And the people were willing to pay him so much because he's been on Oprah. Are you listening, Oprah? I know some kick-ass Indian women who could come on your show and talk about how dangerous it is to Pay to Pray.

---

This is all over the news now, but for analysis that doesn't mislabel this new age fraud as a "Native American" ceremony, I'd suggest the ongoing discussion and posting of links in this thread on the New Age Frauds and Plastic Shamans site.

More mainstream coverage via The Huffington Post, AP Video, and this video of the 911 calls.

Note: When I first wrote this, initial reports were unclear, but most said there were 21 people in DeathRay's DeathTrap. Now that we know more, I've changed this to reflect the number that survivors are saying he crammed into the fake lodge (approximately 65). As of this update (Oct 26, 2009) three people have died, and more are suffering with neurological damage and possible organ failure. We now have multiple survivors stating that Ray forced these people to stay in the death tent even when they were severely disoriented, crying for help and passing out, and that he told people to not get medical help for those who were sick and dying. Criminal charges appear to be pending.

Thanks to Diana, LaDonna, Sarah, Lierre, the Iktome Returns Collective, and everyone else who has emailed and posted about this.

The Return of White Ego Fraud

Rachel Holzwarth (aka "Suraj Holzwarth" aka "White Eagle Medicine Woman") laid low for a bit after lots of Native American groups protested her "prayerformances" and workshops. At these events she charges outrageous fees to white people to watch her mimic pipe ceremony and other Native American ceremonies of which she has no knowledge and to which she has no right. She claims to be Seneca, because she had a dream she's Seneca. She's not Seneca. She belongs to no Native American or First Nations community. She parades around in fake ceremonial regalia, and gave herself the oh-so-humble name, "White Eagle Medicine Woman". She's no medicine woman. She is a fraud, making her living off the ignorance of non-Natives who think they can buy their way to enlightenment.

When gig after gig on the mainland US was shut down by Native protestors, she just moved to Hawaii, and used a private mailing list to solicit marks and charge even more money for private workshops. In this video promoting a Hawaii event, she made stunningly racist statements about how she's here to heal Indians of "anger and negativity" and "release their souls" and "heal our stories"... or something. Sickening stuff.

As I mentioned here, at times she has tried to dissemble about her activities by claiming they are "Celtic". Nope, no one bought that lie, either. But it hasn't stopped her. Like all perennial frauds, she just waited it out and has now broken all the promises she made. She has returned to the mainland and is planning more appearances and workshops.

At the Michigan protest she promised not to wear her fake Native regalia anymore, among other things. As all recent photos and videos show, she has broken every promise she made. She is also selling chant books and tapes that appear to me to contain copyright violations from multiple First Nations artists as well as Neopagan ones.

Don't Pay to Pray has posted an update with lots of links here: YouTube Action: White Eagle Woman's At It Again!

Another of Mtig49's videos about Holzwarth. Though I will note that he has reproduced Holzwarth's claims to be "A trained Strega Wiccan priestess". I don't think this is true, either. Obviously, this crap she's selling has nothing to do with Stregheria, and I've never heard of anyone from those communities claiming her, either. It looks like Rachel/Suraj has claimed to be all sorts of things over the years, tailoring her self-description to whatever market she's keen to exploit.


crossposted to craobh caorann

Update on Plymouth Protests against White Ego Fraud

Hartman has posted about his experience confronting White Ego Fraud (Rachel Holzwarth) last spring in Plymouth.

Hartman is one of the protesters who was attacked, pepper-sprayed and arrested, and the one whose blood Ego (Vampire) Fraud stole and rubbed on her drum.

It's good to hear more details on what happened. Other good news is that the case has been continued without finding, with no time served and no guilty verdicts.

Though the protestor's aim of destroying the drum was not achieved at that action, I think it was the brutality shown by the cops and the "peaceful" nuagers, as well as Ego Fraud's chilling blood incident, that really got the ball rolling on this. Hartman and his crew are my heroes for their bravery that day, and I'm relieved they haven't had to serve any time for it.

Thanks to their confrontation, word and outrage spread, so it was a success.

May it continue to spread, till the bloody fraud drum is destroyed and Holzwarth is forced to find a new career.

Haudenosaunee speak out on Rachel Holzwarth

Rachel Holzwarth
There are lots of frauds out there - self-proclaimed "spiritual leaders" who are using aspects of Native American ceremonies, against the wishes of those in the very communities they are stealing from. In the Gaelic and CR communities we are dealing with this when some white person decides they will justify their theft by calling it "Celtic", and hoping people are stupid enough to not know that the ceremonies and beliefs of the diverse Celtic Nations are different from those of the various First Nations. While some settle for the ugliness of painting a triskele on a fake Indian drum and doing their idea of a chanupa (pipe) ceremony, the really shameless have even gone so far as to publicly tack a mis-applied Gaelic (or other Celtic language) name on their idea of an Inipi or smudging ceremony, stupidly thinking that no one out there who is actually part of these cultures will notice. Though not always confronted in public, these people are being laughed at by those who speak the languages (Native American and Celtic languages).

