Author Topic: Alyssa Barlow AKA Alyssa Alexandria AKA Adisi Waya & Spots of the Fawn  (Read 41884 times)

Piff

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Alyssa Barlow's plans to put out a book apparently continue, she has a book cover chosen according to her web site.

Regarding her use of " spots of the fawn":

She says:

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Simply put, there are places on the earth that defy logic; places which unlock the mind and unleash the spirits. They’re known to the Indigenous of North America as Spots of the Fawn; places of immense power.

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Spots of the Fawn is a look into Earth’s power spots; the term first coined by The Hopi and known to all indigenous peoples as power places.

This term is used by other New Age writers such as James Swan. Books by James Swan have back cover praise by Lynn Andrews and Michael Harner.

James Swan credits Frank Waters with the phrase and supposed meaning of "spots of the fawn".

That would be The Book of the Hopi by Frank Waters and Oswald White Bear Fredericks.

Waters book mentioned here http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=2616.msg22427#msg22427

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The primary informant on Hopi beliefs consulted by Frank Waters was Oswald "White Bear" Fredericks. Oswald was married to a white woman, had been converted to Christianity, and was not a fully initiated Hopi Indian. Thus, as one might expect, many of the traditions reported in this book are inaccurate.
See: McLeod, Roxie. Dreams and rumors: a history of "Book of the Hopi". Thesis (M.A.)--Univ. of Colorado, 1994. Pp. 330. MLA. For a more accurate version of Hopi beliefs, try "The Fourth World of the Hopis" by Harold Courlander.

More on Fredericks:

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As a child, White Bear was initiated into one of the four societies which all Hopi belonged, however he was never initiated into one of the major four Kiva groups. White Bear attended the Oraibi Day School, was sent to the Phoenix Indian School then on to Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas, and Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma. It was at this latter institution, in 1930, he became a devout Christian.

http://www.azarchivesonline.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/nau/fredericks_white_bear.xml;query=;brand=default

Frank Waters had his own personal agendas. According to Dream Catchers: How Mainstream America Discovered Native Spirituality
By Philip Jenkins - Waters' driving influences were Jung and Gurdjieff.

So, long story short, Barlow is not Hopi. New Age shaman books are nonsense. And Book of Hopi has issues, it is not an authoritative source.

Offline tkavanagh

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FWIW: In 1979, I was hired by the Hopi Cultural Center Museum on Second Mesa to be the Director of their Tricentennial project (300th anniversary of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt); why they picked a Bahaana for this, I don’t know. I didn’t apply for it, rather I was recommended by a former boss, who was a friend of Abbot Sekakwaptewa and Fred Kabotie. They called me.
   Whatever, how I got to Hopi is beside the point. What happened while I was there is the point. After a brief search, housing was found for me: the House At Pumpkin Seed Point (qv), my landlord: Oswald ‘White Bear’ Fredericks. I lived there for 18 months, during which time I saw WB only rarely. Although he had a house/shop on 264 right outside Kykotsmovi on the way up to the top of Third Mesa, it was closed most of the time; rather, he spent most of his time in Sedona, where I sent rent checks. Indeed, I don’t think I ever saw any of the so-called Traditionalists from Hotevilla during my stay – and as one member of my Board was from Hotevilla, I often visited that village.
   I had read _Book of the Hopi_ back in 1963 when it came out, and that colored my initial perspectives on the SW. But when I started taking Anthro courses at UNM in 1967, I quickly disabused myself of its misconceptions. So I knew the back story of both WB and of my house.
   I never had the chance to ask WB about those things, but I did ask my Board – composed of adult-initiated men from all three Mesas, some elders, some younger. They were circumspect, essentially saying that they could not tell me what was wrong with the Book, for that would implicitly say what was correct in it. And I did not have the rights to know those things.
   When talking about these things, the metaphor I like to use is “freedom of information”, or rather the non-existence thereof. At Hopi, /navoti/ (information, knowledge) is circumscribed by definite boundaries: age, sex/gender, clan, kiva, sodality, village, and Mesa. These boundaries are such that ‘traditionally’, no one could know ‘all’ of Hopi culture, especially those parts which are walled off from others. Thus some things are open: summer Plaza dances, some winter kiva dances; other things are closed.
   That is the way things are.

[aside: from the above quote, “one of the major four Kiva groups.”  This is somewhat ambiguous. Traditional/non-Xian Hopi men “belong” to a kiva, which is the locus of a variety of activities, katsina dances, etc. In addition, in *some* of the villages, *some* of the kivas are associated with the four major men’s sodalities, usually called “adulthood societies.” I think these are what the “four Kiva groups” refers to. I say *some* because of the structured relationship between some the villages, and because of the unique histories of some of the villages/Mesas. On Second Mesa, it is the kivas at Songopavi that are home to the societies, and men from Mushongnavi and Sipaulovi go there. Up until 1906, Old Oraibi was the only village on Third Mesa. One result of the 1906 split was that the adulthood societies were explicitly abandoned. They never existed in Kykotsmovi or Bacavi, and were only re-constituted in Hotevilla in 1939.
[aside: none of the so-called Traditionalists from Hotevilla were ever initiated into their reconstituted societies.]

