Author Topic: Acaxel Gomez Ramirez AKA Akaxe Yotzin  (Read 9503 times)

Offline Uakasi

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Acaxel Gomez Ramirez AKA Akaxe Yotzin
« on: February 26, 2009, 04:20:05 am »
« Last Edit: December 02, 2020, 09:48:40 pm by educatedindian »

Offline educatedindian

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Re: Akaxe Yotzin
« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2009, 06:39:51 am »
For the non Spanish speakers, basically the article says he is Nahua, 27, a "young teacher" or "young master" of tradition from the mountains of Puebla in Mexico, and a member of the Calpulli Cultural Diffusion Group. Calpulli was a local neighborhood council in the old Aztec state. Some Latino activists use the term to describe grassroots groups.

Yotzin says he's visited Austria, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Cyprus and Germany. I did find him mentioned on Hungarian sites.

His geocities page is down, not even a cache left. The summary reads

"a sus raices aun conservan una pisca de respeto, union y valentia. Mexihka Tiahui Atlachinolli. Texto escrito por: Akaxe Yotzin Gomez. Volver al menu.
www.geocities.com/akaxeyotzin/Yaotilliztli1c.html"

I only see mentions of him teaching dance and culture. What has you worried?


Offline kosowith

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Re: Akaxe Yotzin
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2009, 09:28:09 am »
according to a Mixtec collegue

I can't tell a lot from this link, but I get the idea that this is linked to conchero movement, which focuses on dances and "greatness" of ancient Aztec civilization, with problematic political tendencies.  There is certainly a lot of new age and similar ideologies going on in Mexico but do not know this person.


Offline Uakasi

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Re: Akaxe Yotzin
« Reply #3 on: February 26, 2009, 03:15:13 pm »

I only see mentions of him teaching dance and culture. What has you worried?



There is a rumor he sells ceremonies also to the NewAgers.

Offline educatedindian

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Re: Acaxel Gomez Ramirez AKA Akaxe Yotzin
« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2020, 09:47:43 pm »
Real name is Acaxel Gomez Ramirez and he's set up a kind of school in Chicago. I was sent this statement from former members of his circle. Bolding is mine.

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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YqrLnpOZNDb8KHR_H-22aoIFn7MnDb6F/view?fbclid=IwAR0VZdCGR0GAV2MMkRFl1LkT7lTvvp0lVT9sWI4XHP3HUNWMfMb1OO3akH8

Dear community,
We write this statement as former students of Acaxel Gomez Ramirez (known as Akaxe Yotzin), who over time have come to see this man for who he is-a narcissist who has taken advantage of people's desire to build community and learn about their roots and has abused his power and knowledge to create a cult under the mask of indigeneity.

We share our thoughts, lived experiences, and demands for accountability knowing that we may face backlash, victim blaming, gaslighting, and more from Akaxe Yotzin, his wife Ixpahuatzin (Clarissa Gonzalez) and perhaps others. To this we respond that what we are sharing is truth, and we write with honesty with the objective that no one else be harmed by Akaxe Yotzin and Ixpahuatzin, to reclaim our voice, and to respect ancestral knowledge that has shamelessly been used to manipulate and control others. We hope that those reading this statement will also remember to question cis het men in positions of power, and trust your body.

To start, we want to acknowledge that the space now called Mahtinauhkalli was not created by Akaxe Yotzin, it was built by the community. Prior to Akaxe starting to teach in Chicago, many of us were already part of danza groups and had a yearning to continue growing and learning more about ancestral knowledge. When Akaxe arrived in Chicago, it was the community that fundraised to buy his plane tickets, give him stipends, find him housing and get his groceries. The community decided to form a manada and found the place that is now Matinauhkalli and for a long time, that space has been maintained mainly through student tuition and personal student investments, and the building of separate rooms, the addition of a shower, and the renovation of the basement was done through the work and money of students. Over time, power was taken from the community. As Akaxe took over Matinauhkalli, his exalted ego grew.