Sometimes the theft gets so egregious that the laughter turns to anger, and people rise up and go public with it, despite the fact that many of these frauds have a number of Newage supporters. This has been happening more and more lately, and as Native American protesters and their supporters are getting more organized, the trend is going to continue. A recent example of this is the movement against Rachel Holzwarth, aka Suraj Holzwarth (sometimes her last name has also been spelled Holzworth). She has renamed herself "White Eagle Medicine Woman", despite these being titles one has to earn, from communities she has no legitimate connection to. She is traveling around, selling "prayerformances", at which she wears Indian regalia and claims to present a Seneca ceremony. She is not Seneca. This is what an actual Haudenosaunee has to say about it:


For more on Holzwarth, check out the very long and detailed thread on NAFPS, and the briefer MySpace page by one of the groups organizing protests. The MySpace page also includes more pictures and videos. So far the group has been successful in getting many of her engagements shut down. The ones that have not yet been canceled... if she attempts to proceed, the protests are being planned.

When she performed in Massachusetts, Wampanoag warriors and their supporters stood up to her. The confrontation became bloody when her security, and the cops they called, attacked the protestors. In an act of desecration, Holzwarth walked up to Hartman Deetz, one of the Wampanoag men beaten by the cops, who was lying in a pool of his own blood on the floor; Holzwarth rubbed her hands in his blood, then proceeded to rub his blood into the skin of her drum.

Maybe she did it so now she can say she "has Native blood." And for the first time it won't be a lie.

Oh, btw, when asked her ancestry she has given a variety of conflicting stories. She's claimed she's Seneca because... she dreamed she's Seneca. She has also said she's "Seneca and Celtic." Great. Just Great. Guess what Rachel, we don't want you either.

crossposted to Craobh Caorann

UUs, Pagans, and UU Pagans

This post on The Wild Hunt Blog got me thinking, and my response is a bit long for just a comment. The post is about a recent video released by the UUA, and what traditions are or are not mentioned in it.

It sometimes takes newcomers a while to understand the baseline eclecticism inherent in Unitarian-Universalism (UUism). The tone and content of services, and the beliefs of congregations (and clergy) can, and often does, vary widely from church to church and region to region. What gets put forth as official Unitarian-Universalist Association (UUA) materials can also vary significantly, depending on who is currently employed at 25 Beacon Street (the UUA headquarters). While certainly influenced by various national committees and decisions made at GA (the yearly General Assembly of UUs), it's not surprising that groups who often consider themselves part of the UUA might wind up feeling left out when the official materials come out.

Having worked at the UUA in '80-'81, I was bemused when Pagans "discovered" the UUs in the mid '80s. Some Pagans of my acquaintance actually believed they could, and should, "take over" the UUA. Some of them actually believed that the UUs, by showing interest in Paganism and being welcoming to Pagans, were expressing a desire to become Pagans. The thing is, UUs are welcoming of everyone. Basically, if you don't come in firing weapons or raping and pillaging, they'll be happy to see you, pass the coffee, and engage in conversation about what you believe. But UUs are, well, UUs. If they wanted to be Pagans, or Buddhists, or Christians, they'd go and do that. But they don't. So people who expect part of religion to be commitment - commitment to a specific religion - are generally going to be quite disappointed with the UUA.

I have to admit, I'm one of those who wound up disappointed. I was briefly a UU as a teenager, when I got involved in Liberal Religious Youth (LRY) (a group of us who were more often radical than liberal, spiritual than religious, but yes, we were youth). But after a few years of that, I really wanted something more traditional. I became frustrated with the UU blender - the insistence that all religions are basically equal and come down to the same principles. I found it was a happy home for liberal intellectuals who weren't particularly religious, but not for me. And in recent years I've also become dismayed with how the UU omnivorous approach has at times led to cultural appropriation. For instance, while I think it's great if UUs want to sponsor a local Native American elder or group to give a talk about their culture, hiring shameons and white poseurs to present "Native American" ceremonies at UU events is really, really not cool. The thing is, the UUs have an odd paradox going on - there's a general support for social justice (albeit in a Liberal manner), but there's also the omnivorous religious approach that can turn into consumption. So it's ironic to me that when I was with the UUA we marched in anti-racist demos and supported actions called by First Nations activists, yet now it seems so many of them really don't get it when it comes to respecting the wishes of First Nations people to have their ceremonies protected.

While I still have some friends who are UUs, and I think it's great they let everyone from the local AA meeting to the Pagans use space in their churches, I think maybe the Pagans are starting to realize that being a UU is a specific religious approach. It's an approach that may at times include some forms and aspects of Paganism, and other religions, to a certain extent, but it will never be the same as those specific religions. It's not meant to be.

The Resurrection of NAFPS

The good people at New Age Frauds and Plastic Shamans (NAFPS) have been through some hassles lately. A Newage magazine publisher who profits from ripping off Native cultures, and who actively promotes a number of the worst Plastic Shamans and other spiritual frauds, recently trolled the forum and, when that didn't disrupt things to his satisfaction, lied to the group's server and got the message board shut down.

Thankfully, they have found a new host for the board, and it is up and running here: http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php

As this is not the first time this sort of attack has happened, members were prepared and had archived the old board. Hopefully soon the website will be fleshed out again, as there were some very valuable articles on the old site which I would love to see available again. Specifically things on the abuse of the Sacred Pipe and Inipi.