Offline educatedindian

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Added this bio of Barlow on IMDB. We'll see if it gets posted.

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Born Alyssa Alexandria Barlow, she shortened it to Alyssa Alexandria as a screenwriter. Barlow was born in Sonoma, California in 1959. Her family were prominent descendants of early white colonists, her grandfather owning and running an apple processing factory. For most of her adult life she lived off her family trust. As a young woman she played polo in Argentina.

In the 2000s, Barlow was trained at ScreenwritingU.com. In 2007 she sold her first screenplay for the horror film House of Dust. Her second film (also horror), Match.dead, was actually made first.

From 2012 to the present, Barlow has variously claimed to be Cherokee, Modoc, or Yurok Indian. She called herself Adisi Waya or Runs With Wolves and began teaching about "power spots," Bigfoot, Atlantis, ancient Egypt, and the Hopi tribe. None of the four tribes are related to each other. There is no evidence of Barlow having Native ancestry. Her teachings are not part of any Native spiritual tradition and are very controversial.

Offline chiquitta

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Well, I guess according to Alyssa, she has a "stalker" that prevents her from releasing her book due to her fear of having anyone be critical of anything she does.  This is a posting that she has made in reference to this site:

Alyssa Adisi Waya
13 February ·

Hey Everyone: I am unsure about publishing my book as I am dealing with something very disturbing. I have a stalker who has promised to discredit me, and or, the book; Spots of the Fawn. Already, there are disconcerting posts on a "sort of" native watch tower website about our family genealogy. The site is a bit questionable in itself; they also go after other races. I have yet to reply.
I can say this, they searched the wrong line of our family history and came up with "white." Not that there is anything wrong with "white." I certainly do have white in me. And oddly, they searched our property records and tax records. But, they forgot about our Great Grandmother who is the Cherokee blood; she is why my Father is Cherokee. If she is not, that is a problem that is no longer mine; those people are dead and cannot defend their beliefs. When we did our genealogy, there was no such thing as the internet. But it's irrelevant.

It seems that Alyssa brings up a "seventh grade math level" quite often, not sure what that has to do with her false heritage?  Either way, in no way does the truth constitute slander or harassment as it is simply the truth. 
As for her other claims of not receiving "gov assistance", I am not sure who cares?  As far as I know she has lived off her parents trust her entire life which gives her much freedom and time to do her FB and exploring.  Oh to have a life of leisure...
Anyway, still waiting for this book to come out. 
I hope that she has at least learned that her comment as follows:

I will not deny that I am proud of my Aryan ancestry; it is an important part of me.

IS OFFENSIVE to everyone and is nothing to be proud of or even refer to. 


Piff

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I'm about the same age as Alyssa Barlow. Neither of us have any sign of current tribal community or even heritage, both of us have lived in Washington state.

If I claimed:

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I carry native ancestry; Cherokee Aniyunwiya.

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I practice medicine making, or doctoring, in a traditional way.

.......... of course folks would need to research me. Research and fact checking does not equal stalking.

Looking over public records to figure out a situation is not odd. It may feel odd to a person who is uncomfortable having their claims fact checked.

I really don't understand this part:

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But, they forgot about our Great Grandmother who is the Cherokee blood; she is why my Father is Cherokee. If she is not, that is a problem that is no longer mine;  and cannot defend their beliefs. When we did our genealogy, there was no such thing as the internet. But it's irrelevant.

If heritage is irrelevant, why claim it?



Piff

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But, they forgot about our Great Grandmother who is the Cherokee blood; she is why my Father is Cherokee.


I believe that I can figure out which great grandmother she is talking about here. This woman married in California and is listed white on the marriage certificate. She was born in Illinois. She and parents listed white on census.

I'm not going to even lay out the details because I think Barlow may try to move the goal posts.

Alyssa Barlow, what Cherokee community claims you?

Piff

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I've read up more on her various direct ancestors. Her people are consistently referred to as pioneers of Sonoma county. Farmers, canneries, orchards, real estate, business.

I can see them in census, books, obits, historical society collections, and other records.  Even society news about bridge clubs.

If Alyssa Barlow was told family stories about supposed Cherokee heritage when she was young, it is now past time for her to let those stories go. She's a grown woman.

Piff

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So her heritage claims are through her father, and his father.

Here is a grave memorial for her grandfather, known as Denman Barlow https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96889187/thomas-denman-barlow . Alyssa refers to him as Grandpa Den.