The ways in which Akaxe and Ixpahuatzin harmed students and disrespected the very knowledge he was teaching is extensive but we have tried to stay as concise as possible.

Through conversations we have come to realize that Akaxe Yotzin failed his title of ‘young master’, and disrespected the rank of Tezcatlipoca given to him by Maestro Arturo Meza Gutiérrez. Instead of being a guide, he became a narcissist, and used Matinauhkalli as a means through which to create a cult which included making profit. Akaxe positioned his knowledge as truth, letting people believe that his shared knowledge is all traditional (ancestrally rooted in indigeneity) without publicly stating that a lot of what he teaches he invented.

Steven Hassan, a leading national and international expert on cults created the BITE model which stands for Behavior control, Information control, Thought control and Emotional control, and is a model that outlines how cults work and how members are retained. In Behavior Control, we attest that Akaxe and Ixpahuatzin tried to dictate who we should associate with, our clothing was controlled within the space, we were financially exploited, punishment was used to modify behavior (in the form of having to do handstands for extended periods of time, hitting each other for committing errors, holding physically stressful positions (even while severely injured), and even one time breaking a stick on a student’s back, individualism was discouraged, questions were met with silence and shaming (we were told “were not worthy enough to have our questions answered”), there were rigid rules, he forced members to engage in corporal punishment, and he instilled dependency and obedience. In the Information control category we attest that Akaxe deliberately withheld information from students, discouraged information gathered from sources other than him and his teacher, discouraged talking to students who had left the space, and controlled information at different levels within the group. In the Thought control section we attest that Akaxe required students to adopt what he taught as reality (though unknown to us, he made up a lot of what he taught) and instilled black and white thinking, used cliches and pseudo-science and stopped critical thinking, rejected constructive criticism, critical thinking and rational analysis, forbade critique of him and his teaching style under the guise of “traditionalism” and “indigeneity,” he discouraged students joining together to study or practice, he masked the promotion of silence (not asking questions) and his toxic masculinity with erroneous definitions of “focus” (i.e if you ask questions then you are not focused), and he created a new “map of reality.” In the Emotional control section, he used pseudo-science and erroneous logic (toxic masculinity) to position some emotions as wrong or weak, he led students to believe that all problems were their own issue and never an issue of the leader; he denied the diverse role of genetics in mental/emotional well-being and claimed that if mental illness could not be overcome—it was an issue of willpower; he recommended injured students not take medications/drugs prescribed by clinicians so they become “worthy” of receiving certain ranks or indigenous knowledge shared by him; a sense of worthiness was attained through endured suffering at Akaxe’s will; he promoted feelings of guilt and unworthiness, instilled fear of leaving the group, presented with extreme emotional highs and lows, and shunned those who were kicked out or who left, referring to them as the “weak leaves that fell of the tree.”

Further, there are several accounts of Akaxe being ableist, misogynistic, engaging in spiritual bypassing, and being transphobic. Of the art he creates, a lot has been plagiarized from students or is a direct copy of a symbol from a codex that he claims to be his own. Many scientific connections between contemporary science and ancestral knowledge were adopted from students, taught in later classes and thus monetized, without credit or compensation to the original thinker. Students of different physical abilities were also shamed during danza, and were made to stand outside of the circle and he would not teach them in the same way he taught people inside the circle, and were sometimes kicked out for not being able to move in the specific ways Akaxe wanted them to. People who struggled with their mental health were told that their symptoms were an issue of will power and were told to “defeat their inner enemies” through his abusive disciplines instead of seeking medication or therapy. Differently-abled and neurodivergent folk were labeled as “the leaves fallen off the tree,” which alludes to knowledge and the creation of a space meant to “select” the “strongest leaves on a tree.” This concept is a reference to artificial selection, and in an indigenous community with queer, neurodivergent, and differently-abled folks, this is called eugenics. Akaxe created what he names ‘the four principles of the mazehual” (at the time they were shared, we believed they came from traditional elders but as of late he has stated that he created these) which he has also dishonored. The four principles are respect, gratitude, honesty, and service. Akaxe has constantly shamed students and emotionally abused them, even going so far as disrespecting an elder. He has shamelessly created rules against using the restroom, not considering individual biological needs, including menstruation. When people have called on him for support, he has continuously failed students, especially women and trans people, in this way only being “of service” when it benefitted him or was convenient to him.