Denman Barlow was in society news his entire life. Hundreds and hundreds of mentions, some extensive. I skimmed through quite a bit.

He is described as a member of the most prominent families in that region.

He was the president of a Campfire Girls Lodge.

He enjoyed picnicking in redwoods, fishing, sports, duck hunting, dance parties, bridge parties, ranch vacations, Sonoma County Trail Blazers trips by horseback, and he had a regular season box at the Sonoma County Fair. He was accepted at U.C. in 1920 and participated in an annual parade. He was a grammar school board trustee.

He bought orchard land from his mother in 1922. He sold an apple plant in 1946. He and his people were very active in apple agriculture in the area.

I also looked over additional public newspaper articles about Alyssa in past incarnations. The news is all about apples, vineyards, and polo.

We have run into this before here on the forum - white folks who have their own fascinating genealogy, who instead of enjoying their own ancestors: they go pretendian.

Offline Diana

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http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=3743.msg44735#msg44735

Here's her genealogy records from the first page. It goes back to her ggg grandparents on her father's side. 1830's all white. She is a bald face liar. She has no Indian blood what so ever.

Offline chiquitta

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I believe that when people become this delusional and completely caught up in their lies they start believing that they are true because so many so called “friends” support and enable this fraudulent behavior.  I am not a psychologist but I would guess there is a mental illness associated with this kind of story telling and lying.  Sadly she is involving her step grand daughter in this delusion and I would hope she is smart enough to ignore Alyssa’s lies.   She is obviously not happy with who she really is so she has to make up elaborate stories and then write her fictional book about her pretend heritage.  All of these pretentious people need to be called out as Alyssa is not the only one out there! 

Brianna.shott

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Well since I have absolutely nothing to lose no due to Alyssa’s lies and her being a really good manipulator I would really like to clear my name from this site as I haven’t written anything on here before and wasn’t the one who started this. Her son and I are no divorce unlike what her blog says about me. Evidently we got divorced while he was still deployed and I then started trashing his personal property. That’s not how it went at all. I got his trucked fixed before he got back so he’d have a good vehicle to drive, I filed for divorce so I could move outbwfore he got him. Also I never wrote nor did I have anything to do with writing this stuff about her. The original post coincidently matches me but that was started in 2012 before I even started dating her son in 2017.

So now that my name is attached to her poorly written fictional and absolutely insane blog she is caus My personal issues with me and my name and all my  aliases including my maiden name. I’m teying to start fresh and rid my life of her crazy antics but it’s hard to do when she won’t stop writing about me and my name comes up in doodle search engines with her crazy words attached. I don’t know what I’m asking but I’d really like this removed so I can have a normal life again and rid her horrible energy and crazy words from my life before I have to resort to legal action. Not legal action against this site but against her for deformation, slander and libel. I’ve done my research and have an attorney willing to take my case against her if inneed to. But I’d rather not go that route. If there is a way of clearing my name that would be amazing.

I’ve attached the link to her bio about me slandering my name. But I’m just done and can’t take this anymore. She is effecting my personal life in more ways then one still.

Brianna.shott

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Where she slanders me and on Facebook also. Guess you can look that one up yourself. I have her blocked.

https://www.spotsofthefawn.com/spotsofthefawnblog/2018/2/23/mk91jlnonjmefobgez8yvtlkjg9fag

Offline Sparks

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Where she slanders me and on Facebook also. Guess you can look that one up yourself. I have her blocked.

https://www.spotsofthefawn.com/spotsofthefawnblog/2018/2/23/mk91jlnonjmefobgez8yvtlkjg9fag

There have been several comments about that page in this forum, starting here:

She is not happy with us.

THE SLANDERING OF A FAMILY’S HISTORY
https://www.spotsofthefawn.com/spotsofthefawnblog/2018/2/23/mk91jlnonjmefobgez8yvtlkjg9fag

She seems to assume that everyone researching are actually only one person. She refers to discussion as "public defamation".

Some useful parts: …

In this thread there are also several comments about her "Aryan ancestry", mentioned on that page.

Offline Sparks

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There have been several comments about that page in this forum, starting here …

Here is another one:

She is talking about us, especially about one poster here, all without giving a link to this site or explicitly saying NAFPS. She refers to us as a "native watch site". https://www.spotsofthefawn.com/spotsofthefawnblog/2018/2/23/mk91jlnonjmefobgez8yvtlkjg9fag

Offline Sparks

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Where she slanders me and on Facebook also. Guess you can look that one up yourself. I have her blocked.

Several previous comments about her Facebook profile, too. Just an example:

She is using her Facebook page to rally misguided supporters https://www.facebook.com/alyssa.adisiwaya.9

According to her, she is a holy martyr and critics are persecuting her. In comments people claim that critics are psychopaths.