We recognize that toxic cis men are not new, and Akaxe is one of thousands of men who manipulate well meaning people and use them to feed their own narcissism, which unfortunately includes using indigeneity for corrupt purposes. As we work on healing from the trauma we experienced at the hands of Akaxe and Ixpahuatzin, we stand firm in our belief that this abuse must stop. For this reason, we demand Akaxe Yotzin be stripped of his rank as Tezcatlipoca, we demand Akaxe Yotzin’s hair be completely shaved off, we demand immediate and indefinite closure of Matinauhkalli located on 1759 W 21st street in Chicago, IL, we demand the immediate and indefinite shutdown of all websites and social media pages connected to Akaxe Yotzin including but not limited to, the facebook pages of Nahua Lessons and Machtia Toltekatl, the instagram page of Machtia Toltekatl, the website www.inasca.org, the redbubble page name Akaxe Tekpatl, and the Akaxe Yotzin (machtia toltekatl) patreon page. We demand redistribution of funds to those that have been harmed, and if there is money left over, that money be donated to a local Chicago domestic violence organization. Finally, we demand that Akaxe Yotzin and Ixpahuatzin undergo an accountability process with an independent third party as a mediator.

We know that accountability takes a lot of work and time, and as people healing from this trauma while also trying to survive in this world, we need your help to make these demands come to life.

Please reshare widely, and reach out to us if you have the energy to support us through this process.
Tlazohcamati
In strength and unity,
Mazehualtin

Offline educatedindian

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Re: Acaxel Gomez Ramirez AKA Akaxe Yotzin
« Reply #5 on: December 02, 2020, 10:16:41 pm »
Macehualtin means the community or people. Gomez claims to be teaching Nahua or Aztec beliefs, practices, and culture to Mexican Americans. A big part of the problem is first of all that Aztec=/=Mexican or vice versa. There's at least 80 major Native groups in MX and most Mexicans are far more likely to have ancestry from the other 70+, more than likely from multiple tribes whose cultures their ancestors lost contact with many generations ago.

Some of what they teach on their sites is harmless, the language, dances, and cultural information. Some is...interesting, such as supposed traditional tattoos. And some is Nuage gibberish being passed off as Nahua, such as "bio energetic systems." Gomez is taking advantage of his students' lack of even basic knowledge.

Take an obvious example, his "rank" (Is this the army?) being Tezcatlipoca. That's an Aztec god. It's roughly equal to someone claiming to be a Christian priest with the rank of Holy Ghost.

His former followers want the abuse and cult control to end, and that is very important. But they also still want the teachings to continue, even though they know and admit he made up much of it.

This is the man Gomez claims he was handed the title from, and it's clear he's not a priest or holy man and never claimed to be, just a serious scholar.

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https://altepetl.com.mx/authors/meza-gutierrez-arturo/
Meza Gutierrez, Arturo
He was born on September 1, 1937, in Iztacuixtla, Tlaxcala, Mexico.

He is a renowned ethnohistorian and writer of numerous books on the study and teaching of pre-Hispanic cultures and the development of Indigenous Communities today.

With a methodology based on the criticism of sources such as codices, chroniclers and historical documents and their contrast with the oral history consulted directly in the indigenous peoples, their studies have allowed to complete the correlation of the Julian, Gregorian and Mexica Calendars .

Arturo Meza has deepened the generative principle of duality, Ometeotl , as the philosophical nucleus of indigenous peoples, and has opened knowledge to those who appreciate their blood, their roots and their heritage.